The Scots

 Part of these were a unit in my Scottish Highlanders force for The Pikeman's Lament... I guess they still could be... but they're based a bit different now, so... Probably not... 

When I finally got going again on all the other Swashbucklers I'd originally picked up for playing En Garde, I wondered if I had any other "spare" figures that could be cobbled together into a gang... and I didn't really, but I got it in my head that I needed a scottish gang, so... these got rebased like the rest of them, and I painted up a few more to go with them! 

These are the two newly painted ones... 

The whole gang

The Laird Fionnlagh

Elder Niall from the local presbytery

Diarmad, Fionnlagh's chief lieutenant

Leodhas, Fionnlagh's other trusted  lieutenant

Gillbeart the Piper

Tamhas

Peahair

Sandaidh

Aonghas

Coraidh

Will this be a Scottish gang for En Garde...? Or Flashing Steel? 

Or will a few of them become a Scottish Hunting Party in Devilry Afoot!? 

Given my current interests, probably the latter!!

Campaign Considerations Part One: English Civil War

As mentioned in the Game Plan 2023 (Q1), I’d really like to run some online campaigns this year. I've been thinking about this since sometime in December. It would probably be best to strike while that iron is hot and before the initial inspiration fades. As George S. Patton once said; “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week”. To this end, I have been looking for “low-hanging fruit”. Which would be the quickest and easiest to GET GOING!?

My FIRST plan was to run an English Civil War campaign using Pikeman’s Lament and a campaign system based on the old Mighty Empires. This wouldn’t be a grand, sweeping campaign of the big battles, but rather smaller scale campaign of belligerent, landowning neighbours, far removed from the main action, that are simply making use of the chaos for personal gain and seizing the land from their neighbours in the name of King or Parliament. 

I do have a LOT of English Civil War stuff. At one point I was trying to make armies for DBA-X (on multi-figure bases) AND units for the Pikeman’s Lament (and other skirmishy games) on individual bases. When I gave up on the DBA-style games (for the English Civil War, at least) I had LOADS of miniatures on hand - enough to make seven or eight companies for The Pikeman’s Lament - with options for each beyond a standard 24-point force. 

The problem is, as I got planning those initial forces, I realized that, though I HAVE all the stuff I’d need (and MORE!) a LOT of it is still not painted, and a few of the forces need entire units painted, just to be able to field a 24 point force…. And my painted has slowed to an all-time low… 

I still want to do this, but started to think maybe It’d be better look for other options to START with while I whittle away at these armies. 

This is the state of each of the forces...

(Note: the basic cost of most units - Pike, Shot, Gallopers, Trotters, Dragoons is 4 points, so I'm basically looking to have six standard units for a starting army) 

(Another Note: Though almost ALL companies HAVE a Forlorn Hope, they're not all that useful as they are 6 points each and make it harder to field a force of standard units - I would have to find and take another 6 point unit, OR downgrade a few of the standard units to "raw" to make an even 24 points)

(YET Another Note: Mounted are divided into Gallopers and Trotters. sometimes I refer to them simply as "Horse" - as I haven't really decided which to classify them as. Both are 4 points for a unit of 6) 

Blue Company

Done:

• 2x Pike (12) @ 4 points
• 2x Shot (12) @ 4 points
• 1x Gallopers (6) @ 4 points
• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) (6) @ 6 points 

Total: 26 points

Technically enough points to start... but they don't add up to a neat even 24 points. I COULD downgrade two of the Pike or Shot units to RAW at -1 point each... or I could make one of the other units VETERAN, and drop one of the pike...? OR I could just finish up the three horsemen required to complete the second unit of Horse and lose the Forlorn Hope from the starting roster.

To Do: 

• 1x Horse (6 - 3 need painting to complete)
• 2x Pike (12 - 8 to finish) @ 4 points
• 2x Shot (12 - 11 to finish) @ 4 points

This company has been fully re-based onto the wooden discs and this is what such a  force looks like stuffed into one of my storage drawers. It barely holds this basic company of 30 points... I might need to clear up some more space for these... 

