Projects moving forwards...

Apart from some Napoleonics now and then, I pretty much stopped painting any scales smaller than 28mm about 5 years ago.  Just couldn't be bothered to paint armies any more.

Then I decided to have a clear out in 2025, sold off stuff I was no longer using (or in some cases, had never used !), and armies that annoyed me because they were bits and bobs from various others.

During my career change, I toyed with the idea of painting for a living, and thought it would be a good idea to paint up armies that I might either sell, or keep if I couldn't (or no longer wanted to). 

Hence my "1040 AD" project was born, and Sicilian or North African Arabs were first off the paint table...then sat around for several months because I really hate basing !

Well, it is too hot to paint, but basing 15mm is a no-brainer, so here they are at last !

I have also painted up my recent order of 6mm Sun King Wars stuff from Baccus.

After ordering them, I read that the Imperial infantry mainly used matchlocks right up until the beginning of the 18th century.  Obviously at this scale you cannot tell a matchlock from a flintlock, but users of the former will carry the "apostles" well known from the ECW, which is visible on a 6mm figure.

So, I decided to paint these three battalions as German mercenaries, no doubt Bavarians.  Although they have fought the French on many occasions, they have no combat experience against the Turks, and are therefore retaining their pikes. 

The two battalions with the red facings were the "test run", on which I made a few mistakes.  The blue-green coated battalion represents the painting procedure I will use on everything else. 

 

The two cavalry units are Imperial Cuirassiers.  They still wore armour back and front, and favoured the old pot-helmet.  Unexpectedly, they do not rely on a flat out charge to break the enemy (although they may sometimes do so, especially against weakened opponents).  Instead they fire one or more volleys with carbines and pistols before closing at a trot.  Against the Ottoman horse, they apparently drilled to dismount behind chevaux de frise and engage with their firearms.

The Imperials used a lot of them, so I expect I will paint about 6-7 bases.  They were frequently very large regiments, so here both bases are from the same regiment.

All in all, this batch represents about 1500 foote and 600 horse.  I have worked out my Imperial army at 36 bases : if that proves to be too many, some of them can form an embryo of another force.  Rules wise, I looked at another couple, but Ga Pa and Polemos GNW are still the contenders.