Catholic Priests for the Conquistadores for Feudal Patrol Games

Clearly, 500 years ago, the Catholic Faith of the Spanish Conquistadores was a huge part of their culture. One only need look at The Banner of Cortes to see that. As such, they were accompanied by priests that said Mass for them and worked – and did fight – alongside them in Mesoamerica 500 years ago. Remember, for them, in 1518-1521 it had only been a little over 20 years since they had successfully had the Reconquista and reclaimed the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors after 700 years of occupation. More recently, the Conquistadors had seen success in the Italian Wars. Much of that success was attributed to Providence to be sure.

For my Civilizations Collide scenarios for games of Feudal Patrol^TM , I have updated my rules for priests on both sides. The updated supplement is soon to be made available for download, as is a planned 16-scenario booklet. In these games, the beneficial effect of Catholic Priests is that they can help reduce the number of Morale Checks that the Spanish might need to take as a result of combat and casualties, as they motivate them to fight on. They can also defend themselves, albeit understandably less effectively than a traditional Sword and Buckler Man.

While I have many Sword and Buckler Men figures, no appropriate figures to use as priests were in my unpainted mountain. After a good search I did find a few at Badger Games from Gripping Beast/Saga and Conquest Games. These looked quite medieval, but to my knowledge I would not think that religious garb or holy garments really changed much over the centuries back then. These were probably designed for the era of Viking raids. Plus, the two that I got that were from Conquest games were monks. And yes, as a practicing Catholic, I am familiar with the differences! Still, these looked the part as best as I could tell, so I bought them. They are 28mm and metal. As for painting research, I used the only plate I found in John Pohl’s Aztecs and Conquistadores (page 168) showing a priest as a guide for painting. Clearly, a monkish look – in black – was going to be fine for the tabletop.

With Historicon and some upcoming gaming looming as early as three days from today, I painted the three up quickly right after I finished Hernan Cortes. I’m fairly happy with them for gaming the period.

The two Conquest Game figures were both monks, the Gripping Beast/Saga one was called a priest:

1. Catholic Priest/monk figure from Conquest Games Ecclesiastics/Monks Line via Badger Games (#CG CGMM121f Monk in Cowl) – designated CCP2 by me
2. Catholic Priest/monk figure from Conquest Games Ecclesiastics/Monks Line via Badger Games (#CG CGMM121g Monk with Holy Cross) – designated CCP1 by me
3. Catholic Priest figure from Gripping Beast/SAGA Priests Line via Badger Games (#SPR06 Christian Priest 2) – designated CCP3 by me

As I was hurrying to get these done, I took few WIP shots, but here you go below:

I want to mention a few areas of, well, let’s say minor challenges in painting these. First – and as someone without this condition I want to be sensitive. Two of them have shaven and/or bald pates. Painting shaved heads/bald heads was a new one for me and took a bit of experimentation to get acceptable results. After all, I would expect that these men of the cloth would have tanned up a bit facially. Still, the head and face on CCP3 (the Gripping Beast/SAGA figure) was not that easy to get right. Secondly, for all three you can imagine that their cloaks would have been less than pristine. I used some pigments for that. Lastly, highlighting black robes with gray was something I did want to play with here.

I like CCP 1 the best and CCP3 the least – mainly because of the face being a bit mushy. CCP2 is quite mysterious.

Well, now they have joined the ranks of the Conquistadores. Off to gaming with ye!

I hopefully have one more pre-Historicon post to share with you later today on gaming aids – if I can get it done before I have to pack. Then I’ll be silent for a bit and hopefully get a good post-weekend post on the gaming.

Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:

For all of my previous posts on games, units, and other projects for my 16th Century Spanish Conquest supplement for Feudal Patrol™ – “Civilizations Collide” – please see this page.

PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THESE CATHOLIC PRIEST FIGURES:

1. Gorilla Glue
2. 1/8″ x 1″ Everbilt Fender Washers
3. Poster tack
4. Vallejo Mecha Primer “White”
5. Vallejo “Flow Improver”
6. Vallejo “Airbrush Thinner”
7. MSP “Brown Liner”
8. Vallejo Mecha Color “Off-White”
9. Vallejo Model Color “Black”
10. Citadel “Skrag Brown”
11. Citadel “Contrast Paint – Cygor Brown”
12. Citadel “Contrast Paint – Snakebite Leather”
13. Vallejo Mecha Color “Dark Steel”
14. Vallejo Model Air “Bright Brass”
15. Army Painter “Tanned Flesh”
16. Battlefront “Dark Leather”
17. Vallejo Model Air “Silver”
18. Vallejo Model Color “Black Grey”
19. Citadel “Contrast Paint – Black Templar”
20. Citadel “Contrast Medium”
21. Vallejo Model Color “German Grey”
22. Vallejo Mecha Color “Brown”
23. Citadel “Longbeard Grey”
24. P3 “Brown Ink”
25. Citadel “Contrast Paint – Apothecary White”
26. P3 “Ruby” (wash)
27. Vallejo Game Color “Bronze Fleshtone”
28. Vallejo Model Color “Sunny Skin Tone”
29. Vallejo Model Color “Brown Rose”
30. Army Painter “Flesh Wash” (wash)
31. Citadel “Nuln Oil” (wash)
32. Battlefront “Flat Earth”
33. Elmer’s PVA Glue
34. Army Painter “Brown Battlefields” (flocking)
35. Vallejo “Dark Yellow Ochre” (pigment)
36. Vallejo “Burnt Umber” (pigment)
37. Vallejo “Pigment Binder”
38. Citadel “Steel Legion Drab”
39. Citadel “Tallarn Sand”
40. Citadel “Karak Stone”
41. Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Matt Varnish”
42. Army Painter “Grass Green” (flocking)