Face block

To anyone wondering (if anyone is) where I went on FB it´s not because I stopped following anyone, or shut my account..it´s some (IMHO) tosspot at FB has blocked my account.
Why? Could be a couple of reasons including some s**t head has reported me but what for I can´t imagine...they didn´t like my taste in Music?


It could be me using a Name that ain´t my own? Well, that´s actually allowed here (protection of online anonymity) and wether FB thinks everyone should give thier Name and address to FB, then Ok..they can all give US thier names and addresses.
Using a "False name"...that would go for one heck of a lot of the modelling /bod painting community.
And, if you think that using your real Name on your FB Profile  is any protection, think again, they are blocking accounts at random all over, both with nicknames and real names. Today I´ve read 100´s of cases this year alone. I gave up reading them eventually cos the stories were the same,  accounts locked of longtime users, accounts under thier real names, no Explanation..the only way you can find out..Give em a scan of your ID...ie; Break the law.

Anyway, to get back on I´d have to send a scan  of ID, and seeing as me doing that constitutes a crime in this Country and the asking for and recieving of would be aiding and abbetting, I´ll save myself and possibly some poor IT twonk working for the man, the Trouble .

Will I go back? Not on the old account for sure..unless they unlock it...but the only proof of ID they will get from me is the steam off my S++T..and that´s if I´m Feeling generous.


I could open another account..easy enough, create a satellite E-Mail etc but that would be against thier "rules" but seeing as the observance of  international /national laws don´t bother them  why should a "rule" bother me?
Even if i did..what would be the Point? I would build up the old contacts and at some Point down the line the same Thing would happen again.

My advice ? Delete your accounts while you have  Access to them.

Medieval Salt transport

A man can live without Gold or silver, but not without salt.

Often quoted as being "as expensive weight for weight, as Gold" (a statement I cannot find any confirmation for) it certainly influenced the  creation and  destruction of Empires.
A quick scan of the Internet gave These examples , among many others;
 

In China, Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor, (who  apparently is credited with invented writing, the bow and arrow, the cart, and ceramics,  precided over what is considered as  the first salt war.
 

The city of Rome may have begun as a salt-trading Center.
 

The salt mines of Poland led to a vast kingdom in the 16th century, only to be destroyed when Germans brought in sea salt. The Wieliczka Salt Mine in Poland was started in 1280 and went on producing until 2007!!
 

Venice fought and won a war ( War of Ferrara) with Genoa over salt.
 

The gabelle—a hated French salt tax—was enacted in 1286 and maintained until 1790. Because of the gabelles, common salt was of such a high value that it caused mass population shifts and exodus, attracted invaders and caused wars and was one of the causes of the French Revolution.
 

The Moscow uprising of 1648 is sometimes known as the salt riot, started because of the government's replacement of different taxes with a universal salt tax.
 

Thousands of Napoleon's troops died during the French retreat from Moscow due to inadequate wound healing and lowered resistance to disease - the results of salt deficiency.
 

During the american revolutionary war of 1812, salt brine was used to pay soldiers in the field, as the government was too poor to pay them with Money. and during the ACW, Salt production facilities in Saltville, Va., Virginia's Kanawha Valley and Avery Island, Louisiana, were early targets of the Union Army. The North fought for 36 hours to capture Saltville, Va., where the salt works were considered crucial to the Rebel army - so crucial that Confederate President Jefferson Davis offered to waive military service to anyone willing to tend coastal salt kettles to supply the South's war effort.

 

So, you can see it was important...and highly prized in less industrial times, the cost in the mid 14th Cent was 60 times higher when compared to the period just beforeWWI.
 Important because it was used for preservation of foodstuffs and necessary to Keep livestock healthy..an army with sick horses has a huge disadvantage.
Highly prized because it´s production was Manpower intensive, distances from production to end sale/use Long and difficult and therefore costly.

That being the case...any medieval (or come to that pre-motorization) army would have some form of salt supply in the "wagon Train" ..and it would Need guarding.


As far as I can find out, salt was stored and transported in casks (Barrels) .The cask for transport by donkey  was 107 pounds (55 kg)

While salt may or may not have had the same value as Gold it would have been important so it´s Position in the Train would have been central with lots of soldiery (the word soldier Comes from Sal = Salt) around it.

 

Heavy Warriors of the Dead Cavalry (Dark Alliance)

The set has 10 riders in 10 different poses and 10 nags in 5 different poses and 2 foot bods (I haven´t included them here as they will end up as the command for the infantry)
I wasn´t too pleased with the result of painting them as "ghosts" ( like I did with the infantry HERE ) but went for a "scruffy undead with colour" look. Takes longer but IMHO, Looks better....and, I can use them as rebellious scum types.
Also, the horses. I swopped the ones with caparisons from the light warriors set. In Total that means 8 nags in 2 poses but they are the heavy cavalry and the light cavalry having nags with caparisons seems odd to me.

The Things that make the bods (in this set )look undead are minimal..slightly skeletal arms, grimer looking faces and shabby clothing (torn chainmail) and are easily excused which makes  them usefull as veterans.
I suppose it would be difficult, in this scale,  to create an obvious undead look without going for  Skeletons with armour.
The nags are a different case, especially the ones without caparisons, Boney faces, empty eye sockets, ribs  and other bones showing.