Orange Company 

Done:

• 1x Pike  (12) @ 4 points
• 1x Shot  (12) @ 4 points
• 1x Gallopers (6) @ 4 points
• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) (6) @ 6 points 

Total: 18 points

To Do:

• 1x Pike (8 to finish unit) 
• 1x Shot (9 to finish unit) 
• 1x Dragoons (6) 

Green Company

This one is least ready to go... Not a single unit is FINISHED!? 

To Do:

• 3x Pike  (12) 
• 3x Shot  (12) 
• 2x Horse (6)  

One company that DOESN'T have a forlorn Hope!? 

I DO have an extra Forlorn Hope in the "extras" below...) 

Red Company 

Fair bit of rebasing required here... 

Done:

• 2x Pike  (12) @ 4 points
• 2x Shot  (12) @ 4 Points
• 1xHorse (6) @ 4 Points
• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) @ 6 Points

To Do:

• 1x Pike  (12 - 8 to finish)
• 1x Shot  (12 - 10 to finish)
• 1x Dragoons (6)

Scots Company #1 

Done:

• 3x Pike  (12) @ 4 points
• 2x Shot  (12) @ 4 points
• 2x Horse (6) @ 4 points
• 1x Regimental Gun @ 4 points
• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) @ 6 points

Total: 38 points!?

This force is DONE! (well... they are on washer bases, and at SOME point, I'd like to put them on wooden discs like the rest of the collection... but that is a super LOW priority) 

Scots  Company #2

I do need to re-base most of these... At least the Pike for starters - as they are 8 to a base and need to be split up to make THREE units of Pike. 

Done:

• 3x Pike  (12) @ 4 points
• 2x Shot  (12) @ 4 points
• 1x Horse (6) @ 4 points

total: 24 Points

It's just occurred to me that, since this force has only ONE unit of Horse, maybe THEY should get the Regimental Gun... just so each of the Scots units has a FEW options...

Highland Company 

Not sure if this will be one used in the campaign... I could borrow finished units from the Irish company, below, to make this a viable starting army...? 

Done:

• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) (6) @ 6 Points
• 1x Commanded Shot (archers) (6) @ 2 Points
• 4x Clansmen (12) @ 3 points 

Total: 20 points

To Do:

• 4x Clansmen (12)

Irish Company 

This wasn't a force I was planning to use in this campaign... but while I was doing this, I thought I'd take pictures as it is part of the ECW collection. Perhaps they could be available as mercenaries for any of the other companies, should they have excess gold to spend in the winter phase! 

Done:

• 2x Pike  (12) @ 4 points
• 2x Shot  (12) @ 4 Points
• 1x Gallopers @ 4 Points
• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) @ 6 Points

To Do:

• 2x Pike  (12) @ 4 points
• 2x Shot  (12) @ 4 Points
• 1x Gallopers @ 4 Points
• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) @ 6 Points

Extras

This is MORE stuff that hasn't yet been assigned to a particular company... Some of it can be, others might remain as a pool of available stuff. 

GUNS!

It's kind of ridiculous how many guns I've acquired. I have enough that EACH english company could have TWO (well... a gun and a MORTAR - which there isn't really RULES for, but I'd just use as a gun...) 

Initially these were assigned to specific companies, but there just wasn't space in the drawers for each... and the one I'd done wasn't in any particular colours... so I thought I'd just keep a pool of them in a separate drawer that could be assigned to any force, as required. 

Two of the guns I have are rather on the larger side and I might classify them as Field Guns, rather than Regimental Guns.

DONE:

• 1x Reginemtal Gun @ 4 points

To Do:

• 1x Reginemtal Gun @ 4 points
• 2x Field Guns @ 6 points
• 4x Mortar

Civilians (“clubmen”) 

Like the guns, these don't belong to any particular force. My plan was to use them as extra units to help defenders were defending their home territory (land they started the game with) if they'd experienced significant losses. This was actually a suggestion of Bob Barnetson after one of the previous Hordes of the Things campaigns - allow an army, that has lost a number of Hordes (representing hastily armed locals/civilians) to join the army, so that Armies that had one unlucky game and lost half their army, couldn't just be rolled right back to their capitol and out of the game in one year. 

