CAVENDERIA

Blogging or lack there of.

2010-11-24T07:12:00.001-08:00

I have been busy producing a board game, travelling and painting 19th century figs. I have toyed with the idea of making the Cavenderia blog a more comprehensive blog, featuring all of my hobby stuff in one place, but am not certain that is the direction for this blog. Needless to say I need to paint some 18th century figs and do some linear warfare. I will be attending the SYW convention this year and nothing gives spurs me on like a deadline so look for some new postings here soon.

The Murder of Chief Cornstalk

2010-05-18T16:04:00.001-07:00

This past weekend I traveled about 45 minutes north to the town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia to watch a re-enactment of the siege of Fort Randolph and the murder of Chief Cornstalk. The re-enactment was conducted in two parts 1. The murder of Chief Cornstalk and 2. The siege of the fort by a combined Shawnee/Mingo force. Pictured to the left is the fort commander, actually the first of two (2) commanders as the siege took place under a different captain. I spent some time talking to the fellow and he makes powder horns for a living.

Here is a shot of the Chief walking to meet the commander and a shot of the crowd. Beautiful day and a really nice turn-out, probably about 300 people. The tickets were $3.00/person so the historical society probably made over $1,000 with ticket sales and food.

This is a shot of a cooking area where they were making corn cakes for a donation. Basically cornbread in a patty. They even had chickens running around.

Here is a photo from the inside of the fort with militia guarding the parapet. There were probably 50 or so Militiamen, 20 women and children and about 20 Native Americans conducting the re-enactment.

I guess I should touch on the history. Chief Cornstalk was leader of the Shawnee during the time of Virginia Governor Lord Dunmore. Dunmore had worked out a deal with the Shawnee gaining possession of land up to the Ohio River. As always however, colonist always want to expand and expand they did until Cornstalk, who had tried peacefully to resolve the dispute declared war on the Virginians. This conflict would be known as Lord Dunmore's War. The largest battle being Cornstalk attacking the right wing of the Virginia militia at the "pleasant point" where the Kanawha and Ohio Rivers meet.

Chief Cornstalk lead between 800-1,000 woodland Indians against the Virginians. The battle lasted all day and took a heavy toll on the Virginians but in the end the natives withdrew. A settlement was worked out and the war ended. Needles to say, Cornstalk was not a popular character with the average settler. Later after the AWI, the native Americans were again ready to make war over the land near the Ohio. Chief Cornstalk, who had always advocated peace and only attacked when no option was left, travelled to Fort Randolph to warn the commander there that he could control the natives no longer.

The captain decided he would be better off holding Cornstalk captive as a deterrent. However, several militiamen decided it was time to get revenge and one evening decided to murder Cornstalk and his sons inside the fort. The picture to the left is a Murial painted on the Town of Point Pleasant's flood wall. Click on all pictures to enlarge. The town has done a really nice job converting the old flood wall into a river park with Murial's of the history of Point Pleasant all the way along it.

After the murder a force of approximately 300 Native Americans lay siege to the Fort. The re-enactment was very interesting in the fact that during the battle the crowd was split into two (2) groups half stayed in the fort to watch the militia fight and half went outside to watch the native approach. After which, the groups switched so you could watch both sides of the battle. It was actually the Chief's daughter known as the Grenadier Squaw, because of her ability to fight which convinced the natives to stop the Battle.

Native Americans attacking. I meant to photoshop out the houses. The replica fort is in a park outside of town, the actual Fort Randolph set on the point were the Battle of Point Pleasant had happened earlier. There may have been few Indians but they did a really good job, whooping and even running up to catch a child farming before the fight began.

This guy was exceptional, spoke Shawnee, was the leader of the natives and even had his nose pierced. I found out from the commander re-enactor that this man travelled all over re-enacting various woodland Indians.

After the battle we headed over to a pub and had a nosh, then visited the flood wall and river park. Pictured to the left is the man himself, Lord Dunmore. If you click on the picture look at the lower left you can really tell where the sympathy of the artist lay. Actually, I was surprised that the performance was so anti-colonial and pro-Shawnee. Usually the Europeans are portrayed as heroic but this was a nice change.

A couple of more images from the flood wall of the Battle of Point Pleasant plenty of imagery for wargaming.

This image shows the colonial encampment along the point. Some historians argue that the Battle of Point Pleasant was the first battle of the AWI as Lord Dunmore was secretly in league with the Shawnee wanting to get rid of some rebellious type colonist. However, this is highly unlikely in my opinion.

Finally we made our way over to the park at the point which is the actual former location of Fort Randolph and the Battle. The sign here is bit biased toward the first battle of the AWI argument. I am just showing this to tick off anyone from Lexington. The park is very nice on the banks of both rivers and the remains of Chief Cornstalk are buried there.

A photo of the obelisk memorial at the park. This was a very enjoyable day and I would highly recommend that if you are ever in the vicinity of Point Pleasant, WV on the third weekend in May stop by and enjoy the town. On a side note Point Pleasant is also the home of the mysterious Mothman who legend says destroyed the bridge out of town in the 1960's. A trip would not be complete to without a Mothman sighting and my wife just happened to accidentally snap a shot of him.

Note the shiny eyes and vapid expression. Truly a horrible beast.

Murder of Chief Cornstalk

2010-05-10T06:29:00.001-07:00

I will be travelling to Point Pleasant, West Virginia, about 1 hour from my house, this weekend to watch the re-enactment of the murder of Chief Cornstalk of the Shawnee. Point Pleasant was the site of the largest battle of Lord Dunmore's war fought on October 10, 1774 and argued by some historians, myself not included, that the Battle of Point Pleasant was the first battle of the American War for Independence (AWI). The basis for the argument was that Lord Dunmore, Tory Governor of Virginia, was actually in league with the Indians and instructed them to attack the Virginia militia under Andrew Lewis at Point Pleasant while he delayed his wing of the Army en route. I will be filming the activities and taking photos. I may also be inclined to plan a skirmish game around the event. In painting news, since the weather has turned warm I have been doing a great deal of gardening and outdoor work, not much painting production. I have purchased some Perry Miniatures English Civil War figures and have been painting British Colonial Sudan Pendraken 10mm figures. Hopefully I will get back into painting up the Cavenderi troops again soon. I will have a report of my travels after this weekend.

The picture above is of the town's flood wall painted up with the history of Point Pleasant.

ciao

Painting anything that moves

2010-02-15T20:33:00.000-08:00

I have been painting quite a bit lately. Just wanted to share a few pics of what I have been up to. To the left is IR-Owens of Cavenderia. My friend David did a nice write-up on the history of the unit in a previous post. The figures are Old Glory 15mm and I will need to finish the bases soon.

Next picture is of some 10mm Old Glory figs that I have painted up as Reichsarmee for my 10mm project. I will detail these in more depth as the project advances.

Next up a new Cavenderi Hussar regiment, the Economou Hussars. I have not written anything about this unit yet but found myself painting up a nice looking dragoon one evening and naming the unit after my Brother-in-law. Perhaps an ex-Morian commander in Cavenderi service. The uniform is dark blue with light blue horse furniture and yellow trousers and cuffs withwhite chords, bearskin hat with yellow bag and black feathers.

Side view just realized I need to finish the horse.

Left side view with a view of his rifle. Very animated pose for the rider but it does not look as thought the horse is willing to start trotting.

Some 10mm mideival miniatures. D'monyar halbadiers and the Dread Lord Redecker. Some minis I am working on for some Warmaster gaming.

15mm Egyptian Fellah Infantry for my Sudan Blog. Very unhappy with this paint job, but this is a review of what I have been painting not the painting itself. :)

10mm Crossbowman, the McGill Free company of crossbowman.

15mm Battle honor fig, sculpted by Anthony Barton, some of the best looking 15mm figures I have seen. I bought a few packs for Fire and fury and Brother vs. Brother rules. This fellow is a southern veteran skirmisher.

Some Yankees have appeared to get the drop on the old confederate.

All figures Battle honors figures sculpted by Anthony Barton. Mounted on pennys for skirmishing.

Warhammer 28mm Greatsword painted up a Landsneck. I went a little crazy on the amount of ribbons and colors but it was fun to paint. I found this old Albrecht Dhurer post card and used it for the background. I do not usually do non-metallic, metallic painting but gave it a shot on this figure. The sword, hilt and breast paint are all acryllic non-metalic paint. I also was playing with my photo software and made the background fade to black and white.

White background. More photography fun. Settling in to paint a bunch of Fuzzy Wuzzys (10mm Pendraken) for my Sudan blog but will try to stay on task painting up SYW stuff and will try to get some games and fiction in soon.

ciao,

Update

2010-02-10T05:37:00.000-08:00

10mm project is moving along, I have painted up some infantry and cavalry. A little off pace but plugging away. I will try and get some pictures up soon. I may get to go to the SYW convention yet, looking like 60/40 so I had best get to painting up the Bavarian cavalry. I had a painters moment last night. I was painting some 10mm Wurttemburg Infantry and finished a stand when I looked over and saw an old GamesWorkshop Empire Greatsword figure that I had primed black a while back. I have not played Warhammer in years but something inspired me to pick up the little guy and have a go. Before I knew it, it was one o'clock in the morning and I had a really nice looking fig finished. I am a little tired this morning. I had no idea it was so late I was just caught up in the moment painting away and listening to music. I have based IR-Owens for Cavenderia and will try to finish the bases for a photo. I have believe my next post will be a bunch of pictures of everything I have been painting. It has been a little bi-polar all of the different projects, even painted up some 10mm Napoleonic miniatures, why? I don't know, however just a quick post wanted to share my Zen painting moment and hope you all have one soon.

State of Cavenderia

2010-02-01T04:53:00.000-08:00

I have been painting quite a bit lately and formulating some plans. I have been painting 28mm Crusader Cuirassiers as Bavarian Taxis Cuirassiers for the Seven Years War Convention. I have nearly completed Cavenderi IR-Owens as Old Glory 15mm figs and have started painting 10mm Old Glory figs as the Reichsarmee. I have also painted up some 15mm Old Glory Egyptians for my Sudan blog but I digress.

I have been threatening to play a game for a long time but never manage it. Therefore, a plan must be put into place.

1.) I have four sets of rules that I wish to play with escalating bases needed for each system.
2.) I can paint 10mm figs the fastest usually painting up 10 figs or one 30 x 30 mm base during my lunch hour at work.
3.) I have complete reference materials for most historical SYW armies, Pengal and Hurt, Biles, Osprey and web sites.
4.) I have a pretty good relationship with my old glory distributor.

Step one.
Might and Reason Sam Mustafa: only requires two (2) bases per unit, i.e. brigade that means I can reasonably paint up three (3) units a week and should be able to paint up two (2) small armies in a month. So my plan is to play a game of Might and Reason around the first of March.

Step two.
Piquet Field of Battle: requires four (4) bases per unit. i.e. brigade, so if I repeat the exact same painting plan as the month of February I should have enough units to play a game of Piquet Field of Battle by early April.

Step three.
Die Kriegspeil: I just purchased this set of rules and have read through it, looks as if most units require six (6) bases per unit i.e. battalion, so I can sprinkle in some grenadiers and follow the same painting scheme allowing me to play a game of Die Kriegspeil in May.

Step four.
Fire and Fury for SYW, large units are required for this game, if I follow my same painting output I could generate eight (8) bases per unit by June.

I have selected the Reichsarmee to paint up as this will let me paint many different uniforms and flags. I think for the allies I will paint up the Hanoverians and Brunswickers. Additionally, I intend to play some additional rules sets when able, Pro-Gloria, Warfare in the Age of Reason, both of which I already have and probably purchasing BAR and Koenig Krieg.

I will attempt to update daily during this run if not at least weekly. Looking forward to this project. I also hope to catch up on some of my old projects, the documentary of the Reich Duke Wilhelms visit and Cavenderi fiction, the fate of poor Dukas has been suspended for some time.

Hope everyone is well.

ciao,

Taxis Cuirassier

2010-01-05T12:04:00.001-08:00

Although I may not make the Seven Years War Convention in Southbend this year, my goal has been to paint a unit of 28mm Bavarians each year for the convention. I do not play in 28mm but was inspired by pictures of Bill Protz's war games. The opportunity to play in last years "Bring your own Battalion" BAR game with Bill and other bloggers of note was too much to pass up. So looking around the web I decided auxiliary corp Bavarians would be my contribution to the game. Looking back, Reichsarmee Bavarians might have been a better choice as Mr. Protz fields the French but I liked infantry regiment (IR)-Kurprinz's uniforms.

So long story short, I painted up a battalion headed to the convention and watched my battalion get wiped out on turn 2 by "those dreaded black hussars". I immediately vowed that next years unit must be some cavalry to protect my precious battalion.

I began researching Bavarian cavalry and soon discovered that all of the Bavarian cavalry remained on peace time establishments and did not take the field in battle. Oh well, wrong infantry why not incorrect cavalry to match, so for this year's unit I selected Taxis Cuirassiers. A Bavarian cavalry regiment consisted of 9 companies of 38 men divided into 3 squads or 114 men per squad in BAR 1:10 man ratio that is 12 figs for a cavalry squad.

For Christmas I was given a box of Crusader Austrian Cuirassiers, thank you sister. To the left are a series of pictures of my first Taxis Cuirassier trooper. I also received a new digital camera for Christmas and have not gotten the hang of it yet so the pictures are a bit dark.

I checked some on-line resources and decided the red horse furniture and white coats would make a nice contrast to my blue infantry. I have developed a couple of new techniques over the year in painting and will share them here.

I have discovered that I like to highlight black with a dark gray-green color. I have tried different grays and blue in the past but find that the green really works for me. You might try it and see what you think.

I have also started painting white with a first coat of a reddish brown, followed by a taupe and then a creamy white, this gives the effect of a slightly worn white coat. The cream color makes a nice contrast to the stark white straps.

I am still crap at painting red, but I probably always will be. I paint gray in the areas for the red first, this makes the red brighter but I have not figured out how to make a nice highlight. I have experimented with oranges and adding white but neither works to my taste.

A final note, the build of the trooper is a bit slighter than the build of the infantry and I think this makes him look more proportional, although he does have a very square jaw and shallow face making him look quite a bit like former Pittsburgh Steelers Football coach Bill Cowher.

I have enjoyed painting this fig and look forward to painting up the entire unit. I took a little artistic license on the lapels making them entirely blue as opposed to just lined with blue. One thing that did strike me as odd about the figure was the amount of flashing between the horses' front legs. I had to remove quite a bit and if you look it is pretty messy. Other than that it is a pretty good looking model. Perhaps one day this valiant Bavarian trooper will teach those dastardly hussars a lesson.

Thanks for stopping by. Next up some 15mm Old Glory Cavenderi battalions and when my rules arrive a review of Kriegkunst (General de Brigades, SYW rules).

ciao,

Happy New Year

2009-12-31T13:17:00.000-08:00

Thought I better jump on here and wish everyone a Happy New Year and lay out some resolutions. I ordered Der Kriegkunst rules from Scale Creep miniatures today and am very excited about playing a few games next year. It appears my basing for my Cavenderi troops will work out perfectly for this game and with the small scale engagements I should be able to get some games in soon. I have been inspired lately and have started painting a bit recently, I now have a couple of blogs going Cavenderia and my recent Sudan blog, my New Years' resolution is to split my time between the two and try and post more often. I hope everyone will have a great evening and a great year. I need to know how this Olley painting point thing works so I can keep track next year. Finally, I do not believe I will be making the SYW convention this year but I did get some 28mm Crusador Cuirassiers for Christmas so who knows.

ciao,

Sudan Blog

2009-11-06T05:11:00.000-08:00

Have not been doing much with Cavenderia the past few weeks, I have been focused on weight loss and a new infatuation, the Sudan Campaign. I have started a new blog www.captainverbeek.blogspot.com if anyone would like to check it out. I will be playing my first Sudan campaign battle this evening and will post about it there. I am thinking of projecting out the history of Cavenderia to the 1880's and perhaps having a fictional Cavenderi Colonial Campaign. In the interim I have base-coated a couple of regiments of Austrian Infantry and French Cavalry to paint up the wife works this weekend so maybe I will get IR-Christie painted and some photos up this week. Promises, promises, I imagine this Cavenderi lull will be over soon.

ciao,

Visit to CharCon 2009

2009-10-26T11:09:00.000-07:00

I visited my local gaming convention this past weekend, CharCon, in Charleston, West Virginia. The convention has grown every year and I believe this is the fourth year. I was only able to go to the convention on Sunday but had a great time.

My friends Mike and Keenan were there and I made a few new friends and some possible future opponents. The con is mostly board games and card games but there were some miniatures as well. To the left is a photo of a nice D-day Flames of War game presented by the Kanawha Riflemen gaming club.

I did not play any miniatures games but did play several board games, Wasabi, a puzzle game for up to four players who compete to make different sushi items, very fun but made my head hurt with all of the possible combinations.

Primordial Soup, you are in control of a bunch of amoebas and watch them evolve, fun game but with not much replayability.

I picked up some old Wargames Illustrated magazines, I have been bitten by the Colonial Bug, (thanks Steve and Steve :))and spoke with some great people. I ran an American Civil War game a couple of years ago and am planning to run a Seven Years War game next year.

I have included a few pictures of the con, all housed in one room. If you are ever in West Virginia in October I would definitely suggest you stop by.

I ran into some old friends as well Gary, from the hobby store Danzig Corridor located in Ashland, Kentucky and some gaming friends from the old Huntington Store.

Here is a link to the official web-site.
http://www.charcon.org/ I am sure you can find out much more information there.

I have been painting a little and hope to get some pictures of Cavenderi Regiment Christy up soon.

On a personal note I have lost about 20 pounds and am thinking of starting a new blog about the first Mahdist War.

Ciao

Update

2009-10-09T05:02:00.001-07:00

Have been neglecting the blog for a bit. I have started a new weight loss blog and have been updating it daily with exercise, diet, etc. Blogs tend to focus me and allow me to set goals. So here are a few goals for this blog.

