Artillery crew

A brief respite from the Tatars... German gunner made from Warlord body with WGF Spanish Succession arms. Standing peasant laborer is WGF Persian with WGF Spanish Succession arms. Crouching peasant is all TAG.

don't be stingy with the kazindji

Here's the rest of the poor Tatar unit... the standard bearer and the unit leader. The standard bearer is nothing special, except that his "horsetail" standard is actually a topknot from a Chaos Marauder helmet, because I wanted it to look unimpressive compared to the other ones made from actual horsetail bits.

The leader is a bit more involved. His torso is from the Games Workshop Empire Militia kit, and his legs are pure greenstuff. Also, his horse is one of the "naked" Wargames factory horses, with a celtic saddle and greenstuffed straps.

The leader's horse still needs a bridle, and I'm seeing some additional gaps to fill and mold lines to scrape, but mostly these two are done.

To whom it may concern,

It has come to my attention that the Ukrainian government is willing to pay bloggers to repeat pro-Yanukovych talking points. My blog may not be a dedicated political vehicle, nor does it have the readership numbers of, say, redstate.com, but The Spoony Bardiche does have a dedicated, diverse following of Eastern-European-history enthusiasts, whom I will happily exploit in exchange for a small compensation.

Apparently, the "going rate" for the services you request is $500, but I will happily accept as little as half of that. And even that token payment is really a net gain for you, since I intend to spend it all on 28mm Muscovite miniatures, which I will use to further illustrate the virtues of Slavic hegemony in the face of the decadent, meddling West.

Thank you for your time.

poor Tatars

In lighter news, I've been converting more Tatars. These are constructed almost entirely out of Wargames Factory bits like their predecessors. The difference is that these are kazindji, the poorest of the Tatars. They can't afford fancy luxuries like sabres or bows, so they have to make do with javelins, flails and sticks-with-horse-bones-tied-to-them. The latter weapons, known as maslaks, usually used horse jawbones for the striking surface, but the GW horse skeletons I have are far too robustly skulled to cut apart, so I commandeered some ribs instead.

Still plenty of gaps to fill, mold lines to scrape, and details to sculpt before painting. Not to mention the standard bearer and leader to assemble.

Current Events

You probably already know by now, but Ukraine is in serious turmoil. My blog is about the events of 350-odd years ago, but since the current happenings there are not dissimilar to the events of the late 17th century (though thankfully not on the same scale), I feel obligated to at least mention it.

This seems to be a good source for up-to-date news.

Veteran Dragoon

So I painted these guys from a while back, except for the trumpeter. Quite the motley bunch...

Full Footguard Regiment

Here are a couple pics of the King's Footguard. The new shotte sleeve is equipped with firelocks. I was going to post some pictures of the firelocks on their own, but turns out they need some additional washes and touching up. They're good enough to participate in a group shot though...