A side by side view of Prussian Landwehr in 15mm by Essex on the right and Battle Honors on the left. The Battle Honors figures appear more delicate, more carefully proportioned while the Essex figures which one reviewer described as ‘gnomish’ are a little more toy soldierish. Figures are primed white, painted with acrylics and metallic enamels.
Monthly Archives: December 2014
Austrian Infantry
Old Glory with its rather tall figures and exaggerated poses provide a range of Napoleonics. The Austrians are reputed to be their best. These are primed white, washed black, and then detail picked out. Flags are commercial but I do not recall the maker.
What’s New, Puddy Tat?
The website has been active now for several months selling nothing, promoting nothing, getting few visitors, and otherwise settling into a distant backwater of the Internet. Which is all well and good. An original expectation was that I would work on the design of a larger corporate website, something that did not materialize. Instead, I have had a lower level of input into a less noticeable site with limited rights and permissions. And this is where the Little Men came to the rescue.
I have been able to mimic much of the activity on the larger website including the use of mechanisms I would not normally have access to because on this website, I can do whatever I want. Sadly (or not), the content has been more limited than I had hoped. It is not so much a question of material as time. There is so blessed little of it. Even now, I spend much of the week traveling by plane or car and getting very little done. Even so, having this website available has been great at every level.
Of course, there is still more to come, perhaps as inconsequential as what has already been served up. This was meant to be a learning experience and it has been one. It was meant as an exploration and the exploration continues. I can find dozens of websites covering the same ground better presented and better informed. But this is where I learn and so far, it has been great.
SF Adventurers, Civilians and Military
The temptation is to refer to these as Traveller miniatures but some are part of the Laserburn range which had its own unique set of rules. The figures shown are by a variety of companies including Citadel, Laserburn, Martian Metals, and Asgard. There may be others tucked in there but I am not really sure. The figures are over 30 years old give or take a year. These are my only award winning figures having taking first place for SF/Fantasy group at some in the distant past Origins convention. Most of the painting was done with enamels.
15mm had seemed an odd scale for an RPG. RPGs usually relied on larger 25mm and 28mm figures. It did make Traveller unique for its time and facilitated the introduction of the Striker rules for mass combat replacing the earlier simplistic rules found in the original RPG. There were also rules like Snapshot and a later more streamlined version of the Snapshot rules in the Azhanti High Lightning game set that allowed battles using individual figures rather than using multiple based figures. With the Snapshot type rules, figures could use maps of spaceships, outdoor areas, and buildings as handy battlefields. Eventually, Traveller began using 25mm figures with several companies licensed to manufacture them. Licensing really would seem unimportant as any figure could function in a Traveller game but the alien races were pretty unique.
All the figures are nice though I prefer the Laserburn and Citadel (now RAFM) figures. Vehicles have never quite kept up with the range of figures. There are more manufacturers offering vehicles these days but all seem grounded in 20th century technology.
Confederate Cavalry
These are the first metal figures I ever purchased. I bought them to supplement the absence of adequate Confederate cavalry for my set of Airfix American Civil War figures. These are by K & L Thomas who offered an extensive range of figures. They advertised in the hobby magazines I read and had I had more money, I would certainly have purchased more figures. The last entry for them on TMP is listed for 2008 so it is likely the figures are no longer available.
At that time, I had barely enough money for a few boxes of Airfix figures. I had coaxed a friend into purchasing and building his own army and even conceded the far more attractive Union side to him. But his interest soon waned and I found myself without a gaming opponent.
The painting on these figures is what I could muster at that early age. It is not the best but it was good enough. How I could get even this level of detail with the kinds of brushes I had back then I could not guess.
Union Infantry
A mix of figures from Old Glory and Foundry all appearing to be 28mm. Old Glory sculptors seem to revel in off-balance poses and dramatic expressions while the Foundry figures seem more nicely detailed and better proportioned. Except for a handful of Zouaves in the back row, all the figures are painted with acrylics on a black primed surface. The Zouaves in the back row are part of a large set of figures I bought, some of which were already painted. I did not have the heart to repaint the figures and though they are different from my style, I think they fit it well enough. They appear to be primed gray and painted with enamels.
Austrian Infantry
From a huge set of Napoleonic figures, these appear to be Battle Honors figures representing a Hungarian unit in the Austrian army. These were painted with a white base coat, a heavy black wash on top of that, and then, everything else in acrylics except for enamels on the weapons.
The figures are based for Napoleon’s Battles, probably the only attempt by the venerable Avalon Hill company to produce a set of miniature rules. The rules offer a hefty figure scale of 1 infantry figure equals 120 actual men. Even so, most people would find the enormous number of figures required to stage even one of the smaller historical scenarios a bit off putting.
Traveller Mid-Tech Army
A group of 15mm Traveller figures. These were originally produced under The Citadel logo, the label that distributed figures for Games Workshop. The figures were sold either bagged or boxed with a nice brochure describing the military formation represented. Now the figures are produced under the RAFM label, a Canadian company, who according to their website, originally produced the figures for Citadel. For years, I lamented the lack of a source for these figures but they are currently being sold by RAFM.
I painted the figures with bright blue helmets to emulate those worn by the UN and red helmets to emulate the Red Devils of WWII. The dress, a khaki uniform with dark grey body armor, was deliberately kept drab. Figures on the left are newer. The ones on the right are painted with Humbrol enamels and mounted on matboard (now delaminating with age), the ones on the left were painted with Liquitex acrylics and mounted on wooden bases. The enamels are sturdier but not as bright. The figures represent a Tech 2 army for use with GDW’s original Striker rules. RAFM offered low tech troops resembling American infantry from the 50s, mid tech such as those shown and high tech where figures are dressed in battle armor. Figures to the right represent security troops and are painted with an olive drab base overlaid with paint dabs of light green and tan to offer the appearance of camouflage.
The figures are pleasant, easy to paint, and offer a nice range of support for 15mm SF military support.
Renaissance Knights
Large flamboyant figures in 28mm by Foundry, a group of Renaissance-era knights. The online Foundry site shows the armor brightly painted and I have not hesitated to follow suit.
People seem unduly impressed by the candy-stripe lances though the technique is pretty simple. Paint the pike the base color then cut a thin strip of masking tape and wrap it around the lance from base to point. Paint a nice contrasting color, let it dry, and remove the tape. Masking with tape is not too difficult and rather helpful with more intricate patterns on figures this large.
One helpful thing to keep in mind is that horse armor in the period was crafted in both leather and metal. These could be distinguished by the cords used to lace leather armor together, cords absent on metal armor. While metal armor was usually some metallic shade, leather armor was frequently painted in flamboyant colors. It is helpful to be able to spot the difference when painting horse armor from this era.
Middle Ages Army
15mm Essex Late Middle Ages figures. Fair warning that I no longer try for historical accuracy in painting. I am less than convinced by the standards often used to make a determination. Frankly, I just like to know which side is which.
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