I have finished my second group of Conquistadores for Feudal PatrolTM. These are a group of six 28mm arquebusiers from Wargames Foundry called “Merciless Adventurers” and they indeed represent the title well.
They are, like my last group, beautiful sculpts by Mark Copplestone, and I got them from Badger Games. I will use them in Feudal PatrolTM games using the supplement I wrote for the Spanish Conquest called Civilizations Collide.
For those of you who are in – or interested in jumping in and trying to win some free miniatures – you can still by joining “Mark’s Conquistador Contest” . Click on the contest link for the rules and to see the prizes described on that blog post – but you must enter by midnight EST (US East Coast time) on January 2nd, 2021. You do this by posting a comment that “you are in” on the contest blog post in the comments section on that blog post (not this one – but I always appreciate feedback on this post as well). There are other simple rules to make it fair for all – but there’s no risk on your part – except that you must become a follower (email or WordPress) of my blog to be eligible to win. And that is free too!
This project brings me up to 12 figures completed out of the 89 – and maybe I night get one more unit done before New Years! Stay tuned…
Here are a few WIP – trying to do more painting and less photos but here are what I have:
Mounted for painting
Primed and washed 12/19
Early work 12/19
Base coats done 12/22
Figures painted by 12/24
Basic flocking and varnish by 12/25
CAB9 here all done by 12/25 (except adding static grass), which you’ll see below.
I designated these arquebus-armed Conquistadores as CAB7 to CAB12. I did change my color choices as I went along, and used a number of glazes, washes, and even contrast paints as base paints and/or glazes. Check them out below, and click on any of the images for a larger view!
CAB7
I tried to paint some darker stripes on the hose and trousers here. I love the facial expressions on this group.
CAB8
I went with lighter blue and red (vermilion) color scheme on the stripes here – and I do like it. This guy has a great glare under that hat.
CAB9
I went with black and red (vermilion) color scheme on the stripes here – and I think it complemented his intense face.
CAB10
I went a bit simpler on the lower body here so as to let the shoulder pads stick out more. This guy also has a great glare under that hat.
CAB11
I wanted this figure’s leather armor to be a but lighter – and I achieved this a bit unusually. I base coated the armor with Vallejo Model Air “Light”, and then glazed with the Citadel contrast paint “Plague Bearer Flesh”, followed by a highlight with “Light”. I think it came out the way I wanted – and not too greenish – it should be all right for the tabletop. He has a shield, but that will only help if he is in melee, which as an arquebusier, I’m sure he’d rather avoid.
CAB12
I also experimented a bit with this one. I saw some images of conquistadores with some yellowish and red colors on their lower bodies. I made the choices you see below. I like the color contrast with the blue blouse – but feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments section on how I painted him or any of the others.
GROUP SHOT
Thanks for looking – only 77 more figures to go – remember to enter the contest if you have not yet done so – and let me know what you think of these good bad or otherwise. Stay safe!
Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:
Posts on games, units, and other projects for my 16th Century Spanish Conquest supplement for Feudal Patrol™ – “Civilizations Collide”
Finally I have finished my first group of Conquistadores for Feudal PatrolTM. These are a group of six 28mm figures from Wargames Foundry armed with arquebuses (hence they are called arquebusiers). The figures were sculpted by Mark Copplestone and are really nice. I got them from Badger Games. For once, I did not need to paint or assemble any extras like shields or banners!
I will use them in Feudal PatrolTM games using the supplement I wrote for the Spanish Conquest called Civilizations Collide. Firearms in Mesoamerica were subject to some tough conditions climactically and also there was the issue of powder and ammunition supply. In the game, arquebus fire does create a bit of panic on the receiving end, but the weapons can misfire and be put out of action for the duration of the game (or even put the firer out of action with an explosion).
Arquebuses were used by many armies. The Spanish used them extensively in the 15th and 16th Centuries, notably in the Renaissance Italian Wars, and the Spanish Conquest. They were the first reasonably portable shoulder-fired firearm used. Arquebuses were complex to fire, and could misfire or even as previously stated – actually explode in the bearer’s face. However, it was easier to arm and to train troops with an arquebus than with a crossbow. The addition of a serpentine firing device to arquebuses led to the type sometimes being called a matchlock. Once volley fire tactics were developed, the use of the crossbow was eclipsed, though clearly there was a period of overlap – particularly during the Spanish Conquest.
For those of you in the “Mark’s Conquistador Contest” (which is still open if you want to try to win some free – yes free – miniatures), this is six down, and 83 more to go! Entry is still open until Jan 2, 2021 – so click the link, check it out, and join in!
