This blog is titled “Life, Golf, Miniatures, and Other Distractions” – and it’s not often that it’s about anything but miniatures. This post will definitely concern miniatures – but as the title suggests, a few other things are going to get added in after the miniature stuff.
Why you ask? Well, the long and short of my current predicament is that a member of my household is near the end, and I need to deal with the ramifications of that. It’s sad, but it’s time.
Oh, sorry, not a person, it’s my PC that is on its last legs – and it is already quite legless.
My PC has had multiple thermal shutdowns over the last few weeks – while in sleep mode! Argh! I decided that I would need to get a new desktop before I lose all my hobby work (plus everything else that is on the thing). I prefer a PC over a laptop, though I still look at WordPress on my iPhone and my iPad. I just compose on a PC. Anyways, I will be without a computer shortly – so I needed to get a post in. Therefore this post will cover some miniature stuff first and some fun (I think) extras – I hope that they will be somewhat interesting for you.
Plus, this is my largest list of hashtags ever (I think so anyways).
In my last post, as part of “Mark’s Aztec Building Challenge Contest” (which you should enter soon by the way!) I discussed how I assembled and painted 8 Temple Columns for my Aztec games of Feudal Patrol™ using my Civilizations Collide supplement. I had moved onto the MDF kits over my resin stuff as temperatures had been too cold here in Massachusetts to use rattlecans to prime outside. I truly enjoyed building and painting the MDF of my last post, and I certainly still have a love for using chinchilla dust.
My next MDF effort would be two kits of the “Temple Corner Walls” – from Things From the Basement via 4Ground via Badger Games (see it here). Each kit had one square pillar-like structure and two walls – six in total. The kits are very nice and pretty easy to work with in my opinion. I basically used the second approach from last time – assemble first, then dust up with the chinchilla dust and paint them.
An example of one kit out of the bag after cleaning it off with a moist microfiber cloth.I have found with these MDF kits that it helps to dry fit first and organize the parts. Here you also see that I put an “up” arrow on the inside of the walls to help make sure that I did not assemble anything upside down.I assembled the wall sections first and let the PVA dry overnight.The next day, I added steel washers as weight to get the wall tops to glue flush to the previous step’s work. Then I glued to the bases (with the weights again).All of the “Temple Corner Walls” assembled and ready to get dusted up and painted.Here you see my early dry brushing after dusting – I use three colors to dry brush. I decided to paint the triangles in a red, black, and yellow pattern. You can see the paints that I used at the very end of this post.After I dry brushed the structures, I toned down the dry brushing with Army Painter “Light Tone”. Between the “thirst” of both the MDF and the chinchilla dust, I ended up using the better part of two bottles of the AP tone. Here, these are all complete.
I tried to use my spray booth again for some shots here but I did get some weird shadows and alternatively unwanted shine that I did not like. So I went with what you see below. I’ll need to investigate a light box (maybe).
Here you see a fight among the “Temple Column Walls” (this post) and the “Temple Columns” (from my last post) between a squad of Conquistadores (and a wardog) against an Aztec squad and a supporting warrior priest. I think that I was successful at getting all to blend in well.
So, the Temple Corner Wall structures of this post are part of two “challenges”. The first is mine as mentioned earlier – “Mark’s Aztec Building Challenge Contest” – in which I will give away free prizes to blog followers for being the closest to guess how long it will take me to finish all these buildings. The second is from Ann’s Immaterium, and is called Ann’s “Paint the Crap You Already Own” challenge. These definitely count there – and I hope there will be more for this April challenge.
I have ordered some more “Light Tone” – and with my remaining MDF I’ll need it. In the meantime, as an update – it warmed up here this week so I was also able to get my outside priming done – see below!
I was able to prime this week! I can now vary what I decide to complete.
I also am planning an update to my Civilizations Collide supplement, which will have rules for the falconet and some new scenarios (in addition to an overall update). So that might slow up my progress, as also golf might (haven’t played yet this year though). I also have been – wait for it – GAMING!
Well, remotely anyways. I was lucky enough to play in a Combat PatrolTM game last Saturday via Zoom with Sally4th’s Chris Abbey. Chris (in the UK) set up a James Bond game based on the 1977 film The Spy Who Loved Me that he called “Nobody Does it Better” (Carly Simon song of the movie). It featured the scene in the bad guy’s (Stromberg) supertanker interior hold (that held a captured US sub). The action focused on the scene where escaping British, Russian, and American crews fight the Stromberg goons to stop a nuclear launch. We had US and UK players – and I had James Bond. Our objective was to advance up the gantry and throw a satchel charge at the control room doors and blow it open. We had a lot of twists and turns in the game – James Bond’s satchel charge misfired, and so did a Stromberg flamethrower that would have fried him. A last second satchel charge throw from the Americans missed, but the explosive charge slid up to the door and blew it! Success! Notably, I had invited our blogger buddy TIM who got to watch the game – and it was fun to share the experience with him.
Take a look at the tabletop below – amazing!
The tabletop before the game.Chris Abbey GM’s the game exceptionally well. We were moving up the gantry on the left – the control room was in the center of the far end.
I also had two other nice surprises. The first was in the mail from Buck Surdu – who sent me a couple of Wars of Ozz shirts. I did get in the Kickstarter for it (and the figures are available from Sally 4th and Old Glory in the US) -and the next project I plan to do is paint these figures.
Love these shirts and I will be happy to be wearing them at future gaming events! I won’t be bringing Caesar (our nearly 27 year old cockatiel) – he hates dice.
The second surprise came in our local weekly newspaper (see below). I’ll let Andy Newton’s words speak for themselves, but given the last few months, this was a heartwarming bonus for us.
From The Spencer New Leader
And though my computer is a problem, I did get the email from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that has allowed me and my wife to get our first “jabs” this weekend! Take that COVID-19!
So, until my computer situation is better – I’ll be painting and following up on my iPad. Maybe I’ll be back this weekend – in any case, let’s discuss this post! So feel free to let me know your thoughts and comment – and to enter the contest. Take care all and thanks for looking!
Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:
Previous posts on games, units, and other projects for my 16th Century Spanish Conquest supplement for Feudal Patrol™ – “Civilizations Collide”
Aztec Temple Corner Walls (Plus Some Life & Other Distractions Stuff Added In) (this post)
Perro de Guerra (Conquistador War Dogs). 13 figures total: Outpost Wargames Services #CONS6 “War Dogs” (8 war dogs); Eureka #100CON13 “Dog Handler and Dogs” (1 dog handler/pikeman and 4 war dogs)
Conquistador Foot Command, Crossbowmen, and a Couple of Officers. 11 figures total: Outpost Wargames Services #CONC1 “Conquistador Foot Command” (a leader, a banner bearer, a drummer, and a bugler); Eureka #100CON04 “Crossbowmen” (5 crossbowmen); and Eureka CONC1 “Conquistador Officer” and an unknown SKU officer (2 officers)
When one considers the Aztecs and their empire, what does the historical record say about which visual images struck the Conquistadores in 1519 with awe? Colorfully costumed and tremendously fierce warriors? Eagle Warriors? Jaguar Warriors? Montezuma II and his palace? Untold amounts of gold and silver? Perhaps their quite bloody reputation for human sacrifice, slavery, and occasional cannibalism? The magnificence of the city of Tenochtitlan and its amazing architecture? Probably all that and more, at least in what I have read.
As I shared in my last post – I am working on terrain/buildings for the period as part of “Mark’s Aztec Building Challenge Contest”. These buildings are either resin or MDF. I originally thought that I would start with the resin buildings and then move onto the MDF ones. To do that, I wanted a good primer on the resin – and the manufacturer (Acheson Creations) recommended a Rustoleum primer. This meant spray painting with the rattlecan outside safely – or doing it unsafely inside the house and provoking my lovely bride to commit several felonies upon my person due to the fumes. Well, I can’t visit her in jail during a pandemic – or from the grave – so I decided on the outside option.
However, despite one beautiful Massachusetts day in March where we saw the 70’s (that’s the low 20’s for you metric folks), it has been in the 40’s (4-9 for you metric folks) and rainy. Neither are good for outside. So, flip the order, and onto the MDF.
My experience with MDF is very limited – all I have done before is some MDF barriers that I did back in 2017. And they were not my best work IMO. All of my MDF in the challenge is supposed to be made of stone. MDF does not look like stone of course. It’s manufactured from wood dust and glue. So, what to do? First, I watched a smattering of YouTube videos on MDF kits. The best one said to wipe down MDF with a damp microfiber to clean prior to painting which was very important for paint to adhere!
