Historically, the Aztecs and their Empire were well known for dominating Mesoamerica prior to the arrival of the Spanish. One of the more gruesome aspects of their way of making warfare involved the priority of capturing their enemies for both slavery and human sacrifice. A lowly commoner’s only way to ascend the social hierarchy in Aztec society was be a warrior who captured many enemy of perceived value (in other words not easy marks).
So, it became obvious that a suitable sacrificial altar-type building to drag these poor souls to their sad end would be necessary for games based in a city like Tenochtitlan. Obviously, in 28mm scale, I can only try to approximate the elements of a cityscape on a 6′ by 4′ tabletop, but the Aztecs would have had a place for ritual sacrifice as part of one.
In this post I will share my latest – and largest to date – MDF kit build for Feudal Patrol™ games in Mesoamerica (using my Civilizations Collide supplement). It is called Temple Sacrificial Altar and is scaled for 28mm figures. It has a large idol overlooking a small altar on a raised platform. This one, like my previous Aztec MDF, also came from from Things From the Basement via 4Ground via Badger Games – you can see it here.
The kit in its box.
This is part of “Mark’s Aztec Building Challenge Contest” (which you will read more about shortly in this blog post), as well as being part of not one but two painting challenges being kindly run by a couple of great bloggers. The first is “The Summer Solstice Painting Challenge” from Ann’s Immaterium. Its supposed to be an entry that you consider your “best”, and as I think you’ll see I think this building is one I feel qualifies – and this is my entry. The second is from Angry Piper over at Dead Dick’s Tavern And Temporary Lodging called “Monster Mayhem 2021”. As the idol on the building is pretty monstrous, and Angry Piper concurred – it’s my entry here too!
On to the project – the kit was an enjoyable build but much more detailed than previous attempts – so it took longer. Plus, as you’ll see, I had to do some circling back on the paint job. It happens. I did also dust this baby up with chinchilla dust again – and thanks again to The Imperfect Modeler (TIM) for introducing me to Chinchilla dust. There are a few WIP shots this time as well.
I started by wiping down the kit with a moist microfiber cloth.Assembly was pretty easy. After earlier using rubber bands to secure the walls and stairs while they were being glued together, I used large washers to secure the top while it was being glued.Next I dusted up the idol here (the dragon heads are for the next project) and the base.Using my airbrush, I base coated everything.I added the stairs and began painting. The model pieces are dry-fitted here and not glued yet. Here you see my initial – yes INITIAL – color choices for the idol. That would change.
Thanks to Pinterest, I got an image on my feed – of course on the day after I painted it – that would, well, make me somewhat aggravated but also allow me to take a new direction. The idol face apparently comes from an Aztec calendar – and the reddish image I saw on my feed fit my concept much better than what I originally chose.
My original paint scheme and a printed copy of the one from Pinterest – I had to redo!
And the second option is done.
Repainting the idol.
I found that lining the recesses with black paint helped greatly. As the chinchilla dust is very absorptive (especially on MDF), I mostly used somewhat thicker paints – even craft paints with the brush. Otherwise, you can get some capillary effects. My list of the materials I used is at the end of the post.
More or less a repeat photo with the new idol shot – plus the little sacrificial altar dry fitted to the base.I ended up using the white and red and black scheme you see here on the model. You also can see the highlighting of the chinchilla dust. I did find that I needed to go over the highlighting again with Army Painter Light Tone (the initial highlighting was over a toned-down base coat) – but I liked the final outcome.
I secured the final assembly as shown her with rubber bands while glue set – plus another on top of the idol (not seen here).
Back of the model view.
Final assembly.
It took me from the end of April to complete this model. I had some needed supplies finally arrive, allowing me to proceed. And I think now I’ve single-handedly bought the world’s supply of Army Painter “Light Tone”.
An aside as it affects how the contest challenge is proceeding. I had several delays beyond the supplies and repainting that I described, such as, well, golf, and mundane medical issues. Not that my game has been any good mind you! As for medical stuff, count my final COVID-19 jab that knocked me down a bit the next day (AND it was also at a golf tournament – bad call to schedule that on my part), plus a series of allergy/sinus issues, and a nearly broken toe (got a bit lucky with a bad bruise) – all causing me to slow down a bit. Oh yeah, multiple meetings and a town hearing to get (hopefully) approval to tear down and build a garage. And I still need another hearing! I hope to post on that IF AND WHEN I get approved.
Without further ado, let’s look at the final completed model and some Warrior Priests checking out the new digs.
