15mm Hussite Army

This is a 15mm Hussite army that I was commissioned to do for a customer in America...and may I take this as an opportunity to say happy Thanksgiving to any readers in America and around the world...
The army was completed a while ago and was to represent the earlier Hussites commanded by Jan Zizka. The infantry and cavalry were fairly simple to sort out and are a mix of Essex Miniatures and Donnington Miniatures, it was just a case of getting the equipment, armour and clothing correct for this earlier period. The wagons were a different matter however. Many 15mm figure companies produce war wagons, but the more research I did the sooner I came to realise that none of them produced a wagon that was appropriate or accurate for the Hussites. The main issue was that the side panels were too low (and subsequently any competent enemy archer would have easily picked them off, or anyone with a long spear for that matter). The fighting crew needed to be enclosed within the wagon and therefore had to be damned hard for any Imperialist Crusader to hit. The best option I found was made by Minifigs in their Hussites War range... yes, good old Minifigs! They even had the defensive boards that went below the wagons to stop any sneaky enemy soldiers crawling underneath. All I needed to do was to raise the side panels higher, and prop them up with steel pins! The finished wagons look the part I think. What is annoying (but good news really) is that Museum Miniatures are now producing a proper Hussite wagon, and I will be getting some of them soon for the same customer in America. Hope you like the pics!

Just to show its not all about wagons....here are the infantry!

Prayers for the dead sinner! Who's next?!?

Below: The Cavalry units...a mix of Bohemian nobles supporting the cause, and lesser armoured Hussite cavalry.

And Finally the commanders:

Jan Zizka the man himself. I converted him from a Donnington Miniatures French Hundred Years War Personality figure, as nobody seemed to produce anything that came close to looking like him.

I was really pleased with how this army turned out, and so was the customer!

28mm Foundry Napoleonics British 28th Foot

I was busily in the midst of another very large Lord of the Rings commission and needed a little break from wizards, trolls and such like...I was looking through some old boxes of figures and found these fellows. A drummer and NCO from Wargames Foundry painted as the 28th Foot. They had been painted years ago and just needed rebasing.
I think the 28th must be one of my favourite regiments as I always seem to end up painting them, they seem to get in on every campaign/war. The 28th are well known for their action at Alexandria in Egypt...they were attacked to front and rear by enemy cavalry and their colonel calmly gave the order "28th, rear rank only, right about face" and the regiment repelled the enemy on both sides.
Well that's my break over - back to painting more LOTR baddies... somebody has to stop Frodo Baggins!

Perry Miniatures Napoleonic French

As I have been putting pictures of the defenders of La Haie Sainte at Waterloo I thought it only right to show some of those who attacked the place...French Line Infantry in greatcoats. These fellows are the 1st Battalion 54th Line, part of the 1st Infantry Brigade, 1st Division of D'Erlon's Corps. The figures are Perry Miniatures.

Perry Miniatures 1st Nassau Voltiguers and Grenadiers

1st Nassau Grenadier Company

 

 

Back to 1815 - Waterloo and the defence of La Haie Sainte - two companies of the 1st Nassauers, the Grenadier and Light companies. These were sent to reinforce the 2nd Light Battalion of the King's German Legion, the last troops to reach the farm house before it fell. They made good use of their camp kettles to put out the fires that the French had started. This was just before La Haie Sainte finally fell.

Below is the Voltiguer Company:

 





15mm Corvus Belli Romans

In 15mm I have moved on from Ancient Greeks to Ancient Romans, Early Imperial Romans to be precise. These are all for sale on Ebay now, in units of 24 figures. They are based on 40x15 MDF bases, 4 figures to a base as per FOG/DBA/DBM rules etc, but as they are painted to order the basing can be changed, as can the shield designs. These guys are in lorica segmentata, the classical look for the Romans.

 

 

 

 

I have also done a unit in chainmail, I suppose the two types of armour could be mixed but I feel there should be a more uniform appearance; at the end of the day it is doubtful if the Roman army was a democracy...a big nasty centurion would have made sure everybody had the right equipment at the right time. Pretty much like any disciplined and trained army:

 

 

And the final type of unit is the Romans in Winter dress. I am very impressed with Corvus Belli Early Imperial Romans. They are good quality castings and paint up brilliantly. I order them from Vexillia Ltd their UK stockist...they provide an excellent service and the postal turnaround is amazingly fast! It doesn't take long to get my paint covered hands on these lovely figures!