I also reached out to a couple of friends – Buck Surdu (of Buck’s Blog) and The Imperfect Modeler (TIM) to seek their unbridled wisdom. Both were great – and TIM opened my eyes to a new (to me) and amazing hobby tool that I wanted to share with you all as I am in love with it.
Chinchilla dust.
Yes, I had never heard of it before either. I have a 26 year old cockatiel, no gerbils or similar. You find it in the pet store – apparently gerbils and chinchillas and similar beasties bathe in dust, not water. This stuff is very, very finely ground pumice. A bag cost me $22 , and I think its a lifetime supply! Based on TIM’s recommendations and advice, I planned to try to use it to create a stone-like look. I hoped to accomplish this by using it over a watery PVA application.
As I had two kits of the ones called “4 Temple Columns“, I thought I’d start there as it would enable me to experiment and learn for the rest of the MDF. I broke the kits into two attempts – with the first being painting and dusting the MDF on its sheet and then assembling the kit. The second attempt would be to assemble the kit first, and then dust up and paint.
The two unopened MDF kits. I decided that I would not need the columns stacked up as the single columns were sufficiently tall enough for my needs.After wiping the kit off with a wet microfiber cloth, I had this.
As stated, my first kit attempt was to paint and flock in situ as it were. I applied a watery PVA coat to the MDF, and then lightly spooned on or pinch-applied the chinchilla dust. I tried removing excess with a reusable Testors plastic cheap brush. I did this in a plastic tub so as to minimize the mess (and avoid unnecessarily ticking off the wife with the unannounced arrival of a new beach in the cellar). This was a bit time-consuming and not very efficient I found.
Here you see the MDF sheet with the chinchilla dust bag in the back. The watery PVA glue was applied with a cheap brush, and the chinchilla dust was applied with a tiny sculpting spoon or my pinched fingers. I tapped off or brushed off any excess.
After the glue had dried, I used my cheapest airbrush (my Iwata Neo) to paint the sheet with Vallejo Model Air “Sand (Ivory)”. When that was dry and basically cured, I dry brushed the sheet serially with three colors: Vallejo Model Color “Dark Sand’, then Citadel “Ushabti Bone”, then DecoArt “Buttermilk”. I wanted to get some depth of color this way. Then I painted the idols’ faces (all paints are listed at the end of this post as references too). The main challenge I had was not to let my paints be too thin, as they could easily run via capillary action to unwanted parts of the models. Happily, the chinchilla dust is so porous that it grabs paint easily.
The MDF sheet after dry brushing the three colors over the base coat.Here you see the idols’ images painted. I wanted them to look well-carved but painted with primitive paints.
After painting all of it, I used Army Painter “Light Tone” over the whole of both sheets.
After the wash application.
Now, it was time to assemble. the directions were easy enough – but I discovered three issues. One was that I wasted a lot of paint and effort on parts I would not need. Second, that assembly would be complicated (just slightly) by the added thickness of the painted/dusted MDF. That was easily dealt with by an Exacto blade. Thirdly, the brown (laser-burned) surfaces of the MDF would not be the same texture and color of the rest – hardly a way to look like stone. These were the surfaces I did not get to paint by leaving the pieces of MDF on the sheets. I needed to touch all of those areas up after assembly and leaving to let the glue to dry overnight.
Assembled and left to let the PVA used in assembly dry overnight.All the brown areas needed touch up to match the rest of the pieces!I added more chinchilla dust and repeated the previous process with paint and wash. I needed an easier way!First group completed.Close up of example from the first group. I would later tone them down a bit more.
Going forward, I saw opportunities to address the shortcomings from the first go -around.
First, I would assemble first, and then apply the chinchilla dust, paint and wash. This would limit the need for so much touch up. Second, I got a small spray bottle and a cheap salt shaker from Wal-Mart to respectively apply the watery PVA glue and the chinchilla dust more easily. Both were huge improvements for round two.
Round two – let’s assemble FIRST.An example after the chinchilla dust application put on a plastic plate with poster tack in my spray booth.
I used the exact same order of paints and washes as before – and then went back afterwards with “Light Tone” to get better blending on all of them. A few bonuses here around chinchilla dust – it is so porous that it traps a lot of the paint and the wash – and it dry brushes great. You will use more paint too. Varnishing was unnecessary – a big plus!
So here are the final results:
This is a shot of the first four Temple Columns that I completed.Here are all of the 8 Temple Columns. I used a different design top for the second set. The lighting here is making the tops look too shiny – see next shot – they are fine.Here is a top view. The first set tops ironically looked less “seamless” than the second set.Here you see the columns with a couple of 28mm Conquistador arquebusiers for scale comparison out of the booth.
I did use a new setup for photos here – got some black fabric to put in my spray booth, binder-clipped it, and add a flashlight – et viola. My previous Sonoran Desert background would not have worked well. I probably need to put a filter over the spray booth light next time as the light was too bright – even with editing.
Perro de Guerra (Conquistador War Dogs). 13 figures total: Outpost Wargames Services #CONS6 “War Dogs” (8 war dogs); Eureka #100CON13 “Dog Handler and Dogs” (1 dog handler/pikeman and 4 war dogs)
Conquistador Foot Command, Crossbowmen, and a Couple of Officers. 11 figures total: Outpost Wargames Services #CONC1 “Conquistador Foot Command” (a leader, a banner bearer, a drummer, and a bugler); Eureka #100CON04 “Crossbowmen” (5 crossbowmen); and Eureka CONC1 “Conquistador Officer” and an unknown SKU officer (2 officers)
Welcome to Mark’s Building Challenge Contest – a FREE chance for you (with no work at all except to follow my blog and guess correctly) to join me on the next leg of my Spanish Conquest journey for my 16th Century game supplement forFeudal Patrol™ – “Civilizations Collide” . Actually, as my supplement covers pre-Spanish contact, it really is a focus on Mesoamerica and South America.
The upside for you? Well, besides getting to be a follower of my blog – which I (somewhat humbly) hope is a bonus in and of itself – you will have a chance to win – yes WIN – some free stuff (miniatures or a game – see below)! This is my second giveaway contest – the first was well-received and you can see the winners here. As before, followers of this blog (either email OR WordPress) are eligible).
The upside for me is that I will get a bit more motivation to get these buildings done – and hopefully done well for the tabletop and to pass your scrutiny. Plus it will be fun. I’m hoping that I will (and many others) be able to soon get what the Brits are calling “the jab” and return to more gaming. Having these buildings done would be the icing on the cake. I also would be able to find new homes for the prizes, which are indeed nice (ask last contests’ winners Pete, Mike, and Leif).
As for this contest – read on!
Just like before, I thought this would be another way to get you involved on this project other than just reading this blog. You get to compete and guess the date that I’ll actually finish the buildings!
I am writing this on March 23rd, 2021. I have not done ANYTHING with this stuff except to take the photos of them. I’ll need to wash and assemble and paint and base and anything else I feel is needed for this stuff. My experience working with resin is ok – see here, here, and here. My experience with MDF is much less – see here. I expect to start work TODAY, March 23rd, 2021 .
How long will this take – YOU get to guess.
My goal is to have some fun, and reward my followers and share some stuff that I enjoy. Secondly, it’s to get more followers and to grow the community. Thirdly, it’s to have fun (yes that’s fun twice). I do not currently monetize my blog, and I’m not looking to anytime soon by the way. Here are the rules – please note the underlined parts:
Rules of Mark’s Aztec Building Challenge Contest:
HOW TO ENTER AND TO WIN:
You must be an email or WordPress follower of my blog.
You must pick a date (day, month, and year) that I will finish all of the Aztec Buildings shown here in this post. Finishing means, to me, that I am ready for the figures to be shown on my blog and used in a game. That is my call!
You must let me know that you want in on the contest by midnight EDT (US East Coast time) on April 10th, 2021. You do this by posting a comment that “you are in” here on this blog post in the comments section with the date information requested above in (2).
Only one entry allowed per follower except as described in (5) below.
If you get another person to follow my blog, you can earn another entry! For each new follower that credits you as a referrer, you can get another entry. All that person needs to do is comment on this post as in (3) above stating that he or she is “in” and who the referrer is. The referrer can then reply to that comment with an additional entry date.