Front view.Top view. Note the bloody altar with a little BFTBG.Detail of the front and the altar. There were two golden eagles and two faces on each side of the model. I also stuck with the red and white symbols on each corner.Right side.Rear of model.Left side.This Wargames Foundry warrior priest has the heart of a poor Conquistador – who was apparently already dragged away.All my Warrior Priests (and a Priestess) checking out the new building. All are from Wargames Foundry, and you can see their stories here, here, and here.
All that I have left in the contest challenge is this model below. FYI, some work has been started.
Thanks for looking and I hope that you found this post enjoyable to read and check out. As always, please do let me know your thoughts in the comments section !
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 THIS MODEL
This post will cover the Aztec resin terrain/structures from Acheson Creations that I have recently finished for my Feudal Patrol™ games in Mesoamerica (using my Civilizations Collide supplement). I purchased 6 structures from the company, and they were kind enough to throw in some scatter terrain that I believe will prove to be quite useful. The six buildings plus the 4 scatter pieces are all part of “Mark’s Aztec Building Challenge Contest“, as are all of the MDF I listed in the original contest post. While the buildings in this post would be probably more suited to a rural setting versus a cityscape, I think that the scatter terrain will be useful in several gaming ways.
Originally, my plan was to do finish all of the MDF structures first, and then move on to the resin ones. That concept did not pan out as I ran out of some key items for the MDF. The MDF need to match exactly so that visually the collection makes a nice panorama.
So, those shortages moved me onto the resin, which I had luckily prepped for priming back in March. I thought Acheson had made the recommendation to prime with Rustoleum “Painters Touch Ultra Cover Flat Black” – a rattlecan – something I usually avoid. (Now that I looked back at his website, that recommendation is not there?) Anyways, I got another delay in priming as the Massachusetts weather also did not play nice (it’s been cold and we even got 6″ of snow on April 16th).
I thought it prudent – prior to priming them – to give all a thorough scrubbing and washing. I also saw a need to install 1/8″ neodymium magnets for the resin structures with roofs – to make them more stable (and stay on the buildings during games). This would be useful on the tabletop and yet keep them easy enough to open up for gaming. I used different patterns for the magnets as you will see below – so the roofs won’t end up on the wrong buildings in error.
Subsequent to washing, I based these pieces back in March on 1.5mm sanded styrene card – so as to appear more flush with the tabletop. When the weather finally cooperated (one day), I primed them all with that flat black and then sprayed a coat of Army Painter “Leather Brown” over the pieces that would be lighter or brown. This group of pieces all needed different paints – I am listing what I used by type at the end of this post (this helps me remember for future consideration and projects but you may find it useful too). As I started them all before April began, these will be 10 more entries in the April painting challenge from Ann’s Immaterium called Ann’s “Paint the Crap You Already Own” challenge.
The pieces washed and with neodymium magnets installed. I would also have to figure out how to paint and finish the inside of the roofs so that I could mount them for the roofs’ exterior painting. I would mount all of these on styrene card.
The pieces mounted on styrene card and primed.
One major difference here with these pieces versus how I have painted previously is my use of Army Painter “Soft Tone” (the “dip”) applied with a brush. This is an oil-based product, which I do not employ usually, mainly as I hate the need for cleanup with paint thinner. However, I thought that it would be a good use for the stuff that I bought back in 2017 – especially on the thatched roofs as it would both shade and provide a varnish-like protection. I could then dry brush over them with abandon and dull the dip’s shine with a final matte varnish.
I would need to finish the roofs’ interiors prior to the outside – and I basically treated them as separate pieces to be worked on.
Below, you will see I broke each of the pieces out so you can get an idea of the transformation. I must give a shout out to TIM of The Imperfect Modeler who graciously gave me some excellent advice for these pieces.
Cuezcomatl Granary Structure
The term cuezcomatl refers to a granary storage structure that was used in Mesoamerica before the arrival of the Spanish and even up to today in some rural areas (see reference here). The model was interesting to paint, and working on it also helped me to prepare for the other thatched roofs. In the end, I decided to use Army Painter Soft Tone (the “dip”) with a brush. This allowed me to both get some good detail shading as well as to protect the model. I can see this model being useful as a terrain piece, as well as an objective marker. The Aztecs were quite avid practitioners of raiding their neighbors for food as well as captives (or anything else that they wanted to take), as were all Mesoamerican peoples of the era. The Aztecs were just more adept at the practice.
Unprimed and on its card base
Primed
Added texture to the base
I base coated the piece, then used the dip as a shade, then later I did a lot of dry brushing
The finished terrain piece
Progress on the Cuezcomatl
Cuezcomatl Granary Structure (door side)
Cuezcomatl Granary Structure (back side)
Jaguar Warriors seize an enemy cuezcomatl
Maize Storage Structure
This piece had a few areas that I worked to improve upon. One was to fill an open storage well with “maize” – or at least something that could approximate it. Another was to convert the dowel-like smooth front pillars into a more convincing-looking pair of period wooden supports. The pillars did have a slight wood grain, but I wanted to make them more rustic. Lastly, I did need to do some drilling and magnet installation so as to allow the piece to stay together. As with all of the other pieces here with separate roofs, I needed to finish the inside of the roof (including up to varnishing) before I finished the outside.
