MiniFigs 15mm Hussite Peasants

More Hussites for the movement, but they are likely to wind up being a sword fodder or an annoying speedbump for some Men at Arms. The minis are mostly Peasants with Polearms from the MiniFigs Hussite range. There are few odd additions for character, from the priest and clergyman with standard to the armed boy and what I think are a couple of armed peasants from the MiniFigs Agincourt range.

Spurred on by zeal and a desire for reform but likely to
find martyrdom rather than victory.

There are a couple of minor conversions in this batch, a
hood on one peasant and the boy's club.

Once again I did try to have a theme in the colors but lots
of neutral shades to reinforce their peasant status.

The priest in the back is meant to
be the instigator of my local
Hussite forces, Petrus of Kozawald.

I probably have enough armed peasants and odd figures to make another unit to represent Serfs in Lion Rampant. Although they contribute little to the battle-plan, they do add loads of character to a force that is meant to be a popular revolt for religious reform, and they're dirt cheap in game. I want to make some armed woman as well, but I'm not sure if it would be easier to sculpt women's clothing on armed male figures, or add weapons to the few unarmed women that I have; time and effort are likely to answer that question for me.

Still thirsty,
Chris

More MiniFigs 15mm Hussite Infantry

These dozen figures are going to be the core of my Hussite force to begin with. Armed with a mix of spears, polearms, and flails they are meant to represent Expert Foot Yeomen. I figure the polearms and flails help to explain the superior ability to cause harm but I didn't want them to be as armored as Foot Serjeants.

Mostly from the Hussite range, I think the standard and a
spearman are from the Burgundian range sample pack
I ordered.

My attempt a Hussite chalice banner.

The whole unit has similar colors to
tie them together, but no true
uniform to speak of.

I'm proud of the way this little billman
turned out, his head started life as
a little blob of green-stuff.

So far I've managed to paint a couple dozen minis for my Hussite forces, but my German mercenaries are still very much a work in progress. I did just get a batch of minis from Miniature Figurines that I may post some pics of before painting since there aren't any on their site but they are lovely little fellows even without paint. I'm hoping to put together some Crossbowmen and Foot Serjeants from the German Crossbowmen and German Spearman, both from the MiniFigs Hussite range.

Still thirsty,
Chris

15mm Moravian Heavy Horseman

This mini is a bit odd. It's the result of putting a MiniFigs Moravian Heavy Lancer on a caparisoned horse from Alternative Armies Medus range. I'm not entirely sure why I chose to do it, I had an even number of riders and horses. The result seems to be a knight who perhaps couldn't afford a destrier but thought no one would notice if he dressed it the part.

He's a shiny boy.

The colors were loosely based on
the seal of Moravia.

I really like the sculpt of the rider.

I'm sure he'll see action charging
Hussite wagons.

I'm having fun painting heraldry and fancy garb, nice to be able to switch back and forth between peasants and nobles. This guy will have to get himself five friends before he's allowed to ride around the Lion Rampant battlefield, lucky for him I have more on the way. Not sure what variations I'll try with this color scheme, a fully checkered caparison could be fun.

Still thirsty,
Chris

MiniFigs 15mm Hussite Infantry

Recently finished some paint work on a few minis from Miniature Figurines, part of the Hussite MiniFigs range. I really liked these sculpts. Biggest drawback is a number of them are very distinct and come in packs of eight, I'll just have to use that as an excuse to sculpt some bits on the figures to make them look a little different. Maybe some weapon swaps.

Little over half strength unit of
expert foot yeomen.

The shield design is inspired by an
example found in an Osprey book.

I figure the flails is what makes
these men "expert".

Always fun to paint a beard on a
15mm mini.

When I was painting these I tried to stick with lots of natural or neutral tones for cotehardies, stockings and hoods, but as they are meant to be better than the serfs I did use plenty of red and pale green as a "uniform" of sorts. The armored swordsman in the front will be the basis for a number of conversions, while I love his floppy hood, mail hauberk, and German pavise shield; eight identical swordsmen may be a bit surreal. There are plenty more of these guys in the queue, some with more armor, some with crossbows and handgonnes.

Still thirsty,
Chris

War Wagon

Sort of anyway, at the moment it's more of a bag full of metal parts but it will be a mighty rolling bastion of the Hussite faith, at least in 15mm. I am unsure on how I want to build it. I have a number of crossbowmen and handgunners that would be appropriate, as well as men armed with all manner of polearm including flails. Not sure if I want to focus on making it a little diorama piece or a more practically minded wargaming item. The design of the kit leaves the possibilities quite open.