Defending Army AP - Number of Units of Clubmen Available

• 24+ - None
• 16-23 - one
• 12-15 - two
• 8-11 - three
• 4-7 - four

Done:

• 3x Clubmen (12) 

To Do:

• 2x Clubmen (12) 

Extra Dragoons (and Horse)

These were the latest additions to the collection and haven't really be assigned to companies just yet. The Orange and Red Companies each have one assigned already (because they both have only one unit of Horse, where the others have two), and I have four MORE!? I guess I can add one to each of the English Companies - though I'm not sure where they will be stored (currently stored in a cardboard box near the painting station as there is no room in each of the company's permanent storage drawers?!) 

To Do:

• 4x Dragoons (6) 

Extra Foot

STILL more foot - effectively four more units of Pike and a PILE of officers and another Forlorn Hope. Not sure what to do with all these... 

Actually, as MOST units have six units of Pike/Shot, and Orange only has four, I could assign two more units of pike to them... They'll have less shot then... 

To Do:

• 4x Pike (12) 
• 1x Forlorn Hope (6)

And then there is a smattering of half assembled PLASTIC pike and shot that I acquired at some point... not sure what to do with these. One idea was that if I were to ever run an IN PERSON campaign with these forces, I could have these painted up to give away to the winner...? Or if anyone local had any interest in playing, I might give these away as a starter force...?  

NEED TO DO:

Blue: Horse (3) 

Orange: Pike (8), Shot (9), Dragoons (6) 

Green: 2x Pike (20), 2x Shot (20), 1x Horse (3)

Red: 1x Dragoons (6)

Highland: Clansmen (12)

NICE TO DO:

Blue: Pike (8), Shot (11), Dragoons (6) 

Orange: Dragoons (6) 

Red: Dragoons (6) 

Green: Dragoons (6), Pike (12), Shot (12) 

Highland: Clansmen (24) 

Clubmen (24)

Irish: Pike (24), Shot (30) 

GUNS: 3 guns and 12 Crew 

Mortars: 3 Mortars and 12 Crew 

Conclusion

To field standard units, I need to finish up TEN units - some don't require the complete 6 or 12... but still ten units. Given the rate I've been painting the last year, I feel like the most reasonable rate I could assume I could do is a unit a week and that would mean 10 weeks to have just enough to start... and then I'd have to keep going and get other units finished up - in case armies expanded after the first campaign year! 

Option -Elites/Veterans

One thing I COULD do to significantly reduce the number I NEED to start the campaign, is to allow all forces to start with a significant number of Elite/Veterans. While a Company of standard units (@4 Points) requires 6 units, a Company made up of all veteran units would only need FOUR (Upgrading a unit to Elite or Veteran is +2 points - making them @6 points each). We could say a large number of those under arms in this region are veterans of the 30 Years War....? 

How would these forces look if I was including veterans: 

Blue Company

• 1x Pike (12) @ 4 points
• 2x Shot (12) @ 4 points
• 1x Gallopers (Elite) (6) @ 6 points
• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) (6) @ 6 points 

Total: 24 Points - DONE! 

Orange Company

• 1x Pike (Veteran) (12) @ 6 points
• 1x Shot (Veteran) (12) @ 6 points
• 1x Gallopers (Elite) (6) @ 6 points
• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) (6) @ 6 points 

Total: 24 Points - DONE! 

Red Company

• 1x Pike (Veteran) (12) @ 6 points
• 1x Shot (Veteran) (12) @ 6 points
• 1x Gallopers (Elite) (6) @ 6 points
• 1x Forlorn Hope (Aggressive) (6) @ 6 points 

Total: 24 Points - DONE

Green Company

• 1x Regimental Gun @ 4 points
• 1x Shot (Veteran) (12) @ 4 points
• 1x Gallopers (Elite) (6) @ 6 points
• 1x Trotters (Elite) (6) @ 6 points 

Total: 24 Points - This would require painting 8 Shot, 3 Horse 

The two Scots companies are all finished painting, one company does need re-basing! Wasn't sure If I was even going to include the Highland company... so... 

So... making use of Elite and Veteran units and GUNS... I COULD get this campaign going with only having to paint eight shot and three horse to complete six 24-point Companies to start the campaign... 

I had shifted away from this idea, in recent weeks, being overwhelmed by the number of stuff I figured I still needed to do. The next consideration was the Back of Beyond Campaign - fighting the Russian Civil War in the Far East... Stay tuned for some stock taking and analysis of the feasibility of THAT option! 

