A present from Osaka Castle

 While at a family wedding in Bolton recently, a grand nephew's, I saw my sister and brother in law freshly back from Japan tracking down where that branch of the family is from, that part of Yokahama was mostly destroyed in the earthquake in 1929 and anything left got flattened by US bombers in WW2 and although my great grandmother and the one remaining great aunt stayed their extended family moved to another treaty port, Nagasaki. My dad was in the invasion fleet in Sydney in 1945 and would have been in the first wave had we not dropped both bombs, so I feel a little ambiguous about the  bombing but that's not the point of this post!

 I got a present from Osaka Castle. 

My wife said at the  dining table in the hotel when I  got the book ( so I have witnesses)

 " why don't you paint a samurai army as it's part of your heritage " well with such an unusual intervention from my wife what can I do but acquiesce? It won't be immediate but I'm thinking of the battle of Sekigahara in 1600 between Tokugawa Ieyasu and Ishida Mitsunari so another pike and shot army or two, I've been put off Warlords plastic range by Ray's mate Steve who told me how hard he was finding it when I  saw him at Partizan!  So maybe it's going to be a metal Perry army? Obviously I'll have to do a bit more research but this will be a long term one, after Montrose's army and two hundred years war armies and my early Imperial Romans otherwise I'm pretty good with Napoleonics ( although I can't stop painting them?!) Great Italian wars are back on the agenda for some reinforcements and the  late Romans and dark ages are bumping along nicely so obviously all I bought at Partizan was WW2 Soviets! I also chatted to Andy from the friends of general Haig and they're really nice 1691 pike and shot battle, even if it wasn't in 28mm! 

KV1/2 warlord T34/76 Rubicon, tank crew and tank riders from bad Squiddo.  I'm currently up to my eyes in a flat refurbishment with an imminent deadline so I apologise if I'm not commenting on your blogs and probably won't be posting until next month, partizan was my only day off for the foreseeable future, added to 14 hour days doesn't leave a lot of time for a hobby!

All the best 

Iain 

A command stand and some bits and bobs! Great Italian wars 52

 This command stand was started during the Analogue Hobbies painting challenge but I've only just finished it . It depicts Caterina Sforza,  a member of the Sforza family who ruled Milan  born 1463 and died 1509. She was the ruler of Imola and Forli with her first husband  and after his death as regent for her son , not considered a role for a woman at the time, nevertheless she did so.She seized the castle saint Angelo in Rome whilst secen months pregnant during a papal election and  held the fortress of Ravaldino after the murder of her husband, where ,in response to threats against her children she is said to have raised her skirts and told her children's captors to go ahead and hang them, she had the means of making more! Not sure it's actually true as Machiavelli is the source and he'd also had a run in with her, capable of extreme brutality, hunting down both her lover's killer's and their pregnant wives , children and infants , extreme even by the standards of the day. She campaigned against the Venetians, gaining the nickname the Tiger of Forli and defended Ravaldino against the French army supporting Caesera Borgia who was carving out a kingdom in the Romagna, ultimately she had to surrender to the French , sword in hand and after a period imprisoned in Rome's Castle Saint Angelo she finished ip in Florence where her third husband (a Medici) had been from. The Caterina figure is from Bad Squiddo, the hair's a bit of a lump and I don't think the armour is elegant enough for a renaissance princess, it's more ammunition quality I feel? I've painted her in blue and white as I found some references for that. The banner bearer is a Perry plastic from the 15th century  mercenaries box and is about right for period, the landsknecht is somewhat anachronistic but I wanted someone who looked like a guard and he fitted the bill, he's also a lovely Foundry figure. The banner is Sforza Milan so also not entirely accurate but close enough I think! 

Hosted some bolt action games from the market garden supplement, a bit more gamey than Steve Js rather more realistic campaign on his http://wargameswithtoysoldier1685-1985.blogspot.com/ still entertaining, I  just supplied the terrain and following a leaf out of Norms book i used partially completed buildings! 

The scenario called for buildings along both sides of the road lengthways on a 6' x 4' board and while I could have used medieval and Italian wars buildings I thought it wouldn't look great and it didn't take long to knock up ten foamboard ruins on hardboard bases, they're loosely based on the mdf terrace/ row houses I inherited from Des which are elsewhere on the table, we did find with those that because they were so small they were difficult to access so I've gone for something more like a house and a half with a bit more space within the  ruin and I've planned them as pairs so that two would give you the equivalent of three buildings, although they work fine on their own. I don't think they look too bad in black, the plan is to gradually add sills, floorboards some brickwork, render, roof framing and tiles as the campaign goes on, they might be finished by the end but I rather doubt it. The other reason for these is my niece has expressed an interest in some sort of miniature game D&D was mentioned which I no longer have but I do have frostgrave and probably the figures to go with it and you need a lot of ruins for that game, also Mordheim is very popular at the club so I hope to get some use out of them, a couple of them together would probably be not far off what a built up area in 1813 should look like for Valour and Fortitude/Blackpowder if I wanted to be realistic? Food for thought anyway, lot's of other stuff nearing completion! Partizan  coming up next weekend and I'm aiming on going, hope to see some of you there?

All the best 

Iain 

 

A command stand and some odds and ends! War of three Kingdoms 29

 I started this chap for the Analogue Hobbies painting challenge for local history but didn't finish him in time, he was meant to be a New Model Army officer as where I  live in Hertford is where the New Model Army were bivouaced in 1647 and  a mutiny broke out  between Leveller inspired soldiers, who for some reason  objected to being demobilised  without back pay,and Fairfax and Cromwell who proceeded to put it down.  The officer has a personal sash rather than an army specific one and has the Leveller hat band, or might that just be a coincidence? A nice Foundry figure, I've painted this figure before and incorporated him into a cavalry unit and got him off Des as he doesn't like having duplicate figures, I'm less bothered! He'll do for any mid seventeenth century force I think?

This other infantry officer has been almost finished for an age so I thought I'd put him out of his misery as I was in a mid seventeenth century mood, he will be useful to replace another Warlord games figure, the ensign with the red regiment flag, as he's so English whereas with this chap , change the flags and the world, or at least Europe is our lobster!

J got asked to do a cake topper for my wife's niece's wedding, fun if slightly challenging on the sculpting front for me, the happy couple and their cat, I'd say their about 1/25 scale, tenous connection to the rest of this post is that the grooms parents live on the road believed to be the site of the mutiny !

All the best 

Iain