Tom Custer's Company 'C'

 It's been a while but I've finally managed to finish the painting on another 20mm cavalry company. 

As George Custer liked to have different horse colours to differentiate companies, it's nice to finally paint a chestnut colour after a barrel full of Bay ones.

Painting shirt sleeves helps to create a ad-hoc look for the units. 

Tom Custer was actually not with his command, so I haven't modelled him here. Tom was riding up front next to his big brother, he hasn't got a mounted figure but he's on Custer's dismounted stand.

To mix up the look of the limited range from Newline Design, I've mixed in some Confederate and Union cavalry. There isn't a lot of difference in the figures and it just helps to add some more poses. This company has a few Kepi's too. I think this makes the unit look a little green and new.

It's nice to get the horse brands on the mounts, it's just a little detail that makes me happy.

The bugler is mounted on a grey horse.

They are still glueing at the moment so the basing is yet to do.

Kirke's Lambs 15mm

kirkes regiment in Ireland 1690. I made the ground quite muddy and wet to reflect the conditions at the Boyne. 

This regiment also took part at the battle Sedgemoor during the Monmouth rebellion. The ground here too was wet and boggy, so having a muddy base is a must for this regiment.

The background book is from Jon Hodgson and is full of atmospheric backgrounds.

Painting this 15mm regiment was fun and very easy to do. After this painting test I'm still on the 15mm side of things for this era. Hopefully it will prove easier to get units painted and finished.

I had to buy two sets of flags from Pendrakon in 15mm. They only have one standard on the sheet for each regiment, so I had to do some research and tweak the second one slightly. I think this period of warfare always looks better with more standards fluttering in the breeze. So two is the bare minimum I think for my units. Luckily for me, the two standards are very similar in most regiments so creating two shouldn't cause a too much bother.

These little guys from Gripping Beast have enough variety in their poses to get the look I was going for.

The regiment starts it's march inland.

 "Fetch"

UPDATE: I thought I would try out this AK puddle solution on the bases.

At this tiny 15mm scale I found it best to apply the solution with a brush. It's super shiny and produces a good wet effect on the mud.

I got slightly carried away here but I applied a well placed tuft to balance things out.

I think the puddle solution works well and now the bases definitely look wet and boggy.

Cardolan Rangers

I've taken the time to just cover the arm joints with some cloak material. I think this looks a lot better now and certainly makes a visual difference.

It's easy to do and gives a much more natural look to the cloak. As this ranger is pulling back his bow to shoot, I've bent the plastic bow back. This creates a much better look for a bow under strain.

I also bought a couple of packs of rangers from North star from their Shadows deep range. There is a definite nod to LOTR with this range, as their shields have the star of Arnor on for one. This of course is perfect for my needs creating a Cardolan force. These smaller shields are perfect for rangers, who can't be weighed down by large, heavy war gear.

A very stoic ranger from North star in the background. He is quite tall compared to the Oathmark plastics, but this again is good for the Dunedain.

North star also produce a female ranger which fits in well.

Stoic ranger again, he's going to make a good captain I think.

A cowl extra on a soldier of Cardolan, just helps to add some variety to the Fireforge models.

I had another stab at doing chain mail and this is looking better. The putty wasn't so thick and I waited for it to cure for 15 minutes before starting.

I thought it would be nice to include a few rangers with bare heads to contrast against all the cloaks.

The star of Arnor.

Another view of the chain mail, definitely getting there with this new technique. At least it matches the plastic sculpting.

Here is another metal ranger sculpt from North star. This one scales much better with the Oathmark figures. It's good to have a couple of actual rangers in the mix. 

I do have some Citadel LOTR figures from the Eighties somewhere I need to dig out. I imagine they will be quite small these days compared to the more modern sculpts.

Rangers meet up to discuss their latest plans.

Some other chain mail , I must remember to cut out the areas of putty where the two colours connect in the packaging. This can lead to hard areas where the two strands of putty have already hardened together slightly.

 "For Cardolan!"