ECW - Highlanders

 Could probably be passed off as highlanders from 17-18th century - showing up in either English Civil War forces OR Jacobite rebellion forces... 

It's English Civil War that I've been thinking of most, lately, so... I'm calling them English Civil War highlanders. 

Seven newly painted Highlanders. I think most are from Old Glory...? The archers in the back might be Warlord Games...? 

Iv'e actually been on multiple massive rebasing sprees lately - 40K figures being rebased from metal washer to proper-sized plastic bases, and a mix of historical and fantasy minis being rebased from washers or multi-figure DBA/HOTT bases to individual plastic bases or wooden discs. 

The ECW stuff is going onto wooden discs - and organized into units of 6 or 12 for The Pikeman's Lament.  

I'm trying to get SIX (or seven!?) different forces completed. Scotts lowland/government, Scotts Highland and four English companies (in red, green, blue, and orange uniforms, respectively). The Scottish lowlanders could easily be TWO forces, I have so many of them!? 

the Highland Company, so far... 

• 1x Forlorn Hope (6), Aggressive (in the middle there, the Laird and his closest pals)
• 4x Clansmen (12) 
• 2x Commanded Shot (The Skirmishers up front) 

This adds up to 22 points, and a standard force is 24, so I could upgrade one of the commanded shot to "veteran" for two more points to make it 24... Maybe the ones with bows....? 

There they all are again... 

I did the bow-armed figures on slightly larger bases to put a bit more space between miniatures - to show they are skirmishers - even when in base-to-base contact. The other unit of Commanded shot are on the "standard infantry size" because I though they were part of a larger unit that hasn't been finished yet... upon recounting, I have enough OTHER shot to make three full units, and these are extras... At some point, when I get to painting the others, I'll do six of them on the larger bases - to make clear that they are different from the surrounding units of shot. 

I have loads more to do... Enough that it could be two separate forces. I Highland company and an Irish company (both of which fought together under Montrose). 

I have a unit or Irish shot and a unit of Irish pile that are also painted, but are still on washers. I have two MORE units of each to finish up and that would make 24 points right there - for an Irish mercenary force. 

I have one unit of horse - probably Gallopers - that are on the workbench having recently been rebased (they were on DBA-style multi-figure bases). Most were full painted, but I'm touching up two of them and a sixth mounted figure is being painted to finish off the unit. I could conceivably downgrade ALL of the Irish pike and shot to Raw units and add in the unit of horse and make them elite...? OR just down grade four of the Irish units and add a regular unit of horse... OR downgrade ALL of the Irish pike and shot units and add the Mounted unit AND a unit of commanded shot...? I have enough Irish to do that! 

I also have enough Clansmen to do 2-3 more units of them.. If I had SIX units of Clansmen, the one unit of bow-armed commander "shot", and the Forlorn Hope - that would also be 24 points... I guess I should get working on those last two units of Clansmen! It would be nice to have one more drawer that is FULL of COMPLETELY PAINTED miniatures... 

Now.. WHY am I suddenly working on English Civil War units, suddenly, you may wonder...? and WHY SIX different forces!? I've been thinking about campaigns again and organizing something loosely based on the old, old GW Mighty Empires game... involving a number of minor nobles in a remote part of England (on the border with Scotland). For centuries they have been rivals and fought over who controlled this pasture or that village... None of them necessarily have any strong allegiance to king OR parliament and when they hear the call aren't particularly motivated to send troops - especially when the chaotic situation may mean their neighbours would use their absence as an excuse to take back or take over lands they figure is THEIRS... 

When and HOW will I run this campaign? No idea. Ideally sometime next year. Likely I will run it online - with the players doing the diplomacy via email and submitting moves for their armies once a week (or, every other week?). If an conflict takes place, I play out the battles here and post the results with game reports of the battles and we start all over again...

It may or may not happen... I have a LOT of English that will need to be finished up to be ready... mind you... If I was okay with NOT having the English forces all being in a uniform colours, I could probably use the mix of what I DO have finished to start any time... 

Hmmmmm... 

Watch for details in the new year. 