1.) Weekly posts at a minimum.
2.) More Cavendarian painting, I have been painting up ACW and medieval 10mm lately
3.) Start working on some terrain
4.) Complete more Cavenderian fiction
5.) Finish the movie of the Reich Dukes visit, old news now but need to complete.

As stated above I have been painting but not SYW, since my trip to Gettysburg I have been painting 15mm Battle Honor ACW and I have been working on some 10mm Old Glory medieval halberdies for a game. I have a new pack of 15mm SYW Austrians ready to paint up as Infantry Regiment Christie so hopefully more Cavenderian units are on the way. I also hope to put up a tutorial on how I paint 15mm figs per a couple of requests. Finally, I need to start planning what 28mm regiment or squadron to paint up for the 2010 SYW convention. I have been enjoying reading all of your blogs in the interim and hope to start contributing again starting now.

One last note, after hearing a newsman refer to Somalian pirates as Somali, I am wondering if the plural of Cavenderian peoples should be Cavenderi.

ciao,

It's here! It's here!!!

2009-09-19T13:26:00.000-07:00

It is like Christmas here in Cavenderia. I large brown envelope from Italy arrived today and inside my Dadi&Piombo war games journal.

I was contacted last winter about publishing my "How I Paint 10mm" article and at long last the article is in the magazine. This is my first published article concerning miniature war gaming and I could not be happier that it is in this very fine journal. www.dadiepiombo.com

The editor, Lorenzo Sartori, was great to work with and seeing the article beautifully displayed and translated into Italian is very exciting for me. I was married in Italy so this has been fun for my wife as well.

I hope to publish more articles in the future and this will be the first in my portfolio. Grazie mille, Dadi&Piombo.

Update

2009-09-10T04:34:00.001-07:00

Has been a while since my last post, quick update. I have been working on a movie to document the Reich Dukes visit to Cavenderia, as a first attempt the film is taking a while but I hope to have something up soon so the entourage can move on to other imaginations. The Dukas game was played to a satisfactory outcome and I will try and post some fiction this weekend. I have been busy sending out figurines to fellow gamers in Europe and have been working on some American Civil War (ACW) figures for a Brother vs. Brother scenario for Charcon, the SYW western theater stuff will not be ready in time. I will continue to paint the French, Brunswick, etc. for next years SYW convention and am planning on putting together another big battalion for that event, probably Crusador Hungarian Infantry painted as IR-Prinz Geoffrey and maybe a small Hussar unit. I am headed to Blacksburg, Virginia this weekend to help the wife sale T-shirts for the Alma mater (Marshall University) and watch the Herd play the Hokies, free ticket perk for selling merchandise. We will also be going to Cincinnati for our anniversary in a couple of weeks and I look forward to meeting Mark of www.deepfriedhappymice.com fame and Scale Creep minis. I am also starting two (2) new endeavours 1.) a weight loss blog 2.) a gaming company with some pals. The weight loss blog is not for the weak stomached masses as I will be posting photos of my progress, but if you are fat like me I encourage you to take up the challenge. The game company will be mostly small PDF family type games, no war games planned for now and working toward a stable of quality, quick fun board, card and mini rules. We are treating the company as an importer example, if you see our label and liked a previous game you will probably like this one. Sorry for the digressions from Cavenderia. I am also going to try and increase my Cavenderian output both fiction and figs to at least weekly posts. Hope everyone is doing well. If you are ever in Huntington, West Virginia shoot me an email, we will have a drink. Almost forgot my article for Dadi@Piambo is out with the fall issue excited to get my copy.

ciao,

Trapped in Fairmont

2009-08-17T13:22:00.000-07:00

After having a wonderful time in Gettysburg this past weekend my lovely wife dropped me back at the hotel in Fairmont for one (1) more day of work here. However, do to unforeseen circumstances I will once again be staying in Fairmont, the hotel staff and I are on a first name basis. Hopefully my work will be complete tomorrow and I can return to my wee castle were stacks of metal figures are begging to be painted.

Once I am able to return home I can proceed with Cavenderian reports. I hope everyone is well and at their homes.

ciao,

Trip to Gettysburg

2009-08-13T14:19:00.000-07:00

Quick update, I have been working out of town in Fairmont, WV this week. I am currently in my hotel room typing up a quick update. I will be going to Gettysburg, PA tomorrow and am very excited. I have been to the battle field once before but this time we are going to have a battlefield tour and visit with family from New England who have journeyed down to meet us. I have been reading Gettysburg a Testing of Courage by Noah Andrea Trudeau. It is an excellent read and has refreshed my knowledge of one of America's most famous battles. I highly recommend the book. I will be back working in Fairmont next Monday and home Tuesday, I hope to present the Reich Dukes visit pictorial and a story on the Rescue attempt of Dukas next week. I will also be checking out the hobby store in Gettysburg I have read about on line, forget the name right now. That is all. I have missed painting this week, forgot to pack some minis and paints for the hotel. Oh well, time to get ready for dinner. If you are ever in Fairmont I highly recommend Murial's Italian restaurant http://www.murialesrestaurant.com/ that is were we will be feating this evening.

ciao,

Captain Lucien Verbeek, a bit of a departure.

2009-08-04T15:05:00.000-07:00

Presenting, Captain Lucien Verbeek, Belgian observer for his majesty King Leopold II of Belgium, and his horse Teufel.

Steve Turner of http://theolddessauer.blogspot.com/ is running a northern Africa British colonial campaign and Captain Verbeek is my fictional character.

The mini is a Peter Pig British Cavalry officer. The mini is true 15mm and I believe very nicely sculpted. The animation is a bit disco but the details are very nice.I do not know why the Captain has a pinto but it felt right to me, I guess I have watched Hidalgo too many times. As the colonial period is not my period of expertise the uniform and horse furniture are probably incorrect, I claim ignorance of the period and creative license for the final outcome.

I like the pair of shoes or boots near the front of the saddle, if someone could explain to me what these are for I would be very thankful.

The pinto looks very wild in this shot. This is the first pinto I have painted so I looked at a couple of pictures of them on line and think it turned out nice. I tried adding a few brown dots within the white areas but this ended up looking like I had messed up so I got rid of them.

Final photo from above. I enjoyed painting this figure and have some British foot command that I might paint up as well. I will be mailing the miniature to Steve and hopefully see him in a few photos with the native contingent of the British forces in Steve's campaign. Steve if you decide to do a different scale than 15mm consider him a gift for all of your interesting blogs. Please send me your address so I can ship him off.

State of Cavenderia

2009-08-03T07:56:00.000-07:00

News of Cavenderia from the Prinz's castle pictured left. The Rescue of Spyridon Dukas scenario has been played with a nice twist to the end a fiction will follow soon prior to the arrival of the our esteemed cousin Wilhelm Beerstien and Young Basil King of the Romans. I will be publishing a photo journal of the royal visit this weekend. I still have to paint up the 15mm royal coach and a few additional figures to create the vignettes of the Horse Festival and fleet inspection. So early this week the battle report and story of the Dukas rescue attempt and this weekend the royal visit. Additionally, inspired by http://theolddessauer.blogspot.com/ Steve Turner's blog, I ordered and completed painting a Colonial British officer from Peter Pig as my Belgian observer Captain Lucian Verbeek. The figure turned out really nicely, I have never seen Peter Pig minis before, they are true 15mm so a bit smaller than Old Glory but really well made. I hope to have some pictures of Captain Verbeek on his Pinto up very soon. I will be mailing him to Steve similar to my Cavenderian diplomats which reminds me I have had the Diplomat for Jean Louis done since March and have not managed to get her in the mail. My apologies to Monte-Cristo and I will certainly have to get that accomplished as well. The one year anniversary for this blog is August 28 and I will have to do something special. I did not realize I started my blog on Der Alte Fritz blog anniversary until around September last year so I may move the official anniversary date to September 1. I am headed to Gettysburg to visit the battle field and take a tour in two weeks and so have been having the itch to paint and play some ACW probably will work some of those into the mix as well. Hope to have many new blogs published this month and my article in Dadi @ Piombo should be out this month or September so look for that if you subscribe.

Ciao,

General Guerchy and Aide

2009-07-20T05:24:00.000-07:00

Presenting the commander of my French forces General Guerchy and his as yet unnamed Aid-de-Camp. Both are 15mm Old Glory figures from their French Generals pack. I am not sure what the general is telling his aide but the expression on the aide's face is abject terror.

For the command stand I copied an idea from the Koenig Krieg web-site and added a fence to the stand. The aide's uniform is fairly standard for French aides, however I wanted General Guerchy to stand out so I opted for a white coat with red accents as generals had no regulation uniform in the French army at this time.

I favor round washer bases for my generals, the fence was made out of some hobby sticks that I cut the edges to roughen up. The base is covered with renaissance ink flocking gel and woodland scenic flock for the bushes, grass and static grass.
Here is a rear view of the generals, I like the details of the lace on the pockets.

This is the first black horse I have painted. I highlighted the horse with a dark blue-gray, I felt the dark horse contrasted with the generals white uniform.

Shot of General Guerchy's expression and the fence. I am not sure what color the fence would have been, natural wood perhaps, but for aesthetic reasons with the dark horses I opted for a gray fence. I hope to finish another French infantry regiment this week.

My brother-in-law has planned a wonderful trip to Gettysburg in a couple of weeks so I am currently re-reading some of my books and may make a diversion to some ACW minis.

Royal Etranger

2009-07-13T05:55:00.000-07:00

Presenting the Royal Etranger "heavy" cavalry unit. I have read that the French army utilized the usual variety of cavalry, heavy, light and elite (Gendarmerie de France), the Royal Etranger troops are reported in my scenarios as "armored" so I am assuming they were Curiassiers.

The regiment was originally formed in 1659 from several foreign regiments, hence the name, but was thereafter mustered from Frenchmen. The uniforms are blue with Aurora epaulets and red cuffs, lapels and turnbacks. This seems to be the standard uniform colors for most "heavy" cavalry with gentlemen regiments wearing red.

The lace around the horse furniture is aurora with a red diamond pattern with white diamonds. I just dotted the trim with white dots, adds a little detail. I used a paper flag from http://www.juniorgeneral.org/ I need to do some research on dragoons and hussars as some units appear to have worn bearskins and Mirlton hats.

A picture of the unit in column, I added the lace on the musician and tried to vary the brown on the horses.

Picture of General Duc de Brissac leading the Royal Etranger and Cavenderian Ladika Hussars.

Cavenderian units will serve as the foreign regiments in French service. Pictured left infantry regiments (IR) Bourbonnois, Fitzgerald and Prinz Geoffrey. General Chevelas and Colonel Jalsevic.

Growing French army. Up next IR-Rouergue, IR-Die Dame's Fub and more artillery, plus the overall commander of French forces, General Guerchy with his Aide-de-camp and maybe some Hessians.

Completed building this Hallmark coach for the Reich Duke and King Basil's upcoming visit. Need to paint it up. I was wondering if someone could tell me if I had the horses in the correct position by their harnesses. The model was bit tricky to assemble requiring some drilling but should be fun for photos. Finally, have played the naval rescue of Dukas scenario and should be able to report that soon in a fiction.

French IR-Bourbonnais

2009-07-08T05:10:00.000-07:00

I finished up my first French infantry regiment (IR) Bourbonnais for my western theater scenario for Charcon. As mentioned previously figures are Old Glory 15mm based on 3/4" x 1" bases. You can click on the pictures for larger images. The french are fairly easy to paint being mostly white and this regiment in particular completely white, except for the musicians.

Picture from the right, I went back and painted the gaiters on the standard bearer white after I realized in a previous post that he was wearing gaiters not boots. The french figs from the old glory pack appear a bit thinner than the Austrians and Prussians I have ordered previously which is fine, but I do not care for the officer poses in these packs much. I spoke with a sales rep for Old Glory and they said I could order packs with just the hatmen, no officers in the future to flesh out the units a bit more in the future.

Shot from the left you can see the exaggerated pose of the officer, he would most likely have put out the eye of the guy behind him. the NCO is striking quite a pose as well. I do like the drummer and the standard bearer quite a bit. The only difference in grenadier I can tell is a mustache and at this scale I did not worry about that very much.

Finally I am still working on getting the right buff leather color for the belting. You can see I have a bit of a yellowish leather right now, the hat lace is a metallic gold and from the photo the belting looks similar. This regiment will be brigaded together with IR-Rouergue and serve under General Chevelas, who has been previously painted. I have nearly completed the first cavalry unit, Royal Etranger, and will have pics of them up soon. If anyone knows the proper spelling for these French units please drop me a line as I do not speak French and am relying on Internet information.

Origins Review

2009-07-03T10:42:00.001-07:00

7:00 a.m. Saturday, June 27, 2009, yours truly, middle goofy face, and origin virgins Fitz, pictured left and his nephew Keenan, pictured right, mad the trek to Columbus, Ohio for the Origins Gaming Fair. We also picked up our friend Keith in Kentucky who has been to Origins many times. Having the guys along made the trip go faster. Fitz and Keenan have attended the smaller Char Con, our local gaming convention in Charleston, West Virginia, but had not been to a larger event, we were all very excited to be going to Columbus.

I attended Origins two (2) years ago and have to say it seemed a little more mellow and perhaps less crowded. This could be a reflection of our economy, however we had a fine time. The miniatures room and vendors rooms had changed positions this year, the vendors were in the smaller room, interesting. The vendors room had your usual assortment of board games and miniatures lines but not much for the 18th century war gamer. I did pick up a football board game for my brother and uncle and some of the old Pirates of the Spanish main ships to run the long anticipated rescue of Dukas scenario. To the left is the Battle of Little Big Horn (LBH).
Here is a close-up of some of the U.S. Cavalry. The LBH area was ran by a Uncle someone group that had been in attendance the last time I attended origins and they always bring the excellent terrain and miniatures. They had a Martian, gaslight, steam punk thing going on several tables and a large medieval castle siege game.

Do not adjust your computer this is the red landscape of Mars.

The first time I went to Origins I played in a Normandy invasion game, Piquet Field of Battle Napoleonics and some board games. This year we arrived a bit late 10:30 a.m. and I did not see many historical games other than flames of war being played.

Medieval battle outside a fortification. This game was starting later in the day. We ran into our friend from the Kanawha Riflemen gaming group out of Charleston who were running demo games, we talked shop a bit. We played a new game by Steven Jackson games that was very European in flavor, i.e. resource management, and higher quality board and pieces than most Jackson games. I also played a quick tutorial of Attack Vector 3-D space combat, I was under the impression that one needed a Ph.D. in physics to play this game but we picked it up eventually.

WWI trench warfare game. Picture did not do this game justice, but I have to wonder why build such a long table when all of the action takes place in the last third?

Mech warrior pods that were linked to a live action video game that you could play in. Origins also offered live role-playing, lectures and independent films. I missed the lecture on the western theater of the civil war and board game design. Seems everything happens early in the morning or later in the evening at Origins.

The highlight of my trip was getting to meet Tod Kirshner, pictured standing, writer of Warfare in the Age of Reason. I did not get a chance to meet him at the SYW convention this year so I was quite pleased to get to meet him here. He was very nice and even gave me his card to discuss any future games I might play. Mr. Kirshner was running his napoleonics rules.

I also got to meet Richard Borg writer of one of my favorite board games, Battle Cry, he also produced Memoir 44, Command and Colors Ancients and the new Attack Yahtzee, which is actually quite fun. Very nice guy.

All in all a nice time, however next time I will have to organize my day a bit better as I failed to play any miniatures and forgot to pick up the DVD on Frederick the great from the 1930's. Next Con for me will be Char Con in the fall and I hope to run a game. I would recommend Origins very highly if you have children as there is plenty of games, events, etc. to involve the entire family.

Got some painting done this weekend and should have some posts on new units this week.

Off to Origins

2009-06-26T05:57:00.000-07:00

Heading off to Origins in the morning with my friends Mike Fitzgerald his nephew and Twighlight 2013 publisher Keith Taylor. If you have not heard Keith has recently released the RPG Twighlight 2013, Twilight 2000 third edition. Here is a link to the web-site for interested parties.

http://www.93gamesstudio.com/site/

I have looked over the miniatures events for Saturday and am looking forward to playing Volley & Bayonet which I have not played before. The scenario is a Toulouse in the Napoleonic era. Additionally, I am going to attend a seminar or two on game design and publishing. One seminar is sponsered by Mayfair games.

One lecture of interest is the Villainous General Bragg and the western theater of the American Civil War, probably will attend that. I will take a bunch of pictures for a future post. Finally I always enjoy the vendor's room.

ciao,

Duc de Brissac and IR-Bourbonnois

2009-06-22T05:26:00.000-07:00

I was able to do some painting yesterday and have added another general to the French forces for my western theater scenario.

To the left is the Duc de Brissac, Old Glory (OG) 15mm Seven Years War French General. The Duc will be leading the French cavalry so I thought this very animated miniature would suit him well. He is based on a metal washer which had renaissance ink flocking gel and regular flocking gel and static grass added.

Here is a view from the side. I spent a little bit more time on my general figures, adding eyes and concentrating on the lace etc. On this miniature to add a little more contrast I added the stockings showing above the boot and put him on my favorite horse to paint, the dapple gray. French generals did not wear specific uniforms so the idea for this uniform is blue coat as most infantry and the rest from a nice site, I can not recall the link at this time.

The other side of the general you can make out his yellow waste-coat and some additional gold on the cuffs. For an experiment I tried a green gray highlight on the horses reins, I think it looks nice, I will probably use this more often in the future.

What is a cavalry general without cavalry? Therefore the next unit I am painting are some Curiassier Etranger, so the Duc will not be lonely.

It has been suggested, jokingly, that I have miss labeled my miniatures as 15mm when they are actually 25-28mm. Here is a side by side with a Front Rank Austrian general for comparison and legitimacy :) Although technically speaking with enough photo-shop tweaking one could manipulate a 28mm figure photo :))

I have completed painting IR-Bourbonnois who will be under the command of the formerly photographed General Chevelas.

I enjoyed painting the drummer in his royal coat. I have not completed the basing on the entire unit when I do I will post. to the left is a sneak-peak of the unit. I am not certain that I am completely happy with the leather belts, oh well plenty of French to experiment with.