Winners will be whoever is closest to the date I announce as the “completion date”. That can be earlier or later – for example picking a date that is one day before is as good as if it’s one day after. As there are multiple prizes, 1st place gets first choice, then 2nd, then third – and this time there is a 4th place! (Yes, I’m generous, eh?) If two people pick the same date, which is possible and allowed, ties will be broken by who submitted the date first. I reserve the right to add more prizes!
I also reserve the right to be the final judge on the contest – somebody’s gotta do that. When I finish, I will announce the winners.
So as for prizes, they will include metal miniatures, plus a brand-new shrink-wrapped unopened game is available that I will never get my wife to play – so it needs a new home. The minis are all vintage lead – and in original packaging. Great stuff I love but may not be able to paint soon – and they also deserve a home. First place gets first choice, and so on. And I will pay to ship them to the winners (including the US, UK, Australia – as long as I don’t need to hit the lottery for shipping)! So here are the current four prizes (and I may add more):
I won this Galaxy Trucker game at TotalCon last year – the wife won’t play! So maybe you would if you win? Never been opened and still in the shrink wrap. A three blister prize! Ral Partha 42-301 Aztec Generals, 42-305 Aztec Arrow Knights, and 42-309 Aztec Warriors w/Long Thrusting Spears (really tepoztopilli). 18 figures in total. All are unopened from the 1980’s. Works for 25mm or 28mm scale games. A two blister prize! Ral Partha 42-309 Aztec Warriors w/Long Thrusting Spears (really tepoztopilli) and 42-308 Aztec Warriors w/Darts & Light Spears (really atlatl) . 12 figures total. Both are unopened from the 1980’s. Works for 25mm or 28mm scale games. A two blister prize! Ral Partha 02-212 Savages: Bowmen (2 blisters – 12 figures total). Both are unopened from the 1990’s or early 2000’s. Works for 25mm or 28mm scale games.
Again, depending on participation and interest – I may add more. Hell, even if you win and don’t have a plan for them, these could be used as trade, or you could just tell me that “victory is enough” for you and to reward the next player or whatever you desire.
Your next questions should be – “what exactly is Mark trying to build and paint here?” and “how fast is he?”. For the second question, just check out my pages that show my previous projects. For example, 2021 is here, 2020 is here, and 2019 is here, but I list all my projects from 2016 onward under the “Miniatures and Projects” dropdown. This menu lets me track all I have done – and how, and can give you an idea.
Back to the contest. Here are the Aztec buildings (with links in the captions) of this next quest and this contest below. They are all scaled for 28mm. The resin buildings are from Acheson Creations, and there are 6 of them plus a group of scatter terrain that Acheson nicely threw in with my order. The MDF structures are creations from Things from the Basement creations via 4Ground via Badger Games. There are 7 kits of MDF.
So, for now that’s the contest. I hope that you will enter and wish you the best of luck! Referrers are always welcome – just need to follow the rules and importantly be one of my blog followers – like the rules said!
For full disclosure, I have conferred with TIM on the resin and the MDF – and he gave me a few helpful pointers. He also pointed me in the direction of a nice Sarissa book on MDF that is very helpful. I’m sure he will join in the contest but that might change the dates you pick – or not -it’s up to you!
Stay tuned for updates as I finish pieces of this project – and I really hope that you find this fun. As I have been doing, I’ll leave a synopsis as usual like below. Stay safe and enter in the comments section!!
Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:
Previous posts on games, units, and other projects for my 16th Century Spanish Conquest supplement for Feudal Patrol™ – “Civilizations Collide”
Mark’s Aztec Building Challenge Contest (this post)
Perro de Guerra (Conquistador War Dogs). 13 figures total: Outpost Wargames Services #CONS6 “War Dogs” (8 war dogs); Eureka #100CON13 “Dog Handler and Dogs” (1 dog handler/pikeman and 4 war dogs)
Conquistador Foot Command, Crossbowmen, and a Couple of Officers. 11 figures total: Outpost Wargames Services #CONC1 “Conquistador Foot Command” (a leader, a banner bearer, a drummer, and a bugler); Eureka #100CON04 “Crossbowmen” (5 crossbowmen); and Eureka CONC1 “Conquistador Officer” and an unknown SKU officer (2 officers)
And for my blog buddy IRO, as it’s still March, here’s another t-shirt shot – well it’s still cold, so he gets a sweatshirt shot. It’s a Massachusetts outline with a Boston Bruins logo in different colors. Normally the Bruins (my favorite hockey team) colors are Black and Gold, but my lovely wife wanted me to have something other than those colors – so Red White and Blue are ok too!!
It’s my blogaversary! I started this blog 6 years ago today on March 19th, 2015!! It all started with this post – The Story of the Nightmare Legion. It’s been a fun journey.
I started this blog to share my minis and to share stuff that I learned after an extended absence from the hobby. I wanted to help with lessons learned and the like. Since then it’s been a blast, and I really appreciate all of you who read and follow this little blog of mine! I certainly have been inspired by yours.
This current post was one with which I struggled as far as deciding on whether or not to do write it as it involves making stuff to make my games easier for the players and for me as a GM. In the end, I was encouraged to give it a go (thanks IRO and TIM!). So, this post will be more of a how to (and a throwback to some of my earlier projects) in terms of stuff I have conceived of, designed, and built for my Feudal Patrol™ games using my supplement Civilizations Collide. After reading this, you might have some new ideas, you might know about some new materials, or you might just think that I am nuts. After all, the stuff I will show took 3+weeks to make.
Now, before I go any further, I want to emphasize that I did not need to do any of these projects to play Feudal Patrol™. Period. I did because they suited my personal needs and – well – I get thoughts of stuff in my head that need realization.
Buck’s Feudal Patrol rules have more than adequate tools and game aids. They are fantastic. My goals here were for myself so that I can make my games easier for me mainly. Also, with 216 available figures for a game of Civilizations Collide, I needed some tools if I am going to provide CHOICE and AGENCY to my players.
To accomplish this, I have broken down my efforts into “challenges” with some supporting pics and links for the materials and tools. I hope that you find them interesting as they are really how I built “stuff” for my games.
The Under-Base Label Challenge
Challenge: The Conquistadores arrived in Mesoamerica in the early 16th Century and there had been many different Mesoamerican civilizations for centuries prior to that. “Uniforms” in this era were anything but uniform. In the game, Warbands and Elements within Warbands are composed of figures that are attired, armored, and armed differently. In terms of both figure identification and using the points system to build Elements and Warbands, this poses a challenge, especially with my 216 available figures. Having thought of this from the beginning of this project, I had kept an identification Excel spreadsheet for all 216 figures throughout the project – which helped immeasurably with having identification data for each figure. I did take many pictures and also wrote (somewhat illegibly as is my curse) on the bottoms of the figures’ bases with a Sharpie. However, I needed a clear and legible solution for the tabletop.
Goal: Make all figures easily and individually identifiable. Ideally, have a system that identifies each figure and the points cost for each under the 1” and 1.25″ steel washer bases.
Solution: Create custom labels for use under the 1” and 1.25″ steel washer bases.
Process: Using PowerPoint, I designed a ¾” round label that has both the figure identification number and the figure point value on it. I cut and pasted additional circles and aligned them on the sheet for future removal. Alignment of the circles and editing them was easy with PowerPoint – and was very helpful in later steps with the paper trimmer. I filled one sheet or slide in PowerPoint full of the circles. At that point all I needed to do was to copy that entire sheet and make a second sheet, and so on. This enabled me to edit each circle on the subsequent sheets for all 216 figures. I inputted the figure numbers and the point values from my master spreadsheet onto the circles. I used a color code for the round labels by type – grey for the Conquistadores, gold for the Aztecs, and red for the Tlaxcalans. I also used a thick point circle on the border of the circles – I used 1.5 but I could have gone thicker. The thicker borders help with aligning them for punching out later. I then printed off the sheets of labels on Avery™ #8165 8.5” x 11” Trueblock® shipping labels that I bought at Staples. I took each sheet and used my Fiskars® SureCut™ Deluxe Paper Trimmer (from Michaels) to cut thin strips holding multiple labels. This made punching out the labels easier. I used my 5/8” punch from Michaels (Lever Punch, Circle by Recollections™), punch out the labels. Even though the punch was 5/8” versus the 3/4” circle – they aligned better – as the thick point border helped me to position the strip. The punch has a clear underside so you can see if you are aligned or not. I affixed the labels to the underside of each base of each of the 216 figures. I store and transport my figures in 11-liter Really Useful Boxes (which I bought from Staples but this UK company has their own website too in the US) lined with Aleene’s® Magnetic Tacky Sheets™ (which Michaels sometimes carries too). The labels did not impede the magnetic attraction that I needed because they were smaller in diameter than the 1” bases – and were centered on the washers – leaving enough steel available to get a “bite”.
