A digression to another period…

When I have big projects in front of me on the painting table, I like to do two things as I work. The first is to listen to books on tape (I am currently going through Volume 7 of The Wheel of Time series – you can get lots done in 25 CDs worth of material.) The second is to have some smaller projects to intersperse with the stages of the larger one to give me a break. This digression is *literally* smaller than the Keuhankans as it is a force of 2mm figures based for the upcoming game “Land Ironclads” by Wessex Games.

The miniatures came in an army pack from Irregular Miniatures out of England. I purchased one of the Battlepacks from the Franco-Prussian war era, roughly coinciding with the time frame of Aeronef. There is not much info available on the rules right now other than the basing info that Wessex put out on their Yahoo Group list. I had picked up a Warmaster Ancients Indian army from Magister Militum from Little Wars when I was at MilleniumCon last fall and got some steel bases to go along with the army. Luckily for me, the bases fit the scale for Land Ironclads. I started small (no pun intended) with just a few bases to see how these little goomers painted up. (The pictures below will open up a new window with a larger picture when you click on the thumbnail.)

In this first picture, the group I painted is laid out in a tactical formation. Artillery is to the fore with a couple of infantry companies in support and flanked by squadrons of cavalry. The units to the rear of the infantry are two headquarters units that might have been Mitrailleuse as far as I know. They looked good as HQs, however, so I used them that way.

The left HQ (shown in a better picture here) is on a hill cut from a popsicle stick and then flocked with Woodland Scenics materials. The right HQ is next to a monopoly house that has the thatch roof made from Squadron Green Putty and has the chimney cut off.

The cavalry is shown to the left. What I think is impressive is that one of the set of stands contains lancers with pennants! Pretty good modeling jobs! Don’t ask me why the thumbnail for this one looks better than the first one above… I can’t break the code just yet. I think the picture is a big one and just doesn’t reduce down well.

All in all, I like these tiny warriors. I don’t think I’d ever play a Napoleonics or 7YW game with them, as the bigger figures appeal more to me, but when these are placed on the same table with Aeronefs, I bet the overall visual appeal will be terrific!