Highland Commanded Shot

As I finished up the Highland Clansmen I finished up earlier this week, I pulled out these hoping to get them done before my game with Bob on Tuesday. I didn't end up finishing them in time, but as it turns out I didn't need them as I had only 1 point left over to fill and that was filled in with Clubmen.



Highland Commanded Shot. Figures are from Essex Miniatures, Warlord Games, Dixon Miniatures and Eureka Miniatures!

In The Pikeman's Lament, a standard company is 24 points. Most regular units are 4 points each (Pike, Shot, Horse). They can be upgraded or downgraded some (for +2 or -1 points), but at four points 6 standard units makes a nice, neat force... When adding in a Forlorn Hope (such as Robert MacRame and his band of thugs), that kind of messes things up a bit. Instead of having to downgrade a couple units (or upgrade one) to make the points work out, I thought it would be handy to have a 2 point unit of Commanded Shot.  I've just realized however, if he's leading a band made up entirely of clansmen, he'll have no need of the Commanded shot...

Here are a couple ways I was thinking I could field the Scots Royalists..

1x Forlorn Hope (MacRame and his Thugs) @6points
1x Irish Shot @ 4 points
1x Irish Pike @ 4 points
3x Highland Clansmen @ 3 points each
1x Clubmen (local villagers) @ 1 point 

(A mix of Irish and Highland Clansmen - This is the force I fielded in my game with Bob on Tuesday)

1x Forlorn Hope (MacRame and his Thugs) @6points
2x Irish Shot @ 4 points each
2x Irish Pike @ 4 points each

1x Commanded Shot @ 2 points

(mostly Irish - at some point I should pick up another unit of Irish Pike and maybe a unit of dragoons to field as an entirely Irish force - with a NEW Officer! 

1x Forlorn Hope (MacRame and his Thugs) @6points
6x Highland Clansmen @ 3 points each

(All Clansmen, all the time... this would suck against a company largely comprised of Horse!) 

I'm kind of tempted to finish up the rest of the stuff I have earmarked for this force - about two dozen more Clansmen, and a unit each of Irish Pike and Shot... Well that is until I decide to do something daft like rebase all the ECW figures I have on multi-figure bases for DBA and the like... (I've been thinking about it!!) 

Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Probably a round up of May's games, then some Seven Years War British... I started painting them back in February and almost completed them and they've been loitering on the fringes of the painting table ever since - they were so close to being finished I just couldn't put them away in a storage box! The figures are done, I just have to finish a couple of flags. 

More Scots for the English Civil War

Taking a brief break from all the 40K stuff, I decided to finish up a few more Highlanders for a game of Pikeman's Lament I am hosting this evening - so I could bring back Robert MacRame! This small lot means I can now field THREE units of Highland Clansmen. I have enough minis to do another two!



These are the newly painted fellows. Most are from Old Glory, but there's one over on the right that isn't... but I'm not entirely sure where he came from...?



Here is Robert MacRame and all his clansmen (so far!). As I mentioned I have minis for (at least) two more units of clansmen... Ideally I'd like to have six at some point - then I could field an entire company of them (technically I could have eight - if all the units in the force were considered clansmen - but currently MacRame and his personal bodyguard are fielded as a "Forlorn Hope" which is worth twice as many points as a unit of Clansmen)



MacRame and his clansmen backed by a few Irish mercenaries - this is the force I'll be using this evening... Not quite a full 24 points. Perhaps I'll have to upgrade the Irish...

Stay tuned for the after action report of this evenings shenanigans.


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

First will be a report of this evenings game... then perhaps a round up of all the games played in April... then back to painting updates....?

I have a LOT of stuff on the workbench... Terminators for Space Hulk, a Mouse war band for Burrows & Badgers (The Girl picked it up with some of her birthday money, so I though I'd put together a war band of my own to play with her...), some Napoleonic Rifles and Seven Years War British infantry (planning ahead for Rebels and Patriots), other assorted sci-fi bits and bobs for Rogue Trader, a few Tallarn and Drukhari for 40K, a couple of Shadspire war bands for John, and I'm sure a bunch of other stuff I'm forgetting about... I probably need to clear it off and get focused again.

More Dwarven Highlanders (and Reaper Bones III Arrives!)