End result: Every figure now has a printed label with its ID number and point value printed on it underneath as you see below.
Printed off labels shown here in front of my PowerPoint design. Note the hole punch – trimming these with the Fiskars trimmer made punching them a breeze. (As if punching 216 labels could ever be considered a breeze!)Example of the under-label of a Conquistador Sword & Buckler Man figure.
The Really Useful Box Organization Challenge
Challenge: I can store and transport each of the figures in my Really Useful Boxes, but setting up a game and gathering figures from 216 figures for a warband can be too time-consuming if one has to look at each figure’s undersides! I needed to make my Really Useful Boxes even more useful.
Goal: Make my Really Useful Boxes more organized and more functional such that each figure has an easily identifiable slot for selection and also to speed pick up after a game.
Solution: Design and build a system within each Really Useful Box that facilitates easy figure identification for both gathering figures for a game and picking them up after a game while preserving any benefits for storage and transport.
Process: Each 11-liter Really Useful Box is about 12” x 14.5”. I could have gone through endless iterations of how to organize the figures so that they would fit, and never be 100% sure my set up would work in reality. I came up with an idea that I think worked. Here again I went to PowerPoint. Most of my figures are on 1” bases, but a few are on 1.25” bases. I decided that I would make 3/8” labeling strips in layers upon which I could affix the figure identification numbers. I wanted each figure to have 1/8” clearance on both sides, so each row would be 1.5”. To verify how this would work, I made shapes in PowerPoint at 50% scale such that they fit on the screen. The shapes included how much space I would need for each type of figure. This really worked – and is a process that I will use again. You can see below my rough plan. Once I had my rough design, employing my Fiskars® SureCut™ Deluxe Paper Trimmer I cut strips of card stock and affixed them to the magnetically-lines Really Useful Boxes with small balls of poster tack. Then I made a second set of card stock strips to go on top of the first sets, affixing them with poster tack. Lastly, I just printed off my Excel spreadsheet pages onto card stock with the figure identification numbers on them, trimmed them up, and affixing them to the now-raised card stock “line” with poster tack. For the Conquistador cavalry, I made little corrals as they were in need of a bit more support. I then put all of the figures into the boxes as you see below – I ended up needing 4 boxes.
End result: Every figure has a labeled slot as you see below.
Really Useful Boxes before modifying them.Using PowerPoint as a CAD program, I designed the reorganization. Before any cutting!Aztec Box 1 finishedAztec Box 2 finishedConquistador Box 1 finished – note the cavalry corral.Conquistador/Tlaxcalan Box 2 finished
The Movement Tray Challenge
Challenge: I needed a safer way to transport figures to and from the tabletop.
Goal: Design and make a couple of magnetically-lined movement trays.
Process: This was pretty simple. I just used some old 1/8” thick balsa wood under two Aleene’s® Magnetic Tacky Sheets™ and reinforced the glue with wood glue. After being weighted down, the sheets were firmly attached.
End result: Success – I have two movement boards!
Magnetic Movement tray with some Conquistador Sword & Buckler MenMagnetic Movement Tray with some Aztec Cuachicqueh
The “Menu” Challenge
Challenge: Many of my games will be virtual, and some will be at convention games. I needed a simple way to convey two key concepts. First, I needed to present to the players the options that they had available with regards to figures’ stats and cost. Secondly, I needed to help them organize their troops – especially as Aztecs and Tlaxcalans have special organizations. In my games they are bigger and can have novice warriors attached. Normally, an Element in Feudal Patrol™ is 4-5 figures plus a leader figure. A Warband consists of 2-4 Elements plus a Warband Leader. To reflect how the Aztecs waged war, their Elements are bigger – adding up to 5 novice warriors to each Element (if they pay the point costs of course). This is useful as the novices can be assigned to drag away any incapacitated enemy for either sacrifice or slavery – which is historically in line with what they actually did do. Killing an enemy was regarded as “clumsy”. Additionally, each Mesoamerican Warband can have a Warrior Priest, who can both fight and help with Aztec or Tlaxcalan Morale results during a battle. At this point, my players could look at the figures in the boxes, but not have any information save the figure number, what he’s carrying and wearing, and the point value (if you pick one up to see the label). Certainly, this would not be efficient.
Goal: Design and make a simple way (a “menu” system) for players to make informed choices for both virtual and in-person games.
Process: What I did here was to go back to my Excel spreadsheet and size up the data to fit on a dashboard (more on that in a bit). Then I adapted Buck Surdu’s excellent data cards to fit on a single strip in Excel that would fit approximately 8” wide and 3/8” high. These I would make for each of my 216 figures – plus 4 additional to represent having the Army leader (Cortes or Pizarro) as a mounted versus dismounted choice for the Conquistadores. Each section of the Word document (basically a “menu” of figure choices) was organized as you see below. I then cut and pasted the strips from Excel into Word as pictures (paste special). I then added some brief information about the figures, as well as a picture of each of the 216 to help further identify the players’ options. Lastly, I created worksheets at the end of each “menu” to help the players build their forces. To do this, I went back to PowerPoint, and created the shapes that I wanted for the worksheets. I saved each individual slide as a JPEG (make sure you choose “Just This One” when it asks, and then edited the JPEG size. If it did not work, I just went back to the PowerPoint, resized, resaved as a JPEG, and repasted in Word. You can see the results below.
End result: I have three good menus that I can email or hand out to players at the beginning of a game and they will speed up the time for players to make their troop choices. As a side note, I prefer that players get to make choices in games!
Screen shot from Aztec MenuScreen shot from Conquistador Menu Screen shot from Tlaxcalan Menu Screen shot from Aztec Menu showing worksheets
The Dashboard and Stat Strip Challenge
Challenge: The players need a quick and easy reference system that designates their troops’ stats, and one that does not take up a lot of space.
Goal: Design and build a system of sufficient dashboards and supporting elements of appropriate ease and flexibility such that the players can play easier and faster and have more fun.
Process: I do like gaming systems and setups that are flexible – that is giving players adequate AGENCY. As you have read, the menus allow the players to make their choices, but to have them write down all data at the game’s beginning could be a bit of a pain. Plus, there can be a variety of differnt types of figures in some Elements. My solution was to build on what I already had been developing. I designed a dashboard in Excel that would accommodate being printed off on card stock and placed in a 5.5” x 8.5” sheet protector such as this one from Staples. And remember the stat lines from the menus? I used them to fit on the dashboards. How you say? Well first, I special-ordered steel base material in sizes of 5.5” x 8.5” from Wargames Accessories. The steel sheets do have some rough edges – which I covered with scrap pieces from the Avery shipping labels with no problems. These steel sheets fit inside the sheet protectors and under the dashboards – and I made 31 of these. Then I cut and pasted each individual stat lines into Word as pictures. Then I printed off each of these 216 + 4 stat lines (220 in total) onto strips of card stock and trimmed them with the paper trimmer to fit on the dashboards. To affix them to the dashboards, I needed magnetic strips – 220 of them. I found a really nice source on Amazon of 8.5” x 11” sheets made by Craftopia called Adhesive Magnetic Sheets that are the best that I have found. Again, my paper trimmer helped here to trim the magnetic strips to ¼” size width (fitting nicely under the 3/8” wide stat strips). I did need to replace my Fiskars blade once and augment that effort with scissors. Each of the 220 strips could be now be added to the dashboards, but how to organize and store these! My answer would come from Wal-Mart. Cookie sheets! I found inexpensive cookie sheets (see photo below) for $1.50 each that stack together. I organized the strips as you see below and added troop categories – basically mirroring the menus.
End result: I have a pretty decent system now for organizing a game. I have every figure’s stat line on a removable magnetically-backed card on 10 stackable cookie sheets. These stat lines fit perfectly on sheet protector-encased steel dashboards.
