Vienna 1683 - 15mm Ottoman Turk Spahi

I bought these fine looking fellow at Warfare in November, they helped me make up my mind in painting up the two 15mm armies for the Relief of Vienna in 1683. You may recall me painting up a ton of 25mm figures for the same period to use the skirmish rules Donnybrook. So why do the same period in 15mm you ask?

Coz I can!!!

They did need a little touching up, just a few chips here and there.

I inked them and rebased them.

And added the flags.

They're a mix of Essex and Venexia figures.

They make up the 4 units of Spahi, the Heavy Cavalry of the Ottoman army.

I've got a long way to go, I was hoping to have most of these painted up during the Painting Challenge, but I'm running out of time, so I'll be happy if I get 50% finished before the Challenge ends on 20th March.  Here's my list below, anything in red has been painted and ticked off the list.

Ottoman Army under Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa Pasha

1st Line (Independent Commands)

Irregular Tribal Raw 12 figs

Irregular Tribal Raw 12 figs

Irregular Tribal Raw 12 figs

Irregular Tribal Raw 12 figs

2nd Line indie command

Timariot Sipahis Blade, Lance Drilled 6 figs XXX

Timariot Sipahis Tribal, bow/carb drilled 6f XXX

Timariot Sipahis Blade, Lance Drilled 6 figs XXX

Timariot Sipahis Tribal, bow/carb drilled 6f XXX

3rd Line indie commands 

Sekban musket, loose Raw 12 figs 

Tufeckci musket, loose Drilled 12 figs 

Sekban musket, loose Raw 12 figs 

Tufeckci musket, loose Drilled 12 figs 

Janissary Brigade & Brigadier

Janissary Orta All Musket Drilled/Elite 12
Janissary Orta All Musket/Flintlock Drilled/Elite 12

Janissary Orta All Musket/Flintlock Drilled/Elite 12

Janissary Orta All Musket Drilled/Elite 12

Reserve & Brigadier

Sipahis of the Porte Blade, Lance Veteran-Elite 6 figs

Sipahis of the Porte Blade, Lance Veteran-Elite 6 figs

Vizier's Guard All Musket, Flintlock Guard 6 

Great Gun Drilled 1 model 

Great Gun Drilled 1 model 

Holy League under King Jan III Sobieski

Polish Cavalry Brigade

Lipka Tartars Tribal Cav now Raw 6figs

Pancerni Bullet, armour Drilled 6 figs

Pancerni Bullet, Lance, armour Drilled 6 figs

Hussar Banner Blade, Lance, armour Veteran-Elite 6 figs

Polish Cavalry Brigade

Lipka Tartars Tribal Cav now Raw 6figs

Pancerni Bullet, armour Drilled 6 figs

Pancerni Bullet, Lance, armour Drilled 6 figs

Hussar Banner Blade, Lance, armour Veteran-Elite 6 figs

Imperial Cavalry Brigade 

Dragoons Regt Dragoons, Flintlock, Drilled 12 figs

Cuirassier Regt Bullet, Armour Veteran-Elite 12 figs

Bavarian Cav Brig

Dragoons Regt Dragoons, Flintlock, Drilled 12 figs

Cuirassier Regt Bullet, Armour Drilled-Elite 12 figs

Saxons Cav Brigade 

Dragoons Regt Dragoons, Flintlock, Drilled 6 figs

Cuirassier Regt Bullet, Armour Drilled-Elite 18 figs

Field gun 1 model

Battle Chronicles - Bridge of Ice and Smoke - Scenario 4

Battle Chronicles - The Retreat from Moscow

Me an Lee got together in Posties shed last week, to give Scenario 4, another run through,

The Map

"Before you lie, three possible crossing points, (in blue). Each promises a way forward, yet none can be trusted. Ice that appears solid may shatter under the weight of men and horses; snow-covered sections may hide thin, treacherous patches; broken banks and frozen shallows may collapse without warning. 

Are the bridges safe to cross?

The photos below  come from the three games we played that evening, the first two ended in surprising easy victories for the French, so we bolstered up the army list for the Russians, which gave a much closer and made for a more realistic game.

The French stragglers are in the centre of the photo, making their way to the bridge on the SW corner of the map.

While Russian Infantry and Jager's chase them down.

Desperately a lone Infantryman fires his pistol at the gaining Russians, while another group, hide behind a building. 

In the third game we upped the chance for Cossacks entering the table.

There seems to be a growing number of Russians??

This was the end for poor Damian.                               The Russians close in for the kill.

But it means his friends have a chance to escape.....

Run!!!

The Cossacks move 14 inches and catch the rear of the French.

Both go down in the snow

The Cossacks charge on , hitting the French group the the back and the side.

Another group of Frenchmen are being cut down.

The French are tough though, they knock a few Cossacks out of their saddles.

But in the end the French are all killed.

So the Russians won the last game, so we best try this scenario again and see if the French can do any better???

If this floats your boat pop over here, to find out more. If you'd like to sign up to receive emails about Battle Chronicles - The Retreat from Moscow, click here.

Terrain - how to make Snowy Roads

 

A few weeks ago I posted some photos of snowy roads or tracks that Lee and myself made for our Retreat from Moscow shenanigans. Several times I've been asked how we made them, luckily I took a few photos as we went along.

I had an idea of what I wanted, something flexible, so it would hug any terrain features, hills and alike and be heavy enough not to move around or curl at the edges.

I thought of the idea of using rubber mats, like you get at a gym, but these were very expensive and I didn't want to waste money if it didn't work.

Then one day walking around Poundland I noticed these door mats, which I thought would be ideal, especially as they were covered in little nipples to brush mud off of your shoes. I thought that would help keep on my caulk mixture in place. So like an idiot I bought 2, thinking that would be enough, I should have bought at least 5 of them!!! They only cost £2.50 each

I'd previously cut 1 mat out into various shapes and while Lee spread our mixture over the roads, I cut out more using just a pair of scissors. I was a little worried at first as the nipples were very visible and might ruin the whole plan?

What is this special mixture you have, I hear you ask. Well its this from Screwfix, No Nonsense, Flexible Caulk. Any brand will do, but its GOT to be flexible. This was just over £4 a tube.

We squirted 3 tubes into my wife best mixing bowl, (no, not really!) and added a few more squirts of a cheap brown acrylic paint and a splash of water, I was going to add a handful of sand but I didn't want it to dry out too quick. Next time I do this I will.

We left the downside of the mat plain, again this should do the job it was made for and help grip whatever its laid on?

I next painted over with our earth brown base colour, I gave it 2 generous coats. On the last coat I sprinkled on some sand.

To be honest you don't need to do this, but I was getting impatient waiting for the paint to dry.

The sand also helped cover up some of the nipple shapes.

One stupid thing I forgot to do, was cut out a T junction.....doh!

When it was fully dry, I gave it all another coat of paint, some of the sand came off, but most stayed in place.

You can hardly see the nipples now?

Lucky my wife was out this day, because I did all this work on our dinner table, lets hope she doesn't read this post?

Next up was a dry brush all over with white paint, again the same as we did with our bases.

Which came out pretty well.

Next up I scooped on our snow mixture on the edges of the roads, the mixture is just Woodlands scenic Snow, mixed in with a good quality PVA glue until its like a porridge consistency, if it urns out a little dry, just add a little water.

Next up I added a little water to some of the snow mixture and with a 2 inch brush, painted the mixture over the exposed road, to try and make to look slushy. I think it worked?

So there you go, How to make Snowy Roads!