More light cavalry

Another set of Arabs-turned-Poles...

Send your armies, but they'll never be enough

His shell's too tough!

Polish Light Cavalry

Months ago, I kitbashed some Polish cavalry together, using Gripping Beast's Arab light cavalry as a base, but only got around to painting them last week. With headswaps and the occasional carbine added, I think they quite look the part of a lightly-armed noble levy, or "cossack-style" horse, or a pack of Lisowczycy, or perhaps even Wallachian mercenary cavalry. I suspect the horse furniture isn't entirely accurate, but the overall effect certainly meets my satisfaction nonetheless. Though some belated gap-filling might not go amiss...

(Maybe someday I'll invest in a proper lightbox.)

Museum Visit (early modern stuff)

Last month, the Art Institute of Chicago reopened its European "medieval" arms and armor exhibit (actually extending into the mid-1800's), and I finally got around to visiting yesterday. It was fantastic! I took a bunch of pics, and although my cell phone camera doesn't really handle museum lighting well, there are still some neat pieces that I want to share. Maybe later I'll post the random other cool stuff I saw that wasn't quite so relevant to my wargaming.

The pic is too blurry, but this helmet has pointy teeth!

I should paint a nobleman with an ivory pistol stock like this

ceremonial giant sword hilt

Emperor Ferdinand's breastplate. Wonder if I could pull this off on a 28mm mini?

This musket has two actions! Better safe than sorry...

obligatory hussar gear

Papal guard, so shiny!

Fancy yet functional armor for a wasp-waisted Englishman

plain hilt of giant sword

This one's from about 1800, but I had to include it. It's a powder tester! Like a pistol, but instead of shooting a bullet it forces an arm along the scale. Super neat!

A spider helm, essentially having "noseguards" all around, with each one hinged in case gets in the way

triple-barreled fowling piece, with striking buttstock design

triple-barreled pistol, looks like a nightmare to handle, but still probably preferable to handling three separate pistols

A Gaul, a German, and a Dacian walk into a bar...

Just some quick test models, to get a feel for what I've gotten myself into.

Since all the infantry for this project is based on the same plastic kit, I think I'm going to be imposing somewhat artificial color schemes to differentiate the armies beyond what the (admittedly pretty neat) metal components do. I'm thinking warm pastels for the Celts, "organic" colors (greens / browns / yellows) for the Germans, and primary colors for the Dacians. I also have an ulterior motive for these colors, but that's gonna have to be a secret for now.

Anyway, this should be a fun bit of variety, that will keep me sane as I also try to slog through my early modern cavalry backlog...

Same region, different era

There was a sale at Warlord, I had some extra cash, so I bought myself a new project (or three, depending on how you count).