91st Highlanders Piper

I have been looking for a long time for a piper for the 91st Highlanders, and I thought I had found just the model in the Foundry range in their Highland Infantry Command blister. When I found I could order this through my FLGS, even better.

Now, I am fully aware of scale creep, and indeed that the Spartan miniatures are on the top end of the 32mm range, some might even say heroic 32mm. However, I have a Reaper colonial figure that fits in quite well, so I thought this would be a similar size to that, smaller, but not noticeably so. I had not taken into account the age of the Foundry line. These guys are from back when 25mm really meant 25mm, so the piper I wanted from the pack really is quite diminutive when compared to the rest of the section. I think I'll paint him up anyway, after all he's just the musician, and not one of the firing line, but I think he may have to be raised up on some kind of mound on his base to make his height, or lack thereof, a little less noticeable. Maybe I'll hide him behind some sandbags.

On the Foundry website, some of the minis look rather heroic in scale, and maybe some of the non-trooper minis are a little taller, but this guy is the same height as a kneeling Spartan mini. This is going to take some thought. Still, I do love the mini, and he comes with pipes and pith helmet, which means no conversion is needed to make him fit with the section in any other way.

Kingdom of Britannia: General Conveyor

This month's challenge was to paint a box!  Well, not quite, but anyway, this little APC will do for packing up a unit of flame-throwers, and sending them up to the front lines of my opponent.

I have made two little additions to the basic model, firstly, I have magnetised the driver, to give me the option of fitting him, or having the hatch closed (I have yet to figure out how I will attach the open hatch as an option, rather than a permanent fixture).

Secondly, I have given attached a little pennant, with the badge of the 91st Highland Infantry (without the crown, as I have seen this version too) as this will be the unit I use with the Conveyor. The other badge on the side is taken from here. Of course, none of these are valid to the Victorian era, but then again, this is steampunk, not historical gaming, so all is good!

As always, when I take pics, you see bits I have to touch up, but it'll do for now.

Kingdom of Britannia: 91st Highlanders

Or, to give them their full title,  91st (Princess Louise's Argyllshire Highlanders) Regiment of Foot. A little bit of touching up of the boots, and basing done last night, and these guys are as done as they're going to be.

Hopefully their musician, will arrive soon as 6 guys alone on the table doesn't do much in Dystopian Legions.

WIP 91st Highlanders

An update on the nearly finished 91st Highland Regiment of foot. Two nights of painting in a row, and I have all but finished these guys. Not my first time attempting tartan, that was a long time back, but the first time I've finished a unit, never mind a model, with all the tartan done. It looks fine on the table, but messy as hell in the close-ups.

Before the tartan:

After the tartan:

Only the hair and a bit of tidying up to do, then they'll be based and finished. I'm still waiting for the piper to arrive, and maybe with a little conversion one of the other minis in the Perry command pack I ordered can do as a Sergeant, or another Lieutenant for my Dystopian Legions forces.

Then it's on to the table with them.

Paint it Red

A couple of shots from last night's Oldies session. WIP of sorts, as both minis are very close to completion. I was struggling to find the mini I wanted to paint for this month's Colore ton Monde, as most of the minis I started to paint at the beginning of the month were blue (more on those in a later post).

In the end I decided to take these two minis with me (and the rest of the Section for the Rifleman, but they were not completed to the same level). I had quite a productive evening, with the knight starting the evening as bare metal, and the rifleman having but a base-coat. I'm especially happy with the way the tartan turned out on the rifleman's trousers. That was mostly down to having good lighting. I may have to invest in a good lamp for painting at home. Of course, the imperfections the camera pick up at this level of zoom are not really all that noticeable to the naked eye, but for a first attempt, I'm happy.

You can read about the conversion and scheme of my 91st Highlander's Section here and  here. Of course the knight will likely find a home in my fledgling Brettonian army.

A New Tool

I bought a new tool today, a sculpting tool made by 'the company who should not be named'. It was bought with the aim of using it to improve my greenstuffing skills, which are, right now, almost non-existent.  However, with said new tool, some green stuff, a sharp craft knife and some olive oil, I sat down and converted a group of 6 Dystopian Legions Riflemen into the beginnings of the 91st Highlanders.

To do so, first I had to trim off the little circle of braiding above the cuff, then I had to GS in some of those fancy pockets the Highland regiments had. All in all, I think it worked out rather well, although, they will look better at a distance on the table with a lick of paint than they do right now, but I'm pleased with the outcome. In two close-ups below, you can see the trimming (in the red circles) and the pockets. The whole section is shown under that. The musician has been ordered, and I hope it arrives in time to be painted with the others so I can get all the tartan out of the way in one go!

 

 In other news, Tamsin over at Wargaming Girl is running a few give-aways over on her blog, to celebrate reaching 100K hits. I have my eye on the third one, but feel free to go over and put your name in the hat. I won't hold it against you!

Kingdon of Britannia: 91st Highlanders, the Plan!

I finally recieved my two Osprey Men-at-arms books I had ordered from Amazon. I am looking forward to reading through them, and inspiration has already struck on two fronts. Firstly, I have found the scheme I wish to use for my Rocket-Hussars who have been patinenly awaiting a coat of paint, and secondly I have found the scheme I wish to use for my third section of Rifleman. I have decided to go with the 91st Highlanders, as shown on the left hand image on the cover of the book (as well as on the plate inside of course).

Whilst this means I can use the figures supplied by Spartan games without too much modification (no need to go all in for the leg swaps to get kilts) to make Highlanders, I will still need to practice my green-stuff skills in making the fancier pockets on the jacket, and I'll have to modify the cuffs slightly. And yes, this does mean I will have to paint the trews tartan, but that was inevitable. At least I can get away without the head swaps I had initially thought I would have to do, although I am not saying never on this, as the odd glengarry in the unit really makes a difference in feel for the unit, and is another way to set them apart (and get round duplicate miniatures), along with a kilted musician to help the unit out, they really should look the part.

I guess this means the South Essex has been put further down the list, as it'll be a long time before I think I'll need to field three units of Line infantry in a game, unless they get recruited to help out my Gun Section. Afterall, I have already used their colours on my first HMG section, and a sergeant. Seems a bit of a demotion for the mighty South Essex, but what can you do?