My penultimate entry for the Lead Adventure Forum’s Lead Painter’s League. Tomorrow the entries for the final round should go up.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):

A batch of Dwarven Highlanders from Black Hat Miniatures.



All of the Highland Dwarves so far... 

These are all being painted and organized into a warband for Dragon Rampant. The new figures from Black Hat will not form a unit on their own – well, some of them will – the Chieftain and a couple attendants will form a unit. The rest of them will be distributed between all the other units of Dwarf Highlanders.

The Clan Chieftain and his guard. I’m not sure if they should be a reduced model unit of Bellicose Foot or count them as Elite Foot…? 

The ordinary units of Highlanders I figured would be Bellicose Foot. I’d considered giving them the “Terrifically Shiny Armour” upgrade, just to make them a bit tougher… But now that I have SIX units of them, it makes sense just to call them plain Bellicose Foot @ 4 points each.

Here are all the Dwarven Highlanders I have painted up so far organized into units for Dragon Rampant: three units of Bellicose Foot plus the Clan Chieftain – whatever he ends up being. I have another three to finish up (which will actually be 30+points when I’m done – more than the “standard” 24 points… but that’s how I roll…).

I suppose this could currently be fielded as a 24 point unit if I called all four units Bellicose Foot with the “Terrifically Shiny Armour” upgrade (the Chieftain being a reduced model unit…).

In addition to this Highland Dwarf Warband, I have a completely separate Mountain Dwarf Warband I’m working on for Dragon Rampant… and they are not always friends… The recently posted Dwarven Rangers are part of the Mountain Dwarf Warband.

In other news…

Our Reaper Bones Kickstarter rewards arrived….

It took some time to origanize all the stuff and make sure whe’d gotten all of the stuff we’d ordered.

Then we needed to split it all up so everyone more or less got what they wanted…

I got most of the Cthulhu stuff – including the Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath, Shub-Niggurath (the Black Goat of the Woods herself), Dagon and some Deep Ones, and something called Frogemoth (which seemed pretty otherworldly/Elder Godly to me…)

I had hoped with the LPL out of the way I would buckle down and got some stuff done for other people that have been sitting on my workbench a little too long… but I think there’s probably going to be a fair bit of assembling, basing and priming this week… of the Reaper stuff as well as a few other things that I’ve been wanting to finish up assembling and priming so they can all go back into their storage boxes and not take up so much space! (unassembled minis take up way more space than assembled ones – and I running out of space!!!)

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Orcs (my last entry to the LPL)?  

15th Battalion, CEF (48th Highlanders)

The 15^th Battalion, CEF, was originally recruited from the 48^th Highlanders of Canada – a militia unit based in Toronto.

This finishes up the 3^rd Brigade (which I should get around to taking a picture of all together) and the last of the Canadian units I need for REGINA TRENCH!

Only two of the figures are entirely newly painted – the Piper and the Infantryman I converted to be carrying a Lewis gun. All others were previously painted – but recently rebased and I did a bit of touching up of most – the helmets and the formation patches, and in a few cases the kilts. The Highland infantry figure that makes up the bulk of the unit (as with the 16^th Battalion (Canadian Scottish) are figures I modeled and cast myself – in fact, this particular figure is the very FIRST figure I ever modeled. They’re not very pretty on close inspection, but I’m hoping in the tide of khaki no one will notice.

The Officer and Piper are from Old Glory Miniatures

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):

15^th Battalion, CEF (48^th Highlanders), 3^rd Brigade, 1^st Canadian Division.

The unit formation patch is a blue triangle over the red patch of the 1^st Division (blue, being the colour or the junior brigade in the division, and a triangle to denote the third battalion within the brigade).