Another view of the infantry with a better shot of the chain lace on the drummer. I went with an actual metallic gold for the trim of the tricornes per Mr. Protz recommendation. I really like the blue on the drum and wish the regular infantry had a bit more color, oh well, such is life.

A side-by-side photo with a 28mm Bavarian drummer for scale reference. The 28mm drummer is Crusader and part of my Bring your own battalion that fled on turn two at the SYW convention this year.

The wife has to work this weekend so I may have a greater painting output than usual and should have an update on the attempted rescue of Spyridon Dukas for the Adriatic campaign early next week.

ciao,

First Completed Brunswickers and French

2009-06-08T05:31:00.000-07:00

I have completed my first historical regiment for my western theater scenario. Pictured to the left is the Duchy of Brunswick Leib Regiment. The figures are Old Glory (OG) 15mm Prussian Infantry. Uniform colors were researched using William Biles booklet: Uniforms of the Seven Years War A Painter's Guide Volume 1: Prussia, England, Hanover, Hesse-Cassel & Brunswick. The flag is the pre-1760 version of the leib standard provided by http://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=Brunswick_Leib-Regiment

Second picture of the Leib Regiment with a better view of the standard. The bases are 3/4" x 1" metal bases by Wargames Accessories ordered through http://www.scalecreep.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=217_218 The bases were textured with Flocking Gel from http://www.renaissanceink.net/index.php?body=gels.html

Final picture of the battalion. After the Flocking Gel is applied to the bases I finished them off with some static grass and model railroad flocking from http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=woodland+scenics&aq=f&oq=&aqi=n1g10 purchased at my local craft store. I use generic craft paints that you can pick up at places like A.C. Moore.

For some unknown reason the musicians of the Leib Regiment wore yellow coats with red swallows nests trimmed white. I enjoyed painting this unit and especially the drummer. This is my first attempt at adding lace to the infantry uniforms and I think it turned out pretty good. Simple white lines down the lapels do the trick.

Another photo of the drummer. The drum is bordered with a striped pattern and is supposed to have the Brunswick coat of arms on the brass drums but even my maniacal detailing neurosis has it's limits. The finished battalion is four (4) stands totaling 16 figs. I have based the figures for the Fire and Fury rules Seven Years' War variant Age of Honor. Each figure represents approximately 80 men for a regimental strength of 1,280. Mr. Biles list the regimental strength of Brunswick units as two (2) battalions of 600 musketeers with 140 grenadiers per battalion or 1,480 troops. Close enough for my goals.

Next picture is of French Brigadier General Chevelas. Biles' pamphlet on the French uniforms states that French generals did not adhear to any specific dress-code and wore coats of red, white and blue. I decided Monsieur General Chevelas would were red. I really need the practice painting red not to mention everyone knows the old joke about "Bring me my red jacket!"

Rear view of General Chevelas. In my French army General Chevalas will be in command of Infantry Regiments (IR) Bourbonnois and Rouergue. I have seen several spellings of IR-Rouergue, if any one could give me a definitive spelling that would be fantastic.

Final picture is of a French Royal artillery crew sans cannon, I have not completed it yet. I like the figure who has decided to remove his coat, makes since to me. These are my first attempts at white gaiters. Not too bad but I think I can do better. Next on the workbench is IR-Bourbonnois.

In Cavenderian news, I will be gaming the Rescue of Dukas naval scenario using Warfare in the Age of Reason Volume II, naval rules that I picked up back in March and should be able to post the results soon in a battle report and Adriatic Campaign narrative.

As always you can click on any of the pictures for a very large picture.

Head west young man...

2009-06-02T05:29:00.001-07:00

I have had an itch to do some historical units and have decided to indulge my Francophile desires with the purchase of several bags of Old Glory (OG) 15mm French (50 Infantry, 16 Cuirassier, 6 Cannon and crew and a bag of generals). I also recently painted up a unit of Prussian infantry as Brunswickers. After having gamed the battle of Warburg I have developed an interest in the Western European theater of the Seven Years War (SYW) and am painting up a scenario for Charcon (Charleston, West Virginia gaming convention) for the fall. The con game should be very colorful with French against the allies. Cavenderian regiments will fill the role of the French Swiss infantry units allowing me to discuss imaginationhood with any players as well. I painted up the a few ensigns last night and wanted to post them as an appetizer to my renewed painting.

The corp of my new Armee France, from left to right Infantry Regiments (IR), Champagne, Latour du Pin, Bourbonnois and Rouergue. These units will be accompanied by IR-Enghein, IR-Touraine and several Cavenderian infantry units.

The miniatures are OG 15mm as mentioned earlier and the flags are paper flags I made from David's Not by Appointment blog http://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/search?q=flag

Click on pictures to enlarge.

The uniforms variances of these units is very slight with only variations of what parts of the collar, cuffs and vests are red. The artillery, cavalry and Cavenderian units will add some additional color to this army. I like the small addition of the buttons on the flags.

The picture to the left is of Brunswick Leib regiment Colonel flag pre-1760 from the Seven Years War Project web-site, http://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=Brunswick_Leib-Regiment I have to admit, this is one of the most interesting flags I have seen of the SYW period. The flag inspired me to paint this unit and this is my first foray into painting button lace upon the lapels.

The miniature is an OG 15mm Prussian and I have nearly completed the first battalion. I will post pictures upon completion.

This is a picture of the rear of the figure photographed from some distance to illustrate how the detail of the flag is still discernible at some distance. I can not praise the SYW Project web-site enough for their presentation of unit flags. I must note though that I have found some discrepancy between the site's uniform descriptions and other source materials. For the Allied army and French I am defaulting to reference material supplied by William Biles guides.

Final photo is a close-up of the detail in the Brunswick Leib flag. I will let the picture speak for itself.

I hope to update the blog a bit more in June as work progresses.

On the Cavenderian front, we are beginning construction of our royal coach and eagerly await the arrival of Duke Wilhelm of Beerstein and have began recruitment of additional members to our diplomatic corp.

Master Cavender

2009-05-08T08:59:00.000-07:00

Whoo hooo, just completed my Master's Degree defense. I am now W. Jeffrey Cavender B.A. M.S. My thesis was a paper on Residual Human Health Risk Assessment of previous retail petroleum facility. Exciting stuff I know! With this complete I can now turn some much needed attention to painting 15mm Seven Years' War figures. My birthday is this month and I have put out a list to the friends and family of Brunswick, Hanoverian and British Highlanders. I am taking the remainder of the day off from work and going out to a wonderful dinner this evening. With an undergraduate degree in History, Master's in Environmental Science the obvious path forward is a PhD in Economics to be a well rounded renaissance man. Happy day in Cavenderia, Prinz Geoffrey may found a college of engineers for the occasion. I hope everyone is doing great!

ciao,

Back at home.

2009-04-28T16:21:00.001-07:00

I have been Columbus on business the past two weeks and sorely missed our imagination groups. I am home now and am looking forward to building my coach and painting up some 15mm men this week. While out of town I picked up two (2) boxes of Zvezda plastic army men, the infantry of Peter the Great. I will be painting them up to play as an imagination in my friend Ray's campaign with his new generic soldier rules. They are very nice figs for 72nd scale plastic and at 48 figures for $8.00 USD very affordable. I look forward to posting more often and getting some pictures up. I really must get to painting up some more diplomats and sending Jean's ambassador to France. I have been reading several others blogs and looks as if things are going well for most of our band of imagination players. Look forward to posting more often in May.

ciao,

Hallmark Coach

2009-04-18T16:14:00.001-07:00

My hallmark coach arrived from scalecreep miniatures yesterday. I have my camera this week but no way to download until next week, I will be in Columbus, Ohio for the week. Look forward to assembling and painting it prior to the Reich Dukes visit. Spent an enjoyable evening last night play testing a set of rules my friend Ray is writing. The rules will cover ancients to Colonial. Ray originally wrote the rules because he had so many 1/72nd sets of miniatures he would pick up on a whim and wanted to generate a system to use them all. It is a nice game, troops deteriorate throughout the game starting fresh and slowly become exhausted. There is no turn sequence with each side activating a couple of units then back to the other side. As you activate units they become fatigued, disordered, etc. Anyway, had a great time, good snacks and good friends to play with. I will try and get some pictures of the new coach and some of the anatolian sekhans and dellis I have been working on. Short post tonight as I am quite tired from working around the house all day. Hope everyone is doing well.

ciao

Do ask for Dukas...

2009-04-08T10:28:00.000-07:00

Captain Greco sited down the barrel of the ivory handled pistol, the trigger cool and rigid. The mechanics of the pistol were as a jewel box lock, applying a gull’s breath of pressure the trigger snapped, the pistol belched out a roar and all the world was white smoke.

Greco took a breath, lingering in the smell of the powder. The crew let out a cheer and one poor powder monkey whispered a prayer thanking whatever gods, that his hand holding the shattered remnants of a water pitcher was whole.

The crew was a chorus of praise, “Fine shot keyptan! Do it again skipper! What a beautiful gun!” and it was a beautiful gun, ivory handle, etched barrel, embelished gold, the pistol and several like it had been given to the Venecian captains to entice them to rescue Dukas and today, at least this pistol would be put to that task.

“Enough yapping, get ready to earn your keep!” Greco rubbed the pistol with a tea cloth and reloaded the weapon. He moved to the forecastle and removed a spyglass from his coat.

The trap was set, his or the Moreans was to be determined. The Sagittario had rendezvoused with Captain Sanuto and the Zeffiro, as expected. What was not expected was the small flotilla of Barbary Xebecs that accompanied the Zeffiro.

When the two captains met briefly the evening before, a dismissive Captain Sanuto explained, “My curious captain, the Xebecs were hired to give us support and confuse the enemy, you needn’t worry about their loyalty, they are paid by me!”

“Paid to make sure you are the only captain to return Dukas”, Greco thought, but they would supply fodder if the Maria-Louisa was accompanied.

The small flotilla was in line with the Sanuto to the far left, one Xebec, the Sagittario and finally two more Xebecs. The line would run perpendicular to the Maria-Louisa’s course.

Greco snapped open the spyglass as a sailer shouted, “Ship to starboard!”

....

“Three Xebecs and a couple of gun ships?, this can not be beneficial to our cause,” thought his lordship, La Chevalier De’Corfu

“Captain Valieri, I have a confidence in your ability to protect us and our cargo should this rag-tag flotilla prove hostile”

Captain Valieri answered, “I have faith in our guns and crew also, my lord, the ships are not moving to intercept and have struck colors of truce, we could ignore them and try to sail around but I feel with this mediocre breeze and there smaller size they could close to engage if they wish.”

“Well I suppose we should prepare for the worst and hope for the best.”

“Agreed, my Lord, all hands full alert!”

“One of the ships is leaving the line and approaching, her name is il Sagittario!”

...

Captain Greco had won the “honor” of submitting the demands to the Morean Captain. As the two (2) ships neared Greco was impressed with the glistening guns and spotless hull.

“This ship looks new but I’d wager she’s seen her share”, he thought

Captain Greco was greeted on the deck of the Maria-Louisa, it had taken about half an hour to make his way from the Sagittario into a dingy and on board.

“I am Captain Valieri of her majesty’s ship Maria-Louisa bound for Morea, what business do you have to blockade our course?”

“I am Captain Greco and interested parties would relieve you of your cargo, one fellow named Dukas I believe.”

La Chevalier could not contain his anger at the arrogance of the statement, “you dog, you are unworthy to step your grimey boots on our nations ship yet you would challenge the will of her majesty, we carry a known traitor and thief to the royal court of Morea!! You should be murdered where you stand for such demands!!”

“Try and murder me you fop! I’ll wear your guts to supper!", Greco said with a smile.

Members of each party restrained the antagonists. Greco practically beamed when stating, “We will return to my ship with Dukas now yes? or would you prefer we come get him later?”

Captain Valieri spoke before La Chevalier could answer, “Captain Greco, return to your ship unmolested and give us some time to retrieve Dukas from the brig, I would not sacrifice my crew for an outlaw.”

La Chevalier could not believe his ears, had the world gone mad, Captain Valieri would surely be tried upon their return to Morea.

“One hour, Captain to fetch Dukas after that we come take him.”, Greco said with a bow.

The Venecians departed the ship.

“Do not worry my lord we shall not give up Dukas, this ploy has bought us some time to prepare, we may die but we will die fighting.”

Someone shouted, “Ships to port!!”

Captain Valieri looked to the North and on the horizon two ships with the burgundy and gold cross of Morea. “God be praised!! We will see how brave you jackals are now!”

Captain Greco stepped onto the Sagittario “another Morean ship well this will certainly inspire them to fight, and I thought this day might be boring.”

...

The stage is set and we now leave the fighting of the battle for the Buccaneer Dukas in the capable hands of our esteemed colleague Captain Bill, who will play out this scenario in minaiture and detail the outcome in a future blog.

Short Update

2009-03-31T10:00:00.001-07:00

I have not posted in a while so I thought I would give a quick update. I have ordered a coach from http://www.scalecreep.com/catalog/ but it has not arrived yet. Since the SYW Convention I have not had time to paint anything except a few Anatolian Djellis skin tones. I have had a bit of free time to read over Biles and Pengel and Hurts volumes on the Reichsarmee a.k.a. Imperial Army a.k.a. Army of the Circles. Having chosen 15mm for my Cavenderians I have quite a few 10mm Infantry and Cavalry laying around I may paint these up as the Reichsarmee Upper and Lower Rhine Circles. After the way my Bavarians fled the battle field in my first Big Battalions game I also thought a Reichsarmee battalion or two might be my project for next years SYW convention. Finally, I have to get some painting done on my diplomat figures and get Jean-Louis Diplomat sent out, sorry have not been to the post office yet. Most of my time now is being spent on house improvement projects but I hope to get a few minis painted next week while holed up in a hotel room in Columbus.

ciao,

SYW Convention, a roller-coaster of emotions

2009-03-24T09:27:00.001-07:00

Well the Seven Year's War Convention is over and I have returned to Huntington after an exciting and excellent adventure. Let me start by saying I had a great time and enjoyed meeting all of my fellow gamers.

As the title denotes this trip truly was a roller-coaster of emotions. My wife and I finished packing things up on Thursday. We found a room rate on-line that saved us $20 so Huzzah. We left Friday morning and headed for South Bend. Around Kokomo, Indiana we ran into a detour that added an hour to our trip, Boo, but that is ok, the Duchess Scenario was scheduled for the evening game so I was pretty certain we would make it. We checked into the hotel at about 5:30 p.m. and were given free parking for signing up for Holiday Inn Rewards, Hurrah, I did a quick change grabbed my Duchess figure and headed for the hall. I was informed that the Duchess game had been moved and played earlier in the day, Boo.

I got to meet Randy Frye, Der Alte Fritz and Bill Protz Huzzah, and they told me it had been a fun game. The pictures to the left are of the Black Scorpion Miniature the Governor's daughter who was to be the duchess but will now fulfill her primary role as Cavenderian ambassador to Monte-Cristo. Jean-Louis email me your physical address and I will send her to you ASAP. I also hand-delivered our ambassador to Hesse-Seewald but forgot to take his picture prior to giving him to Der Alte Fritz. I did take one (1) picture of the ambassador during the bring your own battalion (BYOB) game but as you can see from the picture a British bayonet got in the way, Boo.

You can make out most of the Cavenderian diplomat to Hesse-Seewald he is in the gray coat and yellow small cloth, behind the nicely painted British.

I met some really nice guys from Iowa who were running a 15mm game with modified Napoleonic rules, I was the Prussian far right flank and demonstrated and attacked to draw the Russian defenses. Our commander's plan worked perfectly and we won the game, Hurrah. The picture to the left show my orderly final position.

This convention is quite different, the median age appears to be about 50 and alcohol was drank freely by the players, a gentlemanly atmosphere indeed, Huzzah. When I arrived I noted several gentlemen in coat and tie and so the following day I wore my Sunday's best.

I returned to my room and was greeted by my lovely wife and a couple cans of Fosters. The room was clean and neat but the temperature was a bit warm for our taste and the air conditioner could not overcome the warmth, Boo, however the view was nice, photo left.

Next morning I got dressed, tie and coat, collected my 28mm Bavarian battalion and headed down to the convention floor to play the BYOB game. I stopped by the vendors tables and saw a bag of 15mm Jacobite Scots and a book on the 1745 Rebellion and decided I would pick those up later after the game, I met some more folks and took some photos of the games.

Here is a photo of some beautifully painted 54mm Hussars included in a skirmish game ran by a fellow named Paul, I believe if wrong sorry. He told me they were using the Brother vs. Brother rules-set. I later found out he was a founding member of Venture Miniatures and is currently working on a set of rules with Brent Nosworthy author of Anatomy of Victory.

This is a picture of a gun emplacement in the 54mm game it was very inspiring to watch. I wish Paul and his group success and look forward to reading his rules.

The photo on the left is a skirmish game using Game's Workshop's Old West Rules. I have used their Lord of the Rings rules for skirmish and if you have played any GW skirmish rules you can understand the flavor. This was my favorite story line for a game all weekend. Seth and Chad from the Chicago area told me the story of Von Hanky, a funny little general figure that they had purchased a few years ago at the convention. While riding the elevator up to the 14th floor Chad had dropped Von Hanky and he plummeted 25,000 feet (to scale) down the elevator shaft, Boo, however they bought another Von Hanky figure and he has been showing up all of the globe in different scenarios ever since, Huzzah. Is he immortal or does one Von Hanky pass his name to the next sans, the Dread Pirate Roberts. This scenario had Von Hanky arriving to take command of the British army in North America and his carriage is being attacked by native Americans who fear the mystic warrior.

Photo of a naval battle fought using the Warfare in the Age of Reason second supplement naval rules. I picked up a copy myself. Very nice display of ships in line here.

Lovely siege game. Did not get much info on it. However, I have learned from reviewing these pictures that I need a tripod.

