Happy New Year 2019

"wasn´t I standing here last year?" 

This year wasn´t too bad  Hobbywise
I actually got down to painting about 90% of the stuff I bought and some from the stash, 423 bods, 56 mounted bods, 1 cannon, 3 wagons, 4 pigs, 4 dogs, 1 horse,  5 tables, 4 benches, A Bridge, a house and 1 pack mule.

What became of the plans for this year ? One came to past..the ACW Project was added to but sadly, yet again, Bodstonia got left out 😞 So similar to the Goals of last year.

Plans for next year? More ACW, if not create any storylines I can at least paint up some bods for Bodstonia...and -----?----well, whatever else takes my fancy.          

                                                                                                           
Medieval Guards on duty (2)                          
Medieval Plunder                                            
Medieval scottish Heavy Cavalry                                                                  
Medieval Drinking Contest                            
Medieval Gunpowder Castle Artillery            
Medieval Scottish light Cavalry                                                                    
Teutonic Infantry on the March (Pt2)                                                      
Medieval European Mercenaries light horse                                                
Medieval Organ Gun
Mixed Medievals for 1329                              
Swiss pike block - Uri                                    
Welsh archers for Bannockburn                    
Humphrey de Bohun                                                                                
Medieval Sailors                                            
Medieval Welsh Spearmen                            
Medieval Looting Party                                                                        
Medieval "On the March" 1                            
More Crossbowmen for Bannockburn          
The Three Musketeers -  Mesdemoiselles        
John Stewart of Bonkyl                                                                                
William wallace and Andrew Moray                                                              
Ralph de Grendon and friends                                                                        
Anthony Bek and friends                                                                                
Zombie Dogs and Wolfen                                
Medieval citizens I                                          
Medieval citizens II                                          
Medieval citizens III                                                                
US infantry Standing                                    
Confederate Infantry Standing                    
Union Infantry on the March                      
Confederate Infantry on the March                
Bods and Generals (2)                                                                                
US troops in Attack                                        
Pickett´s Charge 1                                          
US Troops in Attack 2                                    
Pikett´s Charge 2                                              
US Infantry in Attack                                      
Union Generals                                                                                              
Ratmen                                                              
Lizard warriors                                                  
ACW Wounded and Messengers                                                                
Goblin warriors 1                                              
Goblin warriors 2                                              

           

Lizardmen Warriors

Oddly, this set Claims 11 poses on the boxart but...in reality, there´s 12!! Not only that..one of the poses shown on the boxart appears to be carrying some sort of standard..and, he aint included in the 12 poses I got in the box.
The rat´s..Box says 12 but there´s only 11, Lizards, box says 11 but there´s 12. Odd?

The usual softish rubbery type plastic favoured by Caesar, no Flash. Two of them have seperate arms which fit without glueing. As with the ratmen, there´s two types of shields, one cresent shaped and the other round and as with the ratmen, in some cases they need glueing.

Couple of Close ups

A doddle to paint due to the lack of clothing, belts and the like,  I went for a "realistic green" and used that colour scheme for the 12 poses  but then thought..."why not have some in purple ?"
I added a bit of Gold to the mix to create a bit of a shimmer which doesn´t really come out in the pics.

...and, if purple, why not blue ? There´s blue versions on the boxart

The whole gang together

The big lizard Comes from the Modern Mounted Amazons set

ACW Wounded and Messengers

Messengers.? Do I really Need them? It might come to a Point where the games will require them but until then...Why not ?

For the confederates and from the Strelets Confederate Command set, the bod representing  , Major John Pelham. If...at any Point, the Project allows for horse artillery, he will be reinstated to his former role.
Luckily, the Strelets Union General Staff set has an ADC who fits the Job as Messenger

The  wounded and dead from the Strelets ACW range. I haven´t painted the bases the old School green yet and nor have I done any blood effects. They are toy soldiers made from plastic...and don´t  contain any blood.......

Pickett´s Charge 1. One casualty. Obviously the Regiment he belongs to  is having a good day.................so far.

Pickett´s Charge 2. Not doing so bad with three casualties but still not as bad as the....

...US Troops in attack (2) with 5 men down! 

US Troops in Attack 1. 

Obviously they could all be painted up as either Confederate or Union bods. Less obvious, unless for a dio..what could they be used for? Casualty markers perhaps. Me, I´d have preferred more actual marching, charging poses..the casualty bods could have been produced as a set seperately. 

Goblin Warriors - 3

Nope, not a third set but some conversions swopping arms between both sets. As the plastic is slightly rubbery the swops are easy. Simply slice of the arm and pin to the new Body using fine steel wire. Any gaps filled with PVA

Slingers got some shields........

......from this pair who got the slingers arms

Arm swop. There´s also a lot of potential for simple weapon swops but adding these six brought the tribe up to a round 30 and I´ve got some other stuff to paint so unless I get some spare time the other conversions will have to wait.

