Donnybrook Diaries.....part......you get the picture!

Following hot on the heels of yesterday's post, here's some more pictures of my pikemen, and also some scenery I've been working on. First up, The pike, photographed using a flash - not quite so good as it should have been, and a bit 'glarey'! Somehow, I've got to work out how to take pictures in a slightly better manner, though I've found that using my camera phone is just as good - if not better - than our family digital camera! The red palette for the NMA coats is a mix of colours, all done with Foundry Paints, but in the following order: Scarlet 38A as a base coat, Bright red 15A as a main coat, and highlights of Scarlet 38B. It's quite subtle, and probably the contrast between all three shades could be slightly increased, but I like it, and it looks slightly better 'in real life'.


Next up is a piece of scenery - a well!. I picked this up years ago, from (I think) Monolith design, and it's been sat around for ages just waiting to be used. A quick undercoat of black, dry brushed in shades of grey, and green for the 'algae', and based up.....job done. Inside, there's a coat of gloss varnish over dark green/brownish paint to represent water. Small details, and all that.......

 Finally, there's a Celtic Cross, picked up from Ainsty at the Partizan Show this summer - the 'Partizan in the Park'! This was an amazing show, and one which will stay in the memory for a while, not least because I got to take part in a fantastic participation WW1 game - 'Operation Gericht' - ran by Sidney Roundwood, alongside an old re-enactment chum and his kids. Here's the link to Sidney's excellent blog, and his Partizan game: http://sidneyroundwood.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/operation-gericht-at-partizan-2014.html

 I've got a cross in my game, as straight away, it sets the scene for somewhere in Scotland, and it's one of those 'multi-use, multi-period' bits of scenery.....expect to see it fought over by Saxons and Picts, or Mediaeval Scots and English, at some stage in the future!

 Last up are a few more pics of my NMA pike, alongside their 'activation card' for Donnybrook. These chaps are classed as Elite troops, so use a d10 for all their particular actions. They have a short sword, and a pike - which gives advantages in hand-to-hand combat. These pictures were taken in natural light, so appear slightly different. Apologies for the layout of my page - still can't get my head round Blogger's page design system. See you soon!

Donnybrook Diaries...Part 6

Phew! It's hard to believe it's been over 5 months since the last post....real life has taken priority, but that's not to say that my Donnybrook ECW project has been ticking over slowly, with bits done here and there. Over the next few days, I'll add more posts detailing what I've been up to, but safe to say it's been fun so far. The biggest factor has been that with this project, I am essentially starting from scratch, in terms of scenery and terrain. Although I've been painting figures, and collecting many more for almost 20 years, I've never really had my own table, or scenery. So making these things - terrain boards, scenery, bits and bobs that add atmosphere to the game and so forth - have also been on the 'to do' list, so it's not just been about painting a group of figures, then being able to game! More of those things soon as well!

Anyway, the last few posts detailed me painting up my NMA pikemen, Well, these chaps have been finished off, and these are the first on the 'to post' itinerary! They are Perry Miniatures, and are mounted on 25mm bases from Warbases. These figures are a joy to paint, and form a unit worth 1 point in a basic game of Donnybrook. Infantry forces in the game consist of either Conscript or raw troops(12 figures), trained troops (8 figures), or elite troops (4 figures). I reasoned that in my scenario set in Scotland in 1650, these New Model Army chaps would be elite.

I've painted these chaps up with yellow facings, and ties (the cords used to do the doublets up, in place of buttons), so that they can be used for other regiments. The beauty of the English Civil War period, is that you can use figures for more that one regiment, or even army. The yellow facings will allow these guys to be used as NMA troops from 1645ish onwards, and Lord Robartes' Parliamentarian regiment from 1642-1644ish, as well as other regiments.

 

Painting these guys was a fairly quick process, using a black undercoat and a mixed palette of Wargames Foundry paints. I used the 'Slate Grey' palette, for the breeches on 3 out of the 4 figures, and the baldricks for the swords are painted in the 'Buff Leather' palette, on 3 out of 4 figures, with the last chap having a 'Rawhide' baldrick. The same process was done with the hose, painting 3 out of the 4 figures with an identical colour. This system makes it much quicker to paint up groups of figures, but still gives an illusion of difference between the individual figures. It's one I'm going to try and use from now on.

 

Anyway, time to be off, but I'll see you soon, with more work from the past few months.