Another good looking skirmish game. Finally it was time for the BYOB game. Bill Protz had me set up my Bavarian battalion on the far left of the French lines with a Austrian battalion provided by Mike of Seattle, Washington (fantastic guy, very outgoing and excellent gamer) and a battalion of French. I requested that my Bavarians be rated as Green not Veteran as I had never played before and Bill granted me the rating of "Trained" This would prove to be an excellent rating as I have played linear warfare for a while with some training but definitely learned a lesson at this game. People stopped by before the battle and gave me compliments on the Bavarians, much appreciated. Finally it was time to begin. My wing commander, Seth, suggested I wheel my Bavarians right to allow the Austrians to move into line beside them before advancing on the British position. I obliged very carefully aligning my newly painted troops into a perfect line. My battalion gunners loaded some round shot and fired.

The picture to the left shows my Bavarian and Mike's Austrians moving into position. What pageantry what fun, Huzzah.

Then the beginning of turn 2.

A thunderous noise and a cloud of dust and, "behold the dreaded black Hussars". The Hussars smashed into the Bavarian battalion gun killing the crew and overturning the gun and then rolled up the Bavarian flank hacking and slashing, Boo. Bill had me roll for my officer's command ability, I rolled a "6" Hurray!!! Colonel Franz Richard Gatterman would be exceptional. I rolled for moral and it was over. The picture to the left is the last thing the Bavarians saw that day as they fled and were ridden down by the Black Hussars, Whimper. Another glorious page in the Black Hussar history an ostentatious beginning for IR-Kurprinz. I am already plotting to raise Taxis Cuirassiers to protect my Bavarians next year. After the routing someone should me how to refuse the flank, Huzzah! The remaining two (2) battalions would spend the rest of the afternoon fighting with the British. The British player was a great guy and I am ashamed that I do not remember his name.

Left, a picture of the British occupied town.

As I had not eaten all day and my battalions were not in a crucial position for the scenario we ducked out a little early for dinner and went to a great Irish pub for Shepard's pie, Huzzah. Before we left though I stopped by the main room to pick up the Jacobites and the 1745 book and the vendor had left, Boo. Almost forgot I got to meet Travlos in person from the Morea blog. Really nice guy and I look forward to doing battle with him in the future. Final thoughts, the convention is a really unique and fun experience and I would highly recommend any of you that can attend try to do so next year. Back to painting 15mm Ottomans for now.

Off to South Bend

2009-03-18T05:16:00.000-07:00

I am preparing to depart for the SYW Convention this weekend in South Bend, Indiana. Putting the final touches on my Bring Your Own Battalion (BYOB) regiment. Having seen the scenario for the battle (English vs. French) I suppose the Bavarians will end up on the side of the French. Although my battalion IR-Kurprinz 1/2 was in the Austrian Axillary Army contingents of Bavaria fought in the Reichs Army that supported the French vs. Hanoverian in the SYW so would make sense. I am also finishing the Duchess figure for the mysterious lady scenario DAF is running Friday night. She is the black scorpion miniature (the governor's daughter) and after the convention will be shipped to Jean-Louis as my Cavenderian diplomat to Monte-Cristo. She is wearing a fairly bright pinkish-violet dress which is out of character for the duchess in her highwayman's garb, however the scenario takes place in the middle of the night and I am assuming this will be her night time attire. I will also have some Cavenderian diplomats with me to hand out to various imagination rulers. The wife is going with me and will be visiting friends in the area so it should be a nice time for both of us. I finished submitting photographs to Dadi @ Piambo and my article should be published sometime after May in their spring edition, I am interested in seeing my article translated into Italian. Mark from Scale Creep called and said that my Hallmark chariot miniature has not arrived yet so may still be a couple of weeks before it will arrive and I can run my first official Cavenderia scenario. Scale Creep is in Cincinnati, Ohio and we are going to be travelling through there on our return trip so I may stop by the store. I am taking my camera and planning on posting many pictures of the convention when I return. I will not have a lap top with me on the trip so the earliest pictures will be next Tuesday. I only hope that my Bavarians maintain a modicum of bravery in their initial outing. Finally here is a picture of me during the Hurricane Katrina response, if you see this guy at the convention please introduce yourself.

...

Loose lips sink ships..

2009-03-10T09:56:00.000-07:00

Captain Greco placed his hands on the sturdy ship railing of the Sagittario and took in a deep breath. The slight breeze presented smells of jasmine and oil. The night was cool and the ship gently ebbed in the Bizerrcan harbor. Captain Greco studied the scorched walls of the Presidio, The imperial ships sure shot this place to hell, sneaky bastards.

The captain heard voices and turned from the ruined building to see some of his crew returning to the ship, his boson, Amilcare Campari, had a body slung over his shoulder, this was not in itself an unusual site aboard the Sagirratario, sailors who drank too much were often carried back to the ship by their mates, however the captain did not recognize the man en tow, which made him very pleased.

Boson Campari steadied himself holding onto a rope and ascended the gang plank , upon reaching the deck he dumped the body at the captains feet.

“Is this a present for me?” the captain said in a playful voice.

Captain Greco could smell rum on his boson’s breath as he spoke, “Aye, cap, is a man what not knows when to shut his trap.”

Greco took a closer look at the young sailor, blue vest and pants with a yellow sash, “Get him below decks so we can finish this task” the captain barked. The sailor was again hoisted on shoulder and taken to the officers' mess.

“Wake him up”, a bucket of cold water was liberally applied to the sailor’s head, who gasped and looked about disoriented.

The sailor jostled in his seat, bound by ropes and questioned, “Where am I? Campari is this a joke?” “

I will ask the questions, lad” the captain leaned into the lamp light. “What is your name and why are you here?”

“My name is Iephthae, I am a carpenter on the ship Maria-Louisa, what is this about?”

“Just answer my questions and everything will be over soon enough.” said the captain. “What do you know of the Buccaneer Ducas?”

Iepthae glanced about nervously ,”he is a pirate, captured by the Dey, he was released to my captain two days ago, the people of Bizerrca hate him and his release caused a riot in the market,!”

The captain took a drink from his cup,“Very good, when will your ship depart?”

Iepthae’s eyes grew wider, “I do not know, I am just a carpenter! Please let me go!”

Captain Greco threw the rum into Iepthae’s face, “You had best think hard, your life hangs in the balance!”

Iepthae’s eyes burnt and he could feel cold steel against his throat, “wait, wait!! I think I heard the first mate say that the Maria-Louisa would depart after the Archbishop presents his gifts to the Dey!!” Tears began to stream down the poor carpenter’s face.

“Where are they keeping Ducas?”

Iepthae surveyed the situation, perhaps he could barter for his life, “If I tell you will you let me live and be a part of your crew?”

An eternity passed then Captain Greco let loose of Iepthae’s hair and tossed the dagger to Campari. “Enterprising, I like that in a crewman, what can you tell me?”

“Ducas is being held in the aft hold of the ship, being watched by a Janissary guard, but that is not all. Morea has ships in Taranto, the Maria-Louisa will set out to meet them before heading home.”

Captain Greco turned to his bosun, “Campari, introduce Mr. Iephthae to our most important crew member.” With a lightning fast movement Campari buried the dagger hilt-deep into the Morean sailor’s chest.

“Have the cook clean up this mess, we need to get word to Captain Sanuto in Susah!"
Captain Greco turned and looked at the dead carpenter, "don't you worry much Mr. Iaphthae you're mates will be joining you soon enough!"

Cavenderian Colors and update

2009-03-09T07:59:00.000-07:00

As Cavenderia has developed there have been a few changes to the uniforms and history of the imagi-nation. Conceptually Cavenderia was located in Northern Europe, very catholic and very European i.e. (Hapsburg). However, through correspondence with other imagi-nation rulers, Cavenderia's ultimate location was decided to be located along the Adriatic on the Dalmatian coast. This location has lent itself to my re-evaluating Cavenderian military attire and army composition, adding more elements of "exotic" troops, Hungarian infantry, hussars, grenzer and pandours. The other inhabitants of the Adriatic have provided us with great fiction and campaign ideas, (Morea, Venicia and the Deylicate) and allowed me to paint even more varied troops, Bashi -bazouks, sekhans and my newly arrived Dejllis. I would like to take a moment to thank the other imagi-nation rulers for their input and creativity, this includes those who have contributed uniform, fictional and crafting help as well as inspiration and general friendship. All that being said the Cavenderia's Leib standard needs a change. I am still using the iconography however I am making a color scheme change.

The original Cavenderian Leib standard, the blue and yellow checkered pattern was a tribute to Bavaria, the original nation I was going to mimic with Cavenderia.

Now that Cavenderia is in Croatia, I took a look at the Croatian flag and Huzzah there is a checkered pattern in their flag as well.

So I have made a color change to the Leib standard as a nod to the region that the fictional Cavenderia would be found in, Croatia. I think I even like the red better than the previous Cavenderian blue. This change will only be reflected in the Leib standard and will not effect the uniforms, mainly because I do not paint red that well and have already established units with the blue coats. I am still toying with the idea of replacing the yellow ribbon with a light blue coloring.

In painting news, I spent Sunday painting all of the eyes and flesh on my 28mm Bavarians and worked on the Mysterious lady for the SYW Convention game. I also base-coated the Anatolian Sekhans and Anatolian Dejllis so some Bizerrcan elements will be pictured soon.

March in like a lion (Ladik Hussars 15mm)

2009-03-03T05:43:00.000-08:00

Presenting my first Ladik Hussar squadron. (15mm Old Glory) Not my best work, but I don't paint yellow and red that often. I now understand why people say Hussars are difficult to paint, the detail on the jackets is difficult to paint cleanly. The final unit is not as bright as the original uniform template, again my red painting ability, but I believe they convey the feel of a wild bunch.

The musician is dressed in reverse colors. During the painting process the end of his bugle fell off and I lost it, so it might look more like a duck calling device but at 15mm not that bit of a deal.

I also painted the musician's horse white, I believe I read somewhere that in some cavalries the musicians were given white horses. I will need to make a standard for the unit. I will need to research what type of flags hussars carried.

View from the side. I like the animation in the horses. After looking at these I will probably go back and touch up the harnesses and horse furniture. The shabraque is in Cavenderian blue to help tie in the unit with the remainder of the army.

Colonel Jalsevich is a leading a march for March. This is the almost completed Prinz's escort for his upcoming trip to Twinj. I only need to complete IR-1/1 to complete the body guard for a scenario planned around the first of April.

Front view of the Prinz's escort.

New angle for my picture taking overhead of the escort demonstrating the various colors of Cavenderia, "royal" white Hungarian regiments, "Cavenderian" blue regular German infantry and colorful hussars. Starting to look exotic but still cohesive.

A Front Rank Figurine colonel for my BYOB Bavarian battalion for the Seven Years War Convention later this month.

Finally a picture of my 28mm Crusader Bavarian Battalion with all of the troops base-coated and mounted on 1" x 1" metal bases. Several of the figs are nearing completion (dark photo). I am gearing up for the final push to complete by the convention. I will also have the Duchess completed for the Capture the Wicked Lady scenario and am working on a Crooked Kobold sign for the Inn model.

Ladika Hussars

2009-02-26T11:09:00.001-08:00

Allow me to introduce the uniform of the Ladika Hussars. The colors are loosely based upon the Georgian Hussars that served in the Russian army during the Seven Years' War. Brown bearskin cap with red hatbag, yellow dolmen and pelise, trimmed in black fur. Red pants with vertical yellow stripe (on the miniatures not the picture). Shabraque blue with red border and yellow trim. This is the brightest uniform yet in Cavenderia, this squadron will not be good at night raids. I started painting the unit yesterday and hope to have them completed by the weekend. The Ladika Hussars will be advance scouting the road during the upcoming trip by Prinz Geoffrey to the festival in Twinj in an upcoming scenario. I still am not happy with the way I paint red, these Hussars will give me some more practice. I completed one as a test and he looks pretty good. Will post pictures soon.

ciao,

Venesian Privateers

2009-02-25T10:43:00.001-08:00

Colonel Jung, dressed in sturdy brown civilian clothing, crossed the Cetina River into Omis. The trip had taken most of the day but had been very pleasant. He had spent time travelling with a merchant who had told him that one of the Prinzessin’s own guard had been killed by Bashi Bazouks only a day’s ride south of Omis.

“Awfully far inland, I suppose they could have travelled up river? We should be more prepared!” he thought.

The sun setting over the Adriatic was beautiful, the glow of the red clouds brought a smile to the old sailor’s eyes but thoughts of his mission quickly erased it. He had been a “privateer” once, now he was a Colonel, a rich man, an important man, but even now his ignoble past set his course. Omis had been a home for pirates as far back as the 12th century, however it’s golden age had passed and was now a mere shadow of its’ former self.

“Why should the Prinz have a soft spot in his heart for old pirates? It has served my career well by why this Dukas, why risk so much for a man he has never met?”

The Colonel dismounted and walked towards the river, he approached a squat terracotta building with an old wooden sign decorated with a monkey riding a cow. The tavern was small and dingy but a wonderful aroma permeated from the kitchen. A portly woman with brown hair and hands that looked like they could crack walnuts approached him.

“Care for some prsut (PURR-shoot) sir?”

He was a bit hungry and his “guests” would not arrive for a while longer,

“Yes, that would be fine, and an herb brandy.”

Colonel Jung had hand-picked the captains he would approach, Venesians to a man, and as cut-throat a bunch as one would ever care to meet. Ugo da Padova, Este Greco, Nuncio Sanuto and Ilario Zancani. Surely one or two of the captains could be bought.

The moon crawled into the sky and the Venesian captains arrived per the appointed time.

Only upon swearing an oath of secrecy did Colonel Jung explain, in great detail, the Prinz’s plan to intercept the ship transporting Spyridon Dukas from Bizerrca to Morea, the need for absolute secrecy and the reward offered to the captain that could produce Dukas on the Cavenderian coast. The captains in turn informed the Colonel of the recently arrived Morean gunboats in Taranto. The captains and colonel discussed the risk and rewards associated into the wee hours of the morning.

By morning it was done, Captain Greco was to sail to Bizerrca immediately to gather information and rendezvous with Sanuto upon Dukas departure. Captains da Padova and Zancani were to shadow the Morean gun boats in case of intervention. All ships would fly under their own colors and only Sanuto’s crew would know the prize they sought. All took an oath to fulfill their obligations and in turn each was offered holdings in Cavenderia upon completion of the task. As a show of faith, each captain was given a new pistol and a bag of coin.

Colonel Jung thought, “I hope this cur is worth the price”

Colonel Jalsevic and Trouble near Zigvoz

2009-02-23T06:50:00.000-08:00

Introducing, Colonel Jalsevic, commanding officer of his majesty's "royal" regiment IR-Die Dame's FuB.

General Jalsevic is the 15mm Old Glory Hungarian Fusilier Colonel figure that came with my recently purchased pack. He was missing a horse so he commandeered a horse from the Hussar package.

The Colonel in review of IR-2 Prinz Geoffrey and IR-4 Fitzgerald. I am currently working on IR-1 Die Dame's FuB.

Fun picture of the Colonel at the head of a line formation. I am not sure that Colonel figures are used in Warfare in the Age of Reason so I may promote him or just use him as eye candy attached to the "royal" regiments.

Meanwhile near Zigvoz, the first military casualty of the Bizerrcan/Cavenderian conflict has been struck as a members of IR-1 were scouting the route from the palace to Twinj on a security detail and poor Private Culig, who had wandered away from the rest of the company to answer nature's call stumbled across a Bashi foraging party near Zigvoz. Needless to say the Bashi's dispatched him with an arrow and were away before the rest of the company was aware. Upon finding Private Culig's body the company headed to Zigvoz and found one villager dead and livestock taken. Bashi raids this close to the Prinz's proposed route to Twinj have caused an increase in patrolling by the Hussars along the coast.

Poor Private Culig, we barely knew thee.... R.I.P.

I got quite a bit of painting done this weekend on my 28mm Bavarians but nothing complete, assembly line style. In 15mm world, I had to paint up this casualty fig, too cool. I was thinking of including him in the unit proper as this would look dramatic but may use him only as a marker piece as that stand would be useless for parade pictures. What do other do with these type of figures? I will try and put up a design for some Cavenderian Hussars and get them painted this week and I am going to complete the Duchess for the SYW association game and gets some pics up soon.

IR-3 Prinz Geoffrey (15mm Old Glory)

2009-02-20T08:53:00.000-08:00

I completed the second 15mm Old Glory Battalion for Warfare in the Age of Reason last night. Presenting IR-Prinz Geoffrey. I will have to invent a name for the Colonel as the Prinz will most likely lead the Cavnderian Army. Regretfully I did not have a flag to put with the unit when I took the pictures. They were Hungarian style uniforms. I am not overly pleased with my painting of red on the uniforms. I have never painted red well, but I still try. The ensigns face seems misshapen in this photo.

View from the other side, very strange pose for the ensign with his hand behind his back or is it just me? I now think I should have painted the drummers swallows nest green to match the undercoat, oh well there is always another battalion.

Front view of the battalion, i do like the officer waving his hat.

IR-3 and IR-4 Fitzgerald, I think the "royal" regiments will stand out quite nicely. Really need to print out that flag today. I am thinking of designing one more flag specifically for the Prinz's Regiment.

One more picture for fun. I hope this strikes some fear into the Dey. I will be working on finishing IR- Jung and probably will then work on IR-von Bear. I am starting to design the Hussar uniforms and will post them soon. Finally, will be working on my 28mm Bavarians and the Duchess for the SYW convention.

Hungarian Uniforms for Cavenderia

2009-02-19T11:57:00.001-08:00

I have re-designed the uniforms for the Cavenderian "royal" regiments IR-1 Die Dame FuB and IR-3 Prinz Geoffrey. As I have collaborated with fellow imagi-nation rulers in placeing Cavenderia geographically within the Dalmatian coast I thought the Cavenderian army should have a bit more exotic feel to it than originally planned. Therefore here are some templates of the two (2) new Hungarian fusilier regiments for Cavenderia.

