Swordsmen for Flashing Blades

I threw together some goons for Flashing Blades. The pictures are bad, but the painting was rushed anyway, so whatever. These are all based on Warlord Games plastic infantry, with sword hands/arms from the plastic cavalry, and random other kits for left arms.

Swashbuckling Heroes for Flashing Blades

Oof, life's been busy these past few month. Not even in a bad way, and I did manage to get some hobby work done, but most of it wasn't really blogworthy.

Here's something though: a set of miniatures representing the characters my game group rolled up for a Flashing Blades campaign.

The two on the left have been posted before, the lady in the middle is an old metal fantasy mini I've had for ages, and the last two are kitbashed plastics specifically made for this campaign.

Lochaber axes

My Mordheim Scots needed some reinforcements too, so I made some warriors with Lochaber axes, which just count as halberds in-game.

I've been hearing good things about Frostgrave...

...so maybe someday I'll buy the rules and try them out with my historical collection, as an alternative to Mordheim.

Apparently the distinguishing feature of Frostgrave is that each warband is build around a wizard and an apprentice. So I've started converting leftover miniatures into 17th-century spellcasters.

The generic duo is entirely Warlord Games plastics, except for the greenstuff and red beads. The Scotsmen are also Warlord-based, but with Gripping Beast spear arms and I think one Perry Zouave arm. The Cossack apprentice is a Zouave with a GB spear arm, and the older Cossack is a Fireforge Mongol with Warlord pike arms and a cut-down GW spearhead.

Be vewwy vewwy quiet, I'm hunting witches...

Pan Blaszkowicz and his men didn't dare repeat the story of their vampire encounter at the derelict village, or at least, not while sober. But the strange smoky-green gem pieces, some bearing fragments of Latin text, demanded an explanation, and a fair market valuation if at all possible. The hussar made inquiries among noblemen, jewellers, and scholars of his acquaintance, and was eventually advised, in hushed tones with the curtains drawn, to see a certain Jan in the city of Kraków. Blaszkowicz and his men set out on their journey, unaware that their drunken tale-telling and furtive research had attracted the attention of another monster, albeit a much more human one...

Spending the night on a small farm on the way to Kraków, the Polish adventurers were ambushed by the belligerent witch-hunter Laird Tregowdy and his grim Calvinist henchmen. Surrounded by musketeers and archers, the Poles prepared to fight their way out, or face execution for their ill-defined but presumably quite grievous sins...

Poles at the farmstead

Laird Tregowdy leads from behind

face-off

Historical Mordheim

or perhaps "By Fire & Sword-heim".

The Poles use Marienburg rules (extra money at warband creation):

The Swedes use Reikland rules (better marksmen and leadership):

The Cossacks and Scots use Middenheim rules (stronger captains and champions):

A few new models here and there, but mostly you've already seen these. More warbands under construction...

dudes in tartan and hodden grey

Painted Scots. Oh, and happy Easter!

May have gotten a bit carried away with the tartan, on account of this thread. Oh well.

Skirmishers from Scotland

What happens when I've got all the German-style infantry I need, but still have a scattering of Warlord P&S plastics unused?

Well, I've always been a fan of Warlord's assorted highlander sets, but never had any real justification to buy them. With a bit of kitbashing though, I can approximate them well enough. Once they're done, I'll probably mix them in with my previous Scotsmen for "local color", even though none of my games will be actually be set in a highland locale.

Scottish Mercenaries

This is my last batch of German-style musketeers. Inspired by this Thirty Years War woodcut, I decided to let my Scots be a little bit caricatured. Realistically, the Scottish population in Poland would probably have been a bit more assimilated than this - tartan in particular was not yet a symbol of cultural pride, rather, more like a reminder of backwardness, so it was unpopular with any Scotsman who could afford better. The same logic may have applied to beards as well...

Anyway, here they are. The tartan could probably stand a bit more work, once I get a lighter shade of red to work with.