Contest Entry (Registered Cossack)

I painted the registered Cossack. I think I duplicated the colors from the source image pretty well. The coat came out a little light, but I only have the patience for so many layers of badab black. Behold:

Contest Entries (Pancerny and Szlachta)

So, I've finished the first two (of maybe five total) of my planned entries. It's overcast out, but I think these pictures are probably good enough. I'll try again when it's sunny and compare, just in case.

Another Mash-Up (Registered Cossack)

For the last few decades of the 16th century until about midway through the 17th century, the Registered Cossacks were the mainstay of the Commonwealth's infantry. For the Khmelnytsky Uprising, the vast majority of them defected to Khmelnytsky's banner, sometimes mid-battle. I'm going to try to force myself to make eight of these, so I can field a full unit of them with my Poles in pre-Uprising armies, but for Berestechko I'll just sprinkle them (however many I do make) amongst their non-uniformed comrades.

The legs and right arm are WGF Persian Infantry; the left arm is Celtic Cavalry; and his torso, gun, sword, head and ammo pouch are all WSS. I need to remember to greenstuff a jacket collar before I paint him, but otherwise he's good to go.

Base

This is what my bases will actually look like. Nothing too complicated, just gravel + pvc glue, then GW bestial brown, then pvc glue + GW scorched grass.

color test for Haiduks

Since the whole Hungarian Infantry/Haiduk unit is wearing a uniform, I figured it'd be a good idea to test out my scheme before painting all seven guys. These soldiers are generally described as wearing grey-blue (or "cloudy blue"). Since I don't like buying new paints, I achieved this by painting blue wash over a grey foundation. I also tested out a possible basing approach, but it didn't work out.

Better Cossack pictures

Nothing really to say. Still need basing (and pikes for the pikemen).

Cossacks, now in color

Got a bunch (well, nine) painted today. Didn't quite finish, several of the mustaches still need to be painted for one thing, but they're pretty close to being done. I plan on finishing the painting and getting better sunlit pictures before work tomorrow.

Unpainted Cossacks

Except for the bardiche on the rightmost guy, and the Persian hand holding it, these Cossacks are entirely built from Zouaves and greenstuff.

more unpainted haiduks

Here's the rest of the haiduk unit. The second from the right looks kinda like he's singing, maybe he'll be the unit musician since I haven't bothered converting one yet...

A tiny bit more trimming and gap-filling is needed before they're ready for paint. And if you're wondering about the math: five haiduks in this post + two haiduks in previous post + szlachta as unit leader = eight guys, which is the Warlord Pike & Shotte minimum recommended size for an infantry line unit.

Should have some more painted minis tomorrow night, these guys and/or cossacks.

Unpainted Haiduks

The Perry Zouaves kit is positively invaluable for this project. Not only does it provide some of the most minis per dollar, not only can I make Cossacks practically right out of the box, but it comes with a bunch of extra heads and arms, for stuff like this:

Both of these haiduks use Zouave heads, and the musketeer has Zouave arms as well. Everything else is WGF Persian and greenstuff.

Painted stuff, including cossacks

I painted the nobleman on foot. I think he looks the part of a wealthy civilian amateur. He's probably gonna be an entry into the Single Infantry model category.

And also, my first three plastic Cossacks! I'm glad this conversion worked, because I'm planning to build pretty much my whole Cossack army with these guys.

The guy in the middle will eventually have a pike.

Makin' stuff from WGF Persians

I needed to take a break from that pancerny guy, so I mixed up some green stuff and upgraded the Szlachta from earlier. The mace in particular marks him out as a unit leader.

And then also I started on his unit. These Persians are handy, especially since they only cost me 20 cents per body.

Pancerni - painted

Done. That is, except for basing, clipping that weird fiber off his right thumb, and touching up that bit of errant gold on the saddle-cloth. Oh, and gluing him back together (I dropped him mere seconds after taking this picture).

More Pancerni!

While I've been slowly finishing up my Single Cavalry miniature contest entry, I've also been working on the rest of his unit (he'll be the leader, of course). These ones aren't nearly as involved as the previous guy, just some rank-and-file armored cavalry. Same basic concept, just less fancy. These two have pistols, others will have spears or carbines.

Also, I'm working on a test mini for a registered cossack, but he needs more work done before he's even worth showing as a WiP.

Pancerni PiP

Ugh, he looked better as bare plastic. I need to start upping my painting game. Not done with this guy, but getting there...