an unintentionally morbid end to the year...

Please don't read into this too much. I'm just catching up on some terrain projects, and it just happened to work out that this Reaper Bones piece is my last paint job of 2018.

As you can see, the scale's a little wonky (Reaper is a heroic fantasy line, of course), but whatever. Happy New Year!

Russian force for Pikeman's Lament

Probably not optimal from either a tactical or a historical-accuracy perspective, but I finally have completed a full 24-pt force for Pikeman's Lament. Here is an assortment of group photos of varying quality:

(Well, almost completed. A couple units need flags, and the general is actually a Cossack mini because I somehow forgot to get any Muscovite commanders)

More Muscovite Cavalry

These are the "Boyar's Sons", the lower grade of feudal cavalry. On of them is a converted Gripping Beast plastic that I'm not entirely happy with, the others are TAG metals.

Happy Holidays!

Just a quick post of a speedpaint accomplished around the edges of today's festivities.

The minis is from the War on Christmas Village kickstarter (Jackalope Enterprises) from a couple years back. I wish you the best, whatever you've been celebrating!

Dvoriane (Muscovite elite cavalry)

The next phase of my Muscovite project is cavalry. Primarily this will be feudal noble cavalry, though I may convert some new-style reiters as well. The feudal cavalry is divided into the heavier Dvoriane (in this post) and the lighter Boyar's Sons (forthcoming). This batch is unconverted TAG minis.

Blue Streltsy

So the good news is, I have finished painting all of my current Ottoman models. The bad news is, my table is currently set up for Christmas so I am unable to take an army photo until 2019, by which point I might just decide to wait until I've acquired and painted the necessary light cavalry.

But anyway: here are some more streltsy, the core of the Muscovite army I am also building for Pikeman's Lament. Streltsy have a special place in my heart, because one of them was the first historical model I ever painted. My first unit of them has already appeared on this blog, as well as a WIP shot of this unit's command figs.

Janissary swordsmen

And here's the last Ottoman stuff for the time being, a batch of Aggressive Forlorn Hope.

more Ottoman cavalry (regular Sipahis)

Last night I painted up my first historical unit in over half a year! These Sipahis differ from my previous batch by having hand weapons (instead of lances) and no barding. All are unconverted TAG.

Except for a few straggler janissary minis, this completes my current stash of Ottoman miniatures. I do still intend to add light cavalry (besli/akinci types) at some point to round out the force, unsure if these will be TAG metals, or converted Gripping Beat plastics, or a mix...

Ork Lootaz

It's all well and good to have some Burna Boyz handy to carve up da skrap, but eventually ya gotta cobble the scrap back together into a big shooty Deffgun!

So many gun barrels to drill, crap...

painted burna boyz

Painted my burna boyz, and lots of other orks I will post eventually...

Welcome to Atlantis

Hi all,

I've been reading Chariot, an RPG set in mythic Atlantis, and as is often the case, I find myself using miniature work to engage with a game I cannot immediately play.

I can't really explain the setting... just buy The Game and read for yourself.

Ork Burna Boyz

So what little painting I've done lately has mostly been for Warhammer 40k, and has also been pretty basic. But today I assembled a bunch of burna boyz, each one at least a smidge converted, and I'm pretty pleased with the lot!

Kickstarter recommendation!

Hey all! Sorry I've been out, life stuff and other hobbies have been diverting my attention.

Speaking of which, a really neat tabletop RPG is in the final 24 hours of its kickstarter. I'll let it speak for itself...

"A century ago, radio transmissions from Earth passed through a strange ripple in space, causing rock music to fall upon the mystified ears of an alien world. For five glorious years, the aliens grew to love the magical planet they believed to be on the other end of that beautiful signal. When the music cut off as mysteriously as it began, the aliens embarked on a generational pilgrimage to discover the source of that music.

Nearly a century later, the aliens have arrived, but Earth is not what they expected. Humanity has taken a dark turn, silencing music, the arts, literature...any kind of expression they believed could inspire "dangerous" thoughts. The Ministry of Music looms large over the entire world, stamping out rebellious culture with steel-sheathed jackboots.

With nowhere to go but forward, the Starchildren descended, joining the few Earthlings still carrying a spark of rock and roll. They catalyzed a new rock & roll revolution that will break the Ministry's chains on the soul of humanity.

This is the Velvet Generation."

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/899112540/velvet-generation

Ottoman commanders

The two red-turban guys are sultans from Warlord (or technically, two versions of the same sultan), and the ulema (religious scholar/judge) is a TAG freebie.

Once again, no conversions. Hmmm, gotta fix that soon...

Ottoman Tufekci dragoons

These are tufekci, an Ottoman shot unit developed along Western lines. They could fight as dragoons or as line infantry, but I didn't have the right minis for the latter, so dragoons it is. TAG minis, no conversions.

first Ottoman cavalry (elite Sipahis)

As mentioned in my previous post, an Ottoman army without cavalry isn't worthy of the name. So here's my first unit of cavalry. All TAG minis, some horse armor added with greenstuff.

Ottoman Infantry Group Pic

So, this is pretty much as far as I'll be going with Ottoman Infantry, at least so long as Pikeman's Lament is my preferred system.

Clockwise from top left:

Azabs with Spears/Polearms - Raw Pike (3 pts) or Clansmen (3 pts)

Azabs with Bows - Raw Shot (3 pts)

Wallachian Voynuks - 2x Aggressive Forlorn Hope (6 pts each) or Veteran Pike (6 pts)

Azabs with Muskets - Shot (4 pts)

Janissaries - Elite Shot (6 pts)

Segban - Raw Shot (3 pts) or 2x Commanded Shot (2 pts each)

For a total of 28-36 available points, though realistically I am unlikely to field an Ottoman force without cavalry; that would feel wrong. So I will get started on those horse guys next...

Azabs Aplenty

Just finished converting a whole mess of Gripping Beast Arab Infantry into Azabs, the next step up from the sad-sack Segban. Some of these are conversions you've seen before, others are TAG Metals, and some are newer converted plastics.