Song of Drums and Shakos Testers and Character Sneak Peek

So the first of my new projects is a squad for use with the rule set Song of Drums and Shakos. Two guys at my club have tried it out and I'm hoping if I bring in a complete squad (7 figures) I can get them to play. To get them painted quickly I am just painting the base colours on and giving them a wash. The first two test figures have been washed in different Army Painter Inks. One in Dark Tone the other in Strong Tone. There are aspects I like about both thus I am having a hard time deciding which to use. What do you all think?

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The left figure is washed in Dark Tone and the right in Strong Tone.

Strong Tone.

Strong Tone.

Strong Tone

Dark Tone.

Dark Tone.

Dark Tone.

Here is a sneak peek of the first three characters for the squad. From left to right; Veteran Private Old Billy Malony, Lieutenant Reginald Grey and Seargent Paddy Donnelly. The Final squad will be representative of a patrol from the Royal Irish Fusiliers campaigning in Spain. 

Sir Henry Grey's First Retained Archers

Here are the first two painted archers of Sir Henry Grey's retinue. For the Dux Britanniarum conversion these will count as a soldier class unit and be paired with a unit of billmen as well. To show that, these archers have some armour and at least a gambeson whilst the archers of the militia class are mainly in cloth and have a few gambesons.

Third Bondi Painted

I apologize for the lack of updates. I have been busy with school and had a serious case of the lazy but I have still been building and painting in the last few weeks. So today I decided to take some pictures and flood my blog with new posts. To start here is the third Bondi of my SAGA warband. This project has fallen down the list of priorities to be replaced with my 15mm Bolt Action platoon as the top project to complete (half way there!). Anyways here is the fellow painted primarily by using washes although future figures will be completely done by washing unless they are important enough to warrant my time to make them stand out. Made his cloak from greenstuff but not entirely happy with it, need to practice more.

Little Update

Sorry for the silence. I have two exams this week so I've been busy studying for those as well as at a wedding this weekend. Therefore not much painting has happened and I haven't had a chance to take pictures of two archers and a viking bondi that are done. The good news is I may be starting a 15mm WWII project as well so that will add a bit more variety to the blog.

Man at Arms and Retainer

So between painting SAGA vikings this weekend I completed a dismounted man at arms for my WOTR project. He is made up of bits from the mercenary command sprue, hands and sword with buckler from the WOTR command sprue and a mounted man at arms head. I wanted a man at arms wielding a pole axe and pointing like you can build with the WOTR set, but I wanted him wearing a coat over his armour and a turban. The conversion was simple, cut away the hands from the WOTR set and then took off the equivalent of them from the mercenaries set, made sure they fit flush then glued them on. All and all pretty simple and I feel it turned out well. These minor conversions I am doing are heavily inspired by the ones Captain Blood on the Lead Adventure Forum does, they really add a little extra character to the force. As always comments and criticism is encouraged.

To break up what I was painting (the vikings) I whipped together the first mounted retainer of Sir Henry Grey. He is lightly armoured and I have yet to decide if I want to make him the banner bearer or just have him as is. He is wearing leather soled hosen so no shoes or boots. I've seen a few manuscript images depicting this from the later half of the 15th century and I figured it would be a good way to make it seem he was less well armoured than his lord. His horse is about 80% complete and I'll try to finish it off tonight.

First Point of Hearthguard Complete

... well save for basing which I will do once I get my hands on some mdf bases. Finished the three other Hirðmen to go with the first one I painted last week. I've also found a historical gaming club in my city who've recently started playing SAGA and on Wednesday after lecture I will be going to their club night to hopefully play some SAGA, with borrowed minis as I won't have a full warband by then. Next on the SAGA list is to finish painting the WF bonar and build another unit of Hirðmen. Anyways as always comments and criticism is encouraged.

Secret Santa Wishlist

So over at the Blog with No Name ( http://walladvantage2.blogspot.ca/2012/10/last-call-for-santa.html ) a secret Santa is being organised and I decided I'd like to join in. I am new to the miniature blogging community but very much would like to become involved in it. So here is my wishlist for whatever sucker draws me. Also it is good to note that historical miniatures are hard to come by here in Toronto so I would recommend checking with one of these two stores. First the closer is Meeple Mart (http://www.meeplemart.com/) which carries a lot of variety but doesn't always have what they say in stock, think they are also having issues with Perry Miniatures about keeping a steady supply. Second is North Bay Hobbies and Games (http://www.northbaygamesandhobbies.ca/) who are run by the fantastic Terry! He has great stock and has more product than is listed on his site. On top of that he has flat rate $7 shipping within the province and lower prices than Meeple Mart.

Perry Miniatures:

Italian Light Infantry http://www.perry-miniatures.com/product_info.php?cPath=23_64&products_id=2752

Italian Handgunners Skirmishing http://www.perry-miniatures.com/product_info.php?cPath=23_64&products_id=2754

Crusader Cavalry Command: http://www.perry-miniatures.com/product_info.php?cPath=23_33_52&products_id=1760 (I know I don't have a project going for these but I love the figures and I could maybe do a Norman SAGA warband in the future.)

Crusader Cavalry: http://www.perry-miniatures.com/product_info.php?cPath=23_33_52&products_id=1762

Gripping Beast:

Viking Bondi Command http://www.grippingbeast.com/product.php?ItemID=2541

Viking Bondi http://www.grippingbeast.com/product.php?ItemID=2542

Njál http://www.grippingbeast.com/product.php?ItemID=268441439

Gunnar http://www.grippingbeast.com/product.php?ItemID=268441438

Baccus 6mm:

Prussian Grenadiers: https://www.baccus6mm.com/index.php?content=products/syw&detail=syw

Prussian Jaegers: https://www.baccus6mm.com/index.php?content=products/syw&detail=syw

If something catches my eye later I will edit it in.