Bag o' Bastards

 

Just a little ditty to set the tone

  

  Well it has to be said that things have been interesting here at chez Sprinks to say the least. Sprinklings 2: Son of Sprinks and 3: The Revenge have seen a huge spike in their Tourettes symptoms, so much so that both now hit, kick, throw and swear compulsively and in the case of Sprinkling 2 have tics in their legs that mean they require a wheelchair most of the time. To top that off the amazing Mrs Sprinks is having considerable back troubles meaning she is also struggling to get about. However we are muddling through and the kids are taking it in stride as much as possible so it could be worse.

But on the bright side I have finished my 10mm not Mongol army I mentioned Here.  It seems like a trivial thing with everything else going on but it's been surprising just what a great refuge a few hours hobby time can be 

The Bastard sons of the most black'ed Crow ride out to commit some form of dickishness or other!.

  They are a much feared gang of inbread raiders, excelling in ambushing and riding down trader caravans, trafficking contraband, raiding isolated settlements and providing mercenaries for anyone that needs them (and can stomach having them around). They are expert scavengers motivated to feed their greatest and grossest habit, that being the consumption of human flesh which takes on the center of their disgusting religious customs. The Sons are one of many such groups across the wastes that form an uneasy network to swap information and trade stolen goods and captives. When threatened the groups band together for mutual protection and can form an impressive and powerful army...if they can work together long enough.

My basic idea for the theme of the army was basically a medieval fantasy version of the classic American biker gang, but if they were cannibal rednecks. Sort of Sons of Anarchy meets Sawney Bean with a hint of Deliverance and the hills have eyes chucked onto the mix.

The latest additions:

2 units of veterans, mixed Lance and bow to follow the Mongol list I'm using as a base for the army.

The army's nobles. Heads of the extended family that is the Bastard sons.

 A couple of wasteland great eagles raised and trained from chicks by the sons. Most people think these creatures are noble and majestic beasts, however all dwellers of the wastes know them to be pricks. The eagles are used by the Sons for scouting and tracking potential pray.

 These eagles came from a job lot of painted bits off of evilbay, I just based them.

The army is now in a playable condition, I do have extra units of light and veteran horse waiting for paint but I have the required 8 units so I'm calling them done for now.

A Burgundian force attempts not to be eaten by horse riding wasteland loonies.

 If you are wondering why the pictures have an odd black shadow in the bottom corner it's because it turns out I can't be trusted to keep a phone in one piece!.  My device took a nose dive while I was completing some basic household chores and the screen and camera lenses seem to have lost a few hit points in the process. Hopefully I will have it sorted by my next post.

...'till next time...

Q) When's a Mongol not a Mongol?

  A) When he's a Bastard son of the most black'ed Crow.

Simple really.

 I feel I should clarify. Having finished my 10mm Swiss and Burgundian Ordonnance armies i fancied putting together another force, mainly to give the Swiss steamroller a challenge. So looking through Ancient and Medieval wargaming by Neil Thomas to search for suitable opposition I stumbled soon the Mongol list. Loads of missile horse and nippy lads to stretch the Swiss line and evade their doubleduppikeblocksofdeath However, the spirit of historical accuracy reared its head and I must admit to being pretty sure the forces never actually met (I could be wrong but the map of the world would point to it being unlikely). However I really wanted a speedy force of horse botherers. So the answer seemed simple. Invent a fantasy army!.

Introducing the first batch of units for the Bastard sons of the most black'ed Crow.

I planned to collect some fantasy forces in 10mm eventually so why not build one using the Mongol list as a base?. In my head they are a mash up of modern bikers, waste land barbarians and backwards rednecks. One of many tribes (or are they extended family?) that infest the wastes running contraband, raiding isolated farmsteads, protecting their 'turf' and engaging in all other brands of banditry. 

They are pendraken sarmatians painted with modern day biker gangers in mind, hence the attempt at black leather waist coats and blue jeans on all the models. I painted the bows and banner poles red to contrast the brown horses and also as a nod to early 90's G.W., I've decided the tribe use the natural materials of the wastes so carry bitchwood weapons.

 Another reason I wanted to do an all mounted force is because I have an aversion to painting horses, so doing an army full should be a suitable 'kill or cure' remedy for my issue!. I just need to work out what I'm doing for banners and I should be able to crack on.

 Also I was looking through some old miniatures and came across my 12mm kallistra Medieval armies, which were one of the first painting projects I completed a few years back. I plan to use them to build some retinues for an upcoming project. So I decided to strip and repaint a few to see how they clean up.

 I painted a few horsemen and decided to compare them with some of my earlier attempts.

Hopefully you can tell which ones I have just painted!. The point of this I suppose is that although I'm an averageatbest painter I was surprised how much progress I have made in terms of my painting style and general standard of my attempts. It's easy to feel like you aren't getting anywhere but by comparing these paint jobs I can see I have improved and be pleased with the progress I have managed. Give it a go, you will surprise yourself.

'till next time...

Swiss army done...for now

  Having painted the last of my pike units  I finally managed to finish painting my 10mm Swiss army. 

This lot.

This unit brings the force up to seven units. The rules I am using requires army's to be eight strong (Ancient and Medieval wargaming by Neil Thomas), however the Swiss have been so good at stomping the opposition even when understrength I think another unit would be a tad too much. I have a unit of hand gunners to make up the full force but they can wait for now.

In the rules the Swiss are allowed to double up their units of pikemen so I kept this in mind when basing the units. Here's the above unit combined with a unit I put together to be their rear ranks.

  So that's another project done and (almost) dusted. Cue the whole army photo.

'till next time...