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| A mix of them shooting arrows and waving swords around... |
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| I've been just casting cavalry recently - Arabs/Turks. Rhoxolani, Goths - and have quite a few in various stages of completion. All while still looking at figures to convert for the infantry moulds.The rest of this year is going to be busy! |
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| Normally I let a mould stand for a month or so to post cure before I start casting. This one I started casting and converting straight away... this lot are the initial proof of concept figures (cast and converted 1 day, painted next day... proof of concept, not masterpieces!) |
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| I realised that I could do with a J/Sh/Bw light cavalry figure so these are 'first attempts'. |
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| These are the infantry figures I had originally intended to do - did 2 robed archers because first one looked a bit short. The infantry spearman is not just a version of the cavalry figure above - that figure is a horse archer, the infantry figure is just spear/javelin and shield. |
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| Hadn't originally intended to do this one - simply basing the cavalry figure - because I didn't think it would work. I did four because I wanted to see if they would make a decent city militia or guard - on balance, think it does work. |
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| This is the mould - quite crowded and has a lot of potential... Rhoxolani, Goths, Fantasy Arabs... |
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| And I've also cast units of Rhoxolani, armoured Arabs and Goths. |
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| When sorting out my Arab conversions I got out some unpainted Jacklex Arabs to see how compatible they would be. Only seemed reasonable to paint them afterwards. |
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| It's a bit sad that Jacklex have gone. For a 20mm version of my War in England in 1897 Rose supply the British and French (ACW!) but not the Russians... happily Jacklex did Russians, happily I had already bought pretty much everything I needed... |
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| Meanwhile, there is always the possibility of doing some Chinese... |
So, although Jacklex has gone I'm not in too bad a situation regarding their figures in future...
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| So, having decided that the Rose colonial figures seemed the best bet, my first move was to start chopping figures up... |
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| Proof of concept figures. The one in the middle is simply the Garrison Mameluke stuck to a base. It makes a good officer and already has a carbine. The carbine looks crude, but that's because it's in a carbine scabbard! Figure on the far left is a standard Rose figure. I could use these unmodified as Ottoman infantry purely using paint. The kneeling figure makes a good uniformed fantasy 'regular'. |
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| Comparison of various figure... overall, although Rose figures are slightly smaller and slimmer than Garrison, they are still basically compatible.Incidentally, I've left the plumes on all the figures - easier to cut plumes off figures that don't need them than add plumes to ones that do! One thing I hate are head swaps. I can never get them right. |
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| Comparison with Jacklex - they go well together. I'm still working on the new figures - need more choices and then I will have the best ones put on a mould. Pity Jacklex are no more. |
Incidentally, these new figures are causing a problem. I had pretty much sorted out what I wanted for an infantry mould... all these 'new' figures mean that I won't be able to fit everything I want on one mould, not sure I want to have two moulds made!
Note re scale: Minifigs 'invented' 25mm scale and defined it as a 6' tall figure measured to the top of the head - a 23mm tall figure would be 5'6", all these figures are roughly 22-23mm to the top of the head, so close to 'true' 25mm.
Thing is, you get so obsessed with going down one path that you completely overlook other paths... and I'm guilty of that with these fantasy Arabs....
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| I was so obsessed with my fantasy Arabs being in the 'Ancient Wargames' genre that I never ever considered them for other areas - Pulp, for example... here one of my test figures next to a Jacklex (I think!) Arab... so now thinking about extending these figures into the world of Newhaven... |
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| But that leaves me with an issue - Pulp going to need people with guns. I'm thinking one of the Colonial ranges - body swap to produce the basic figure then grind down the pith helment, finish with a green stuff hat band. Further, got at least three possible ranges to use - SKT 28mm, Rose 20mm or Garrison Zulu Wars range . Which then leaves me with an additional problem: What am I going to leave out on the Arab infantry mould to make space for an Arab with a rifle? |
Cavalry figures for the next mould are now with Pete. Some of these figures will then be further converted as Fantasy Arab infantry.
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| Meanwhile I've started with some of the robed infantry figures anyway. The one with the upright spear spear will act as a standard bearer - spear a bit short but... Torso is from the Mameluke, spear arm and robes from my robed Achaemenid Persian conversion. So a conversion made from conversions. A shield from the '25mm' Norman range gives a bit of variation... |
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| Robed swordsmen - the one with the Khmer shield will also serve as an officer! |
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| These are some of the figures done as 'proof of concept'. The one in Turkic clothing is simply a cavalry figure on a base. To do once I get the mould back - robed archer plus Turkic swordsmen, spearmen and archers. Turkic swordsman and archers are just a matter of puttting cavalry figure on a base, Arab robed archer will have the same sort of body swap as the Robed swordsmen, and the Turkic spearmen will get a new arm from an Achaemenid Persian! |
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| Still a bit of tidying up to do on these figures but this is generally the expected composition of the mould. |
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| Rhoxolani Sarmatian cavalry - conversion of Sarmatian cataphract, simply cut down the kontos and add a Dacian officer's shield. Seriously wishing I had photographed these on a different coloured background - white is boring... |
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| Gothic cavalry. Bowcase replaced by sword and figures given slight variations on shields. For standard bearers I'll just use the standard Sarmatian standard bearer but give it a shield... |
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| Lancers plus officer. The officer doesn't carry a bow... These figures will be mounted on a different horse. |
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| Likewise generic Arab cavalry. The swordsman might be used as just another archer as he's got a quiver. The archer and swordsman figures are direct conversions of the 1972 Garrison Mameluke figure FNC1. |
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| Some of the later lance/bow/shield generic later Moslem cavalry - conversion simply consisted of giving the Sarmatian cataphract a shield. Flanked by figures on the horses I expect to use. |
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| And this is the horse I expect to use for the lancers and horse archers. |
These figures should be sent off in a couple of days. When I get the mould back the archer and swordsman will form the basis of infantry archers, swordsmen and officers, not sure yet about the spearman element of the army.