Cutting magnets and stat stripsA dashboard with a stat strip flipped over to show the magnet underneathExample of an Elite Cuahchic Dashboard – as Elites they would not have novices attached but if this was a Veteran Dashboard there would be sufficient room for the novices’ stat stripsAn example of a Conquistador DashboardMy solution for organizing my stat strips!My 10 cookie sheets with stat strips, as well as the dashboards and other aids discussed here.Closer shot of the cookie sheets with the labels on them mirroring the menusThe cookie sheets stack nicely for transport
The Tabletop ID Challenge
Challenge: Using the dashboards is useful, but telling which figure is which on the tabletop can be a challenge, especially virtually. As with the previous challenges, the figure’s lack of uniformity poses a gaming identification challenge.
Goal: Design and create a system that would allow for easy identification of the figures but would not overly detract from the aesthetic of the game.
Process: I thought that as I used steel washers under my figures, my best option was to try something else in the realm of magnets. But what? I used some refrigerator magnets as prototypes of “under-magnets”, developed the concept, and then used PowerPoint to refine it. However, the concept of cutting out a few hundred magnets by hand was not appealing to me – plus I saw that they would look rough on the edges. I contacted Fridgedoor in Quincy, MA and worked with them to make me the magnets. There did not need to be any fancy printing on the bottom (non-magnetic) side as I knew that would be too tough and expensive. I had them make 20 mil thick sheets with each sheet having 11 of the under-magnets that could be easily popped out. One side (facing the figure) would be magnetic and the other printed black. The square jutting out on the magnetic side would be where I would affix labels for the figures. I used PowerPoint to make sets of differently colored and designed labels for the figures’ little jutting square. For the Elements, I made L, 1-10, and X (L for the Leader, 1-10 for the figure in the Element, and X for the baggie I would store them in). Then I printed them off, trimmed them, and affixed them. I ended up with 34 sets bags of under-magnets in individual little zip lock with ID numbers. This was made up of 33 sets of 11 and 1 set of 24 (different for Warband Leaders, Army Leaders, and Warrior Priests) for a grand total of 387 total under-magnets. I stored these in a small Really Useful Box, which in turn goes into another Really Useful Box for the game (see below).
End result: I have now a soup-to-nuts system for setting up and running my game more efficiently for both virtual and in-person games that is useful and easily transported.
My under-magnet design. Not rocket science!Popping out manufactured under-magnetsWorking on the under-magnets labelsHow the under-magnets will be used. Here, a Tlaxcalan figure has a Leader under-magnet. The rest of the set is above him, including the “X” marked baggie. Multiple color schemes were used.Lots of sets of under-magnetsHere you can see a group of Conquistadores and some Aztec Cuachicqueh engaging in battle – the under-magnets show who is who easily.
I hope that you enjoyed this blog (and all the other ones for the last 6 years!). Just for kicks, please take a look at my very first post, The Story of the Nightmare Legion. Here’s hoping I keep doing more and reading and more of yours as well – and let me know if any of my somewhat insane stuff inspires you or if I need to be medicated – just asking!
And here’s a pic for IRO who asked for a T-shirt shot in March. Not ready for selfies I guess.
GO ARMY! BEAT NAVY!
I’ll be announcing my next free giveaway contest soon – this time I’ve got some terrain to do and if you guess closest you can win stuff FREE from me. Just like in the last contest!
Don’t forget to let share your thoughts in the comments section!
Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:
Previous posts on games, units, and other projects for my 16th Century Spanish Conquest supplement for Feudal Patrol™ – “Civilizations Collide”
Game Aids and Tools for Feudal Patrol games using the Civilizations Collide Supplement (this post)
Perro de Guerra (Conquistador War Dogs). 13 figures total: Outpost Wargames Services #CONS6 “War Dogs” (8 war dogs); Eureka #100CON13 “Dog Handler and Dogs” (1 dog handler/pikeman and 4 war dogs)
Conquistador Foot Command, Crossbowmen, and a Couple of Officers. 11 figures total: Outpost Wargames Services #CONC1 “Conquistador Foot Command” (a leader, a banner bearer, a drummer, and a bugler); Eureka #100CON04 “Crossbowmen” (5 crossbowmen); and Eureka CONC1 “Conquistador Officer” and an unknown SKU officer (2 officers)
Hello dear readers – a very quick post. I have been knee-deep in making game aids (dashboard, magnetic figure data strips, and more). I’ll be sharing those and catching up on your blog posts (as I always do eventually). BUT, I just saw this new Kickstarter from Sally 4th in the UK that just caught my fancy, and I thought I’d share it.
As a kid in the 1970’s I read a lot of comic books, and this homage really struck a chord, and I thought it might with you folks as well, as well as any fans of classic movies. Here is the link.
I am not financially involved with this – just sharing with you cool kids!
Don’t you love suspense? Well, I have just a tiny bit here for you all!
I started “Mark’s Conquistador Contest” – for my loyal blog followers back on December 15, 2020. It’s purpose was threefold: one, to give myself a challenge to finish off my last 89 figures (all Conquistadores) for my for Civilizations Collide scenarios for games of Feudal PatrolTM ; two, to offer a prize of miniatures to worthy homes that could use them; and three, to have a fun journey along the way with my followers.
The entire project began nearly a year ago in April of 2020. I had spent the month of March 2020 and part of April 2020 doing my research, for the supplement and looking at sources for appropriate miniatures for the Aztecs, the Tlaxcalans, and the Conquistadores. I finished off 230 miniatures in total for the project.
I need more boxes!
I managed, with YOUR inspiration, to finish everything on Valentine’s Day, February 14th, 2021. This meant that I got the 89 done in 61 days – including all those holidays! That’s an average of 1.459 per day (according to my spreadsheet that all of you are completely unsurprised that I used).
At the beginning on 12/15/2020Now finished – all of the Conquistadores together.
As for the contest – the three prizes were as follows (in no particular order):
You must be an email or WordPress follower of my blog.
You must pick a date (day, month, and year) that I will finish the Conquistador miniatures shown here in this post. Finishing means, to me, that I am ready for the figures to be shown on my blog and used in a game. That is my call!
You must let me know that you want in on the contest by midnight EST (US East Coast time) on January 2nd, 2021. You do this by posting a comment that “you are in” here on this blog post in the comments section with the date information requested above in (2).
Only one entry allowed per follower except as described in (5) below.
If you get another person to follow my blog, you can earn another entry! For each new follower that credits you as a referrer, you can get another entry. All that person needs to do is comment on this post as in (3) above stating that he or she is “in” and who the referrer is. The referrer can then reply to that comment with an additional entry date.
Winners will be whoever is closest to the date I announce as the “completion date”. That can be earlier or later – for example picking a date that is one day before is as good as if it’s one day after. As there are multiple prizes, 1st place gets first choice, then 2nd, then third. If two people pick the same date, ties will be broken by who submitted the date first. I reserve the right to add more prizes!
I also reserve the right to be the final judge on the contest – somebody’s gotta do that. When I finish, I will announce the winners.
It’s been fun along the way – as people (Buck and Roger mostly) were telling me to SLOW DOWN. But, I kept on, hoping to get them done as well and as quickly as I could (sorry Buck and Roger!).
So here are the results – please join me in congratulating:
1st Place: Pete from SP’s Project Blog – nailed the date on the nose!
2nd Place: Mike from despartaferres/redcaer1690 – got second by the tiebreaker rule as he picked 6 days early but picked earlier than the third place winner who is.
3rd place: Leif (an email follower and fellow member of the my club The Mass Pikemen) who also picked 6 days away from 2/14 (but picked 9 days later than Mike did.
Overall and final standings
Congrats to the winners! Pete gets first choice, then Mike, and Leif gets what’s left. Just confirm in the comments section which one you want, and then email me your shipping information to MarkAMorin@aol.com (I’m sure that will work fine).
I will, as I intimated earlier, be doing this again (if there is interest) for all the terrain I have to do for the project. I’m hoping to have more prizes to give away (and maybe even better ones) but I need to get some game-specific stuff done in terms of game aids and the like first. I will NOT begin painting terrain before the next contest – which will begin, as this one did, with a blog post.
Thanks to ALL of you (even Roger😆) for playing and to ALL of you, more importantly, thank you for your encouragement and support!!! It really helped me and inspired me.
Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:
Previous posts on games, units, and other projects for my 16th Century Spanish Conquest supplement for Feudal Patrol™ – “Civilizations Collide”
And the Winners of “Mark’s Conquistador Contest” are…(this post).
Conquistador Cavalry. 24 figures total: Outpost Wargame Services #CON5 “Conquistador Cavalry in light armour 1” (4 horses & 4 riders); Outpost Wargame Services #CON6 “Conquistador Cavalry in full armour” (4 horses & 4 riders); Eureka Miniatures “Moving Horses” #100ANM05 (8 horses used as casualty markers).
