Italian Wars Spanish Jinete Light Cavalry

Here is a unit of Spanish Jinete (aka 'ginete' or 'genitour') light cavalry. These lads will serve that much needed reconnaissance/skirmish role in my Italian Wars collection.

These 28mm Perry plastics were painted by my magnificently bearded antipodean pal 'Kiwi', who did an absolutely terrific job with these lads. Thanks mate!

I've embellished them with a few highlights and gave the unit a bunch of the distinctive Jinete heart-shaped shields (sourced from The Assault Group). I also mocked up a Spanish cavalry flag for them after I shamefully discovered I had nothing in my stocks. 

I've based them up similar to my other cavalry, on irregular shaped bases with autumnal groundwork so they look like part of the family. Here they are leading-in a unit of Papal (no, not Paypal) gendarmes (and their baying hunting hounds!).

Next Up: My first entry to the 7th Annual Painting Challenge!

From BrendonW: 28mm Cowboys, Roman Standard Bearer & Challenge Desperado (55 points)

From Brendon:

The entry fee cowboy is 28mm, Foundry, and Metal. Inspired by those blood splattered images in Curts post about the Challenge. My photos are not the best and sorry about his face being out of focus but I am a painter not a photographer. When I ordered from Foundry they were nice enough to send two bonus figures. However they are doubles of ones in the blisters I ordered but I did consider other gun slinging cowboys to send but I think this guys nice and unique looking.  I thought he might like this wounded, hatless, gunslinger.

I don't always paint eyes but I did on this guy. He may be the entry fee but also a thank you for all that hard work in getting our painted figs posted. It's been a blast. Cheers!

The Gladiator is Foundry 28mm metal and the Early Imperial Roman Army Standard is Warlord Games. An unlikely pair really. The Gladiator is a Dimachaerus (bearing two knifes).

What we know about this class of Gladiator is perhaps not as much as we know about other types. It certainly was not one of the more popular classes and thought of as much less noble than other types. That's what is generally thought at the moment in any case. Both painted with Vallejo paints and the Eagle Standard fella had Army Painter Strong Tone Dip painted on but then further highlights once dry and matt varnished.

The Cowboys with guns are Foundry 28mm and gets me very near to completing all the cowboys in my collection.

More members to the Black Hat Gang to cause trouble and mayhem when they go to town. You can see the two amigos, the tall hat twins and, sharp eye.

This is wonderful work Brendon and thank you very much for the excellent desperado. 

I also quite like the 10 gallon hats on those two cowpokes - you could hide a passel of heifers in them there chapeaus! Heehaw!!

The Roman, gladiator, cowboys and desperado will give Brendon 55 points. Well done and thanks again.

From BrendonW: 28mm Dark Age Saxons and Viking Standard Bearer (22 points)

From Brendon:

28mm Gripping Beast Plastic and Foundry Metal.

The three Saxons have heads from the Warriors box and one shield has a LBM decal. The Foundry Viking has a Banner made by me. I found the Raven image doing a google image search and I think it is actually a Tattoo. 

So thanks tattoo artist. Hope you don't mind me using it. The Foundry viking came with a shorter banner pole with a small Raven on its top but it was a very flimsy join to the hand so I removed it as it probably wouldn't last painting let alone gaming.

Wonderful stuff Brendon. These lads are nice and gritty and that raven banner is a brilliant piece of work - bravo! 

These three Saxons and the Viking banner bearer (and the banner itself) will give Brendon 22 points, enough for him to reach is 750 point Challenge target. Congratulations Brendon, well done!

BrendonW: Dystopian Wars 'Empire of the Blazing Sun' Raijin Class War Gyro (15 points)

From Brendon:

Continuing on with my Dystopian Blazing Sun Fleet expansion.

Raijin Class HQ War Gyro. Resin and metal, 1:1200, made by Spartan games.

This flying ship of doom also comes with a floating Node Projector thingy token (it appears in/near enemy fleets and the Gyro uses it to shut down Generators). This model comes in the Strike Flotilla box along with models from a previous submission so now the box is completely painted and I am satisfied.

As usual I paint flying craft in my fleet with the Top Side Green, underside light pale blue with pointy and side areas in colours from my Naval vessels.

The underside is an area I paint very plainly as I figure it is not really seen during games. It's interesting and cool that they sculpted the underside to look like a belly that is ready to drop robot subs into the ocean though. But it does mean a little more detail to paint. It doesn't appear to co-relate to any game functionality though.

Ooh, that is quite the beast! Great work Brendon. I really like the look of the wood decking alongside that wonderful shade of green you've used for the armour plating.  Its also nice to see those towers again.

This hefty fellow will give Brendon 15 points. Great job!

From BrendonW: Dystopian Wars Japanese Robots, Destroyers and Cruisers (25 points)

From Brendon:

I continue to be inspired by the Challenge to remain productive. After sighting some new models I haven't seen before I was inspired to get some more Dystopian toys. Turns out might be some renewed interest at my club as well. So might get a few games in after not playing for possibly over a year.

