Oh dear.

No. Please no. I can't afford a new project, I can't spare the money, the time, or even the space. This is extremely unfortunate.

Even if they'd make great foes for my Vikings.

as promised, Halloween post

Still in the early construction stages, but here are the beginnings of my Halloween costume. Many of you will probably recognize what I'm going for, but for those that need a hint, let's just say it's a historical spin on a Halloween classic...

Now, off to the store for more red thread and maybe some chalk.

unexpected Pirate Ship!

While poking around a thrift store for my upcoming halloween costume (more on that later), I stumbled across a toy pirate ship that fits quite nicely with my rarely-mentioned pirate collection. Obviously it needs some work before it's a proper terror of the high seas, but for $1.99 it's pretty hard to beat!

The miniatures are (mostly) Wargames Factory WSS.

More cheapskate hussars

Another batch of back-rank lancers, converted from Warlord cavalry. I forgot to add any arm/shoulder armor this time around, but otherwise they're basically the same as the last batch.

Clergy in any color you like...

...so long as it's black.

Here are three godly sorts that I've painted up for my Pike and Shotte collection. The Puritan and the Anglican are from the Warlord Games ECW range, although I will be using the latter as a Catholic since I suspect Anglicanism are pretty scarce on the continent.

The Calvinist is the only one converted at all; I added a plastic sheathed sword from the P&S infantry box. I know some might point out that the black-clad Puritan image owes more to popular culture than history, because black cloth was quite expensive at the time, so English nonconformists preferred cheap simple brown/russet fabrics to demonstrate their humility and practicality. But I see this Calvinist as a wealthy burgher from Krakow or Gdansk or someplace, not necessarily tied into the cultural signalling of English Puritans specifically. Also, black looks cooler.

The beardy Orthodox fellow is an Assault Group freeby miniature that can be included upon request with orders above a given size. Or if you forget to specify a freeby for a qualifying order, and your order mostly consists of Cossacks and Muscovites, they'll probably pick this guy out as the most appropriate freeby anyway. That's why I have another of these guys waiting in the wings, as soon as I can decide on a contrasting color scheme.

For those of you interested in package deals, Warlord Games sells a "Fire and Brimstone" set with three clergy types, but I passed on that since the ranter doesn't really fit my setting, as nifty as the miniature is...

Filling in the corners

I finally replenished my greenstuff stash with a trip to the Compleat Strategist in Manhattan (strange that it's more convenient for me to take the train to another state than to get to any of the closer hobby stores, but that's carless life for you). Given my idiosyncratic style, my hobby progress was pretty much paralyzed without it. Here are a motley bunch of rebels to get my units up to full strength with no overflow.

To start, some plain Cossack moloitsy. Two from Perry zouaves, one from Gripping Beast dark ages warriors. GB head on the left, other two have Fireforge Mongol heads, all with greenstuffed hat/hair.

Mostly GB Arab bodies with Zouave arms and heads. The tall one is Wargames Factory WSS with a Mongol head, and the officer has Wargames Factory WSS arms.

GB dark ages with a few GB Arab bits. And a short length of wire for the nailbat.

Ditto here.

Flag preview

I want the moloitsy standards to look less geometrical and regular than the ones I made for my registered Cossacks. Here are some I'm working on, repurposed from Napoleonic Opolchenie flags. I printed them in black and white to use as templates, and now I'm painting them, and tweaking the designs as I go.