Perro de Guerra (Conquistador War Dogs). 13 figures total: Outpost Wargames Services #CONS6 “War Dogs” (8 war dogs); Eureka #100CON13 “Dog Handler and Dogs” (1 dog handler/pikeman and 4 war dogs)
Conquistador Foot Command, Crossbowmen, and a Couple of Officers. 11 figures total: Outpost Wargames Services #CONC1 “Conquistador Foot Command” (a leader, a banner bearer, a drummer, and a bugler); Eureka #100CON04 “Crossbowmen” (5 crossbowmen); and Eureka CONC1 “Conquistador Officer” and an unknown SKU officer (2 officers)
Total figures completed to date for this project: 230 figures: 109 Aztecs, 32 Tlaxcalans, 89 Spanish Conquistadores (ZERO more to go in Mark’s Conquistador Contest!)
I started painting figures for my for Civilizations Collide scenarios for games of Feudal PatrolTM nearly a year ago in April of 2020. I had spent the month of March 2020 and part of April 2020 doing my research, for the supplement and looking at sources for appropriate miniatures. I decided to initially build forces Aztecs, Tlaxcalans, and Conquistadores. The last group I worked on were the Conquistadores – and I am ending with cavalry. As I shared on my last post, Hernan Cortes made exceptionally effective use of his cavalry during the conquest of New Spain. The best example is at the Battle of Otumba, where Cortes used his cavalry to save his entire force against overwhelming odds.
After having been initially driven from Tenochtitlan, Cortes and his Tlaxcalan allies had lost half of their number. They were being pursued by a massive Aztec army, trying to escape to the safety of Tlaxcalan territory. These outraged Aztecs were hell-bent on capturing every one of them for ritual sacrifice. At Otumba, Cortes was surrounded on two sides and was vastly outnumbered, and his men were exhausted. Opportunity presented itself. Cortes saw that the Aztecs’ formations were being controlled by highly costumed priests and leaders with drums, horns, and large banners. He personally led a mounted attack with five cavalry.
Yes just five, including himself.
This attack went directly at the Aztec leaders. They killed them, and the Aztec attack fell completely apart. Cortes lived to escape, regroup, and eventually return to defeat the Aztecs. Were it not for the “shock and awe” effect of a relatively small cavalry attack, history would have been greatly different.
Therefore, to be representative historically, I needed to find some cavalry for my forces. I did find two groups of 28mm metal ones – 4 cavalry (eight riders and eight horses) from Outpost Wargame Services (via Badger Games). These were #CON5 “Conquistador Cavalry in Light Armor 1” and #CON6 “Conquistador Cavalry in Full Armor”. In reality, even the first group were pretty well-armored. I also decided that I wanted to have some dead horses as markers – and to this end I procured eight horses from Eureka Miniatures #100ANM05 and removed them from their bases, and painted them as wounded/incapacitated horses, replete with battle damage. All together, this made for 24 figures for this post (yes, I count horses as figures though they marry up with riders!).
I decided a couple of things with regards to the painting of the group. First, my horses would all be different shades and colors (greys and browns). Secondly, I decided that that the wounded horses should match the colors of the unwounded ones. I had not painted any horses for decades. I did use my regular Iwata Eclipse and Neo airbrushes to prime and base coat them, and I used my Iwata Micron airbrush to do the faces and eyes. After that it was all brushwork (except for final varnishing). I experimented with different color combinations – and it actually helped to try out these combinations on the dead horses first as trials!
I also painted the shields first and gave each of the riders different shields. The riders themselves could be assembled with different arms. They could get a sword or an empty arm for a lance – but the lances were not included. Luckily, I had some 100mm from North Star Miniatures to cut down for lances. Each of the four would get two swordsmen and two lancers. For bases, I had some 25 x 70mm Secret Weapon Desert Mesa and Desert Wasteland that were designed for motorcycles. I found that by flocking over the bases (and hiding some tire tracks) that these were perfectly-sized for my cavalry. I added some 3/4″ steel washers underneath the bases to help with their storage in my magnetically-lined Really Useful Boxes.
These cavalrymen will be very expensive relative to other figures – and for good reason.
I had a few WIP shots that I can share below – then the final cavalry pics will follow afterwards.
The beginning!I had these pics as guides over my painting desk.My rig for painting the riders. Doubtless, it was painful for the riders…First horse base coated.
My progressive work on the “dead horse” markers.All the horses ready for riders and final flocking.
The first group is the ones in “light armor”. I numbered them CVLA1 to CVLA4.
CVLA1
I added some extra dust to the horse’s legs. I like the lance!And the casualty marker…
CVLA2
This cavalryman has a sword – and his horse is a different shade (well, they all are).And the casualty marker…
CVLA3
The second lancer in this group .And the casualty marker…
CVLA4
This one got a grey horse.And the casualty marker…
Group Shot
Charge! Here you can see they all have adarga shields (kidney shaped).
The second group includes the ones in “heavy armor”. I numbered them CVFA1 to CVFA4.
CVFA1
Lots more armor here. Also I like the horse color!And the casualty marker…
CVFA2
Tough lancer.And the casualty marker…
CVFA3
Another shade of brown!And the casualty marker…
CVFA4
The most expensive Conquistador figure – a fully armored lancer.And the casualty marker…
Group Shot
Here is a good angle to see the different shades of brown I used.
These are the LAST figures in “Mark’s Conquistador Conquest”. This makes 230 figures – of which 89 were Conquistadores (painted since 12/14/2020) – which was the contest I ran. I will make a final contest post– and announce the winners in the next couple of days. All I will say is that these were completed before February 21, 2021. BUT, when I share the results I will also be announcing a similar second contest for you – my followers! Potentially free stuff for YOU!
All of my Conquistador figures!And finally, all planned figures are DONE!
This group of cavalry count as my last entry into Dave Stone’s Painting Challenge “PAINT WHAT YOU GOT CHALLENGE”. In honor of the project, I will share the most famous song about Conquistadores – from Procul Harem in 1967 (and yes I remember it – though I was indeed quite young – though I heard it often in the 1970’s too). Here are the lyrics from the song (authors are Gary Brooker and Keith Reid) and a YouTube link:
Conquistador your stallion stands in need of company And like some angel’s haloed brow You reek of purity
I see your armor plated breast Has long since lost its sheen And in your death masked face There are no signs which can be seen
And though I hoped for something to find I could see no maze to unwind
Conquistador a vulture sits, upon your silver sheath And in your rusty scabbard now, the sand has taken seed And though your jewel-encrusted blade Has not been plundered still The sea has washed across your face And taken of its fill
And though I hoped for something to find I could see no maze to unwind And though I hoped for something to find I could see no maze to unwind
Conquistador there is no time, I must pay my respect And though I came to jeer at you I leave now with regret And as the gloom begins to fall I see there is no, only all And though you came with sword held high You did not conquer, only die
And though I hoped for something to find I could see no maze to unwind And though I hoped for something to find I could see no maze to unwind
And though I hoped for something to find I could see no maze to unwind
Total figures completed to date for this project: 230 figures: 109 Aztecs, 32 Tlaxcalans, 89 Spanish Conquistadores (ZERO more to go in Mark’s Conquistador Contest!)
Stay tuned…I will have more on the game in terms of terrain and game aids. Please let me know your thoughts about this post!
Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:
Previous posts on games, units, and other projects for my 16th Century Spanish Conquest supplement for Feudal Patrol™ – “Civilizations Collide”
Conquistador Cavalry (this post). 24 figures total: Outpost Wargame Services #CON5 “Conquistador Cavalry in light armour 1” (4 horses & 4 riders); Outpost Wargame Services #CON6 “Conquistador Cavalry in full armour” (4 horses & 4 riders); Eureka Miniatures “Moving Horses” #100ANM05 (8 horses used as casualty markers).
Perro de Guerra (Conquistador War Dogs). 13 figures total: Outpost Wargames Services #CONS6 “War Dogs” (8 war dogs); Eureka #100CON13 “Dog Handler and Dogs” (1 dog handler/pikeman and 4 war dogs)
Conquistador Foot Command, Crossbowmen, and a Couple of Officers. 11 figures total: Outpost Wargames Services #CONC1 “Conquistador Foot Command” (a leader, a banner bearer, a drummer, and a bugler); Eureka #100CON04 “Crossbowmen” (5 crossbowmen); and Eureka CONC1 “Conquistador Officer” and an unknown SKU officer (2 officers)
Total figures completed to date for this project: 230 figures: 109 Aztecs, 32 Tlaxcalans, 89 Spanish Conquistadores (ZERO more to go in Mark’s Conquistador Contest!)
PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THESE CONQUISTADOR FIGURES:
Gorilla Glue
1.25″ Everbilt Fender Washers
3/4″ steel washers
Secret Weapon 25mm x 70mm “Desert Mesa” beveled bases
Secret Weapon 25mm x 70mm “Desert Wasteland” beveled bases
Hernan Cortes had a number of relative technological advantages during the Spanish Conquest of the Aztecs in the 16th Century. One of these was the availability and use of weapons such as arquebuses and early artillery against a foe that had never seen steel let alone gunpowder. Cortes initially was to be given a charter by the Governor of Cuba (Velazquez) in 1518 to explore and gain territory in Mexico for colonization by the Spanish.
However, Velazquez distrusted Cortes and was in the process of revoking his charter – but before he could – Cortes absconded from Cuba with 500-600 troops, as well as 15 cavalry and 15 cannons in February of 1519. He initially went to the Yucatan and encountered the Maya. He fought them, won a battle, claimed the Yucatan for Spain, gained strategic intelligence, as well as was given several native women by the Maya. These included a key translator La Malinche, who would make a major impact on the history of Mexico (and later also bear him a son Martin). Cortes had heard from the Maya of the reputed wealth (especially in terms of gold) of the Aztecs. He reembarked and sailed north to land and found the first Spanish town in Mexico in May of 1519 – Veracruz.
At this point, Cortes then found himself facing a small insurrection among his Spanish troops who had loyalties to Governor Velazquez – and not to Cortes. He discovered the plot, and in response, he executed a couple of the ringleaders, and had a few of the others whipped or mutilated. Then, to make sure his men would have no further option of rebellion, he either scuttled or burned his ships (sources disagree on which happened). They unloaded everything at Veracruz, to include several types of cannon. One of the types commonly used at the time was a small cannon called a falconet. It was useful for clearing boarders from the decks of a ship. Think of it as a big shotgun or a swivel gun. As ammunition, it could use solid shot or langridge. Langridge is described by Wikipedia as “bags of any junk such as scrap metal, bolts, rocks, gravel, old musket balls, etc. fired to injure enemy crews”. Spanish sailors would have been the crews in the use of these pieces.
Moving these pieces inland would have been a challenge. As Cortes made his march towards the Aztec cities, his horses were saved for use as cavalry (a good decision given how effective his few cavalry would prove to be). Anything else was man-packed by native allies. The falconets had been ship-mounted, so therefore were the smallest and easiest to move on hastily-built carriages. Other cannon, such as culverins, were too big to easily move like this. Based on this, and the Osprey images I have seen, I decided to field one small falconet for my Conquistador forces.
The one metal 28mm kit I found was, like the Sword and Buckler Men from my last post, from Outpost Wargame Services via Badger Games. The SKU is #CONA1 “Falconet and Crew”, and consisted of two crewmen and the gun on a carriage. I did a few WIP shots which I’ll share – and then some close ups of the finished crew. Then I’ll list (as usual) my reference section.
The kit unassembled. I needed to use a slightly bigger (1.25″) steel washer for the gun. I also used some old Armory and Polly S glass paint bottles as painting mounts.I also changed my painting order a bit in that I mostly finished off the base before I mounted the falconet to it (shown here painted but not weathered yet).WIP shot of the figure with the long match to light the fuse. I tried to model and paint the crew as a sailors. This is before varnish and flocking the base – and adding a special wisp…WIP if the second figure with the ramrod.The falconet mounted and painted but before weathering and base completion.
At this point, I thought I needed to add a marker to designate that the gun had fired on the tabletop.
I decided to use the protective cap off of a CVS tooth flosser – ones I use to help clean my airbrush. Sizing and shaping it became a bit of a challenge. I then added pillow batting strips – to my fingers and to the plastic! There will be more shots to follow later showing it painted. It also motivated me to do the same for my arquebus armed troops (smaller versions of course).
I designated the crew as CFA1 and CFA2, and the gun as FA. I will be formalizing the rules for its use in my Civilizations Collide scenarios for games of Feudal PatrolTM – I will be slightly modifying the rules written by Duncan Adams for the Combat PatrolTM supplement he wrote called Horse and Musket. It will be slow to reload but could be a very useful weapon against a massed Aztec charge.
Here are some shots I hope that you enjoy – click on any for a larger view.
CFA1
I also decided that his match needed some smoke – with some painted pillow batting.
CFA2
I think he looks like a sailor.
FA
Crew Shots
BOOM! The marker looked much better painted!I then made some markers for my arquebusiers.
This crew and gun also count as yet another entry into Dave Stone’s Painting Challenge “PAINT WHAT YOU GOT CHALLENGE”. Next up will be the cavalry and dead horse markers – and that’s it for my Conquistadores. As previously posted, if and when I’m able to (or if I did already ) finish my personal challenge contest, I’m going to announce the winners. I will possibly run a similar guessing challenge to “Mark’s Conquistador Contest” for the terrain that I have – and yes, if I do, I’ll be giving away prizes. But this is DEFINITELY GETTING CLOSE TO THE END!
Interested? Stay tuned…let me know your thoughts about this post!
Total figures completed to date for this project: 206 figures: 109 Aztecs, 32 Tlaxcalans, 65 Spanish Conquistadores (just 24 more to go in Mark’s Conquistador Contest!)
Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:
Previous posts on games, units, and other projects for my 16th Century Spanish Conquest supplement for Feudal Patrol™ – “Civilizations Collide”
Conquistador Falconet and Crew (Artillery) (this post). 3 figures total Outpost Wargame Services #CONA1 “Falconet and Crew”.
Perro de Guerra (Conquistador War Dogs). 13 figures total: Outpost Wargames Services #CONS6 “War Dogs” (8 war dogs); Eureka #100CON13 “Dog Handler and Dogs” (1 dog handler/pikeman and 4 war dogs)
Conquistador Foot Command, Crossbowmen, and a Couple of Officers. 11 figures total: Outpost Wargames Services #CONC1 “Conquistador Foot Command” (a leader, a banner bearer, a drummer, and a bugler); Eureka #100CON04 “Crossbowmen” (5 crossbowmen); and Eureka CONC1 “Conquistador Officer” and an unknown SKU officer (2 officers)
Total figures completed to date for this project: 206 figures: 109 Aztecs, 32 Tlaxcalans, 65 Spanish Conquistadores (24 more to go in Mark’s Conquistador Contest!)
PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THESE CONQUISTADOR FIGURES:
Gorilla Glue
1/8″ x 1″ and 1/8″ x 1.25″ Everbilt Fender Washers
Wait you say – Mark, did you not just finish a group of Sword and Buckler Men (SABM) on your last post? Yes, but those eighteen were from Wargames Foundry, and the eight that this post will describe are from Outpost Wargame Services (via Badger Games). These would round out my SABM for Civilizations Collide scenarios for games of Feudal PatrolTM . AND these are part of “Mark’s Conquistador Conquest” – so I know some of you are entered and wondering how that is going. All I’ll say is that it’s going well.
Back to the figures, they are metal, 28mm, and came in eight different poses. Six of the one-handed sword-armed figures needed assembly with sword arms and shields, and two had two-handed broadswords (they will of course get no shields but will have a more deadly blade). These figures came with eight shields as well – but these included shields were far too large to be considered “bucklers“. Therefore I replaced them with six better-sized Wargames Foundry shields. The figures are certainly “chunkier” and not at the quality of the previously-completed SABM that were Mark Copplestone sculpts. Still, this group of eight will bring my available SABM figures to 26. Additionally, this brings my project total to over 200 figures.
As I am stretching to finish the project and the blog posts about it, I did not do many WIP shots – and I did basically follow the same processes that I have done previously. Some of the figures here (and some future ones) were amenable to some amount of batch-painting, which has been helpful. I also do want to keep folks a bit in the dark on the contest’s progress until I can declare the winners officially. I MUST give another nod to Steven Thomas’ blog post on Conquistador painting – it and Osprey books were of great value – thanks to all the authors.
As a reminder, I started off with these like this:
The OWS SKU CON001 assembled (less shields which I mounted later) and mounted on poster tack on specimen jars for painting.