Spartan Games Resins for Dystopian Wars. There is something about these clean CAD designed models that makes them a delight to collect and paint. Odd ball designs that are at the same time familiar but twisted. No assembly required on these Empire of the Blazing Sun naval vessels nor do I need to do any basing. This does speed things a little but the detail they manage to get on them is amazing.

In this pack of vessels from a time that never was we have some chemical flame throwing brass colored Zarigani Class Small Robots. I gave them two coats of acrylic Gloss to give them a wet look.

Three small rocket delivering Yurgi Class Destroyers.

Three bigger Arashi Class Support Cruisers with forward shooting rotary Rocket systems. Will these incendiary rockets bring hot fiery death to this fleets enemy's? With my playing skill unlikely. Cheers all.

Excellent stuff Brendon. I really like the Dystopian Wars 'universe' and as you say, the quality of their products are superb. I'm a big fan of the look of the Japanese fleet - it has this great 1920s art deco esthetic about it, with many their ships seeming like sea-going locomotives. I've not seen these Arashi Support Cruisers before (are they relatively new?). Those rocket pods look quite formidable.

These fresh additions to the Empire of the Blazing Sun will give Brandon 25 points.

From BrendonW: 30mm Warmachine Warcaster 'Kommander Harkevich' (6 points)

From Brendon:

This one took a while but here he is. 

Kommander Harkevich, The Iron Wolf.  30mm scale, Metal, Privateer Press for Warmachine. 

This is my first Warcaster army leader for my Khador faction force. The warjack BlackIvan has an affinity with this boss. While Black Ivan is in Harkevich's control area he gains boosted range attacks. Sounds good to me. 

Traditional Khador faction colour is red so I stuck with that for parts of this model. It took a lot longer than many other figures I have done recently due to the amount of detail on him and not just his size. 

His large size actually lends itself to taking your time. The illustration of this character shows him with a black beard but I wanted a brighter area against all that darkness around his head. Looking forward to painting some more figures from this range as the sculpts are excellent and the castings top quality.

I must confess that I really don't know much about Warmachine other than it's quite popular in these parts and is considered serious competition to the 40K tournament circuit. From what I've seen of the figures the sculpting and casting quality seem very nice and Brendon's top-notch brush-work takes great advantage of these characterful models.

Kommander Harkevich will give Brendon 6 points. Nicely done and good luck with him Brendon!

From BrendonW: 28mm Early Imperial Romans (56 points)

From Brendon:

Another bunch of toys I got completed.

These are 28mm plastic Imperial Roman Veterans from Warlord Games. I have been slowly building an Early Imperial Roman army (at glacial speed) but I was inspired to build and paint some more recently. This was after reading the most recent 'Macro and Cato' novel 'The Blood Crows'. An excellent Christmas present from the family. Still plenty more of these in my Plastic Mountain but these are the first of the Veterans box for me. The bodies are the same as Romans in the regular Legionaries sets but you get different heads, armoured arms (with different positions) and shields that have seen some action and need repairs or thrown away.

I used the Army Painter method. Paint them base colours then splash on some army painter strong tone dip. I painted the dip on rather than dipping them as it gives me more control. No flock on the bases yet as I haven't flocked any of the previous Romans so far either. Saving that until I have them all painted. As my previous Roman unit standard bearers they are positioned so that if you do not wedge them on the base the standard is not as up-right as you imagine how they should look in a traditional war games army. 

I had this bunch in a very, very close to completed way before a short stay in hospital and being well enough to get them over the line and sent to Curt is excellent. Good health everyone.

Great work Brendon. I quite like the grizzled look of these fellows. I also find it interesting that you mention applying Army Painter stain with a brush instead of using the dip approach. I've used the same method and have found I get better control of the shading effect, keeping it away from parts of the figure I want to keep relatively bright or unstained. 

These eleven Legionnaires will give Brendon 56 points to add to his growing total. Well done.

From BrendonW: 28mm Warmachine Warjack (12 points)

From Brendon:

I started this big ugly fella (about the size of a 40k Dreadnought) before I went and had a Hernia operation. I was terrified before hand but now I am slowly on the mend so it's all onwards and upwards from here.

This figure comes as a blister of metal parts to add/upgrade a plastic Khador faction warjack. I used a warjack from a battle box which gives you two warjacks and a warcaster which is cheaper than buying two individual warjacks. However the individual plastic sets come with different parts/weapons options. 

I didn't paint the eyes in the previous two as they are very small but the metal Black Ivan head has much bigger eyes and it help add a bit more colour. He was not looking right when I thought he was completed so I added red to the piece of armour hanging between his legs which made a big difference in my opinion.

First, its great to have you back with us Brendon! I hope that working on the hobby helps you pass the time while you're on the mend. 

This fellow, like your other one, certainly looks the business! Great job on the weathering and good call with adding the tabard-shaped armour. The red plate helps add interest to the figure overall. While at first glance he seems suitably ferocious I must say the jumbo-sized screws heads at his shoulder joints makes me smile - like some mad industrial arts Geppetto put him together. 

