Kushite Warriors and Pets

 

Our 'World Cinema' location in the Painting Challenge asks for something that is 'elsewhere from where you live'. Well, as I look at our snow covered environs I can think of nothing more 'elsewhere' than a bunch of half-naked desert dwellers, a lion, and a passel of African baboons capering around Egypt.

Lady Sarah on the pier overlooking Regina's (frozen) Wascana Lake.

Yep, here we have a group of fierce Kushite warriors, along with their even fiercer house pets. I saw these on the Footsore Miniature website and had to get a set. 

I understand that the warriors of Kush would wear animal hides and paint their bodies with vermillion and white ash - now, really, how much more fashion-forward can you get? Seriously though, I quite like the high-contrast effect of the white alongside the red. I think I may need more of these...

I don't know how the whole half-starved-lion-on-a-leash-thing worked, but I have a hunch that it probably resulted in a lot of OH&S paperwork from partially eaten handlers. 

Apparently the Kushites used baboons like guard dogs. Recalling my recent viewing of 'Planet of the Apes', I'm thinking, 'What could possibly go wrong?'  For a bit more colour, I decided to do these three up as Mandrills with their distinctive red and blue faces (though they are on the wrong side of Africa to be entirely correct, but let's not get hung up on specifics). 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great rest of your week!

- Curt

'Sukiyaki the Inscrutable'

Here's a classic for you. 'Sukiyaki The Inscrutable', a Games Workshop chaos warrior, first released waay, waaay back in 1985, and then advertised in White Dwarf 81, September 1986.

I've done him as a Japanese demon, an Oni, or at least a flamboyant multi-chromatic one! As a bit of fun, I indulged myself with portions of his lacquered armour, using some riotous shades from Greenstuff World's 'Colourshift Paints'. After that, I thought a bone breastplate, helmet and sword would be suitably creepy, and provide a counterpoint to the rest of his flashy kit.

'Sukiyaki' is a gift to my good pal, Sidney Roundwood, who is madly working on his to-be-released samurai skirmish rules (which we've already been treated to a tantalising preview). I know Sid has a great affection for Aly Morrison's early Samurai models, so I thought he might enjoy 'Sukiyaki' capering around, causing mischief in some future game.

- Curt

Roadster for Maximillian 1934

  

Hi All!

Up next for me is an additional car for my Maximillian 1934 project. This time we have a single-seat roadster in classic British racing green. 

Similar to my previous tribekka, this model is from Eureka Miniatures. The resin was a little pitted, but it all went together without any fuss.

A quick blast of racing green with the airbrush and I was off to the races with brushing-in the highlights and other details. 

For this jalopy, I've gave it a different front end, which sports twin machine guns. I also mounted a forward firing anti-tank rifle on the right-side cowling (a handy thing to 'encourage' open-lane driving), and finally a rear-firing Maxim for the odd parting shot (burst?).  

For a bit of fun, I mocked-up a drum magazine from milliput for the Maxim simply for the looks-cool-factor.

With a bit of luck, I hope to get another two cars done, along with some motorcycles. Hopefully enough for a good-sized game.

Thanks for popping in for a look!

Two Units of Fodder for Turnip28

I'm back to my Turnip28 project, carrying on from the 'Snobs' to the next formation type: two units of rank-and-file troops, or in T28 parlance: 'The Fodder'. 

In the game, Fodder come in groups of 12 figures, and while they're pretty lousy on the whole, they do benefit from being able to put out a decent curtain of (inaccurate) fire, and can soak up a lot of punishment. Just like what you'd expect from a troop type sporting such a dubious nom de guerre.

The figures are 3d prints from Knucklebone Miniatures. These are fantastic one-piece models which I highly recommend - I printed a duplicate set in a mirror image in order to provide some variation within the units. I also added some chopped-up tufts, coming out of collars and cuffs, along with a few clusters of mushrooms for colour. 

I really like how characterful these figures are, so wonderfully miserable and downtrodden. When grouped together they give a wonderful impression of a shambling mob of dolorous mooks, sadly trudging to their inescapable doom. 

I did-up one unit with red facings as part of my 'Rutabaga Rifles', and another in yellow turnbacks for the 'Fighting Fennel Fusiliers'. I used an airbrush for laying down the base colours and then went in with a brush for some of the details.

I had a bit of fun doing up a rutabaga on one of the standards - not something I thought I'd be painting as a flag device, but when in the Turnip-World you do silly turnip things.

For their yellow opposition, instead of the usual banner, I gave them a spooky Mari Lywd as their standard. For the uninitiated (meaning me until I read up on it), the Mari Lywd was a Welsh wassailing custom, apparently to celebrate nature's growth and renewal. 

It entailed mounting a horses skull on pole, with the person holding it hidden under a sackcloth.  The Mari Lywd and its attendants would go around to local homes, singing and carousing to get free food and drinks. Yes, the Welsh are a wonderfully weird lot. Anyway, I thought it would make an interesting standard for a unit of creepy root vegetable infantry.

Byron was kind enough to make up some sabot bases for me that are similar in design to those I use for my Malta project. 

I had a bit of fun pimping them out with a dice socket (to track panic in the game), along with gratuitous blood spatters in the empty troop sockets to signify when the poor Fodder take a dirt nap. Fun!

The vegetable patch to-date.

Thanks for dropping in folks and have a terrific weekend!

- Curt

Jean de Vallette, Grand Marshal of the Order of Saint John, Defender of Malta 1565

 

Here is another small addition to my Great Siege of Malta collection. Since I have a command stand for Turgut Reis 'The Drawn Sword of Islam', I thought it only fitting to do-up his arch-adversary, Jean Parisot de Vallette, the Grand Marshal of the Order of Saint John and of the Knights of Malta.

Jean de Vallette was 70 years old at the time of the great siege, and while positively ancient in 16th century terms, there are numerous reports of him in the thick of the fighting at the walls - definitely a tough old bird. His command of the defence of the island is considered today as masterful, but also draconian and merciless. He felt he did what he needed to hold out for reinforcements. He and his Order survived the siege and was instrumental in overseeing the reconstruction of the city and its defences after the battle. The capital Valletta, is named after him.

Sarah and I had the pleasure of visiting Malta a few years ago and were delighted to visit many of the sights of the siege around Valletta. The new military museum is absolutely amazing and I highly recommend it to anyone considering a visit to the island. Sarah even visited the Co-Cathedral of St. John where Vallette's crypt resides (being a lazy bugger on holiday, I slept in). 

This is a set from Warlord Games. I'm not 100% sure of the sculptor, but I'm fairly certain it's from the talented hands of Paul Hicks. A lovely trio of models and a wonderful to work on. 

For the brown horses I decided to try something new and did an oil wash of W&N 'VanDyke Brown' with a touch of 'Lamp Black'. It worked fairly well, though I did make a few rookie mistakes here and there. I'd definitely try it again, though with odourless thinner next time - my hobby room still a bit malodorous from this little experiment.

Thanks for dropping in for a look!

- Curt