Medjay Nubians patrolling the border

New additions to my Bronze Age collection, this time reinforcements for the New Kingdom Egyptians in the form of Medjay Nubian archers. 28mm miniatures from Wargames Foundry, buildings are an eBay find. 

There is some good news on the development of this army, as I've found lurking in a box of unpainted 15mm Italian Wars figures the Wargames Foundry Pharaoh set and a pack of New Kingdom Egyptian Axemen that I was beginning to question whether I had actually purchased! All this despite having organised my unpainted figures into labelled boxes, it seems my best attempts to be organised suffered a minor set back. At least I didn't purchase the miniatures again. I'm still painting the rest of the Mycenaeans, so expect more updates as these two armies progress.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

New Worlds, Old Wars The Anglo-American Indian Wars 1607-1678

 

I'm quite a fan of Helion books and the latest title to join my shelves is from their Century of the Soldier (1618-1721) series and is titled New Worlds, Old Wars, The Anglo-American Indian Wars 1607-1678 by David Childs. The book covers the wars that blighted the early relationships between settlers and Amerindians.

One thing that struck me when reading this book is that this subject matter is one which is very close to the heart of the author. If you have an interest in the early Anglo settlements in America and their clashes with the indigenous peoples, termed Amerindians by the author then I would suggest that this book is essential reading. 

I found the book insightful into the relationships between the English settlers and the native Amerindians. The contents providing plenty of inspiration for wargames scenarios, ranging from native ambuscades to settler treachery, something I kept in mind while reading as I'm due to receive the Kickstarter rulebook Flint and Feather Contact this year. If you have an interest in colonial warfare and history you can clearly see the attitudes of the early English settlers towards indigenous people, attitudes which were carried forward into future generations as the British Empire was established. There are some particularly unpleasant individuals on the settler side, and it is worth mentioning that settler brutality was not isolated to the indigenous people alone, but was meted out to their own, this is after all within the timeframe of the Salem witch trials. 

New Kingdom Egyptian Archers

First post of the New Year, time has caught me out and appears to be going fast. The Bronze Age project continues with the addition of 28mm Wargames Foundry New Kingdom Egyptian archers. The buildings are an eBay purchase. 

In other painting news, I'm making slow but steady progress on the15mm Hundred Years War English army. I've even found some very old figures in the lead pile that will had some reinforcements, unsure of the manufacturer though. 

I've mostly been reading in my time when not working and looking for new accommodation, so painting time has been limited. I'm hoping February will give me more time to pick my brushes up.

Mycenaean Spearmen 2

Finally, the promised 28mm Newline Miniatures Mycenaean Spearmen. The larger bases will be for Impetus and Hail Caesar games. I'm quite pleased with how the Newline figures have painted up, though would have preferred larger shields. The buildings in the background are from a recent eBay purchase and will be used in Biblical and Crusades games, and might even be used for Sci-Fi. The Crusades is another project I have in the pipeline, there'll be two armies for SAGA and Lion Rampant appearing sometime in 2023 if everything goes to plan.

All that's left is for me to wish everyone 

NADOLIG LLAWEN

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

Hobby Week

Hobby progress has slowed, waiting for an X-ray on my left hand and hoping it's not arthritis. New addition to my rules collection has been Xenos Rampant. I'm not a big Sci-fi gamer but now and then fancy an easy pick up game to use models that I've gathered over the years, mostly because I like them and fancied painting them. I plan to use figures from Gates of Antares, Bad Squidoo Games along with some All Quiet on the Martian Front drones, which will play the part of mechanical space aliens. It will also give me a chance to use the Tenfold Dungeon Facility that I got as part of the Kickstarter. The Facility is a really nice set, I'll take some pictures for a separate post. Gale Force 9 now market the Tenfold Dungeon sets, though as far as I'm aware the Facility hasn't been released. Sets are available from North Star Military Figures.

I've managed to paint up some 15mm Frankish warriors from Gladiator Games, not basing them yet as I want to paint up more from another manufacturer and mix them in. I've also started a 15mm English Hundred Years War army, and made a start on the 28mm New Kingdom Egyptians. Given the difficulty I'm having with my hands at the moment I'm focussing on painting rather than basing at the moment, albeit slower than I'd like. 

Knights of Agincourt

 

Just received a nice little book on the Knights of Agincourt A Roll of Honour by Steve Archibald. This book starts with a synopsis of the battle of Agincourt and provides full colour references for the coats of arms of 159 English and 324 French Knights. I'm predominantly looking at building two smallish 15mm armies for this campaign so I'll be picking out some of the simpler heraldries. The back cover gives a good example of the content. The only downside is I'd have liked details on the individual knights, but this is being harsh.

Highly recommend as a useful source for those contemplating these armies.

Available from Amazon. 

Huns

Firstly, I'm having problems with the blog, in that it wouldn't let me reply to comments or make comments on other blogs that I follow (which has been very frustrating!). Also it appears that comments made on blog posts haven't been showing up until several days from posting have passed. I've managed to change my settings to permit me to respond to comments made on my blog, so apologies to Aly and Jonathan for not accepting or replying sooner. But I still can't comment on other blogs. I haven't got the spare time to figure out what has happened and how to fix it this week, but I'm on annual leave next week so hopefully will be able to return to normality. The whole thing seems to have happened randomly, I'm quite perplexed to say the least.

On the wargaming front my reading list is getting ever longer and time more limited, but I've picked up the Osprey Combat series on Hunnic Warrior versus Late Roman Cavalryman. This will be my easy reading tomorrow, going from reviews and a quick flick through this looks a decent offering from Osprey. I've also got my hands on a copy of Wargaming Campaigns by Henry Hyde which I've has just arrived as I write this post. I'm really looking forward to  reading this latest offering as I thoroughly enjoyed The Wargaming Compendium, so much so that I have it on Kindle as well as hardback! 

Returning to the Huns, I bought this book as I'm working on a 15mm Hun army. Currently on the painting table are some 15mm Huns and Frankish foot and some 28mm Kushite/Nubian archers for the New Kingdom Egyptians. I need to get my basing table sorted out, so I can finish off flocking and tufting the Mycenaean Spearmen, and get them photographed and on the blog. I also plan to sort out my 28mm Wars of the Roses army and see what my options are for splitting and rebasing to get two small armies out, maybe for Lion Rampant. So break time in work this weekend will be mostly planning what to do hobby wise next week when I'm off.