A start on the French Army, via some odds and sods.

Before I start, apologies for the quality of the photographs. I don't understand what has happened to my camera, it doesn't seem to want to use the flash.

After their outing at Smoggycon, it was pretty obvious to me that I had overdone the numbers of Cesare's army. They obviously needed an opponent. I have opted to paint up some French, although technically they didnt fight against Cesare, they did fight everone else.

 Whilst starting the army, I strayed onto painting a Hinchliffe wagon. The colour scheme is a bit garish, but I got a bit carried away with the yellow. Still a nice model, and well worth buying, and still at a fairly modest price.

I then wandered into starting some new casuality markers for Pike and Shotte. I managed to pick up a few bases really cheap so I have no excuse in not doing any.

 At Smoggycon, I realised that I needed more generals to lead the various units, so I used up some of my Perry WOR leaders and personalities. I know Margaret of Anjou is stretching things a bit, but she is a lovely figure.

Which led me onto some mercenary Italian gendarmes for the French. When Peter Gilder created these figures under the guise of Connisseur Figures,  way back in the 1980's these were the cutting edge of wargames figures.I think they still hold their own with a lot of ranges. Not cheap, but full of life.

They are helped by banners from Pete's Flags. Colour, colour and more colour, not for the faint hearted.

 I was kindly given some Corvus pikemen by a wargamer called Jason. Again I would like to say thank you for the kind gesture. I am halfway through painting up a French pike block.  Again an old range, but still a great range, but hard to get hold of.

Another unit ready for Smoggycon.

My painting is a bit like buses, they tend to all come at once.
 Anyway John felt that I needed to have some more light cavalry ready for Saturday, so I dashed off these chaps.
 Luckily the Pike and Shotte rules operate in sixes, so painting these boys wasnt a chore.

 I used to have a fair few Citidal figures in my previous renaissance armies, especially my Burgundian one. Who did I sell them to? They are still a nice figure to use, but I dont like the Foundry pricing for them, a tad on the expensive side for figures that are at least 25 years old.

On that note, Hinchliffe have always produced a wonderful range of wagons, especially the renaissance range. This wine wagon, was one of my favaourites, so painting up another one was a real pleasure.
 Also a very reasonable price to currently buy.

 Lastly I had a couple of spare figures, so never being one to waste a nice figure, I have painted him as a sub general. I havent a clue who the manufacturer was but still a nice casting.

 So there we have it, hopefully it will make a colourful display on Saturday, dependent on the weather of course. Hope to see you there.

Gearing up for Smoggycon.

Well next Saturday is Smoggycon in Middlesbrough. John and I are putting a renaissance game on, pending the weather, which according to the Daily Express is expected to be the next ice age.
 Anyway, putting a game on at a show is a great way to focus the mind and paint some more units.

 I have always loved the Hinchliffe gendarme figure, so it was inevitable that I should have a unit.
Well actually that isn't strictly true, because I took delivery of a further unpainted unit today.

 Hopefully, Pete, from Pete's Flags will forgive me from using some Szorza banners to add some colour to them. The Hinchliffe rangs is one of the best value ranges going at £1.65p for a cavalryman, whats not to like about them.

 Anyway I hope to see some new faces at Smoggycon, please come over and introduce yourselves.

Cesare's Swiss Contingent.

 Well I've managed to complete three of my Swiss pike blocks. My intention as stated before was to put all the figures on one base, for ease of movement and to cheat a little and not have to paint as many figures whilst still giving the impression of a large mass.

 The first two photographs are of my Perry troops, a mixture of plastics and metal.

 The next few are of my Connoisseur figures with  the odd Perry thrown in for good luck. They were a delight to paint, and I know are not everyone's cup of tea, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

 The blocks together with some of my new skirmish troops. There will be three sub units for the Swiss.

 The sub unit, with a couple of injures chaps to add interest.

 For some reason I have a bit of a slant towards orange at the moment! It is the colours of my local football team, so perhaps subconsciously I am a secret Northern League fan.

 Finally the blocks en masse. Cesare's army will hopefully receive its first outing at Smoggycon later this month [weather permitting]

Dave Jarvis, master painter.

I've known Dave Jarvis for an awful lot of years. I can remember when he used to sit around John and my display table in Durham, picking up the figures and picking John's brain for tips about painting.
 Little did we know he would turn into a professional painter, and not just any painter.
 If you are lucky enough to see or own a copy of John Ray's new book, A MILITARY GENTLEMAN, then you will see a great number of Dave's painted figures.
 Dave has his own style, and I think that's what I like the best.
 Normally I wouldn't  dream of asking Dave to paint any of my figures because I just couldnt afford it.
 Dave needs to live, and to be fair so do I.
  Dave however very kindly agreed to paint me a few Eureka gendarmes at a very reasonable price. I think he basically felt sorry for me, and I caught him after he had been for a massage. At least that's what he called it.
Anyway without further ado, DAVE JARVIS, painter to the wargames elite, does Eureka Gendarmes.....

 The annoying thing is Dave still uses a lot of enamel paints but somehow does a lovely job of making them look so bright. The unit will represent Cesare's Mounted Guard, hence the lance pennons with his motto Aut Cesar Aut Nihil.

 I think the only consolation is that Dave is such a crap wargames general. But hey you cant be good at everything.

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The Gendarmes just keep on coming.

If you read my sister blog you will know I've had a bit of an accident and I am struggling to paint any figures. Luckily I can just about manage to do some bases.
Hence this unit of Perry figures which I've managed to complete. Again I've mixed metal with plastic to try and give them some heft, and also to jazz the plastic up a bit.

 Wargamers are so lucky now, talk about the golden age, how can any gamer dare to complain about the state of the hobby. Roll on the plastic Pro Gloria landsnects.

 I got a bit carried away with a couple of the figures, and I dont know if it works, but you cant beat a bit of colour.

A Bit more of the Black Bande.

Well, Ive managed to complete the final sub unit of my Black Bande, or so I thought. I have been re reading The Art of War in Italy, where there are several mentions of the Szorza Black Bande,
 and what was of great interest was that Giovanni Szorza having seen the effectiveness of arquebusiers, formed a mounted unit of such which he used as an early form of dragoon. Well I did have a couple of spare flags, so I think the bande might grow a bit more.

 The Black Bande as it stands at the moment.

Anyway, not forgetting my original aim, I have been busy adding to Cesare's Papal contingent, with a unit of pike, with the odd pavise included.I took this idea from the last episode of the Borgias, where the Papal troops storm Forli castle.

 It looks a bit of a motley unit, but that actually was the look I was going for. I bought these figures unpainted off E Bay, and they were advertised as Foundry figures, but I think that is clearly wrong. Still I still like the figures.

 The pike with its sub unit of crossbowmen.

  If everything goes to plan, I hope to have based two units of gendarmes, one of which are a delight to look at. Unfortunately I didnt paint them, still they are mine, and look really fine.