This Warjack will give Brendon 12 points. Well done!

From BrendonW: 15mm WWII German Tiger Tank (7 points)

From Brendon:

15mm Tiger from Battlefront. I have had a desire to paint an early Tiger in Panzer Shadow Grey for a while and I purchased this a while back so the Challenge actually motivated me to finally get him completed. He wasn't ready in time for the Vehicle Bonus challenge but I was considering him for that.

He is on a recent addition to my terrain. Cratered Cobblestone Roads from Gale Force Nine. Should cause some interesting choices in games. The first Tigers deployed was in the Eastern Front in the Leningrad area Late 1942 I think. That's what time period I was aiming for. 

I made a roll for the turret from milliput to help break up the colour a little. I also glued an aerial on. I really like my tanks to look weathered and Tanks with a single colour are just great for adding dust and mud.

That's a great looking Tiger Brendon. I like seeing these Big Lads in early war colours from time to time as it's a nice break from the ubiquitous ambush pattern. The weathering is also very well done, giving this cat a realistic careworn look.

This early Tiger will give Brendon 7 points. Nice job!

From BrendonW: 28mm Dark Age Noble, Hound, Banner Bearer, Peasant & Cart (45 points)

More Dark Age goodness (?) from Brendon:

Here is another group I finished very recently.

28mm Dark Ages. Mounted Noble with a dismounted version is Crusader, Dog is Foundry, Flag Waver, Horn Blower and peasant and cart are Gripping Beast as is the big flag. Decal on the Shield is LBM. 

I didn't feel the need to keep the dismounted figure the same colours as the mounted version. I am really happy to get the baggage cart completed as that means in this challenge I have three larger bases of figures for the Saga escort mission. The big green flag will be a talking point in games for years to come I think.

Wonderful collection of figures Brendon. And, really, who can deny a faithful Irish Wolfhound? Your flag is brilliant! It reminds me of 'The Fighting Man' banner described in Julian Rathbone's excellent  novel 'The Last English King' (highly recommended to any interested in the battles of 1066).

This group will give Brendon 45 points. Very nice!

From BrendonW: 28mm War Machine Warjacks (40 points)

From Brendon:

These 2 big Plastic Warjacks for the War Machine game actually didn't take as long as some figures that are much smaller to complete. 

I think the scale of War Machine is 32mm Heroic. These steam and magic powered metal apes are around 70mm tall including the base. On these heavy metal beasts I wanted to emphasis the Metal as you can see. I started painting some pant chipping on the areas of colour but it was a much better result by using some torn foam from blister packaging that we all have in our hobby stash. 

I used the same basic colours as my Mantic Dwarf army and I might use these as stand ins for a 'Steel Behemoth' in 'Kings of War'. I have based them the same way as my Dwarfs with the interesting black stone and quartz mix. 

I have not played War Machine but it seems to have a bit of interest at my local club at the moment.

I can't profess to know anything about War Machine but these look very cool. I really like the exhaust ports (mufflers?) on the top of their chassis. I also really admire the chipping effect you've achieved from the torn foam - I'll have to remember that for future projects...

These two Warjacks will give Brendon 40 points. Great job!

From BrendonW: 28mm Dark Age Characters (65 points)

From Brendon:

1 x Norman Knight, 2 English Heroes. The Norman is the last mounted plastic (Conquest Games) in my collection so it's a great feeling to have them completed. The other two fellas that have a mounted and unmounted version come from the Dark Ages in England (Harold & Tostig Godwinson). Both metals from Crusader games but one has plastic shields from Gripping Beast with LBM decals. They will make for great looking Kings and Nobles for my Dark Age armys. As you can see the Metal horses look a little smaller than the Plastic Norman but that's no big deal to me.

I had a bit of a stupidity attack when I went to matt spray these and picked the wrong can (German Tank Yellow) but fortunately it wasn't too much time before I had them back to how they should be. It was just a light spray but it did ruin a Viking shield with a nice LBM sticker on it. Lesson learnt.

The Viking King and his daughter are Foundry figures. The Large wolf is from Northstar for the Myths and Legends game. I mounted him on a 40 x 40 base and he will be a 'counts as' model. My 10 year old daughter insisted I painted the girls hair brown like hers so who am I to refuse. I was not sure how to paint the Super Wolf but had an idea in my head after a bit of thinking and I was pleased with the result.

After a week of super hot we went to a Cyclone watch but never got a direct hit but we have had non stop tropical rain for a week or so which means dark days so it made photography very tricky.

Lovely work Brendon. I feel your pain on the matt spray gaff. I am verrry deliberate when I pick up any can of spray now. All of these figures are great but that wolf is particularly awesome - reminds me of the Stark direwolves in the GRR Martin novels. I think I need to get one for my Strange Aeons collection...

These Dark Age heroes and characters will give Brendon 65 points. Well done sir!