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Terrain… no, really…

(or maybe and update on the 30 Games in 30 Days Challenge)

13th Battalion (Royal Highland Regiment of Canada), CEF

The 13^th was one of many battalions raised by the Royal Highland Regiment of Canada (Black Watch) of Montreal. Three served as regular battalions in the Canadian Corps (the 13^th Battalion in the 1^st Division, the 42^nd Battalion in the 3^rd Division and the 73^rd Battalion in the 4^th Division), the rest supplied drafts of reinforcements to these (and likely other) battalions in the line.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):

13^th Battalion (Royal Highland Regiment of Canada), CEF

Those who are paying close attention will have noticed that there are more troops in this battalion than any of the other battalions I’ve painted so far. 20, in fact, where the others have only 15. This has nothing to do with relative sizes of the battalions at any particular point in the Great War and everything to so with the packaging of miniatures. Old Glory Miniatures packages their Great War highlanders in packs of 10 which include 8 riflemen, a piper and an officer… The Lewis Gunner and Bomber came in a completely different package of “Characters”, which put me at 12… 3 short of the 15 required for a battalion. So, at some point, I broke down and bought a SECOND pack of Higlanders - which gave me another 8 riflemen, a piper and an officer… The piper and officer are being used in another unit (of mostly home-cast figures) and the rest… well I painted them up with the formation patch of the 13^th as I wasn’t going to be making any other units of highlanders using Old Glory Miniatures.

Half of the above figures I painted ages ago – the first pack of ten, then the Lewis gunner and bomber when I picked up the “Character” pack on a separate occasion. Those that I did paint earlier got a bit of a touch up – formation patches were repainted as were the helmets – so everyone would have a matching colour of helmet (originally I’d painted them the same khaki as the serge of their uniforms?)

The originals I painted with a half kilt apron - in the front - and tried painting a Government Sett on the pleats at the rear. The new ones I just painted as a full kilt apron because... well... I was feeling lazy! Though I did repaint the officers trousers - which were originally khaki - to look like trews. 

Detail of the formation patch. The red patch of the First Division surmounted by a blue circle (blue for the middle junior of the division and the circle for the senior battalion within the brigade).

As I mentioned in the last post I recently ordered two more brigades worth of miniatures. One of the manufacturers I ordered from was Gripping Beast/Woodbine Design, who later in the day (or perhaps it was the next day…?) sent a notification that the package had been shipped via UPS and is to arrive later today!? ZOUNDS! While it’s exciting that it will arrive so quickly (considering I also placed an order with Wargames Foundry in May and I haven’t seen or heard anything from them yet… I guess that was just two weeks ago…). I’m a little anxious though as, in the past, when bringing stuff across the US-Canadian border UPS usually charged HORRENDOUS “brokerage fees” – now I don’t mind paying GST to the government – I LIKE roads and fire departments and socialized medicare and such – but the brokerage fees just go to UPS and are essentially extortion – if you don’t pay their fee, you don’t get your stuff! I’m not sure about stuff coming from the UK though… I guess we’ll see later today.

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I have two more battalions of highlanders for the 3^rd Brigade I’ll probably finish up – most of them are painted and just require some touch-ups – so I’ll probably finish them up next. The are mostly made up of the very first miniature I ever sculpted – a Great War Highander! The fourth battalion in the brigade was a regular battalion and I’m not sure what miniatures I’m using for it. I may have ordered enough extras from the Foundry  to do that unit… So I’ll have to wait until they arrive to finish it up.

After that I’ll probably launch into painting up a brigade of the 2^nd Division using the Gripping Beast/Woodbine Design miniatures – though they will require some assembly (separate heads) – not to mention basing and priming… so there may be a bit of a break in posts while I get all of that done. 

43rd Battalion, CEF (Cameron Highlanders of Canada)

I’m on to the 9^th Brigade this week to try and finish up the 3^rd Canadian Division.  I finished up the 7^th Brigade last week, and finished the 8^th Brigade two years ago. After the 43rd Battalion (pictured below) I only have two more battalions (58^th and 116^th) to finish up the 9^th Brigade – as I had painted up the 52^nd (Northern Ontario) Battalion last year.

The initial members of the 43^rd Battalion were recruited by the militia 79^th Regiment (Cameron Highlanders of Canada) in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):

the 43^rd Battalion, CEF (Cameron Highlanders of Canada)