Neatly packed with horses.

The kit has everything, even triangular
 loopholes for shooting at Catholics.

So far this is the only War Wagon that I've purchased, it's from Alternative Armies and is exactly what I expected. The kit is a little pricey but given the number of panels I do understand the cost. I also purchased a swivel gun and some crew models from Alternative Armies, all neat little fellows if a little small but none of them are lacking for character, my favorite is the flailman with chained flail, a particularly wicked looking means of attacking from the protection of a wagon. My minis are meant to be used for playing Lion Rampant, so I may stick to making this as interesting a diorama piece as I can, or I may try to come up with some rules to represent it inside the abstractions of that game.

Still thirsty,
Chris

Hussite Wars?

In addition to playing tabletop games and collecting minis I do play video games occasionally. It gives me a gaming experience that I can indulge in a solo way, and in the glorious modern fashion you can purchase them in an entirely digital format so it can be a very impulsive thing. 

If you like a challenging RPG experience.

Thanks to my love of RPG's the Xbox store was quick to recommend Kingdom Come: Deliverance. So I downloaded the title and embarked on adventures a plenty set in the medieval Bohemia, a land riven by conflict at the time the game takes place. This led me into a rabbit hole on Wikipedia to a bit of real history that had evaded my attention until now, the Hussite Wars.

Who's this guy?

The unfortunate fellow getting pride of place in this medieval human barbecue is Jan Hus, the man who lends his name to a religious movement and a war fought to reform the church in Bohemia before the rest of Europe thought they would give it a shot. What's so neat about the Hussite Wars is the use of guns, both for infantry and cannon, and the exciting wagenburg tactics used by the Hussites that allowed smaller forces of lightly armored peasants to defeat larger armies made up of heavily armored horseman. By circling their wagons into defensive forts they could shower their attackers with bolts and shot until they retreated, then the Hussites would sally out with their own cavalry and mop the broken attackers. After learning about this I decided I needed to paint and model some tiny Germans and Bohemians.

Priests and monks from Miniature Figurines Hussite range.

Unsurprisingly I was not the first person to find some excitement in the Hussite Wars as a tabletop gaming venture, a number of companies make some lovely miniatures in a variety of scales. I chose 15mm for its economy and small scale alleviating some space concerns. I'm sure there are a ton of rules to use that could well represent larger battles of the Hussite Wars, but I wanted a skirmish game that would be fun and quick, an excuse really to paint and collect a variety of neat little lead men, Lion Rampant would do the trick nicely for my needs. 

Breakdown of the Hussite Wars

As I often do, I have probably bought too many minis for this project already, and since many of the companies that make minis I like are based in the UK I am stuck waiting weeks between bruising my bank account and putting paint to minis. So what to do in the interim...

Build tiny thatched houses of course.

I've already got a few batches of minis in the mail, and I've painted a number of them already. I've also cobbled together a number of buildings and terrain pieces just for this setting, but I'm only showing you a few quick neat things to be followed up by in depth articles with loads more pictures of minis and terrain.

Still thirsty,

Chris

Still in the Hobby

For a number of years I cataloged my many attempts at building, painting, and collecting minis, as well as my adventures in wargaming with my friends. A number of things changed for me and I shifted my interest from maintaining my blog and working on my hobbies. I moved a fair distance from the place that I had grown up in western North Carolina to coastal Virginia.  For a couple of years my hobby stuff was definitely a back burner kind of thing.

That's not to say that I didn't work on some minis and some games in the interim. I have been participating in an ongoing Warhammer 40,000 narrative campaign setting with my friends, that project alone has seen me collect a substantial amount of Orks and a new Astra Milkitarum force.

These are my Usamlijan Fusiliers.

They specialize in old fashioned lasgun fighting.

But they do pack some punch with the big guns.

And some bruisers too.

I'm sure I'll do a few features on those minis but there are a few pics just prove that there has been some painting in the past few years. There have even been a few large scale engagements, though they are a bit further apart than my gaming activities have been in the past. (Warp transit times between Virginia and North Carolina can be killer.)

My friends and I might not play as often, but we make up the difference with scale.

I thought that I'd brought a lot of minis with me till...

The local Orks showed up.

The relaunch of the blog is just my way of sharing some of the nifty stuff that I've been working on, plus I realized how much I missed connecting with the broader community of miniature wargaming and collecting. Going forward I hope that I can provide some eye-candy, some insight into my process and articles that have more interesting content than spelling and grammar errors.

Still thirsty,
Chris