And my only WIP shot was this one:
Here you see this figure (CSW23 seen below as well) before I applied varnish, mounted the shield, and finished the figure.
So let’s get to it! Continuing on my previous numbering system, these figures are numbered CSW19 to CSW26. Click on any of the images for a bigger view.
CSW19
This Sword & Buckler man has a round bucker (rodela) from my excess Wargames Foundry shields. He has adopted the ichcahuipilli braided cotton armor favored by the Aztecs and Tlaxcalans.
CSW20
This was one of the two figures in the SKU armed with a broadsword. He can do more damage, and has decent plate armor protection.
CSW21
Another SABM with a WF rodela shield and decent mail armor. He has adopted Aztec sandals over his socks – not a great fashion look IMO – and these are wearing out like his clothes are overall. He has a scurvy dog look!
CSW22
This SABM has good plate armor and a WF rodela.
CSW23
This SABM has also adopted the braided cotton armor of the Aztecs, and carries a WF adarga (kidney shaped shield).
CSW24
Here is another SABM with braided cotton armor and socks and sandals. He has a steel WF rodela.
CSW25
The second figure armed with a broadsword wears sandals and (thankfully) no socks. His mail armor should provide him good protection even without a shield.
CSW26
The last of the group, with sandals, braided-cotton armor and an adarga.
Group Shot
I thought a quick comparison with the Wargames Foundry figures would be helpful – see below:
Comparison of similar Outpost Wargame Services and the Wargames Foundry SABM figures.
A couple more points – this group of eight also counts as yet another entry into Dave Stone’s Painting Challenge “PAINT WHAT YOU GOT CHALLENGE”. Next up will be a falconet and crew, and then I’ll share the cavalry and dead horse markers. If and when I’m able to (or if I did already 😉) finish my personal challenge contest , I’m going to announce the winners. Then, if I do finish before the end of February I will try to take a one-figure break to complete a female figure for Alex’s Fembruary painting challenge. Then possibly I might run a similar guessing challenge to “Mark’s Conquistador Contest” for the terrain that I have – and yes, if I do, I’ll be giving away prizes. Interested? Stay tuned…let me know your thoughts about this post!
Total figures completed to date for this project: 203 figures: 109 Aztecs, 32 Tlaxcalans, 62 Spanish Conquistadores (27 more to go in Mark’s Conquistador Contest!)
Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:
Previous posts on games, units, and other projects for my 16th Century Spanish Conquest supplement for Feudal Patrol™ – “Civilizations Collide”
More Conquistador Sword and Buckler Men (this post). 8 figures total Outpost Wargame Services #CON001 “Sword and Buckler Men.
Perro de Guerra (Conquistador War Dogs). 13 figures total: Outpost Wargames Services #CONS6 “War Dogs” (8 war dogs); Eureka #100CON13 “Dog Handler and Dogs” (1 dog handler/pikeman and 4 war dogs)
Conquistador Foot Command, Crossbowmen, and a Couple of Officers. 11 figures total: Outpost Wargames Services #CONC1 “Conquistador Foot Command” (a leader, a banner bearer, a drummer, and a bugler); Eureka #100CON04 “Crossbowmen” (5 crossbowmen); and Eureka CONC1 “Conquistador Officer” and an unknown SKU officer (2 officers)
Total figures completed to date for this project: 203 figures: 109 Aztecs, 32 Tlaxcalans, 62 Spanish Conquistadores (27 more to go in Mark’s Conquistador Contest!)
PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THESE CONQUISTADOR FIGURES:
The English term “Sword and Buckler Men” refers to what the Spanish called rodeloros (shield bearers) and espadachines (swordsmen). For those unfamiliar with the term, a buckler is a small shield held by the fist and used mainly to deflect an opponent’s blows (as opposed to mainly protecting against missile weapons). The Conquistadores were professional soldiers and veterans of many wars – and Sword and Buckler Men made up the bulk of their number. It is well-known that the Conquistadores had a major impact during the Age of Discovery/Exploration. They had fought extensively in the Italian Wars (1494-1559) and had the spirit of the men who had driven the Moors from the Iberian peninsula back in 1492 during the Reconquista. The Conquistadores brought their experience and their warfighting characteristics to the New World.
I have incorporated these into my games of Feudal PatrolTM) using my supplement for Civilizations Collide. I definitely need the bulk of my Conquistador forces to be made up of Sword and Buckler Men (let’s call them SABM for short). To reflect their elite status and general all-around technological and tactical excellence, they are pretty expensive point-wise versus most Aztecs. This is as it should be – as SABM had better weapons, armor, and experience. The Aztecs had numbers – which the Conquistadores made up with allies like the Tlaxcalans.
For my SABM, I got three blisters of Wargames Foundry 28mm metal SABM from Badger Games. Each had 6 figures, all Mark Copplestone sculpts (who also sculpted the arquebusiers I posted about previously here and here). These are really beautiful sculpts – and I am glad I got them. The three SKU’s were SB015 “Swaggering Swordsmen”, SB016 “Brutal Sword and Buckler Men”, and SB017 “Bold Bladesmen”. After I finished my War Dogs, I decided that it would be best to do all of these figures together. They are by the same sculptor, and I wanted to have some differentiation among them. I jumped into painting these 18 SABM on January 12th and finished them on January 28th (and I have 8 more SABM to do from OWS but that’s a future post). I was pretty happy with that pace of production given that I had a few distractions on the way (like snow removal, Board of Health work, auto repair, etc.). I also need to catch up on blog posts I follow – and I will indeed do that too.
For the contest that I am running (“Mark’s Conquistador Conquest”) – in which people could try to pick the date on which I would finish 89 Conquistador figures, this group made up a big chunk. As I am trying to finish sooner than later, I did NOT take many WIP shots. And as I have 18 figures here to share, I am going to just focus on the final products. I’ll also share my regular reference section at the end here (which I do use myself by the way!). This brings my total for the project to 195 figures – 109 Aztecs, 32 Tlaxcalans, and now 54 Spanish Conquistadores (with just 35 more to go). I don’t know when I’ll finish, or who will win the contest, but it’s getting interesting to be sure. This group of 18 also counts as my third entry into Dave Stone’s Painting Challenge “PAINT WHAT YOU GOT CHALLENGE”.
I’ll cover each of the three blisters below – click on any image for a better view. I did not do an overall group shot as – well – 18’s too many to get in one shot! I numbered these CSW1 to CSW18. I tried to do more freehand on some of the trousers and leggings, varying the colors but staying (hopefully) true to the historical aspects of the period. Maybe you have a favorite – let me know!
SB015 “Swaggering Swordsmen”
CSW1
CSW2
CSW3
CSW4
CSW5
CSW6
SB015 Group Shot
SB016 “Brutal Sword and Buckler Men”
CSW7
CSW8
CSW9
CSW10
CSW11
CSW12
SB016 GROUP SHOT
SB017 “Bold Bladesmen”
CSW13
CSW14
CSW15
CSW16
CSW17
CSW18
SB017 GROUP SHOT
Thanks for looking and I hope that you enjoyed this post – always am happy to read your feedback in the comments section.
My box of Conquistadores to date.
And now, to end, as is my habit, here is my reference section (so I might remember what the hell I have done on nearly 200 figures!):
Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:
Previous posts on games, units, and other projects for my 16th Century Spanish Conquest supplement for Feudal Patrol™ – “Civilizations Collide”
Conquistador Sword and Buckler Men (this post). 18 figures total in three blister packs: Wargames Foundry #SB015 “Swaggering Swordsmen”, #SB016 “Brutal Sword and Buckler Men”, and #SB017 “Bold Bladesmen”.
Perro de Guerra (Conquistador War Dogs). 13 figures total: Outpost Wargames Services #CONS6 “War Dogs” (8 war dogs); Eureka #100CON13 “Dog Handler and Dogs” (1 dog handler/pikeman and 4 war dogs)
Conquistador Foot Command, Crossbowmen, and a Couple of Officers. 11 figures total: Outpost Wargames Services #CONC1 “Conquistador Foot Command” (a leader, a banner bearer, a drummer, and a bugler); Eureka #100CON04 “Crossbowmen” (5 crossbowmen); and Eureka CONC1 “Conquistador Officer” and an unknown SKU officer (2 officers)
Total figures completed to date for this project: 195 figures: 109 Aztecs, 32 Tlaxcalans, 54 Spanish Conquistadores (35 more to go in Mark’s Conquistador Contest!)
PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THESE CONQUISTADOR FIGURES:
