Monday 27 February 2012

Medieval Businessmen

The set is actually called Medieval Citizens and is created by Erik Trauner of Nikolai. There´s loads of his work to be seen at his Site Diorama Dreamland  and I recommend a visit!
The sculpts are very natural looking, proportional, a good test of this is their balance ..if they are in standing poses, then they should then blance on thier own two feet, and this lot do just that. The sculpting is very delcate/filigrann, (which put my painting skills to the test.:-D) and not suprisingly got top marks at PSR
This set is available from Germania Figuren
Hello to Jonathan from My Tiny Things Blog. Load´s of mini´s goodness, his Middle eastern Buildings are very inspirational!!! 

Saturday 25 February 2012

Medieval Children (at Play)

Possibly my Favourite set in 1/72nd...Alex has really brought the expression of happiness and joy of children at play!!!!


The one picking his nose....a medieval Peter pan? and I love the idea of giving the boy a cooking pot for a helmet!
Father and son.


The pair playing leapfrog come as seperate pieces....and it took a bit of "supporting scaffolding" around the jumping  one while he was glueing

Why is it that I find Alex´s sets so good? THE FACES!!!! :-D





Thursday 23 February 2012

Medieval Litter (Sedan-chair)

A one seater, two horse power, top of the range method of getting around in the middle ages....fluffy dice optional. The second half of the medieval tax collectors set from Valdemar and available  as VA139 treasurer and his personal escort .



A couple of "pre-fit" pics.
Waiting for his lift, Bishop of Bodley, Antonius Bonnifatass
I forgot to take a pic of the inside so the crossbow (there´s one next to him beside the seat) is now not visible.
The only small problem with the set, putting the whole thing together. The horses are seperate and have a small ladder like piece as a connector. No matter how I tried or which glue I used...I failed to join them up. Eventually I came up with a solution. I removed the harnesses  from the horses and replaced them with thin strips of medical sticking plaster.(this stuff) Using the little ladder connector as a template I constructed a new carrying bar out of  cut and sanded down lollypop sicks. The new harnesses I  left long enough so that when the carrying bar was added, they could be bent up and rolled into place.
The historical bit. Entree l´empereur Charles IV a Daint-Denis 1378


Tuesday 21 February 2012

Medieval Bathtime

What could be more relaxing (and fun) after a days bullying the peasants and killing dragons than to relax in front of a log fire in a nice warm bath tub?

A bit of historical background. I´m not too sure about the guy with the dagger!!!!!! 
The two "Fish out of  water" doing thier Yoga excercises :-D

Hello to Pyrrus from King of Epirus Blog. He´s only just started blogging and only just started painting 1/72nd bods....but he´s done a grand start on them

Sunday 19 February 2012

French Knights with assault ladders (Miniart)

All in all, not a bad set..it has it´s faults and they can be read about at PSR
I haven´t painted all the bods in the set, only the brave (or slightly insane) ones climbing the ladder.
A quick test run in ladder usage, here they are trying to climb up to the kingdom of heaven. If you attach the ladder to the base provided,  then using a heated screwdriver, weld the pegs from underneath, then base the whole thing again on a new base it remains freestanding.
Attacking Hugh Jarses´s castle.................or...............................
....................have they just forgotten the Keys???
I tried to attach them after cutting the pegs off the bottom of thier boots...but they just don´t stay put. I used glue but it failed. Who knows, maybe high heeled assault boots were all the rage...

Friday 17 February 2012

King Richard The Lionheart´s return

King Richard Lion Heart is coming home!!!! I´ve given him as a "generic" look as there seems to be sooooo many pictorial versions of him on the web.
The bods and nags are from Valdemars Tax collector set, the rest of which will get finished later

And the bods are removeable so they can be used elsewhere and I  can re-use the base :-D




Wednesday 15 February 2012

Swiss Pikes and command

A new series of 1/72nd Swiss infantry for the Burgundian wars period.
The infantry for the Pike block are made by Frank Ziegler, the command by Alex
The marching bods are available from Germania Figuren as will the rest of them when they come out.
You can see more pics here
Frank plans to make fighting poses including Lance and Halbardiers
Me, I will make them into a pike block but there are two questions; bearing in mind there are so far 32 marching poses, some of which can be included in a "fighting block"
1. What material should they be  for wargaming?
2. How many fighting poses to make a good looking block for wargaming?


The above three sets were painted by Michael from Germania Figuren






Monday 13 February 2012

Vexillum (How to)

After seeing this excellent set of Roman commanders from Strelets, I decided to plan another small Roman Legion. This one I´ll name Aduitrix II after seeing Simons excellent representation of this legion on his blog TheBigRedbatCave

First though, the soldiers need recruiting and they need banners for thier units so...some need making :-D



Stuff needed. Pliers, thin metal file, florists wire, thin steel wire, some copperwire, tweezers, woodglue (not in pic) and some printed Vexillia patterns. I´ve painted above the prints to form the backs when folded. The paint has a tendency to soak through and destroy the pattern when painting the actual back of the print 
Make the spear head as here. A bit below the spearhead, make a groove using the file. This is so the crossbar fits without slipping up and down
Make a hole at the top of the folded pattern and push the shaft through. Smear some glue onto the inside of the pattern, insert the crossbar wire and fold shut. The copper wire is then wound around under the spearhead and down to the crossbar. Cut the copperwire off just below the pattern and using the tweezers fold the wire back on itsself. This makes a little loop where  a blob of woodglue can be added to form the "weights". 
The pic is a  bit dark, but basically just paint the copper wire dark brown or black and the bottom of the pattern and the "weights" gold. 

The senate discusses the Emporers idea to raise a new legion….

...and after many hours of discussion it is agreed upon....Hail Caeser!!!!!



 So now the standard can be given out and the recruiting of the 1st Cohort LegII Aduitrix can begin!!!
"Come to join the legion? Yes? Go along the path and go to the left. next! The legion? yes? go along the…"


Really annoying thing. The blogroll...it appears to have jammed..nothing more can be added to it. I  had a trick, carry on as normal..when it came to saving a new blog it would just stop. All I did was log out and the new blog would be added but even that has stopped now! Apparently the only way around it is to delete the blogroll gadget and start again!!!! What a pain in the ****!!

Saturday 11 February 2012

Khandibarian Infantry

Well, the 1st half of them....
Stands made up using Esci Muslim Warriors, Hat Dervish Warriors, and Caesar Arab Camel Riders and Bedouin.


Many many thanks to Paul, proud owner of The man Cave blog, for creating a  La Figoblogotheque best blog Finalist badge which, seeing as I dropped out, I don´t think I deserve, but it was a great idea and a wonderfull thought, cheers mate :-D
Who else was in the Final? Saxon Dog and Tiny solitary soldiers blogs.   
Congratulations on coming top, to  Fran  of the  Angry Lurker   Blog. 
The best french language blog was won by Pousse plomb
The best other language Blog was Wargaming historyczno-fantastyczny 
PS..I´ve said it a couple of times already, but if you aren´t on the blog roll at   La Figoblogotheque then drop along and register.