Similar to the cuezcomatl piece, this one can serve as both terrain and an objective marker due to the food storage bounty.
The base of the Maize Storage Structure primed. Note the altered sculpted posts.
After adding the Vallejo texture.
The underside and inside of the roof – I needed to drill carefully for the magnets.
Made a template out of card for a base for the maize.
I wanted the base to fit.
Used shaved and cut toothpicks as maize. This is a test to see how many I would need.
Used a piece of birch wood to support the card.
I made a paper form to hold the toothpick shards and PVA glue to make a “maize mass”.
The maize well and the maize mass drying.
The finished piece with roof off.
The maize building process I used broken out.Structure completed.
With roof off showing maize
Back of piece
Left side
Right side
Aztec Veterans defend the maize.
Aztec Peasant/Farmer’s House
I had three peasant houses – this is the first one.
The piece with magnets installed and on the styrene base awaiting priming weather
Primed with black and then brown.
Main painting completed prior to final shading.
Completed and united with its roof.
Progress on the Aztec Peasant/Farmer’s House
Right side
Back side
Left side
Front – showing pathway of chinchilla dust.
Novice warriors defend a peasant’s house – maybe not even theirs at the beginning of the day!
Huaxtec House
The Huaxtec were a people who lived near the east coast of Mexico. They were related to the Maya and were conquered by the Aztecs. I found this structure to be quite striking visually and I have to imagine that it was somewhat common. In any case, it was different than the others, so I thought it worth adding. The only issue that this piece presented was that the roof size did not line up as easily for the magnets – but enough to make a couple work enough to keep the roof on.
You can see the two magnetic positions that I could drill.
Primed.
Added Vallejo texture to the base.
Finished bottom.
Finished with the roof.
Huaxtec House progress
Finished front view of Huaxtec house.
Back view.
The Aztecs pillage the Huaxtec House.
Aztec Stone House
The third type of house is an Aztec Stone House. This is one of the two stone houses in the group. I decided that I would go for more of a sandstone or light limestone look for these.
An example of how I created a template to make sure that the roof and building magnets lined up.
On styrene base showing magnets installed
Primed in black
Added Vallejo earth texture
After pigments and early base dry brushing
Aztec Stone House progress
Right side
Back side
Left side
Front of Aztec Stone House
Aztec Veteran and Novice Warriors deploy from the stone house
Aztec Noble’s House
The Aztec Noble’s house had an interesting roof and a bit of opportunity for some color.
Using a template with thumbtacks to align the roof and magnets
Magnets installed and structure based
Primed
Added Vallejo texture to the base
After adding some talus, chinchilla dust, I dry brushed
Aztec Noble House progress
Left side
Back
right side
Front of Aztec Noble’s House
The Aztec Snake Woman (General) and a Noble Captain depart for battle.
Miscellaneous Scatter Terrain
It was a nice surprise to get this scatter terrain. I used all of it except one – which was an African mask. I based it and primed it but did not paint it. As I will not likely use it, it will be another (5th!) prize in “Mark’s Aztec Building Challenge Contest“.
These will be nice treasure markers for the games. I played with some shiny (and tiny) beads (from Japan) and Swarovski glittery crystals from Michaels to make the treasure and fill the pots over some steel BB’s. I also had a chance to do some minimal Aztec freehand work on the pots.
Cleaned and based freebies – the mask on the right is another prize in the contest now.
Primed and based textured.
The leafy pot that I added the freehand to – loosely based on a design I saw online.
This marker had bones, skulls, a treasure chest, and more.
Some larger gold and silver items.
A barrel – I was going to make it a water barrel but made it full of treasure instead.
Tiny little beads – gold (2 sizes), silver, and turquoise.
Treasure!
Scatter Terrain progressThe Leafy Pot treasure. Why is it on leaves? You got me – I don’t know!
The “Bones” treasure marker, replete with two skulls, a partial skeleton, a barrel, a pot, a treasure chest and an old sack. The gold staff treasure – with a treasure chest, a silver carafe, a gold vase, and a large gold staff of some type.Top view of the treasuresElite Warriors – Cuachiqueh (“Shorn Ones”) – protect Montezuma’s gold.
That rounds out my pieces for April. I now have just two more pieces of MDF left for the contest – though I do have more planned terrain and structures – keep following!
Coming up next – these last two MDF.