IR-3 Prinz Geoffrey is to the left. I received my Hungarian 15mm Fusilier and Hussar packages from www.warweb.com two (2) days ago and have since base-coated and applied the flesh, green and white to the regiment including highlighting, I should have some pics up by this weekend. I went with white coats for the royal regiments, I think this will really make them stand out in the battle line.

To the left is IR-1 Die Dame FuB originally designed by my wife with leather lapels, they now have the Hungarian style coat with Cavenderian blue pants and small clothes.

I intend on finishing out the "German" regiments including the internet submitted regiments, i.e. Von Bear, Aurora, etc. before filling out the force with Croats.

The hussar figures I received also look pretty good, but I may opt for Eureka Hussars in the future. Will try and post some pictures soon.

One last thought I am trying to re-evaluate how many troops Cavenderia could field for it's population.

ciao,

On the workbench

2009-02-16T09:22:00.000-08:00

This is my first completed 15mm unit for Warfare in the Age of Reason rules. The minis are Old Glory, the bases are Wargame Accessories 3/4" x 1" metal bases ordered from
Scale Creep Miniatures http://www.scalecreep.com/catalog/ The flag is by David of Not by Appointment blog fame. This unit was originally going to be IR-Prinz Geoffrey, however I have ordered Hungarian style fusiliers for the Cavenderian "Royal" regiments

Therefore this will be IR-Fitzgerald, originally designed with green coats now replaced with green lapels. I used reverse colors on the Drummer. The picture to the left has four (4)stands, one from the second battalion. Eventually I want each battalion to have five (5) stands but I want to play soon so for now three (3), but I thought it looked nice.

The unit carries the "Leibfahnne" or Life flag as the first battalion of the regiment. I particularly like the accusatory flag bearer, "hey you, yeah you, we're going to get you lads!"

Next up, Cavenderian diplomats in assembly line fashion.

I need some help with these Anatolian Sekhans, part of the Deylicate of Bizzerca's forces. I need some help on uniform ideas for the first three from the left and is that an arquebus the last guy is carrying?

In 28mm "Bring your own Battalion" SYW convention news, I have received my Front Rank Figurines finials from Triangle Miniatures of North Carolina, http://www.triangleminiatures.com/ and my Bavarian flags from Vaubanner Graphics of Canada. //www.mts.net/~homenic1/vaubanner/vaubandex.html You can see the flags in the background but I did not want to make them too clear in case of copyright issues, they look pretty good in person.

I am trying something differnt with the artillery basing. I have placed each crewman on his base so when they are placed together with a couple of blank bases the cannon can be placed and it will make a nice diorama. I have questions on crew placement. I am pretty sure the crewman are in the proper positions except for the artillery fusilier with the bucket. Let me know if he should be in the front or is o.k. there.

Side shot of artillery crew. All Crusader Miniatures, Wargame Accessories metal bases 1" x 1". I will texture the bases later similar to the way I textured the 15mm bases above.

While purchasing my flag tops, I also picked up the Front Rank Dragoon Officer at the left unfinished. I thought he looked a bit large so I set him next to some Crusader generals. I do not think it will matter as long as I do not mix him in. I thought he looked like the picture Der Alte Fritz posted of the Bavarian General on Emperor vs. Elector blog and may use him as my IR-Kuprinz commander if not he may be headed to Tradgardland as a life-guard member.

Left: Front Rank

Right: Crusader

Finally, played a nice fantasy wargame last weekend, a set of rules my friend Ray wrote and sales at conventions, will have to get a link to it, Wardogs I think. Really enjoyed it, universal fantasy skirmish game you can use any figs you want, so I was digging around my box of misfit toys and found what looks like an elf in a Chevalier uniform with a musket on his back and I have no idea who makes this fig. I bought it out of a pile of lead at the back of a hobby store. If anyone can identify this mini please let me know as I would like a few more for my fantasy stuff. He is a little large probably 30mm.

Another view.

Final note: Things are heating up in the Adriatic, I am currently working with Paul (Deylicate of Bizerrca) and Konstantinos (Principality of Morea) on a Naval battle pitting some Cavenderian privateers attempting to rescue Spyridan Dukas from the Morean feet, probably not a very bright idea by Prinz Geoffrey, I am beginning to worry about his decision making skills.

ciao,

Tides of War?

2009-02-13T12:54:00.000-08:00

The sky was a brilliant blue and a warm sea breeze kissed his cheek as Detlev stepped from the coach. The long trip to Spilt had been quite enjoyable, a pleasant escape from his responsibilities planning the Prinz’s trip to Twinj. As he breathed in the salty air, an officer in the dress of Regiment Jung, a dark green coat and olive lapels, approached and spoke, “Signori Eberhardt, my Colonel has requested an audience with you prior to your inspection of the merchant fleet.” Detlev could detect a slight Venetian accent.

Detlev was scheduled to meet with Colonel Jung for dinner that evening, the expediency of this request was somewhat unsettling, “I accept your colonel’s invitation, if you would lead the way Sir.” What could not wait until dinner?

Colonel Jung was quite well known in Cavenderia. The Colonel, sometimes still referred to as Captain, began his military career as a smuggler and privateer making his fortune on the high seas and eventually being bought into Imperial service. Colonel Jung was known more for his charismatic leadership and luck rather than his tactical abilities, however, Jung could get his men to follow him into the abyss and mostly brought them back.

After his naval career had brought him wealth and notoriety, Jung had charmed the Prinz with his tales of daring and battle managing to convince the Prinz that he should be allowed to raise a company of marines to protect Cavenderia’s merchant fleet. Forming his leadership Cadre from foreign sailors, Jung put his press gangs to work and quickly built his company of marines into a regiment of foot, which was now responsible not only for the protection of the merchant fleet but of the coastline about Spilt as well. It had been Jung who had received the Dey’s ultimatum and whose men were now on constant patrol, responding to raids by the Dey’s Bashi Bazouks.

Spilt was a magnificent fortified port which Cavenderia inherited upon Imperial conquest. As with most of the Cavenderian coast Spilt was a melting pot of cultures and religions as her lands had been the possession of many a country. Detlev never tired of visiting this ancient port. The two men approached an old stone tower dominating the skyline, entered and began to ascend the stairs.

Perhaps, Colonel Jung has received another message from the Bizerrcans!

Detlev reached the top of the stairs as the officer moved to his left and opened a small wooden door. Detlev lowered his head and entered. Detlev never tired of the breathtaking view which now assailed his eyes. Hundreds of sailing ships of all sizes and color filled the large window at the rear of the office and beyond that the brilliant green sea.

Colonel Jung, a tall gray-haired gentleman with a handsome scar on his left cheek spoke, “Wilkommen Herr Eberhardt, wunderschone Tag jah!” the voice was percussive and clipped in the Germanic style.

Beautiful day indeed, Detlev thought but for some reason he detected a bit of melancholy in the Colonel’s words. “We were scheduled to dine this evening, am I in err to assume that you posses some urgent news?” Detlev knew by the sobering expression on the Colonel’s face that this was not going to be a regular business meeting.

“I have been in the employ of Cavenderia for some time now and can truthfully say am loyal to her and the Prinz, in my youth I was reckless holding allegiance only to coin, always looking to prove myself and acquire more wealth, as an older man I have become comfortable and fat and do not wish to see that upset.” Detlev began to wonder where the conversation was heading.

“It is a necessary evil that I remain in contact with some ignoble characters in order to buy Cavenderian commerce protection; it is this ability which has helped to keep Cavenderian ships from plunder and that same ability which has elicited a request from his majesty.” Colonel Jung offered Detlev a glass and produced a jug of rum.

Detlev politely refused, “my apologies I must still inspect our fleets.”

Colonel Jung continued, “The Prinz’s courier arrived two nights ago, I have been instructed to contact certain fellows and offer them a Letter of Marque in exchange for performing a service for Cavenderia.” Detlev began to grind his teeth,

The Colonel leaned forward and let out a conspiratorial whisper, “The Prinz wishes to see the Morean, Spyridon Dukas, rescued.” Detlev could not believe his ears,

“I suppose a sufficient fleet could be underway in as little as a week.” The Colonel took a draught.

This is madness, unadulterated madness. “Why do you tell me this Herr Colonel, am I to be privy to this message?”

“I am telling you because I am loyal to the Prinz and will carry out any act he requires, without question, even if the orders are folly. That being said, fighting the enemy is how I have made my living, not having to fight two would not offend my sense of pride at all.”

Detlev mulled over the Colonel’s words and pushed his glass toward the bottle of rum, “One for the road Herr Colonel?”

Direction for Gaming

2009-02-04T11:56:00.000-08:00

Just a quick blog today, I am still working on the BYOB Bavarian battalion, I ordered flags from http://www.mts.net/~homenic1/vaubanner/vaubandex.html Vaubanner Graphics. Service and communication was great, I look forward to seeing the flags. I am going to order the flag pole tops from Triangle miniatures as they carry Front Rank here in the US. I will post pics as they progress, since the power outage I have not had much time to paint, however did manage a few 15mm old glory Cavenderian IR-3 Prinz Geoffrey which lead to an epiphany.

I have decided in order to expedite my gaming I am going to adopt the following and build up from there. Our enemy is Bizerrca and I only have Ottomans in 15mm therefore I am going to focus on painting up Cavenderians and Bizerrcans in 15mm. I have decided to play with Warfare in the Age of Reason rules as this is battalion level and will allow me to field smaller forces. However, I am a fan of the Napoleons battle basing, four figs, two ranks. I will start with 12 man battalions and 16 man Turkish mobs. This will allow me to actually play some games soon. Ultimately I would like each stand to represent a company, i.e. 5 stands of fusilier and one stand of grenadier per battalion. That way I could take two grenadier stand from two regiments and form a grenadier battalion of four stands, which would be close to the size of the 5 stand fusilier battalions. The ottomans will grow over time as well to approximately 8 - 9 stands per unit.

I hope to have some pictures up soon. I will try and get some of the Anatolian sekhans painted up this weekend and some based 15mm pics up. One last note, I may be converting the two royal Infantry regiments IR-1 and IR-3 to Austrian Hungarian style infantry as I have decided that Cavenderia will host more irregular looking troops.

CAT-astrophe

2009-01-29T09:40:00.000-08:00

The Cavenderian National slogan prominently displayed on the Leib Flag of each regiment (pictured left) is "Non Cadmus" or translated "We shall not fall." Events of the past few days are surely testing the legitimacy of that slogan.

In a prior post "Brought to you by the letter D" I displayed a picture of a shelf I had installed in order to keep our young cat Bindi, a.k.a. Bin Diesel, a.k.a. Bindi Spears, from curiously batting the Cavenderian army about.

Two days ago, I retired to my painting den and low and behold the shelf and the entire Cavenderian 10mm army were on the floor, I had forgotten to remove a piece of plywood leaning on the same wall, a perfect cat ramp. WARNING: the next image is not for the weak of heart.

IR-Aurora in the after-math of the catastrophe. When the shelf fell it landed on top of several units bending them into what can only be expressed as the first Matrix regiment, note the fusiliers bending to slow time and dodge the bullets of the enemy. Surely this tactic was taught to them by there fearless leader,

The culprit, how can she sleep having wrought such destruction on innocent lead men. What evil lurks in her dark kitty heart.

In staying with our "We shall not fall" theme her is a shot of the Birch tree limb which decided to cut the power from our house. Not a very focused picture but I believe it gets the point across. I am not complaining we are very fortunate that the limb did not hit the house or garage. In retrospect hardly any damage at all, I did a stint working with the EPA in Waveland, Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina, now that was a massive amount of knocked down trees and general carnage.

Picture of the ice on our plants in front of the house. Mother nature she is powerful, eh!

Did my good deed for the day, my neighbor Dr. Lumpkin, Literature Professor, got her car stuck in a ditch by her driveway. With the assistance of the electrician who was at my house to reconnect the power line to our house mast, managed to get her car out and on the road to university so huzzah.

So we may "bend" in Cavenderia but not "fall" makes stronger veterans.

Ice and Power

2009-01-28T14:49:00.000-08:00

The large Birch tree behind the Cavenderian manor decided that the weight of so much ice on it's large southern branch was too much to bear and let loose of the limb at 9:00 p.m. E.S.T. last night, while yours truly was surfing on the Internet in our back room. What an awe inspiring sound a crashing tree limb full of ice makes. Crack, creak, crack, crack, snap then whoosh, then darkness as the branch successfully separated the electrical cable from our home. As we ventured out there was a succession of limbs falling throughout the valley, neighbors gathered in the street to comfort each other and ascertain the damage. Even without power our house maintained 52 degrees throughout the night while our goose down comforters kept us comfortable.

We have been informed that we may not have power until Sunday February 1, 2009, disappointing but not unbearable. I am currently at my father-in-laws house, warm and well fed. Painting will be on hold for a few days until the power is repaired.

Now for the good news, I took several pictures of our newly arrived ambassador from Beerstein and will be posting them soon. Our last house had an entire tree fall down during a wind storm and took out our power box so we are batting 0.100 on trees taking out our power, however we are very lucky as neither tree destroyed our homes or hurt anyone. I am sure that there are people all over the east coast right now that are not nearly as fortunate. Hope you all are warm and safe out there.

ciao,

The Letter D

2009-01-26T10:21:00.001-08:00

This entry brought to by the letter "D"

D - Diplomats; The second bunch of diplomats is awaiting to be properly attired and dispatched to their various nations. I can not thank Nic from Eureka Miniatures http://www.eurekamin.com.au/ enough for supplying the bulk of the Cavenderian Diplomatic Corp (CDC) with his fun teacup ambassador, pictured. I have detailed on EvE http://emperor-elector.blogspot.com/ where the new diplomats will be headed and I hope to get to work on them this weekend.

D - Dragoon; To the left are some 10mm dragoons I have started working on. The idea for the uniform is from Tradgardland Master, looks nice rose cuffs and lapels with the green coats. One question, these are Old Glory 10mm figs, what is the sash from the left shoulder? I painted it red but I have no idea what it is, if anyone knows why these Austrian dragoon figs have a sash please let me know. One theory is that they are ACW bed rolls.

Dragoons from the side and some D - dead 28mm Crusader Bavarians in the background.

D - Dungeon or Den; A peek into the dungeons of Cavenderia, my new den in the basement. There are some water issues that will need resolved prior to putting in flooring painting etc. but the room serves my and my gaming friends' purposes. The table in the picture is my greatest hobby purchase ever!!! The table seats 8 - 10 and is about 12' x 4'. The store Gabriel Brothers has a furniture sale about once per quarter. This D - dining room table's legs were not screwed on very tight, therefore customers thought that it would fall over. I tightened the screws and it works perfectly, not even a wobble. Now the exciting part, D - drum roll please, I bought it for $12.50, that right $12.50, D - Dollars, huzzah.

D - Dice boot, my friend Fitz made this great dice boot for my Christmas gift. He built it out of wood and used textured paint on the outside. Works very well, my opponents always roll great using it. I believe I will make a nice tile roof for it and use it as scenery, just kidding, maybe.

D - Dastardly, you can make out a small Bashi Bazouk raiding party trying to carry off my Osprey book.

D - Display, a little shelf I hung up to put my 10mm and 6mm figs up so the cat can not get at them.

D - Discipline, just a fun entry today, need to get back to work on those Bavarians. I need to order some flags if anyone has any suggestions.

ciao,

Bavarian Update

2009-01-21T08:10:00.000-08:00

I have been working on my 28mm Crusader Bavarian Infantry Regiment (IR) Kurprinz for the Bring Your Own Battalion (BYOB) game for this year's Seven Years War Association Convention. To the left is the four (4) pound regimental gun that will be accompanying my battalion. Historically, Bavarian regiments had four (4) regimental guns per regiment, I am going to have four (4) crew members when complete so that will represent this will represent the entire regimental guns. These figures are not complete but I could not help posting them anyway. Thanks to TMP members who helped me with uniform and gun carriage color details. The different colors in the carriage and artillery uniforms will add visual interest to the battalion as well as give me some additional fire power to make up for the smaller 54 man battalion.

This is a side shot of the artillery. Crusader did a good job in making the wheels at the miniatures chest-height. These miniatures are Austrians as Crusader does not make a Bavarian line yet, hence no lapels on the uniforms. I may paint them in later but probably will not. Any critiques on the painting, uniforms etc. is appreciated.

In order to save a little money I ordered two 24-man regiment packs which would give me 48 miniatures in order to fill up the ranks economically I decided to order a pack of eight (8) grenadiers to up my number to 54. The grenadiers are proportional to the actual scale and they are fun to paint and will make the unit a little more interesting. As mentioned in an earlier post I went with the blue breeches and I added the detail of the stockings showing just below them.

This is the rear of the Grenadier showing the hat-cloth with yellow trim. I am not sure what color straps the bag on the left hip should have, anyone?

This is one of the better faces I have done recently. Just a close-up of the eyes. Biles list the artillery uniform as having light straw facings, these may be too yellow. The cuffs are listed as dark blue. This is the blue I have been using for the fusilier and grenadier uniforms. I thought it would make the artillerymen appear as part of the unit but they may need to be darker. Comments appreciated.

Here is the first grand division in progress. The less painted miniatures are in the back. I think this photo gives an impression of what the unit will look like when completed. I noticed the fusilier second from the left has a misshapen nose, he will be relegated to the back ranks for his uncomly appearance in the future.

To the far left is a Crusader general I purchased a while ago to represent Prinz Geoffrey. Bavarian generals had no ser uniforms at the beginning of the Seven Years War but slowly were directed to outfit themselves as the Austrian generals (let me know if I am incorrect on this), therefore I am going to paint this miniature in Austrian white coat and red lapels cuffs etc. similar to my Field Marshall Duan picture I use as the Prinz Geoffrey Avatar. Let me know your thoughts on these.

The next set of Cavenderian diplomats arrived from Eureka Miniatures yesterday and I will start painting and dispatching them soon. I have a list of where they are headed but will post that when they are painted up. As always, you can click on any of the pictures above to make them very large and close up.