All the figures from this brigade are from Brigade Games. I don’t’ love these Brigade Games highlanders. I’m not saying I hate them, or “they’re awful” or anything – they have a lot going for them; I like the chunky rifles that might survive a fall from the tabletop… They are very simple and easy to paint… I like the kilt arpron… But there are a few things that drive me just crazy. Their jacket looks more like a WW2 battledress jacket (which highlanders, at that time, wore with their kilts…) than the cutaway jacket the highlanders of the Great War were issued. I suppose I could have corrected this with a LOT f green stuff… but I was just too lazy (or, actually, didn’t think of it unitl now… but then also realized I would have been too lazy had I thought of it before…) they have no respirator, but I can live with that. Also the Lewis gunners… first of all, Brigade games doesn’t even MAKE a highlander with a Lewis gun, so I had to convert this team. Second, I am, in general, no fan of prone figures for wargaming – as they take up more space than other figures (and messes up the nice, neat, even lines of figures in my storage drawers), they can’t be stood up in trenches, or be seen when next to hedges or walls, etc. But what drives me REALLY CrAzY is when a light machine-gun team are the ONLY prone  figures in the entire line!? if there were a few crounching and kneeling figures I could live with a prone figure or two – but when EVERYONE ELSE is standing and advancing and the only prone figures are two odd machine gunners… ugh.. so annoying. Because the figures come in packs with two teams one is advancing and one is prone, I briefly considered buying TWO MORE PACKS just to have all four teams advancing like the rest of their units… but as the packs are $16USD that would have meant spending anther $32USD – just to have two more advancing teams… which would be ridiculous.

Oh, and they didn’t even come with a bipod…

(mutter, grumble…)

I digress…

Detail of the formation patch. Grey rectangle of the Third Canadian Division, surmounted by a blue circle – blue for the 3^rd brigade in the division, circle for the senior battalion in the brigade.

One of these things is not like the other (I mean, other than the prone Lewis gun team…).

Okay not ALL of the figures in this unit are from Brigade Games… Terry passed on some spare Great War Miniatures a couple months back, and as I already had a piper for the 42nd Canadian Infantry Battalion (Royal Highland Regiment of Canada) – which are made up of Great War Miniatures figures, I kept this one aside for the time being. When I got to these guys I thought I’d paint him up as a piper I could send along with them. Of course that messes up my 15-figure-per-battalion (which also messes up my storage as 15 figures takes up exactly one and a hlf rows in my drawers… of course the storage situation has already been ruined by the PRONE LEWIS GUN TEAMS… so…)

(I’m just not going to let that go, am I…?)

I had a few spare highland officers so I painted them up and will stick them in the 9^th Brigade  or 3^rd Division headquarters…

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

More of the 9^th Brigade… or possibly some guns…?

Once I finish off the 3^rd Division, I’ll probably get to work on the 1^st Division – as I have some of those miniatures – the 1^st Brigade, at least, and part of the 2^nd.  

Still More Randomness: Dwarves, Highlanders, Dwarf Highlanders…

A few more odd and sundry items rolling off the workbench this week.

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version):

Catachan Demolition Specialist from Games Workshop

Dwavf Warriors from Games Workshop

Dwarf Miners from Games Workshop

An old assassin (or highwayman?) miniature – I think it was from Citadel Miniatures (Games Workshop)

Nun With a Gun from Reaper Miniatures Bones.

Creepy Courtly Advisor from Mega Miniatures

This past weekend I started watching the Outlander TV series (on DVD) with Amanda and got thinking I should paint something in tartan – if not wearing a kilt – so I broke out these lads:

Finished off the last of these early WW2 Highalnders – I can’t remember what tartan I was trying to paint, I just copied what I’d done on the ones I’d previously painted. I seem to recall it was from a regiment that snuck over with their kilts before the ban on kilts in the BEF could be enforced.

The figures are from West Wind Productions.

The rest of the squad (the squad leader from Artizan Designs)

Pulp Figures has a few packs of Highlanders of the same era I’d like to pick up to flesh out the unit at some point…

Finally a Dwarven Highlander from West Wind Productions. Not the best tartan I've ever painted... I was feeling lazy... 

Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

I have a bunch of Skaven on the workbench at the moment – part of a push to finish up a warband (or two) of them. A friend has been making grumblings about checking out Age of Sigmar and getting back into skirmish gaming. He used to play Skaven – and a few years back gave me all his old miniature – figuring he’d never use them again. I rebased a bunch of them for Hordes of the Things a few years back, and have been painting some of the ones that never got painted – and repainting some that had been. I thought I’d try and get a warband finished and see if I could get him to try out A Song of Blades and Heroes. I’d really like to get a campaign of that going at some point…