I’d love to hear any feedback on these – and I did use a different photo set up as well – so let me know on that too if you want. Getting my last “jab” this weekend, as well as trying to play in two golf tournaments – so when will I get done and end the contest…who knows?
As far as Acheson, I must give them a very positive review on these resin pieces. Check out their stuff here. Their offerings and ranges are quite extensive across many periods. The sculpting is good and the details are nice, and the extras they threw in were very cool too. And other than the freebies that they threw in, I have not been paid by them in any way.
Thanks for looking and please let me know what you think in the comments section!
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.
The next sections are references on the paints I used – mainly for me – so skip the rest if you are so inclined. Thanks for looking and I hope that you’ll let me know what you think about these models.
PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THESE STRUCTURES AND PIECES:
In this post I will share my latest MDF kit build for Feudal Patrol™ games in Mesoamerica (using my Civilizations Collide supplement). I was able to finish off another Aztec-inspired MDF kit. This one also came from from Things From the Basement via 4Ground via Badger Games (see it here). It is called Temple Sentinel Tower and is scaled for 28mm figures – and is just what it is described as being – a Temple Sentinel Tower which would be a nice piece of high ground for some missile troops.
It was an enjoyable kit to build. This one had a few challenges for the build as I needed to make sure that I could paint the inside of the tower as well as dust it up with chinchilla dust as I have been doing. I want all these cityscape Temple structures to match in character – and in color and texture. Basically, as you will see, I broke the kit into two parts until final assembly.
The kit after wiping down with a moist microfiber cloth. The instructions were good.First day of assembly and setting up with PVA, rubber bands, and clamps.The lower tower section is on the left – and the top here has been left to work on separately with paint and chinchilla dust as I have previously described (see this page). Having steel washers around held as weights with PVA gluing.The tower sections awaiting base coating after dusting up with the chinchilla dust and watered down PVA slurry.The sections after the base coat was applied and the dry brushing of the textures. The red, black, and yellow colors were painted after the dry brushing.
The finished Temple Sentinel Tower next to my previous MDF builds. I put a few missile troops up in the tower as examples.Different angle view.An Aztec veteran with an atlatl peers out while a macuahuitl-armed comrade guards the ladder access. A sling-armed novice is at the top of the ladder.A close up of a bowman (front) and another slinger (left) in the tower.
I think this came out well – what do you think?
For the other pieces in the building contest, I was also able to airbrush a decent base coat on my remaining resin structures, as well as to start on the ground cover on their styrene bases.
The remaining resin structures – I have a good start on them.
This now leaves me with two more MDF builds – the Temple High Throne and the Sacrificial Altar – in addition to the resin. These are going to take a back seat to finishing the resin pieces. This is because as I have more paint on order to properly finish them similarly to my previous MDF kits. I have found that I’m going though a good amount of paints and washes (chinchilla dust and MDF can be thirsty).
My remaining MDF kits!
I have also tried to show you, dear readers, the progress in my challenge in a non-award-winning video on IGTV and Instagram (well it hasn’t won yet, so there’s hope…).
My main communications channel is THIS BLOG! But, I’m just trying to keep up with the young ‘uns like IRO. It’s a bit of an unscripted thing – so enjoy! Without any further ado – here is the video link live from my cellar (that I cannot put on WordPress without paying more $$).
So as for the contest – I have a shot below that shows the range of guesses:
We’ve got American, Aussie, and Brit entries (what’s up with the rest of the world?). Thanks to all for entering and best of luck – and follow my progress (and your chances) here! The average is May 19th, with Azazel the earliest on 4/24/2021 and Ann the latest on 6/30/2021. Hell, your guesses are as good as mine at this point for sure.
A couple of small side notes. I was quite surprised and happy to see that 4Ground featured my work on their Facebook page – here is that Facebook link – and much thanks to our pal Kuribo who let me know on the blog that he saw it. Also, this marks my 30th post on this subject – and while I’m happy about the progress I’ve made – the listing of all the posts is getting to be a bit much (never mind approving all the WordPress pingbacks that this generates).
So, I’ve added a new selection on my main menu (“Gaming & Hobby Areas of Interest”), and under that will be individual genre selections. I’ve started with a page with a list of and links to all of my Mesoamerican posts called “Aztec, Conquistador, and Mesoamerican Hobby Projects Posts” – and I will (over time) be augmenting it with other stuff, such as retro sci-fi, France 1940, Normandy, etc. But I won’t get to that for a while – I’ll be focusing here on the Aztec stuff! I’ll still add the paints and materials section as before, mostly for my own references.
Thanks for looking and I hope that you can check out the video link and no matter what – let me know what you think of the tower – or my accent – or my graying hair – or whatever.
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 PIECES:
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)
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)
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:
Mark A. Morin 