Cavenderian Diplomatic Corp en Route

2009-01-17T13:53:00.000-08:00

I mailed the first members of the Cavenderian Diplomatic Corp (CDC) this morning. They should reach their respective imagi-nation owners within a week or so. When the diplomats arrive I hope they will start sending reports to the Prinz via the Emperor versus Elector web-site. I give complete freedom to the imagi-nation owners to control every aspect of these characters, one can only hope that the diplomats behave themselves but one can never know. As these are gifts, please do not feel obligated in any manner to send a miniature diplomat by mail to me. As an alternative Cavenderia would gladly accept a fictional character from your nation for EvE narratives. I hope to hear from the CDC soon with details of life in the other imagi-nations.

Painting, painting everywhere and not a pic to post

2009-01-15T10:29:00.000-08:00

I have been painting quite a bit the past few days but have nothing to show for my progress. I think the problem lies in my current attention span. I am currently painting my 28mm SYW Bavarians for the Bring you own Battalion (BYB) game at the SYW convention in March. I have been painting fusiliers assembly line approach so I have 12 fusiliers with the flesh painted and basic colors blocked in but none finished. The remainder of my 28mm Crusader Bavarians arrived two days ago so now I have 48 fusiliers with command, 8 grenadiers and a 3 lb. cannon with 4 crew. Also in the order were the Governor and the Governor's Daughter miniatures from Black Scorpion. I started painting the Governor and his daughter and am now in the "what color should I paint there outfits" holding pattern, plus had a question posted on TMP about how to paint make-up. So I started working on 10mm dragoons. In 10mm my squadrons will be 6 figs per stand, so I have 3 painted up as Tradgardland inspired uniforms but have run across a strange issue with the mini, they seem to have bed rolls or sashes around their shoulders. I will try and post a picture tomorrow, I am not sure what they are or how they should be painted. So, there it is a great amount of painting with nothing to show. Oh well I will try and get some things finished and posted this weekend.

On another note, I have the Cavenderian diplomats finished and in envelopes ready to be mailed out this Saturday and Nic from Eureka sent me 6 more so I should be starting on them by next week. I have the new diplomats names and destinations but wish to wait until they are complete to post them. That is the current state of affairs here in Cavenderia, hope everyone else is enjoying painting this winter as much as me.

Dragoons

2009-01-12T10:26:00.001-08:00

I have recently received, primed and dry-brushed my first 10mm old glory dragoons. However, Cavenderia currently has no uniform designs for dragoons, no official colors etc. As Cavenderia has a rich equine tradition i.e. The festival in Twinj I believe the cavalry arm of the Cavenderian army will be of considerable proportion perhaps as high as 45%. The Prinz is hereby soliciting uniform ideas for Cavenderian Dragoons. Cavenderia was originally occupied by Hungary, then the Turks, the Venetian Republic and finally awarded to the family of Prinz Geoffrey by the Imperium for service to the crown and has become a haven for repatriated Catholic peoples of many races, hence about any background or colors would suffice. To the left is a template from Not by Appointment of an Austrian Dragoon. If you have any ideas please send them to me. I will also be fielding several Hussars squadrons considering the irregular nature of the Cavenderian people. Thanks in advance for your ideas.

Uniform Evolution IR-Kurprinz

2009-01-05T09:17:00.001-08:00

I have been experimenting with my 28mm Crusader Austrian fusilier figure which I am painting up as Bavarian IR-Kurprinz to bring to the Seven Years War (SYW) Convention in March. After some discussion with The Miniatures Page members and my own artistic taste I have made some modifications from the first miniature I painted for the unit, far left. The first mini has a dark blue coat and white breeches and a more pronounced separation of layers of colors. I liked the mini, historically there is some debate on the color of the Bavarian coat was it cornflower blue or a darker blue like Prussian blue which had faded a bit during the campaign season. I opted for the dark blue coat, however the first mini ended up looking more Prussian than Bavarian to me.

So on to the next mini, Center. I decided to lighten the coat a bit more and include blue breeches. I had read about IR-Kurprinz wearing blue breeches in a couple of sources and I thought it gave the mini more visual interest and less of a Prussian look. I also attempted to paint this mini with less severe separation between shade colors and highlights for more of a blended look. I also decided to paint the small clothes starting with a dark brown color building up with sand then an off-white while the straps were painted stating with medium gray building to a pure white. The thought behind the differnet whites was clothing would discolour more quickly than the straps and soldiers would be constantly applying piping clay to the straps. This mini probably looks the best up close but I have to remind myself that the miniatures will be seen en mass from approximately three (3) feet distance so no one will be holding them up to inspect them and I should paint a bit bolder for visual appeal at this distance hence the last mini on the right.

The final mini has a much brighter blue coat, blended small clothes and blue breeches, I added the gap where the stocking would show above the gaiter and believe this is the way I will paint up the remainder, perhaps not historically accurate but certainly identifiable as Bavarian. As you can tell from the picture he is not completely finished I need to paint the gun, metal, details, straps, etc. I believe my first New Year's resolution will be to not post a picture of a mini unless finished or for tutorial purposes.

I was reading on the Alte Fritz Journal his painting projections for 2009 and thought this was a good idea, so here is my attempt at what projects I will be attempting to complete in the first half of 2009

SYW Bavarian IR-Kurprinz 28mm Crusader 48 fusilier including officers, drummers, standard bearers & NCOs, 6 Grenadier, 1 four pounder and 2 Artillery crew, this will need to be completed prior to March 18, 2008 so that is an average of .72 minis per day seems doable.

Anatolian Sekhans 15mm Old Glory 50 total, Bashi Bazooks 15mm Old glory 25, 15mm Old Glory Austrian Fusiliers (IR-Jung) 50, total OG 15mm: 125 I need to complete these to have my first raid by the Bizerrcans on Cavenderian soil will try to work them in batches. The turks are very fun to paint.

10mm Old glory Dragoons, 10mm Old glory Austrian fusiliers, total 118 including horses and a general, this is my speed scale, I need to complete these and order some curassiers so I will have the Cavenderian army completed in 10mm and can either start painting up a European style enemy or contact Pendraken miniatures about getting some dastardly Bizerrcans in 10mm.

28mm Cavenderian diplomats, Eureka, I hope to get a few of these out each quarter. The initial group should be going out this week.

I hope to get a post out on the blog at least once a week and hope for more in 2009.

Final note: I spent this past weekend building the Battle of Scary creek, American Civil War battle fought in our backyard here in West Virginia in 15mm, Musket Miniatures with my 12 year old nephew for his social studies project he is not a bad painter and enjoys painting.

On the Work Bench IR-Kurprinz

2008-12-31T05:53:00.000-08:00

Thank you to the members of the miniatures page who helped me out with the uniform details of Bavarian IR-Kurprinz. I booked my room for the SYW Association Convention yesterday and am planning on playing in the Bring Your Own Battalion (BYOB) game. In my case it will be the first Battalion of IR-Kurprinz. The battalion will be 54 strong with 48 fusilier and officers and 6 grenadiers. To the left is my first attempt at a Kurprinz fusilier. The figure is Crusador miniatures Austrian Fusilier. I still have a few questions on the uniform and may expend some creative license. The musket has metal bands crossing the barrel. My osprey books do not show these bands, should they be brass? Is this an inaccuracy on the model? Some sources list the breeches as light blue and I may paint the breeches blue for some more contrast. I am not that happy with the white either. I may use a dirtier off-white for the small clothes and facings and this brighter white for the straps. One last question what color should the gaiter buttons be yellow to match the coat?

Here is the rear of the figure, I may make the bow on the que blue. Should the buckles on the pack be brass? I may also go a little lighter with the blue but have not decided yet.

To the left is a picture of a general I started working on last night, being inspired by Ionnis' Minden Colonel picture featured on the Minden Miniatures page and the Alte Fritz Journal. I like the face of this model quite a bit, he looks very determined. I am a fan of the Dapple Grey horse so this fellow may get one. I painted the cuffs and facings black per Bavarian Generals but am not sure how to paint the lace on the cuffs and front of the coat, I will have to look into this. I painted the saddle furniture dark blue with yellow outline.

Here is a staight on shot of the face, once again very serious man. I will complete the face by painting the bottom lip a bit more pink.

View from the right.

Closer view from the right. I received a gift certificate from Lowes for Christmas so I am going to buy another lamp today after looking at these pictures. I like the Crusador miniatures and they are affordable for my 28mm stuff. I look forward to posting pictures of the Battalion as it is painted and I look forward to the BYOB game in March and meeting some of you face to face.

Parting shot, a very close-up picture of the general allowing one to se the brushing and painting technique.

Some thoughts over the Holiday Break

2008-12-28T17:55:00.000-08:00

It has only been four months since I started blogging and creating Cavenderia and I may need a bit of revisionist history. My original history for Cavenderia were irish Catholic immigrants fleeing persecution from the Anglican English and settling on Europa. Cavenderia has evolved to be situated along the Dalmatian Coast, Dalmatia=Cavenderia, works pretty well both happen to end in ia, both are catholic nations and under Austrian rule. However, having read a bit about Dalmatia now I believe I really need to start working on irregular troops, pandours, grenz, Hussars from Twinj etc. The army should have a less organized and more irregular feel to it. I will try to incorporate Venetian architecture and more Italian heritage into the land i.e. the Venetian occupation prior to Austria. Cavenderia has a week fleet and Dalmatia had a strong merchant fleet but relied upon Venice to protect it so that fits. The title Prinz for Geoffrey I believe will still work as a hereditary representative of the Hapsburgs. Just a few thoughts on the story line.

I received 15mm old glory Anatolian sekhans and 10mm Austrian dragoons in the mail over the holidays and a regiment of Crusader 28mm Austrian fusilier regiment for Christmas. The Crusader minis will be the start of Bavarian IR-Kurprinz which I will take with me to the SYW Association bring your own battalion BAR game in March. After painting up some Sekhans I will post them with questions and I should have the first couple of dragoon uniform templates up soon. I am currently ordering another 28mm fusilier regiment (24 figs) (48 fusilier total) 8 grenadiers (I will field 6 in the battalion for a total of 54 figures) and a 3 pound cannon and crew. I already have some Crusader officers on horseback. This brings up a question, on the Seven Years War project page IR-Kurprinz has red stock, white cuffs and lapels, yellow waste-coat and breeches, but in Bile's book the waste coat and breeches are white and the stock black. Does anyone have any additional info on this brigade and where I might order some nice looking flags for the unit.

So my schizophrenia for scales continues with my 10mm old glory for grand tactical, 15mm eureka and OG for skirmish and building up to fight the Bizerrcans and now 28mm diplomats and Bavarians for the SYW Association convention. So much painting so little time. I hope to get some photos up of work in progress next week, ship off some diplomats and order some more. The Alte Fritz has painted up a ambassador to send to me, which is unsolicited and very nice. I believe, and I may be wrong, but this is the first figure painted to represent the new imagination battalions of Hesse-Seewald if so quite an honor. You can see the ambassador Herr Doppelganger on der alte Fritz journal or EvE. That is all from here tonight ciao,

Season's Greetings from the Cavenderia Diplomatic Corp.

2008-12-22T06:24:00.001-08:00

Season's Greetings from the newly commissioned Cavenderian Diplomatic Corp. (CDC) From left to right are pictured Herr Colonel Hermann Godfrey, Signori Vittorio Moretti, Signori Umberto Basso, Signori Paolo Cipriani and Monsieur Dashiell Jeansonne.

The newly formed CDC are to be dispatched post haste to set up diplomatic relations as follows Herr Hermann to the Principality of Hesse-Engleberg, Signori Moretti is to visit our esteemed cousin at the Reich Duchy of Beerstein. Signori Basso begs to study under the master standard designer David Leinenblatt in Freistadt Tipplebruder, Signori Cipriani to our ally The Duchy of Mieczyslaw and finally Monsieur Jeansonne is to be dispatched to Saxe-Bearstein.

If the goodly lords of these nations will send a postal address to Prinz Geoffrey their diplomats will arrive within the first month of the year. This is of course only the first members of the CDC and the Prinz's top aid Detlev is dutifully searching for the proper representatives to be sent to the Grand Duchy of Stollen, Soweiter League, Duchy of Pfalz-Kognat-Obersayn, Frankszonia, Hesse-Seewald and of course the perfect Femme fatal to be sent to Monte-Cristo.

I would like to give a special thank you to Nic Robson of Eureka Miniatures http://www.eurekamin.com.au/ for supplying the majority of the CDC and John the OFM for suggesting the figure with the tea cup from Eureka. If either of you has an imagi-nation the CDC would certainly make a visit.

I hope to send many diplomats out to other imaginations as I can and hopefully the diplomats will send occasional correspondence to Cavenderia through the EvE web-site. I believe going forward the figure with the tea cup will become the official Cavenderian diplomat figure as I like his snobby look, except for Monte-Cristo which will probably be Black Scorpion's Governor's Daughter figure. Below is a close up of the three Signories. I hope to bring diplomats with me to pass out during the SYW Association Convention in March as well.
Happy Holidays everyone.

On the workbench (Bashi Bazouks)

2008-12-15T07:07:00.000-08:00

The following are pictures of the Old Glory 15mm Bashi Bazouks I have been painting, this entry is to illustrate how to make the same pose look like several different warriors and posing a series of questions I have about Ottoman irregular troops, in this case Bashi Bazouks.

The first picture is of the first post with turban and vest probably my favorite figure style wise in the pack. These were the first I painted up since then I have learned that the Ottomans wore ruby and mustard slippers, need to verify this. Did all troops wear the red and mustard slippers or just Se khans and/or Janissary? I like the third and fourth from the left best as the color scheme looks the most like the romantic portraits I have seen, however resources have said that the bashis wore just about anything so the greens and blue lend a bit of rag-tag to the miniature. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Up next Bashis in bandannas. I like this figure, reminds me of pirates the most, especially with the stripe pants on the farthest from the right. I tried some darker skin tones on a couple of this figure. Would the Ottoman army have had darker skinned members? I do not like the green head gear on the first bashi.

Probably the best sculpted of the bunch. These have red and mustard shoes. I painted under-shirts on the two figs on the right. A couple of questions. Would they have had undershirts? They have what looks like a buckle on the front of the headgear would this be metal and what is it? Are these models actually bashis or similar to another type of infantry? The detail in this model is nice.

Picture of the back would cow-skin quivers be appropriate or what color might they be? Did they have designs on them. The large knife in the sash on the right hip, would it be in a scabbard or unsheathed? The sword on the left hip would it have a brass or silver hilt?

Command stand types and a horrible swordsman pictured above. The standard bearer is not too bad, and the commander and drummer are o.k. but they look like marionette wizards not really proportional. Would the commanders be wearing more metallic colors or be dressed like the rest? What were the drums made out of. The bashi second from the right is the other multiple fig in the set, he is waving a giant sword with one hand and an axe in the other.

Here is a shot of the bashi with the sword from above. The sword wraps around his head, I do not know what this says about the quality of steel in the Ottoman empire but I think a little more attention should have been given to this model. All of the swordsmen have limp swords.

Above is a group shot of the bashis in all their colors, they seem to blend pretty well and look menacing enough. I believe I need more red, white and beige and a little less other colors.

Bashis from the front similar as to how they will appear when based. I just noticed the lighting in all of the pictures is not very good, I will have to get some more light. I would appreciate any criticism and comments on these figs as I do not have a reference tomb at this point and have relied on the kindness of those on the miniatures page and Ottoman wars yahoo group, you guys have been great. Either respond to this post or drop me an email with your comments. Commenting on the post would be preferred as this might help someone else out in the future to read.

The pack from Old Glory come with 50 Bashis. I will update this later with number of poses per pack. I would give this pack a 6 out of 10 as it has some really nice figs but the command and the guy with the big sword do not look proportional and could use some work. Anyway that is my two cents.

Just for fun I threw in this shot of my 10mm Iron Brigade pic with Gettysburg flags. Do not know why just took the picture.

Watching the Mailbox

2008-12-09T18:57:00.000-08:00

An update on things.

I have ordered some 10mm Austrian Dragoons, 10mm Austrian German Infantry and 15mm Ottoman Sekhans. I ordered them back on 11-21-08 and am still waiting. In the interim I have been painting many Bashi Bazooks and the beginnings of the Cavenderian Diplomatic Corp. I hope to get some pictures up soon and get some of the diplomats shipped out to Cavenderia's allies in the first quarter of next year. I have asked for some Crusader Austrian 28mm to paint up for the Seven Years War Association Convention in March, I hope to attend and bring at least a couple of grand divisions. I have been working on developing the character of Prinz Geoffrey on EvE and he is evolving into quite a bit of a sheepish imbecile, oh well not all monarchs can be heroic. Finally, once the dragoons arrive I will begin soliciting/designing dragoon uniforms. My friend Ray has provided one (1) mercenary troop in yellow coats, I tawt I taw a puddy tat.

In campaign news, still trying to paint up enough figs for the raid on Twinj. The dastardly Bizerrcans are plotting to raid the countryside and it will be up to a coastal patrol of IR-Jung to fend them off. I would also like to solicit anyone who does naval combat to do a battle of the Imperial squadron vs. the Dey's Corsairs. If anyone out there is really into age of sail combat, I would love to have you conduct the naval battles in conjunction with my foe and maybe even develop a Bizerrcan or Imperial captain, Jean Louis is very inventive with fiction so perhaps the story of a Monte Cristan cast away female masquerading as a male first mate under a Cavenderian frigate might be apropos.

Anyway, just an update on what is going on here, oh yeah I have just put my old house under contract and am looking to close by the 19th so hopefully more coin will flow into Cavenderia's coffers. Here is a shot of the new Cavenderian Manor in Huntington. Needs a bit of TLC but that is one of my other hobbies.

Buttresses!!! I actually have a house with buttresses now, can you believe it? They are on the sides of the house as well. Built in 1939 tudor revival home.

