Jan Zizka, as a young mercenary

For my entry to the Historical theme I have Jan Zizka, who was the military leader of the Hussites during their struggles against, well, everyone in Europe it seems. 

As a short backgrounder, the Hussites were a 15th century proto Protestant sect that adhered to the theological arguments of Jan Hus. He preached that fundamental reforms were needed within the Catholic Church to bring it back in line with the religion's underpinnings of humility and simplicity. As one can imagine, Rome had a very dim view on this kind of thing and after promising Hus safe passage to explain himself, took the opportunity to summarily burn him at the stake (as the Inquisition was wont to do). Not surprisingly, Hus' followers in Bohemia (modern day Czech Republic) took a rather dim view of this and so an armed revolt soon broke out.

Jan Zizka, previously an outlaw and mercenary, was an ardent supporter of Hus and became the military leader of the Hussites. Zizka is considered by many military historians as one of the most gifted commanders of the late medieval period. He trained and galvanized Hus' peasant followers, utilized heavily armed wagon lagers as strongpoints, and defeated not one, but three holy crusades sent to eradicate them. He also quelled civil war within Bohemia and prosecuted a war against Hungary. He never lost a battle, even when he was made completely blind in later life. It is recorded that on his deathbed he desired his body to be flayed and his skin used to furnish drums so he could continue to lead his people into battle. Yep. So. Damn. Hardcore. My grandpa was Czech and enjoyed telling me about Zizka's exploits, so I've done this entry in fond memory of him.

I found a great figure of Zizka by Northern Crusades Miniatures. He's depicted here as a young man, still with one eye in the game, being all medieval and badass. 

Here I imagine him at the titanic battle of Grunnewald in 1410 (which saw the collapse of the Teutonic Order). I've set him against a knight who is rising from his downed mount, ready to carry the fight on foot. Great minis and a real joy to paint. 

Gosh, who knows, maybe there will be more Hussites down the road. Wagons Ho!!

Thanks for dropping in for a look. I hope you have a great weekend!

- Curt

Oni Villains for 'Hametsu'

Back to my Hametsu project. Here are five Oni demons to pit as villains against our intrepid heroes. This is the the first group of five.

I wanted a motley bunch of rogues for the Oni, thinking they should all be unique in their overall look. Thankfully, there are a load of Oni models available on Myminifactory, so I was fairly spoiled for choice.

I printed these at 40mm to make them more opposing when set against the character figures which are around 30-35mm. The red edge on the base is to denote their 180 degree field of vision in the game.

Thanks for popping in. I hope you have a great weekend!

- Curt

10mm Warhammer Fantasy Goblins

For the past few years our local gaming group has been using a fantasy variant of  'To the Strongest' for our 'Old World' of Warhammer games. We've been enjoying a hotly contested map campaign since last spring which is now drawing to its nail-biting conclusion. The hustle-bustle of the campaign has encouraged us to add units to our existing forces, and as a result here we have the Goblins benefitting from this surge in industry on my part. All the models are from Green Skin Miniatures.

In our campaign the Goblins are the spoiler force, run by the GM (me) to add a bit of friction to the players' plans. The little blighters invariably get creamed, but its always fun to see them in action. 

Any self-respecting Goblin commander knows that he needs hordes of infantry, so here we have two fresh mobs of Night Goblins to bolster the Greenskin line of battle.

The combination of 10mm figures and larger bases allowed me to have a little fun in composing the units. As Night Goblins like to imbibe on trippy mushrooms from time to time (meaning ALL the time), I thought a cluster here and there of narcotic fungi would be apropos. 

The next Night Goblin regiment is benefitting from the enthusiastic support of a Snotling Pump Wagon. (If 'support' means getting crushed into red paste by a huge spiked roller.) With friends like these, who needs... Well, nevermind.

So, if one Snotling Pump Wagon is good then a whole unit must be the cat's pyjamas.  Toot! Toot! Parp! Parp!

A battery of Bolt Throwers keen to miss everything they aim at and perhaps hit something they didn't.

Goblin wolf riders doing, you know, wolfy and ridery things.

A horde of hungry Squigs being cajoled and chivied along by their Night Goblin overseers. I had a bit of fun printing squigs in various scales to give the unit more of a unformed look.

And finally, a Goblin commander proudly watching his horde (just before it breaks down into internecine bickering and complete chaos).   

Thanks for popping by!

- Curt