Opinion request from Steven everyone!

 Message from Steven plus photos...

'Hi Dad, see attached photos of work in progress tanks. I think the ones with hard edge camo, and two colour soft edge camo, are basically okay. 

But I'm concerned about the ones with the three-colour soft edge camo. I worry I have applied too much green and brown, too thickly, so it obscures the colour modulated dunkelgelb too much. You can see the Maus tanks with dunkelgelb only - I will try something different for them so I haven't added their camo yet.

The AI tells me once I have added detailing, panel lining, edge highlights and weathering, they will look much better, but I am still concerned, since AI is so sycophantic. Should I respray the ones I am concerned about, and redo the camo with a bit more moderation?

Comments/opinions appreciated please!

Nearly there - Fantasy Turk 7Hd and 2Ps

 

After these just a unit of Arab 4Bw and Turkish 4Sp to go - though later on I'll no doublt do a load of Tuareg camels and convert some Achaemenid Persian cavalry to make more convincing Arab cavalry!

Putting shields pointing to the front makes it look like some of these are trying to run away - looks a lot better on the table than in the photos! The officer in the blue sash is actually side on and about to slash someone with his sword - just looks like he's got his back to the enemy. Did these as mainly spears with a couple of bows as a kind of unenthusiastic town militia rather than a disorganised mob.

For the Turkish 2Ps I've gone for javelin shield rather than bow - got Arab  bow armed PS and Turkish 3Bw so just adding to the diversity.

I have already got the two remaining units cast and ready for undercoating, part way through painting Austrian Grenadiers and I'm putting together a British 7YW force - figures already cast.

Fantasy Turk 3Cv

 

Six element unit - useful as a lot of relevant DBA armies have up to six elements of 3Cv, and currently I'm now able to field fully armoured on armoured horses, fully armoured rider on unarmoured horse, and these unarmoured types. One example, Black Sheep and White Sheep Turkoman, though I would possibly use Armoured riders on armoured horses for their 3Cv - it's nice to be able to do that.

One thing I perhaps do regret - I didn't paint the 'fez'  under the turban in a different colour. Would probably have been better and I did do it with the light cavalry!

I've got enough 'Turkish' cavalry to field just about any combination of Turkish or Arab armies now. This lot are what I would consider a 'pure' Turkish army - 6 3Cv and 6 2LH. For the general I've substituted the Sarmatian conversion on fully armoured horses as the general. Army list is the all cavalry option of III/11(b) 'Central Asian Turkish 550AD-1330AD, Others. I have enough figures to use this army against the Black Sheep and White Sheep army, though I would probably give them all the armoured horses!

7YW DBA Austrians

 

A few years ago I bought a mixed Garrison/Minifigs 7YW Austrian army for possible future use. Half the army went campaigning in the North and the rest is finally getting sorted... Needs some grenadiers and the hussars are actually Prussian, but it's a good basis and means I can get on with some others. There are still some more figures to do but all I'm doing with them is removing flock, quick coat of gloss paint and rebased.

The figures generally are variable in quality - some have lost their bayonets for example. However, the star of the show is the superb cannon.

Next army I think I'll start is the British army. Meanwhile I've been putting various cavalry figures under the microscope - it's still a mess in that area!

Fantasy Arab Hordes

3 x 7Hd... to cover all of the DBA armies I need another element but this lot will do for now.

No officers or standard bearers - just a rabble mix of swordsmen, spearmen, javelins and a couple of archers.

Getting close to the end of this phase - there are a couple of Turkish Hd elements, some light infantry javelins and 6 elements of Turkish 3Cv currently on the painting desk.  That little lot should enable me to field fantasy versions of most of the Arab/Turkish/Persian armies.

7YW Prussian army Review and DBA army

 

When I originally did this army I didn't give it a Review because... well, it's a lot smaller than my usual armies!

Prussian army as described below. It includes all the elements - Musketeers, Fusiliers, Grenadiers, Cuirassiers and Dragoons. Naturally, for Hussars I had to use the ones dressed in black :)

Interestingly I did do a conversion of  Von Seydlitz, it's just that I put him on a separate base instead of part of an element.

For the DBX army I did an AI question asking for armies and enemies to fit the DBX system. The result for the Prussians and suggested enemy:

'The Primary Matchup: Prussia vs. Austria-Hungary

1. Kingdom of Prussia

·         1x General (Heavy Cavalry): Cuirassiers (Frederick or Seydlitz).

·         1x Heavy Cavalry: Dragoons.

·         1x Light Cavalry: Hussars (Perfect for rapid flank maneuvers).

·         6x Musketeers/Fusiliers (Shot/Musket): The main battle line.

·         2x Grenadiers (Elite Shot): Place these on the flanks of your line to absorb heavy pressure or spearhead an attack.

·         1x Light or Medium Gun (Artillery): Representing Prussia's highly mobile horse artillery or battalion guns.

 2. Austrian Empire

·         1x General (Heavy Cavalry): Cuirassiers (Daun or Loudon).

·         1x Light Cavalry: Hussars.

·         7x Musketeers (Shot/Musket): A deep, resilient white-coated wall.

·         2x Grenadiers (Elite Shot): Your shock infantry to counter the Prussian elite.

·         1x Heavy Gun (Artillery): The famous, devastating Austrian Liechtenstein artillery to smash Prussian lines from afar.

S

Quick 7YW French update

 

I've put the 7YW French Range on Pages.  A quick note on horses - they seem to be interchangeable to a degree, for example one master figure marked 7FC2 is exactly the same as a master figure marked 7FC2/3/4...

I think this is a French 7YW Master mould so I've based my figure ids on the figures on the mould!