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| With the current heatwave I have to admit I've done virtually nothing over the last couple of weeks. However, I did get round to do a set of walls for the 20mm/1/76th card model of the University I built. |
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| It also gave me a chance to see how the Oxford 1/76th vehicles manage to fit in - look OK. |
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| One of the issues I have making these walls is how to do gates. I'd love to do loads of nice ironwork style gates but finally decided to keep it simple - just another strip of balsa. The photo also shows how crude the build quality of these walls are - very much wargames standard - but look OK on the table. Very much wargames buildings! |
As it's getting cooler I have done some limited casting to get figures together for my next moulds. I have now cast enough figues to be able to convert the figures for two moulds - one with Arab infantry, one with Arab, Gothic and Rhoxolani cavalry.
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| Spotted a new source of figures for my 42mm 1897 figures... and Old Glory were selling the range. So I bought it... Limited range, all Brits and no firing infantry, cavalry or guns but... |
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| The range came with 6 moulds, 25 painted figures and 6 unpainted. The unpainted figures have now been undercoated. |
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| The figures are bigger that Zinnfiguren or Irregular, but roughly the same as Shiny Toy Soldiers - which are now available again. |
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| Meanwhile, I'm looking at my 25mm armies, especially concerning the space they are taking up. So I'm going to pare down my Minifigs figures - first up will be the Minifigs Gauls. The army totals 189 infantry, 20 cavalry and 8 chariots and I'm offering it here first for a straight £200 including UK postage. If it doesn't sell, it just goes back into the army pool... Usual thing, email me if you are interested at garrisonminiatures@gmail.com Later I'll look at my Macedonians, Perians and reduce the Indian and Egyptian armies to more manageable sizes! |
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| Just for completeness - couple of figures from a company that shall not be named and a project that quietly died because said company is just so bad at communicating or sending out figures... |
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| And now for something completely different... 28mm Empress Miniatures Pz1A and American T1E2. The Panzer 1 I've had a while, the T1E2 I bought this year at Partizan. |
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| Second lot are 20mm Whippets from the now defunct Frontline Miniatures... they will be missed. Wish I'd built up stocks but... same is true about Irregular... can't get everything... |
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| With only two infantry figures in the Medieval Era range I've had to look at other ranges to fill the gap. That means either the 25mm Medieval range and the Normans and Saxons ranges/ |
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| So these are my choices... archers from the Normans (the Saxon figure didn't look right), crossbows from the Medieval range. And the result... they pretty much fit though the '20mm' figures are a bit on the slim side. It just shows that, generally speaking, the Garrison 20mm range is really a 25mm range! |
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| Meanwhile, foes... cavalry no problems. The two at the front make good general Muslims from several periods/countries. Standard Sarmatian cavalry with Khmer shields. The two behind are mostly head swap conversions. What I haven't done yet (way behind schedule) is sort out infantry conversions. |
Personal conclusion? Looks promising.
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| Short one to show the combined forces. This is roughly the size I intend to make the Garrison Gallic army... |
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| I have to admit it does look quite impressive. 491 infantry, 78 cavalry and 17 chariots. |
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| Much bigger than my Minifigs host - 150 Gallic warband infantry and 80 Galatians against 135 equivalent Minifigs for a start! |
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| 9 chariots rather than 8. The centre is quite impressive. I plan on roughly doubling the numbers eventually... |
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| 48 Garrison cavalry compared to 20 Minifigs - and no Garrison Ancient Brit light cavalry added yet though there is a command element to let me use the Dacians! |
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| Second of the two cavalry blocks. |
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| Side view of army. Again, light infantry I have far more Garrison - 72 compared to 54. |
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| With both my Garrison and Minifigs armies being sorted, I thought I'd do a Review for each then another one for the combined armies. I'll spread them out over a few days though... |
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| Still got 8 chariots but now 3 45 strong warbands... |
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| Close up of one of the warbands. |
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| Side view of the army. The army has 20 cavalry and 54 light infantry. This army is pretty much surplus to requirements these days so is on my 'downscaling' list - the Garrison army is bigger and growing, this army was always an afterthought and won't be enlarged by me. |