One final note, I have been contacted by the editor of http://www.dadiepiombo.com/indexuk.html an Italian/English wargames magazine about publishing my 10mm tutorial in the Spring edition. This is very exciting and quite an honor, I do have to re-work the article a bit and edit it for content and take some new pictures, my sister-in-law is a semi-professional photographer with some incredible gear. I was married in Italy in 2004 so it will be fun for the wife to read my article in Italian. Ciao,

How I paint 10mm

2008-12-01T09:48:00.000-08:00

I thought this post might be helpful to beginning painters and also for those who have toyed with the idea of collecting an army in 10mm but thought they might be difficult to paint. I am currently using Old Glory and Pendraken for my Seven Years War armies. I painted the figures below yesterday evening while watching a football game (about 3 hours). You can click on any of the images below to get a really close look at the models. They may look quite patchy this close but look very good on the wargaming table.

Step one. Glue the 10mm strips to some tongue depressors (popsicle stick) using PVA (elmer's) glue. I glued the general to a penny with some hobby glue. I find the tongue depresser helps the figures stay upright during spray painting and gives you something to hold onto while detail painting.

Step Two. Spray "flat" black spray paint to base-coat the figures. I use enamol Krylon indoor/outdoor paint that you find at your local hardware store. It is extremely important that when spray painting your base coat that is be below 50% humidity and between 50 - 80 degrees farenheit. I can not stress this enough if too humid or out of temperature you will get globs of paint and lose all of your miniatures detail. I have had remove paint from many a fig before I learned this. Spray the models from about 8 inches with nice even movment from all sides. You may still need to touch up the black when finished. Allow time to dry.

I use regular acrylic hobby paints from suppliers like Michael's or A.C. Moore. The paint is quite inexpensive and as long as you thin them down a littel with the addition of some water they work just fine. Krylon has just released a spray can with an adjustable nozzel this allows for a wide horizontal spray that works very well.

Step Three. I dry brush a very dark brown onto the figs. Dry-brushing is when you put a little paint on the brush and then whipe the brush on some scrap paper until there is hardly any paint on the brush. You then lightly brush the entire model. The brown picks out the detail and gives you a little shading for free. I actually used the popsicle stick to get the paint off.

Step Four. This is probably the hardest step, painting the flesh. Painting the hands is pretty easy as just a dab from the brush covers them. However, you want your faces too look like faces not blank helmets. To paint the faces I make a "T" across the forehead and then down the nose. Then I dot in the cheeks and chin.

Here is a close up of the faces. It might take a little practice but it looks pretty good imho. Be careful if your paint is too thin it will bleed into the recesses like a wash, but remember even if it is not perfect this is a very small figure seen from some distance away. I do not worry about the moustaches too much, but if you want you can go back with some black and clean them up later.

Step Five. Blocking in the uniform colors.

The regiment above is going to represent IR-Pechmann from the Bavarian army and also sub for Cavenderia IR-11. Part of the fun of historical gaming is researching the uniforms. For the Bavarians I looked at a book by Biles, http://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=Main_Page and some other internet sites. There is some discrepency on what color the uniform components are but I will not bore you with uniform research, this is a painting tutorial after all. The first color is the buff undercoat, lapels and cuffs. Simply dot in the appropriate color. After reading a thread on the miniatures page I found out a dark ochre yellow is a good base coat for buff.

Nest is the blue of the outer coats. You should leave a little black between belts, straps, coats, anywhere there is strong detail. One other note, at this scale and 6mm it is very important to use colors a little brighter so it brings out the details at arms length.

Step Six. Highliting. Once you have blocked in the colors you can go straight to the wargaming table with your figs. However, I like to add one highlight to the figures to give them some extra pazzaz. Simply use a color a couple of shades lighter then the blocking in color and paint it onto the raised areas of the figure. Above you can see a highlight of light blue over the generals coat it is more noticeable if you click the picture above.

Details in blocking in the colors. You will need to paint straps, hat lace, poles, pikes etc. I like to paint in an assembly line fashion, painting all the faces and hands of a couple of regiments at a time. How much detail you put in depends on you. Painting pom-poms on a hat is a very thourough level of detail. Above I have added the straps and hat lining.

Here is a close up of the detail in the drum (brass) the lace on the musicians coat, gloves on the officer with the pike and red turnbacks.

Here is the completed front of the regiment with one hightlight for everything.

Here is a view of the back of the finished regiment.

I am currently basing my units for Sam Mustafa's Might and Reason rules. For the base I use matting material used to frame paintings. My local framer donates waste pieces of matting to elementary schools for hobby projects and when he found out what I was using it for gave me scrap pieces for free. I cut the matt board into 2 inch by 1 inch strips and mount the miniatures accordingly. The general is mounted on a penny as mentioned earlier. Old Glory sales there infantry in packs of 100 and their command stands in packs of 50. With one pack of each you can get 6 regiments with some left over.

I discovered the above product on the web. It is sold as flocking gel at http://www.renaissanceink.net/ It is a little bit of model railroad ballest mixed with putty and comes in different size grains. What is nice about it, is that you can mix it with acyrilic paint and then place it dirrectly on the stands. Use a clean crafting knife to spread the gel on the stand. Alternatively you can use PVA glue and ballast mixed together or for that matter sand from the local playground.

With some practice you can have some very respectable models in a short amount of time. I painted the generals horse as a dapple gray.

A little extra detail like off color straps or stockings on the horse make each model unique.

Above is a picure of the unit and general with the flocking gel added. I usually give the gell one highlight and add some static grass but you could stop at this point. All that is missing is a brilliant flag, maybe one by David Leininblatt of http://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/

I hope this helps someone. If you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment and I will answer as best I can.

On the workbench

2008-11-26T13:20:00.000-08:00

Allow me to introduce the first members of the Cavenderian Diplomatic Corp. (CDC)
You may have seen my thread on http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=154760 The thread was based on a discussion of what miniatures might work as a suitable diplomat and my idea of sending the diplomats to other imagi-nation rulers so they could have a Cavenderian observer at their battles. I am under the impression that most of the people on Emporer vs. Elector play in 25-30 mm scale so I was looking for a fig/figs in that scale. Someone suggested Eureka miniatures. I already have a couple of Infantry regiments in 18mm, which I like, so I was very excited to see what they had in the larger scale. I usually order through their US distributor who is always very nice but this thread attracted the interest of the owner, Nic Robson who I was able to correspond with. The figure with the tea cup in the center and on the right usually is sold as part of a set. Nic broke up the set for me and sent a couple of different versions of the miniature, i.e. the one with the brush on the left. Additionally, Nic suggested the figure below.

This figure is a wig maker, I have removed the wig stand and head. I think he will make a fabulous diplomat. He has a very pleasant demeaner and the fig is nicely detailed. I will probably need to remove the basket with powder at his feet and maybe place something in his hands.

Once painted up I will put a blog on EvE naming the diplomats and requesting diplomatic relations with several nations including all of the Cavenderian allies fighting the Bizerccans and any other nations willing to open diplomacy with Cavenderia.

The Face of the Enemy and War preperations

2008-11-24T10:45:00.000-08:00

Bashi Bazooks, I hope I spelled that correctly, spotted of the coast near Spilt. Old Glory (OG)15mm Bashi Bazooks. First Attempt I am working on a somewhat cohesive color scheme. The Bashi captain has quite a fearsome crew on their red sailed Xebec. I have ordered a pack of OG Anatolian troops as well, once painted up the raiding skirmishes will begin.

On the workbench the brave Cavenderians defending the coast. IR-Jung with their "somber" dark green on Green attire. 15mm OG Austrians. I have ordered an additional pack of OG 15mm Austrian firing line. I have been using http://www.warweb.com/ and have received good service.

Prinz Geoffrey addresses IR-3 Prinz Geoffrey prior to addressing the assembled regiments. Main body of IR-3 is OG 10mm. I really like the NCO with his hat raised that figure is from http://www.pendraken.co.uk/ Pendraken has given me excellent service and I am currently looking to ordering my ottoman Turks in 10mm from them. The Prinz Geoffrey figure is from Irregular miniatures ordered from http://www.silvereaglewargames.com/ nice people.

Prinz Geoffrey and a as of yet unnamed general review from left to right IR-1 Die Dame's Fub, IR-3 Prinz Geoffrey, IR-2 von Bear, IR-5 Aurora and IR-8 Jung. IR-2 von Bear has had it's base completed with flocking gel from http://www.renaissanceink.net/ a nice product easy to use and dye able. I am planning a tutorial on my 10mm process and will discuss more a future blog.

Having fun with the camera.

Don't forget to click these pictures to see insanely up close. Please remember in person these would be seen from about 3 feet.

Finally a marching in column picture.

I have been in bed the past week from out-patient surgery and have been rather groggy. I was able to get some painting in this Sunday and completed the above two (2) regiments. Left IR-3 Prinz Geoffrey and IR-8 Jung. I have ordered some more 10mm Austrians and will be painting up more units when they arrive. I posted on the miniatures page about sending out Cavenderian diplomats and Nick from Eureka suggested some of their figs. I have received them and will post the Cavenderian diplomatic corp when completed. Look for my tutorial on painting 10mm and finally I have asked for some Crusader miniature 28mm to paint up for the SYW association convention in March. I hope to get all of the 10mm regiments based with flocking gel and railroad flocking and some of the regimental flags attached soon.

IR-Owen

2008-11-14T10:42:00.001-08:00

IR-Owen original Welsh uniform, still worn by the officers and modified Cavenderian Uniform.

The following regimental history was provided by the Inhaber.

"Angered by decades of English suppression of Welsh dissenting religious views, and suffering the traditional plight of a people living under the yoke of occupation, many young men from west Wales had been disrupting the English infrastructure, in Wales, ever since the Protestant Settlement under Elizabeth I. Located on the western shore of the Principality they also fell under the influence of the Irish, with whom they had been trading since, well, since St. Patrick was a boy, and had been exposed to the festering anti-English sentiments present in Ireland.

Hardly organized, but passionate in their beliefs, a group of volunteers flocked to the banner of Daffyd ap Owen, a defrocked Welsh priest who bore a grudge against the Anglican church in particular, but all things English. Secretly funded by the Welsh clergy, who maintained a vested interest in reducing the power of the Anglican Church, and openly funded by the Irish, this ragtag regiment had humble origins. What they lacked in organizational skills they made up for with a ferocity in battle that did not go unnoticed by their enemies. Fighting with the just about anyone who could do harm to their sworn enemies, the English and any of her allies, they represented the anger and lack of interest in living or dying that is often found in a downtrodden people.

It is interesting to note that they were also famous for their passion for and skill at choral singing.

Cymru am byth."

The regiment now calls Cavenderia home and once stating an oath of allegiance to the Prinz the uniform was modified to Cavenderian Blue.

I have one more Infantry regiment to complete and then I will start designing cavalry and artillary. I hope to paint up all 10 regiments in 10mm for my initial Might and Reason army. IR-10 will be based on the uniform of Bavarian Regiment Pechmann and I plan on painting the first Battalion up in 28mm to participate in a big battle some day. I have received a pack of Old glory 15mm Bashi Bazouks and am currently painting them up for a Bizerrcan raid. I will post pictures of them on my next blog.

Leib Battalion Flag of Cavenderia

2008-11-06T10:36:00.000-08:00

Leib Battalion Flag Designed by David Linienblatt of http://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/ Although the image is final the colors may not be, any suggestions are welcome. The latin at the bottom is from an on-line translator and should read "we shall not fall" but if anyone knows latin and could proof read this that would be great. I really appreciate the extra work David went through to produce this flag. The checkered border is in Cavenderia blue and gold a nod to Bavaria.

Regimental Flags by David Linienblatt

2008-11-05T10:16:00.000-08:00

Drum roll please!!! By the order of his highness Prinz Geoffrey new regimental flags have been designed by the renowned artist, David Linienblatt of http://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/

The regimental flag is based on some suggestions by Monsieur Louis of http://mcristobylacew-abdul666.blogspot.com/

The concept was beautifully implemented by Herr Linienblatt. The regimental flag features the icon of Cavenderia, Saint Sebastian in the upper left quadrant, Cavenderia blue cross and features the regimental name in the center with regimental colors for the quadrents, metal color for the border and hat lace color for the regimental name. Please enjoy the first few regiments.

...

Additional embelishments such as crowns, heraldic shields, battle honors etc. may be added in the future. IR-9 Owens is in the works and Herr Linienblatt has completed the Leib battalion flag as well, it is beautiful and I will be publishing it in a future post.

The Enemy on the Horizon

2008-10-30T07:51:00.000-07:00

There is a palpable fear along the southern coast of Cavenderia as reports of marauding Corsairs from the Deylicate of Bizerrca have reached the populous. IR-8 Jung is on full alert for possible raids upon the southern coast.

Secretly, Prinz Geoffrey craves an opportunity to test his newly reformed army but needs a justifiable cause to declare war.

If the Dey wishes his demise, one could think of no more certain a doom than to place unholy Bizerrcan feet upon Cavenderian soil.

I would like to thank the folks at EvE for facilitating an enemy for Cavenderia. I look forward to painting up some Turkish enemies and am looking for input from his lordship Herzog Ignaz. I am ordering some 15mm Old glory Austrians and Ottomans right now in order to do a skirmish "raid" scenario.

Which of the likely figures would be sent to raid Cavenderia?

1. Anatolian Delis
2. Anatolian Sekan
3. Bazi Bazouks
4. European Delis
5. European Sekans
6. Janissaries
7. Nizzam
8. Sipahi
9. tartars

These are the ranges offered from OG which would be the best for the raid. Total newbie as it goes with turks.

IR-8 Jung

2008-10-28T09:47:00.001-07:00

IR-8 Jung is the second Green-coated regiment in Cavenderia and will be brigaded with IR-4 Fitzgerald during wartime. The regiment was mustered by an "infamous" privateer, utilizing press gangs in the northern coastal region of Cavenderia to supply fresh troops. Previously two (2) companies of IR-8 served as "Marines" in a minor campaign and the thought of converting the entire regiment to Marines for the flotilla has been expressed in the Royal Court. However, the regiment is currently Regular Infantry.

I was thinking I might utilize IR-8 or IR-4 as light infantry or marines. This would however lower the overall fighting force. I may paint up some 15mm old glory figs I have around as IR-8 for a skirmish landing party scenario.

Since I am discussing a possible landing party skirmish scenario, I guess this would be as good a time as any to discuss "Adversarial Protocol". I need an enemy. I have been looking at several imagi-nations that I might enjoy "invading" I thought I might start out by doing some sabre-rattling on the Emporer vs. Elector site, but did not want to offend anyone. Is it ok to "attack" another imagi-nation unprovoked or should I get permission from the author first? Or should I solicite an enemy? Let me know your opinions. I will also be soliciting info on the http://theminiaturespage.com/

On the workbench

2008-10-23T10:28:00.000-07:00

Could not get the camera from work so took the minis to the office. To the left is IR-2 von Bear in 10mm old glory miniatures. You can click on the photos to enlarge. I have finished painting them but need to add texture to the base as in the picture of the 10mm Austrians in a earlier post. The flags in the picture are just roughs as David is still working on the official flags.

This is my first brigade for Might and Reason it features IR-2 von Bear and IR-5 Aurora. If you look closely you can see Colonel de Florette fourth from the left valiantly leading his troops. The Colonel is from Pendraken miniatures.

First of the Royal regiments IR-1 Die Dame's FuB. I have started this regiment in 15mm in an earlier post.

Profile shot of IR-5. You can see the Colonel a bit better. The official regimental flags will be similar to these, square with a cross, regiment numbers but with an icon of St. Sebastian in the upper left quadrant. Cavenderia blue cross, facing colors for the flag and metal colors for the border.

As soon as Crusador U.S. told me they would ship the miscast figure sent earlier and I did not have to return the first set I painted this 25mm Crusador Austrian General up as IR-3 Prinz Geoffrey. I was not sure how to paint the part of the cuff at the top with the buttons so I painted it to match the coat. I hope to some day do a whole BAR Battalion as Cavenderians but that is somewhat in the future. Painting up IR-2 and IR-4 in 10mm next. IR-Jung is on the way and David is working on the Leib flag. Hope you enjoy.

Old Glory Huzzah

2008-10-22T05:14:00.000-07:00

Old Glory responded today and said "We will certainly replace the miscast figure for you". I am as happy as a little clam and wanted to get the news out that they take care of their customers, all of my concerns previously stated will be satiated when the fig arrives. Huzzah.

IR-6 and IR-7

2008-10-21T10:10:00.000-07:00

IR-6 Christie

"Cavenderia" blue coat
Buff waste coat and pants
Navy Blue cuffs, lapels and turnbacks
Red Stock.

The Christie family has distinquished itself as honorable and pious, contributing many a son to the clergy as well as the military. The Chrities were one of the founding families of Cavenderia and as such Young William Christie has inherited IR-6 and has developed the reputation as a fair and honost Colonel. However, Young Christie has never been tested in battle and yearns for his first taste of blood. Only time will tell how he will fair and if honor and glory await.

IR-7 Graf Karl Gustav

"Cavenderia" blue coat and waist coat
Mourning black lapels, stock and turnbacks
Yellow hat trim
White metal

The history of IR-7 was detailed by Abdul666 in the comments section of the first miniatures post and is much more elequant than the following summary.

Inhaber Graf Karl Gustav has died. The regiment loved it's leader so much that the Colonel of the regiment requested to pay for the lapels of the regiment be eternally in mourning for the loss of the beloved leader, hence the black trappings.

I have completed IR-1, IR-2 and IR-5 in 10mm but have not been able to secure the work camera to get a good picture. I have also painted the crusador miniature Austrian General on foot. IR-8 Jung is in the works. I believe I am going to make IR-9 look equivilant to a historical Bavarian Regiment but with a Cavenderian history. I will try to get some pictures up soon. I have not heard from Old Glory yet but that is ok.

