Cra Diavolo and L'Artillerie Hippomobile

 Received a lovely troopship from Scotland this week.

Amongst the new comers are much needed support for the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and the Kingdom of Naples, or Neoplise Rebels and Regulars depending on your point of view and rules of choice.

First up

Cra Diavolo

  

"On yonder rock reclining,

Behold that bold and fearsome Toad

Fast his hands his carbine hold,

It is his best friend of old"

- The Song of Fra Diavolo

Been wanting a Fra Diavolo figure for years. It was one of those projects that never took flight. 

Finally called on Gavin Syme of Alternative Armies to do the hard part :)

Gavin  graciously offered up this as yet unreleased figure of an opera singer, modified with sword belt.

Brilliant!

Painted by the great Alternative Armies staff it came out a treat.

And here is the inspiration:

"Fra Diavolo" 

Artist Tancredi Scarpelli

And what good is a rebel leader without rebels?

Gianmatteo Tonci of Chimerae Hobby Group has written a series of cracking Flintloque scenarios featuring the exploits of these fine Toads. You may download them by left clicking here.

And another long term project to bolster the Impiralist forces:

L'Artillerie Hoppomobile!

Admittedly inspired by first, the need to use more adorable hippos, and a pun, this gun and crew will provide much needed support to counter insurgency forces and Imperial field armies the length and breadth of Urop.

As usual, painted by the AA staff, I used the Todoroni cavalry officer ad singer painted in artillery crew colours to represent the mounted gunners.

Think the effect is quite nice.

Finally, this fellow:

...is a conversion of the officer figure that can be seen standing next to Fra Diavolo.

Using greenstuff I built up his collar and gave him a plastic staff, then painted and based.

Readers will no doubt have sussed that he is an homage to the excellent film "Brotherhood of the Wolf".

Finished Faccia di Rospo some years ago and he has proudly served as part of the Coalition forces League of Extraordinary Mentalmen ever since although he has always meant to have had ties to the Nepalese partisans.

Hope you have enjoyed your visit.

Thanks for stopping by!

Reviewing the Troops

Recently I've embarked on a project to make sure that all of my Great Britorcn battalions have two standards, both the Kyng's Colour and a Regimental Colour. For the Orcs this was no problem as in fact each battalion already had both. No the trouble lay not in Albion but in Joccia and Taffsea. These battalions are sold with one standard, er... standard. Although come to think on it now, the Guards, needed  second standard as well.

Many of the orc battalions carry standards designed by the good folk at Alternative Armies. For my regiments, the standards are often designed by manipulating an image of one of the "official" standards.

Here now are some photos:

The colour parties of 14 regiments of Greate Britorcn line battalions , ranged by seniority from the 1st Foote Guards on the viewer's left to the as yet unnumbered Toad Hall Fencibles on the left.

>Nine orc, three rat, one hobgoblin, and one weasel battalion all ready to take on the Elven menace. Depending on theatre and time these are brigaded with Al-Garvey goblins, Brewswicke Dwarves, Hunvarian dogs, apes and rabbits of the United Provinzes of Fruit and Veg, units of the Kyng's Giant Legion, or goblin, halfling, and otter sepoys of the HEIC.
Not pictured are the light infantry battalions, horse, and guns.

The HobGobs of Harleck, renowned for their fighting both in Aegypt and Haflingland. The origins of their motto, "Faaaasends of 'Em" is lost to the vagaries of time.

The South Morder Regiment, one time unhappy home of Riekard Sharke. Their motto, I dare not repeat here.

The Strathcarnage and Killmore have a chequered history. During the Mammothite Rebellion they were raised by the supporters of Wee Woolly Prince Charlie. In more tranquil times they were taken into the Albion Line in recognition of their fine fighting skills. Their Mammoth Badge and motto "Aye Sae!" are said to represent their ties to "The King Under the Glacier"

>The Eyes in Gourds, motto: "Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough!".

The BlackWatchit: Motto: "We'll be Coming, We'll be Coming Down the Road" is apparently a reference to this "Tartan Army" being always ready for a Barmy.

The Coldscreamers' Motto "Tha Kyng's Awrite Lads!" hearkens back to their role in putting down the Mammothite Rebellion, where their loyalty to the House of Hunvaria was never in question.

The Toad Hall Fencible Legion, raised by, and at the expense of, Sir Hector Toad, has been taken into the line by a cost conscious Parlement. Their motto is that of the Toad family: "Semper Buffo!"..."Always Toad".

As always, thanks for stopping by!

The Toad Hall Fencible Legion

"In Days of Old,

When Toads Were Bold,

And Ancestors Were Great,

They Used to Pop Off Early,

A Most Remarkable Rate"

- Mr. Toad's Ghost Song

In the 1980's television production of "Wind the Willows", dear Mister Toad sang a song about his ancestors and their ghostly comings and goings. I must confess the notion of Bold Toads has never left me since.