Close ups (not of every pose)

Two nags without Caparisons needed to make up the 10 mounts needed for all the riders from the set. . The Flag I found online and printed out.

At some Point I will get some more of These nags. Fill any holes, add a tail and they would be fine for normal medievals.

The "Unholy Orders"

A couple more General pics.

Half orcs (Dark Alliance set 3)

The "themed" set from the range of half-orcs and apart from a couple of bods which, without conversion, can only be used once which is a shame, because the sculpts are really good.
In total, 10 bods, 4 of which are as pairs.

As ever, the complete poses from the set.

Grenadiers. Grenadiers? Ok, the caeser Set of goblins has Grenadier bods so why not the Half Orcs?

Axemen. Obviously they are  reflecting the tree cutting  orcs in one of those films that I can´t remember the Name of.

"They´ve taken the Little ones!!"

Another reference to the films. Pouring molten metal. They could be pressed into Service tipping boiling oil from a Castle wall..or the bucket tipped (or replaced) so they are carrying a load (catapult ammo) but basically...what would you do with 4 lots of These?

 

Bomb carriers. Again, what anyone could do with 4 lots of These I can´t imagine.

Basically, the pouring oil, one of the "they´ve taken the Little ones!" and the Bomb carriers are without conversion, one use bods.  

So..now the conversions...

One of the Hobbit carriers has had the Hobbit surgically removed and a shield from set 2 added. The Bomb carriers relieved of thier burden and pikes added.

The infantry poses based up.

Next?? Heavy warriors of the undead cavalry?

Half Orcs (Dark Alliance Set 2)

4 sprues each with 11 bods. The poses give some conversion possibilities, unlike set 3, but more about that lot in another post.
The Inspiration for these is definately taken from a certain film..but I can´t quite remember which one, a really Long film and something about wizards, a Castle and a seige.
I´ve gone for a "classic" Hollywood colour scheme with this lot, reddish material and humanoid Skin colour.

As ever, the molded flag had to go. Why most manufacturers even bother to  mold a flag or Standard I don´t know, worse still when the dammned Thing is draped in folds around the bods shoulders making it virtually impossible to paint anything decent looking and trying, particually with historic bods, a bloody nightmare!! My Suggestion to the makers, don´t bother, just leave the thick heavy waste of plastic off please. 

The Standard was made in the same way as my Roman Vexillia except the fancy tassles have been left off.

The Standard bearer´s Sword had to be replaced as well, the original one looked like a cricket bat.

And now the conversions. Seeing as the Half Orc set 1 (Pikemen) has only 8 poses per sprue (and two of those look like repeats) and I like the bods on a stand to look slightly different, even if it´s only a head swop, more pikemen are needed. This set gives 6 possible conversions. Set 3, which is more of a film based "theme"set,  has a couple of possible candidates for converting to pikemen, so with These that makes around  16 bods for the pike block, which seems ok. These will make a decent front row.

Ok, Holding a heavy pike in one Hand and a shield in the other is virtually impossible for a Person but These guys are big and strong (although that doesn´t Seem to help them much in that film..they get cut down like straw and the good guys don´t even break into a sweat)



Massed Medieval Cavalry

A mix  of 100 Red faction and Blue faction (loosely based on the  English and French) heavy cavalry.

Not my entire collection of mounted bods, there´s a few more in the wagon Train, another 80 plus in the burgundian, Crusader/Teutonic army and  Norman armies.
Plastic, Metal and Resin, the makes used are  Valdemar, Strelets, Italeri, Airfix and Revell and a lot of conversions.

Close ups of the charging kniggits

The command/waiting cavalry

Medieval Cavalry on the march

Another 6 medieval cavalry to add to the baggage Train.

Bods and nags from Strelets Scottish Army of Robert Bruce and Military Order Sergeants.

Lances and various Hand Held weapons replaced with Florist wire.

Medieval Beggars

A subject not that often covered..the lowest of the low in medieval Society..the beggars.
The males in this set have lost use of thier lower limbs..or lost bits of them entirely, an effect of warfare or work injuries?
This set, in resin,  is from Fredericus -Rex.

The female beggar could be a nun (the crucifix..which I´ve painted up as being wooden..a poor nun would be unlikely to have had such a large crucifix made from metal)   but a poor wandering nun who has taken up the life of a mendicant ..a practice more commonly taken up by Monks. The Nuns usually stayed inside their nunneries,  relying on donations. Nuns such as the  Clarissines, named after St. Clara, who was one of the followers of St. Francis.

The lower limb injuries would probably indicate ex-soldiers or those unfortunate to have been drafted in for a battle.
The levy type soldiers would be less likely to have some form of leg protection so damage to the legs was probably common amongst the "lower orders"on medieval battlefields.

The one on the "skateboard" Spinal injury or lame due to disease or from birth?

Medieval "Zombie attack!!! "

Sometimes a mistake can be made worse. First, taking the wrong turn and then giving to a holy Person...and that attracts  the rest of the "needy"

The Beggar on the left is from Linear -b and the one on the right, Valdemar.

Medieval Civilians

The whole (well, most of ) my collection of civilians.
Lots of different makes, Mainly from Valdemar and  Strelets but also Linear -B, Italeri, Zvezda  and Imex and any others I have forgotten.

Most of the collection. Some haven´t been properly based yet, but a few more are still not that far and still attached to sprues etc.

The women folk

The priesthood.

Some more Close ups from previous Posts.