Friday night gaming

2008-10-17T18:09:00.000-07:00

Tragedy on Friday night. My Crusader Miniatures, Austrian general miniatures arrived today. When I opened the package the general on horse back waving his hat had a completely flat pig nose. This was the mini I was most excited about painting. I wonder if I can send the one miniature back so I can paint the standing figure or if I will need to send them all back in order to get a new pack. I am not that pleased with Old Glory right now. When I ordered the figs I received a message on my answering machine saying that the expiration date I put in for my credit card 09-09 was past expiration, unless they are from the future this is impossible. Once that was straightened out the status on my order did not change from pending, so I was not certain when it shipped and then when the figs arrived one of the figures is misshapen. I will publish a picture of the figure when I get the camera from work next week. I am pretty forgiving and as long as they send me the figure without having to pay a bunch of postage I will be happy. As far as the figures that were correct they are very nice and well proportioned . They do not have many folds in the cloth so they will take a little extra effort to paint but I am excited about painting some larger figs. I usually order through http://www.warweb.com/ and they do a pretty good job. I am itching to paint one of the other miniatures but I am afraid I will need to send them all back to get a new blister. So I will postpone painting the minis until I contact Old Glory to see about their return policy.

On a flag design note I emailed David from Not by Appointment and sent him some preliminary drawings of the Cavenderia Regimental and Leib battalion standards. I look forward to seeing what he can do with them.

This weekend is Char Con in Charleston, West Virginia and I am going this Sunday. The Con is ran by The Kanawha Riflemen a nice bunch of guys and I look forward to seeing their Gettysburg 15mm game. I will try and get some pictures. Last year I meat Dean Rapp who is a gaming terrain distributor, I found out he was into AWI and I sent him a bunch of Jeff Valiant studio 15mm figs I had lying around for some Karma points.

Oh well rambling on tonight. Will keep everyone posted on how Old Glory deals with the mini.

ciao,

Regimental Flags

2008-10-16T11:05:00.001-07:00

This is not by any means a final set of flags. I just needed some flags for the paper figs and the 10mm mini regiments I am painting up until I can work on the design some more. I think that I want to incorporate Saint Sebastian into the Cavenderian flag. As Cavenderia was originally populated by fleeing Irish Catholic emigres I thought there would be no better symbol than the martyred saint and patron of soldiers. I am not sure how regiments generated the colors for their flags. I am sure that some units used their facing colors in portions of their flags, but looking at French flags I can discern no reasoning behind the colors. Above is a rough draft of some regimental flags and a couple Leib battalion flags. I will post uniforms for IR-6 and IR-7 along with some notes on the regiments in future blog. Finally, Inhaber Jung has promised another green coated regiment soon.

"Look to the flag, look to Saint Sebastion, pierced and bleeding he would not die and under this guilded icon this regiment shall not succomb to the weapons of our enemies!!!"

Graf Karl Gustav moments before his death.

Here is a link to a short biography of Saint Sebastian.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Sebastian

First Mustered Troops and Flag News

2008-10-13T05:45:00.000-07:00

To the left is the very first Cavenderia Trooper ever painted. He is a trooper of IR-1 Die Dame FuB. I wanted to test the blue for the coat and it turned out just the shade I was looking for. The miniature is a 18mm Eureka Austrian. I like the look of the Eureka miniatures quite a bit. The miniature was base coated with an enamal black spray paint. I use cheap crafting paints such as apple barrel. I did however use Steve Dallimore's foundry painting system book to try and match up the colors for the blue and red. I will list a detailed list of paints and probably do a step by step in a future blog. Next picture is a photo of some more members of the regiment in progress. I base coated 5 regiments of 10mm Old Glory and Pendraken miniatures this past weekend. As I can paint these more quickly to get to the gaming table, I will post these as they are painted. I am going to start with IR-2 von Bear as the first 10mm. I will likely do a step by step with the 10mm as well, because when I started out there wasn't much information on painting 10mm out there but now there is even a Yahoo group. Hope you enjoy the pictures. I believe if you click the picture you will get a larger version. I am still learing how to upload images so hopefully they will get better. The color on the picture below is a bit saturated I need better lighting.

In flag news David Linienblatt of http://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/ said he might make a Cavenderia flag. This is very exciting news as Mr. Linienblatt does exceptional computer graphic work and with the flag template I would be able to print out very nice customized flags. I will discuss design of the flag soon, I do love horizontal stripes.

IR-5 Aurora

2008-10-10T10:03:00.000-07:00

The second of the "foreign" troops to enlist in Cavenderia's cause IR-5 Aurora. IR-5 was mustered into service by a here to be named Monte-Cristan Colonel reportedly forced into exile having slain a "better" in an illegal dual over the Lady Aurora. Prinz Geoffrey could not pass up the opportunity to have a regiment formed by this wiley veteran and accepted the Colonel into the service of the Crown.

*Do to the interesting back-story provided by abdul666 in earlier posts, I have decided to rate the command of this unit exceptional as the Colonel was able to obtain some of his Monte-Cristo officers for the new regiment. I will be taking submissions for the name of the exiled officer.

There have been rumours of another Green coated regiment being raised by Inhaber Jung, additional regiments have been requested from Economov, Alt McGill, Jung, McGill, Christie and Redecker. General notes of interest: As soon as I have 10 regiments designed I am planning on printing them out and having my first battle against some paper Saxons.

After our discussions on this blog and http://theminiaturespage.com/ I have started assigning regiments to Brigades. IR-1 Die Dame's FuB/IR-3 Prinz Geoffrey and IR-2 von Bear/IR-5 Aurora as far as grenadier battalions the following will be combined as of now.IR-3 Prinz Geoffrey/IR-4 Fitzgerald and IR-2 von Bear/IR-5 Aurora

I will have access to a good digital camera this weekend so I should be able to get some pictures up of the first painted miniatures this next week.

One final note, even though I am making the army of Cavenderia in 10mm and 15mm I could not resist purchasing an Austrian general 28mm figure from http://www.crusaderminiaturesusa.com/ to paint up as Prinz Geoffrey just in case anyone out there decides to do another 28mm SYW game and needs some extra minis. I may eventually paint up IR-3 in 28mm for a loaner regiment or to take to the Seven Years War Association Convention next year.

The miniature does bear some resemblance to the painting of General Daun that I use as my Prinz Geoffrey Picture. I will of coarse have to mold a nice sash and may paint the Coat "Cavenderia" Blue.

IR-5 A question of Pink?

2008-10-08T09:56:00.001-07:00

I have been working on the "foreign" IR-5 Dame Aurora. I am not sure which would be the official pink of Monte-Cristo. Far left is a slight orangish-pink, center a more salmon-orange pink/peach and right a more violet pink. The stock is a deeper pink similar to that on the mermaid standard. I have toyed with the eggshell pants and they still appear white in the graphic program. I have decided to make the regiment foot as this will give the infantry an overall look with the cornflower blue. I believe that foreign or "Internet" submitted regiments will receive the yellow hat lace with the locals having the white hat lace. Let me know which color is most befitting monsieur.

Blogging Etiquette

2008-10-07T08:01:00.000-07:00

As I am new to blogging I was not sure if it was polite for me to respond to comments on blog entries or if this was just an area for people to comment on the posts. I hope I have not appeared rude by not responding to individual comments. I really appreciate the feedback the community has given and especially the ideas for additional regiments. I looked at a few of your blogs and have noticed that you sometimes reply so I will be adding comments to the posts from time to time. I really have to get a good digital camera, I borrowed one from work for the last miniatures pics. I really liked the Abdul's idea of a Monte-Cristo officer adventuring in Cavenderia. Should he raise an infantry regiment or cavalry troop? Die Dame Aurora Dragoons? However the regiment or troop progresses I like the idea of the salmon pink with the Cavenderia blue. I will work on the models. The first battalion of IR-1 is nearly complete in lead miniatures and I can not wait to get the photos on-line. I have not decided how to Brigade the different regiments together. In might and reason roughly two regiments is a Brigade for gaming purposes. Historically there did not appear to be a specific way regiments were brigaded together I was thinking IR-1/IR-2, IR-3/IR-4 etc. but that seems rather boring so I may roll the dice for random brigading. Let me know if you have any thoughts. I think I will pose this question on TMP as well.

IR-4 Fitzgerald

2008-10-06T13:33:00.001-07:00

IR-4 Fitzgerald, provided by one of my local gaming buddies pays homage to Cavenderia's Irish roots. IR-4 has a dark green coat with kelly green lapels, cuffs and turnbacks with a buff undercoat and pants with yellow buttons. The grenadiers of IR-4 have "traditional" Cavenderia cornflower blue hat sacks to help identify them in the throws of battle.

Saturday Morning Game Purchasing

2008-10-05T15:52:00.000-07:00

I was in Cincinnati this weekend, when my brother-in-law suggested we take a trip to a favorite gaming store of his. The store was very nice, loaded with Rio-Grande games and first rate from the service to the cleanliness of the store. While looking through some of the older games I found The Campaigns of Frederick the Great, designed by Rob Markham for 3W in 1993. I had not read any reviews of the game but for under $20 I thought it looked promising. The game has the old Avalon Hill table on the back of the box and said that it was "very high" for solitaire suitability so I can playtest it by myself. I asked the owner of the store if they sold over the net and was told that they do not have a web-store were not set up that well to ship games so I will not be able to purchase from them except when visiting the Queen City. They did not even have a business card on hand. This is too bad as it was a very nice store and they are probably missing out on online sales. However, I am very happy to have found a new game to read and play concerning the Seven Years War. My friend Mike has submitted his uniform for the Cavenderia cause and I will be posting pictures of IR-5 Fitzgerald soon.

Above: Image from 3W's Campaigns of Frederick the Great by Rob Markham.

IR-3 Prinz Geoffrey

2008-09-29T17:16:00.001-07:00

The Prinz's own Regiment IR-3 Prinz Geoffrey. The regiment has lapel, cuffs and turnbacks in the Prinz's favorite color Hunter Green. The coat is in the "traditional" Cavenderia Cornflower Blue with red stock, white undercoat and silver buttons. The pompom is Green with a hommage to Lady Sarafina's Regiment, IR-1, with a light blue top. The grenadiers of the regiment wear the regular infantry uniform with bearskin hats with a yellow and silver lined bag.

I have painted the very first Cavenderia Infantryman from IR-1 Die Dame's FuB and will have pictures up shortly. I am developing a history and geographical location for Cavenderia and will post the history of the Irish Catholic exiles who fled the British Catholic purge and managed to carve out a small dutchy on the continent. I have started toying with the idea of regimental or a national flag and will begin displaying my ideas in a future blog.

IR-2 in paper minis

2008-09-24T10:35:00.001-07:00

IR-2 von Bear translated into paper minis. Templates from www.juniorgeneral.org

I will need to design a flag both for the paper and lead minis.

Up next IR-3 Prinz Geoffrey.

IR-2 von Bear

2008-09-23T13:35:00.000-07:00

IR-2 von Bear, sorry no umlaut on my keyboard.

The first of the foreign inhabers. IR-2 wears the "traditional" Cavenderia cornflower blue coat with red collar, cuffs and lapels. The vest is a buff with a red pompom and yellow lining of the tricorne with yellow metal buttons. Loud cheers can be heard from Saxe-Bearstein immigrants when IR-2 passes in parade.

I will post pictures of IR-2 von Bear as paper miniatures soon.

IR-2 in Paper, my painting style

2008-09-22T08:07:00.000-07:00

Printed out IR-1 and mounted for Might and Reason, flanked by a couple of French allie Regiments. My gaming buddies and I have played the initial Warburg Scenario from Might and Reason and enjoyed it quite a bit. I am going to transfer my regiments to 18mm Eureka SYW and a mix of Old Glory and Pendraken 10mm for gaming. Below are a few examples of what I hope to accomplish with my Cavenderia Army.

When I started the SYW period I thought I would try out Baccus 6mm figs for Might and Reason. I was inspired by http://syw6mm.googlepages.com/home. The figs are pretty detailed for being so small and paint up rather easily. My wargaming buddies liked the scale and purchased some Prussians to fight my Austrians.

Right is a photo of some 10mm Old glory figs painted up as Austrian German Fusilier Troops.

I really like using 10mm for grand tactical. I have used 6mm and 15mm and will continue to use all scales but 10mm may be my favorite.

Left: I read a review of Eureka's 18mm Prussians on http://www.deepfriedhappymice.com/ and bought some. I am glad I did they look very nice and proportional. I am using their Austria line as the basis for my Cavenderia troops.

Right: Future Leib Battalion IR-1 Die Dame's FuB, 18mm by Eureka.

I will upload images of the regiments as they make their way from paper to metal. I plan on including some step-by-step instruction in future blogs for beginners. Currently I am a big fan of Kevin Dallimore and his painting system. I have been coloring and re-coloring my own regiment but feel that I am almost entirely pleased with the latest version and should have some pics of IR-2 Prinz Geoffrey soon.

Friday night gaming

2008-09-13T10:13:00.000-07:00

Not really a gaming night last night but a brainstorming session. My friend Ray, experienced game desinger, and I playtested a game I have been working on. The outcome was pretty satisifying and I look forward to discussing it in more detail as we iron out the wrinkles. The Dame's FuB have inspired the Prinz to design his regiment in a similar fashion. Prinz Geoffrey has elected to retain the cornflower blue jacket and embelish it with his own style. I will be posting images of IR-2 Prinz Geoffrey very soon. I am currently not in possesion of a decent digital camera therefore I will soon be acquiring a new one to put up some pics of the first two (2) regiments in paper mini and to put up some pics of my style of painting. I have quite a few 6mm, 10mm and 18mm Austrians and Prussians painted up. My first order of Eureka 18mm Austrians has arrived so I will be base coating them and painting up a battalion of Die Dame's FuB later this month. Hopefully I will have a decent camera by then. Being summer it is more difficult to get the gaming group together but we are working on a large SYW game soon. Our local gaming convention Charcon in Charleston, West Virginia is set to run October 18, I am looking forward to it. Last year I ran the first day of the battle of Gettysburg in 10mm, this year the theme is horror so I am at a bit of a loss may still attempt to throw something together.

aufwiedersehen.

Die Dame's FuB Regiment has been outfitted

2008-09-10T11:44:00.001-07:00

Infantry regiment (IR) 1 has been commissioned by the Princess of Cavenderia, her majesty Lady Sarafina. Lady Sarafina designed the uniform of her regiment lavishing particular affection on her regiment by providing them with leather lapels a cost and distinction unavailable to other regiments. Here now on display for the throngs of admiring tailors is the uniform of IR-1 The Lady’s Foot Guard Regiment.

The regiment is translated to paper below.

I will be uploading some photographs of IR-1 once they have been printed and mounted. The grenadier companies of IR-1 serve as personnel escort to Lady Sarafina and will most likely not be seeing the battlefield.

Mustering the Troops

2008-09-08T10:58:00.001-07:00

In order to start an army one needs troops. I decided that I would enlist the help of my friends in order to design the uniforms of the army of Cavenderia. I sent out a blank Austrian uniform template from the Not by Appointment blog http://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/ as the basis for the uniforms of Cavenderia. If you have not been to the Not by Appointment blog you should definitely check it out, the owner does great work and I may commision him to do a flag for me some day. The template is here. I asked my friends to become inhabers of their own regiments, using their favorite illustration program to color in the uniform. I have placed no restrictions on the design so Cavenderia should be a colorful nation indeed. My wife has supplied the first uniform to date and therefore her regiment has been given the designation "Die Dame's FuB" or the Queen's foot, Infantry regiment #1 (IR-1). I will detail her regiments colors and origin later this week.

To get the wargaming started as soon as possible I will be translating the uniforms sent in by the inhabers into paper minis from http://juniorgeneral.org/ Junior general makes paper figs for various periods and I have used them in the past to playtest different rules. to the left is a set of German fusiliers that will be the rank and file for Cavenderia until lead minis can be acquired.

Finally, once the battles have started I will be painting up the regiments I have been trying to decide between my standard 10mm old glory/pendraken combination or 18mm Eureka. I will provide photos of each for debate but I am leaning toward the 18mm. I will list the regiments as they are mustered. If anyone outside my circle of friends wants to submit a regiment feel free.

Friday night gaming

2008-08-30T06:48:00.000-07:00

Fitz and I played a couple of new games tonight including Maneuvre, a age of napoleon warfare "boardgame" for two (2) players. Fitz played the French and I played the British. Step one each player chooses an army. The game comes with several armies, French, British, Prussian, Austrian, Russian, Turks, Spanish and even the U.S.A. Each army has eight (8) units and is slightly customized to give each army it's own flavor. After selecting armies players set up the "board" by selecting four (4) tiles to build the battlefield. I enjoy being able to change the "board" each game i.e. Settler's of Catan, Battle Cry, etc. Players place armies on the two (2) tiles closest to them, these tiles are considered controlled by your army. You can win either by eliminating five (5) of your opponents units or having more units controlling area on your opponents two (2) tiles at the end of the game. Each player has a control deck that has cards which allow you to attack, leaders, and special events. The game ends when both players have played all of the cards in their decks once.

Each turn you discard cards, draw back up to five (5) cards, move a unit, combat and rally. The game moves very quickly and encourages you to keep your army in line. Discarding and drawing cards is important because you have to have a card with a picture of the specific unit you wish to attack or they can not attack. The cards force you to look for ways to utilize the units available and support their attack. While playing the British I had two (2) cards for the 42nd foot, I moved them forward attacked, moved them forward again attacked and left them stranded far in front of my battle line to have them eliminated by two (2) cavalry on their flanks.

Needless to say I lost the game 5-0 Fitz's French only suffered one hit on one unit. The fact that I lost so badly and still want to play again is a tribute to the simplicity and fast pace of the game. I am sure we will play this game again.

This is my first game review so please be kind.

WarGaming total

Prinz Geoffrey - 0 Fitz - 1

Welcome

2008-08-28T11:32:00.000-07:00

August 28, 2008

Welcome to my new blog. This blog is dedicated to my newish interest in the Seven Years' War and my Fictional 18th Century army of Cavenderia. I have sent out an email to several of my wargaming buddys and other fiends with a blank fusilier template taken from the "Not by Appointment" blog. I asked them to color the templates as if they were an Inhaber designing their regiments uniforms. I will be posting the names of the regiments, templates as they arrive and finally pictures of the 18mm regiments as they evolve, battle reports on how they have fared and general discussion on my wargaming club. I am a current frequenter of the Yahoo Seven Years War site and The Miniatures Page. This is my first entry so I will keep it short.