All these years later and my latest troopship from Scotland has brought one of those Toads to Toy Soldier Life.

I present to you The Toad Hall Fencible Legion!

An all arms force the legion boasts forty or so musketeers, two light artillery pieces, and and ten light horse...well "ram" really. 

The Legion was originally raised to deal with some unpleasantness in the Wild Wood. Despite its Fencible origin the Legion has been taken into the Line and has now seen action in Joccia, Guinalea, and Al Garvey, as well as having dealt with various Leveler. Luddite, and plain old Looters back home. 

"Uncle Hector,

He's the Specter,

On Dark and Stormy Nights,

Who Wails and Moans,

And Rattles his Bones,

And Puts Out All the Lights"

- Mr. Toad's Ghost Song

Sir Hector Toad is the Colonel commanding and of course spares no expense in kitting out his lads. Sir Hector is ably assisted by his good friend and loyal subordinate, Major Badger.

The Legion Foot, "The Wild Wooders" are formed in three companies of 13 figures each. Private soldiers are drawn from the stoats, weasels, and ferrets that so trouble honest folk in the environs of Toad Hall. These "scum of the wood" are drilled and kept in line by officers and NCO's drawn from the River Bank and towns; rats, orcs, and...Sir Hector's nephew, Mungo.

Truth be told young Mungo is a bit of a...well that might just be a bit on the nose!

The battalion is rounded out by a colour guard of two weasels, and an orc NCO led by a rat Officer, an orc RSM, and two light guns crewed by rats. Sir Hector imagines that Wild Wooders could be trained to work the guns. However erring on the side of caution, gunners are recruited solely from River Bankers.

The small force of hussars operate in two squadrons of five each, being in the main, ferrets, led by a rat Officer.

The figures arrived on Christmas Eve, in company with three other orders from Alternative Armies, more on those in another post! They are painted to Alternative Armies' usual high standards and Major Badger was converted from General Davvie McBaird by the very kind and talented Sam Croes. The other "stoats, weasels, and ferrets" are simply paint conversions of Joccian Rat models.

I created the standards on Christmas Day and attached them this morning. The battalion colour bears the Toad clan motto "Semper Bufo!" while the cavalry guidon bears an image of the god Pan, said to be the Piper at the Gates of Dawn by folk about the River Bank and Wild Wood.

These figures will primarily be used with Young and Lawford's "Charge!" rules but of course will see use with any number of rule sets over the coming months.

Hope you enjoyed a peek at the wee fellows and thanks for stopping by!

WIP Rospoleon Buffonaparte: The Korsucan Ogre and Emperor of the Elves

This is a project I've had in mind for years whose time finally arrived.

Master of Vendetta in his island home of Korsuca, Rospoleon's ambition led him to seek adventure in the Kingdom of the Elves.

Riding the winds of change, Rospoleon joined the Revolution and ended up an Emperor.

Now all of Urop fears his attentions.

For some reason in the Flintloque/Slaughterloo world of Valon, the Neopolitans are Toads, known as the Todoroni. It is said that the Korsucan's are wild elves.

However I wanted an Emperor figure that would highlight His foreign origin rather than a standard Elf figure.

As the historical Bounaparte was raised speaking Italian I set my sites on the toads.

The search for an imperious looking officer was none too difficult.

The Emperor and his brother Jeremiah, King of Nepolise

The lucky chap being the officer of 56505 Todoroni Militia.

But what of a body? 

I knew from the start that he must be an Ogre. After all, those Albion mother's couldn't frighten their children with tales of "the Korsucan Toad" now could they?

And so I reached out to Alternative Armie's own Gavin Syme for help.

Gavin in turn pointed me towards this fine fellow:

56109 KGL General on Rhino

By God! That will do!

I was given a choice of mount, horse, hippo, or rhino. I decided that Buffonaparte would ride the rhino as a mark of his larger than Toad stature and power.

The plan was to do a simple head swap...however seeing them both together in the bare metal, I saw another possibility.

I was able to cut them diagonally at the shoulder. Head and right shoulder went all vice versa and here they are!

Just a matter of painting and inking with as much ostentatious gold as possible and...

Et Voila

Thanks for stopping by!

The Massed Cavalry of Frederick der Kleine

Finishing touches in place and  here they are:

Video

Photos

Apologies for the adds in the video. They are a requirement of the music owner.

Figures from Alternative Armies

Colonels from Elton Waters

Painting by Alternative Armies

Colonels painted by the Author

Hope you enjoyed the show and thanks for stopping by!