The whole army together

A comparison shot. RedBox Orc, RedBox Goblin, Caesar Goblin

Goblin Warriors - 2

Again from RedBox and again  on the Dark Alliance side,   the set has 48 bods in 12 poses. Like the previous set, a winsy bit of Flash, middle hard cream plastic.

I´ve painted the White Hand of Saruman on the Standard. I could have gone with the red eye of Sauron but I´d already painted the Standard red.

The leader carries a staff...made of ---GULP! a thigh bone!!!

Couple of pics of the others

Goblin Warriors - 1

Redbox is really becoming one of my favourite producers of Bods. Thier War of the Roses Range is excellent and thier Fantasy range...is...well, superb. 
This little lot, on the Dark Alliance side,  has 48 bods in 12 poses. A winsy bit of Flash, middle hard cream plastic.
Armed and using  crossbows, bows, slings and javelins,  this is obviously the Missile section. 

Slings and a javeling thrower. The javelin thrower is using what Looks like an Atlatl to increase the range and power of his javelin.

Crossbows.  Apart from the extra weaponary, these three could represent to process of  a single bod using a crossbow.

Archers

Upcoming from RedBox (some sets may be released spring 2019)
For the Dark Alliance 
-Pirates - "Lord of the Rings"-Umbar 
-Desert peoples - "Lord of the Rings"- Harad
-Eastern peoples  -"Lord of the Rings "- Easterlings
Mummies
Centaurs
Minotaurs
Cyclops.
For the light Alliance.  Hopefully,  the elves will also be based on  LotR. 
Elves - two sets
Rohan
Gondor.

Ratmen - Caesar

A Change from ACW...a bit more Fantasy.

It says on the box...12 poses but there were only 11 different poses in the box. After comparing each of the 11 actual  poses to the 12 pictured on the boxart to find out which one is missing,  I discovered one of the poses on the boxart is repeated...so..conclusion...there´s only 11 poses or, there´s another pose I haven´t got that wasn´t pictured on the Boxart.

Softish rubber style plastic and  as always with Caesar,   there´s virtually no Flash. One of the Ratakins has seperate arms but they fit well without gaps and without glueing. The shields (there´s two types, round or triangular ) don´t fit that well and in some cases need glueing.

Close ups

The Rat on the right, with the round shield,  is shown twice on the Boxart. Reason for the Claim of 12 Ratakins?

Ranged weapons section. Rat on the far left has a sling. I haven´t added bowstrings. The archer on the right has his head in the way and the one on the left, his leg.

Unicorn

Originally a Mount from the Modern Mounted Amazons set which didn´t get used as I gave them Nags to ride.
After sitting in the "to do" draw it´s been painted and based and will go off as a X-mas pressie to a 11 year old Girl who collects Unicorns. I mean, there´s two in the set and who needs TWO unicorns!?

What doesn´t Show up in the pics is that the Unicorn has a silver glitter effect added to the Body..not too much as to be over the top ala, My Little pony....just a Little to add a bit of "Magic" 

Bods and Generals (3)

Another 4  Generals for the ACW Project. All from the Strelets Union General Staff (2)
Chosen more or less at random, the pose being more a deciding factor than  any particular personality from the set.

Whose who, According to the boxart and PSR
Abner Doubleday

In Charge of the cavalry. I painted his Outfit a bit more fancy to reflect his future Career.
George Armstrong Custer. 

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain 

Louis Philippe Albert of Orleans. (Philippe d'Orléans, the Count of Paris) As noted at PSR, an odd sort of Personality to add to the set.

It would be great if Strelets re-released thier Union General Staff 1. A lot of the bods could be used as Regimental or artillery commands, , both Union or Confederate.

Pickett´s Charge 2 - Strelets

17th Tennessee Infantry Regiment.

The officer.

 The bod on the far right. Surrendering or signalling to maintain/hold the line?

 Two brigades.

A couple of Union General staff, the wounded from the various Strelets sets and a couple more scenery/Building  bits and maybe some movement trays to do and another Battle can be fought.

Covered Bridge

A  break from bod painting... couple more bits for the ACW Project, another house and a covered Bridge. Both constructed  using card from cereal boxes and a bit of wall paint.
As with the other Buildings,  durability and Close to the "look" rather  than historical accuracy  being the main considerations..

The First Bridge was, is, still ok but wasn´t quite as versatile as the new one, which can be put anywhere along the river sections. 

US Infantry in Attack 2 - Strelets

The one Thing about painting Union troops...easy but a wee bit tiresome. Easy as it´s  not a lot of effort  due to the same colours for each bod but tiresome for the same reason.

Oddly, they are all in step. Would they be in step when attacking ?

 Flag is the 11th Regiment Maine Volunteer Infantry

I like the officer´s pose, just about to draw his sword.

So, that´s all the Union troops painted, for now.
2 Brigades worth?

As for size, the Strelets and Airfix bods fit well alongside each other.