Ready for Action in the New Year

Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe that it’s 2022! Weren’t we supposed to have flying cars and self-tying shoes by now? As I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve been painting a lot of figures. I’m finding that having a variety on the painting tray at any time allows me to switch up if I get tired of painting one scheme, as well as helping me not waste paint. Extra flesh-tone? Just add some green and make it into a nice goblin color. Extra goblin-flesh-tone? Add some gray and make it a nice wool color for frocks or tunics.

Anyways, less text more pictures! Onward!

First up, 3 pikes and 3 muskets! These have been the most interesting figures to paint because I’ve never studied the 17th century, really. Usually, my interest drops after the Hundred Years’ War and picks up around the American Revolution. Now I’m getting overwhelmed with interest in the pike and shot era. 

Thanks a lot to Tradgardmastare for the new world of study! It’s not complicated at all trying to figure out who wore what colors and why Presbyterians were so angry and which hats were popular with Royalists or Parliamentarians…there’s a healthy dose of sarcasm there. It’s been worth it, though! I’m learning a lot, and I’m falling in love with the era and these figures.

I’m going for a kind of “trained band” or mercenary look for many of them so that I can do small skirmishes and not worry as much about “well actually the tartan as we know it wasn’t exactly what Scots wore and you wouldn’t have seen that color on a Roundhead…”

I’m intending this gent to be the leader of the pikemen, with a very “mercenary captain” (or at least sergeant) look. I really enjoyed reading about Hodden Grey here, and I’ve been trying to mix grays and browns to achieve similar tones. Forgive the fingers, good lighting is an issue lately.

Moving on, 1/72 goblins! A whole band, ready for raiding. The two in front have a kind of clay red on their faces and run through their hair. They’re redcaps! Or at least, my take on them. I’m making them the vicious “squad leaders” of the goblins, malevolent warriors who have proven their combat prowess and now assert their dominance over their peers, identified by the red pigmented warpaint they wear on their heads. It’s a nod to folklore and a cultural reason for the goblins themselves (because plastic monsters need culture, I guess).

Finally, the largest (and smallest) group of figures I’ve painted—Essex 15mm Feudals. Here are the knights, I’ve done so far. I’m trying to keep the livery colorful and bright, very heroic looking. The way King Arthur’s knights look in fairytales.

Spears to accompany the knights…

Crossbows to add some missile weapons to the fray…

And a lady. I got purple paint in my stocking and she was the first figure to receive it. It felt right to give the noblewoman royal colors. Her hat completes the damsel look, and it would not be surprising to see her in distress at some point. Alternatively, she could be the Damsel at the head of a 15mm Oldhammer Bretonnian force?