Dead Man's Hand Cavalry

Here are my 7th Cavalry troopers for Dead Man's Hand, ready to shoot some 'red-skin' renegades, or Mexican banditos.  The figures are from Great Escape Games.

Scum and Villainy: Krug the Gellpling

I haven't painted much for my Scum and Villainy collection for a long time. In case you have forgotten, it is basically my own scifi collection inspired by the residence of Mos Eisely and the worlds of Fire Fly/Serenity. There are no particular rules as to what I will include, just anything I have hanging around that I think fits in with my own vision of what the dangerous hinterlands of civilised space would be like. If you like this click on the 'Scum and Villainy' tab on the right and see some of my older figures in the collection. 

Krug is a mercenary from the planet Gellp III. Like all Gellplings he is exceptionally tough and strong, and possessed a stone-like carapace that serves him well as armour. Krug is a gun for hire and can be found adding muscle to pirate crews, scavenging expeditions or in the employ of local crime bosses. He has no morals, and is only loyal to his paymaster (and then only until someone else offers him a better deal). He is, however, very good at what he does. 

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This figure was a freebie from Warlord Games at Salute last year. It is from the Gates of Antares. I have no particular desire to start a Gates of Antares force, but this figure makes a great alien mercenary for my Scum and Villainy range. 

I took this with my new Cannon S120 camera- it's wonderful for macro photography. 

Peninsular Wars: Don Diego and his Followers

Here are a few more Spanish civilians (although they might be guerillas) armed with muskets. These ones are lead by Don Diego, the local mayor, who has managed to escape the French forces who tried to arrest him, and is leading her people in an armed uprising. 

These figures are also from Eureka Miniatures Tyrol range, but I think they make splendid Spaniards. 

Peninsular War: Spanish Civilians

The Spanish people during the Peninsular War  showed a remarkable resilience in their struggles against the French conquerors. In fact they continued the resistant long after their political rulers had given up. It was the spontaneous uprising in 1808 that convinced the English to support them by sending in troops, as well as guns and money, and open up a new front against the Emperor Bonaparte. 

The Spainsh mobs were inspired not just by patriotic fervour, but also by the Spanish Catholic church, who saw the atheist French as the biggest threat to their authority and encouraged the people to rise up, and in many cases even actively participated in the uprisings. 

My Spanish civilians were inspired by those early uprisings and are armed with a motley collection of weapons, from clubs, pitchforks and the of archaic matchlock or fowling piece. I doubt they will be much of a threat to a disciplined line of French infantry, but they have righteous fury and God on their side. 

These figures are from Eureka Miniatures, from their Tyroelian Militia range (found in the Wars of the French Revolution Range). Technically then I guess they are Italian, not Spanish, but they look fine to me. They are actually wearing lederhosen, but it's a simple job to change the look with just just paint, no need to convert them.  The advantage of this range is that they are wielding hand weapons, which makes them ideal as an angry mob, wear as the lovely figures form Perry Miniatures (which I still intend to buy at some point) and the Spanish militia from Eagle Miniatures are all carrying muskets. For a bit of extra variety I sued some of the weapons I had left over form the ECW club-men I painted. Scale wise these figures are quite small and scale well with the Perry and Eagle Miniatures ranges. 
The three little children are from Hassle Free Miniatures. They're proper tiny too. I am even thinking about getting some more and painting them as young hobbit for my Bree/Shire Lord of the Rings game. 

Napoleonic Wars: Hanoverian Militia

Here is my first completed 'battalion' of Hanoverian Landwehr (militia). These are from Warlord games and are plastic models with metal command sections. They will be used as part of my British army force in my peninsular wars (as regular Hanoverians) but have been more specifically painted for Waterloo, for the Earlswood Wargames new Napoleonic project. I have based them on pennies, and am using magnetic movement trays. This on is a prototype, but it isn't strong enough to hold the metal figures in place, so I need to continue to experiment. These chaps were surprising easy to assemble and to paint, compared to Victrix plastics. They are very nice models and I highly recommend them. The flags are included in the box set. 

  Interestingly, the Hanoverians wear British army uniforms and carry the King's Standard because they are part of the British army. The King of England was also the Duke of Handover and when Hanover was seized by the French a good number of it's young men flocked to England to fight for the King in The British army. The Hanoverian Regiments always played second fiddle to the King's German Legion, who always seemed to cream of the best recruits and officers, leaving the Hanoverians with the remaining men, and a reputation for being somewhat unreliable. The Landwehr regiments were raised for Waterloo and equipped by the British. Many of their NCOs and Officers were supplied by the KGL and other British Regiments, but even so they were raw troops, and as such Wellington tended to keep them in reserve, and when they were used on the front line they fought along side the KGL to bolster their moral. 

In reality they Hanoverian Regiments wore shakos, and looked, to all intent and purposes like any other British Army regiment, except for the badge on their backpacks, but that would be boring, so I opted for caps to make them look more distinctive from the KGL and British Army Regulars. 

French and Indian Wars: Major Toby Topping-Smyth, British Army

Now I am in the mood for some more 18th century goodies here is Major Toby Topping-Smyth of the British Army, garrison commander in my fictional American settlement. Topping-Smyth is a somewhat uninspiring character who lacks the finances to buy a better commission, and has lacks the bravery to go out and earn one. Never the less, he represents the King, and and takes his duties to protect the settlers very seriously. Which is fortunate, because with the Canadians, French and Indians threatening the settlers, not to mention the pirates (see previous post), then things are about to get decidedly more challenging for the Major. Will he rise to the challenge, or be proved lacking? Time will tell. 

The figures are by Redoubt. If I can add one more NCO to my force I can field them as a garrison force in On the Seven Seas, so I will get even more use out of them. The good thing about the British Army of the period (1740 up to the AWI) is that they were going all over the globe fighting anybody. As well as the threat of the French and Indians in America, they fought the Spanish in Havana, the fought in the Indian subcontinent against the French and the other sort of Indians (Clive of India), They fought the French (again) and their allies in the Seven Year War in Europe, The fought the Scottish Jacobites in Britain and fought the French (yet again) in Africa! Busy fellows these British army chaps. 

On The Seven Seas: More Pirates

Here are some more pirates for my 'On the Seven Seas' Crew. These are by North Start Miniatures. I love painting these guys- they have just the right amount of detail-flat areas ratio for me, and their faces are very characterful. I have treated myself to some more sailors so I will have a fully crewed ship soon. I have also been watching Black Sails, which is really getting me in the mood!