The blister as received
After priming and a dark wash
Progress through 12/17/20
Progress through 12/18/20
12/19/20 – ready for flocking and varnishing!
These were great fun to paint – and I still got to use a bit of color on them. From Steven’s Balagan blog, Osprey books, and good old Google, I got some decent concepts on historically-appropriate painting schemes. Apparently there was some grubbiness to them – but surprisingly, also some style and panache. I designated these arquebus-armed Conquistadores as CAB1 to CAB6. Check them out below, and click on any of the images for a larger view!
CAB1
This was the first figure that I tried to paint stripes on the hose. It was a new challenge, but I think it came out all right for the tabletop.
CAB2
The blister pack I got had two of the same pose (erroneously) – this is the same pose as CAB1 but I used a different color scheme (sort of reversed).
CAB3
This guy looks ready for action – a real veteran.
CAB4
This Conquistador was the grubbiest-looking of the lot, so I gave him a grungy-look to his leather armor. He has also adopted native footwear – Aztec style sandals.
CAB5
This Conquistador has also adopted native sandals – and he has red pants anyways (just in time for Christmas!)
CAB6
For the first time in months, I got to use a shade of purple – in this case on his blouse. No purple on Aztecs! Apparently some of the Conquistadores liked a plum-like shade (some style from Italian campaigns maybe?). Also, to vary the leather browns on armor, I actually used a dark flesh tone (“Gulliman Flesh”) on the kilt. I think it worked.
GROUP SHOT
Definitely “Audacious Arquebusiers”
I hope you enjoyed this post – and I’m off to paint the next group! Six down, 83 to go! Merry Christmas to you all and stay safe!
Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:
Posts on games, units, and other projects for my 16th Century Spanish Conquest supplement for Feudal Patrol™ – “Civilizations Collide”
Welcome to Mark’s Conquistador Contest – a FREE chance for you to join me on my next part of my journey to field troops for my 16th Century Spanish Conquest game supplement forFeudal Patrol™ – “Civilizations Collide” – AND to have a chance to win – yes WIN – some free miniatures! Read on!
I have participated in a few painting challenges from others over the years – and those are great fun. But I am currently so desirous of seeing my Conquistadores painted up and ready for gaming that I will not stop until they are done and game-ready to my standards (such as those are). So I won’t be joining any challenges (unless they dovetail with me finishing my Conquistadores). However, I thought of another way to get you involved on this project other than just reading this blog. What about having my readers compete and guess the date that I’ll actually finish the Conquistadores? And what about offering actual prizes just to make it interesting? That’s exactly the genesis of Mark’s Conquistador Contest.
I have filed, washed, and partially based the force. I have not yet primed anything, and expect to start that on December 15th. I decided that I wanted to get all my filing of mold lines and washing (yes I wash all my figures before painting no matter what they are made of) done, do a massive priming session, and paint away. 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:
Rules of Mark’s Conquistador Contest:
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 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.
So as for prizes, they will be metal miniatures – mostly old and vintage lead – and in original packaging. Great stuff I love but may not be able to paint soon – and which deserve a home. 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 three prizes (and I may add more):
Three vintage Ral Partha Aztec Blisters (25mm)Three Minifig blisters for the English Civil War (15mm)Two Vintage Ral Partha blisters from their colonials collection (25mm)
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 to reward the next player as victory is enough for you?
Your next questions should be – “what exactly is Mark trying to paint?” and “how fast is he?”. For the second question, just check out my pages that show my previous projects. For example, 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. There is a bit more I have to do here than just painting – there is some assembly too. Here are the Conquistador subjects of my quest and this contest below:
Wargames Foundry SB012 “Audacious Arquebusiers” – 6 figuresWargames Foundry SB014 “Merciless Adventurers” – 6 figures – all with arquebuses.Eureka Miniatures 100CON04 “Crossbowmen” – 5 figures. Crossbows are separate and shown below.Eureka Miniatures 100CON06 “Officer” and an unknown bonus officer that they gave me – 2 figuresOutpost Wargames Services CONC1 “Conquistador Foot Command” – 4 figures. There is a bannerman with no banner that I will make a standard for, and a few shields you’ll see below.Outpost Wargames Services CONS06 “Wardogs” – 8 figures. This is the first group of war hounds I have.Eureka Miniatures 100CON13 “Dog Handler and Dogs” – 8 figures. This is the second group of war hounds I have. I’m going to make the handler a pikeman as in my game the dogs can be added to any figure for points – I have no need for a handler alone.Wargames Foundry SB015 “Swaggering Swordsmen” – 6 figures – all with shields shown separately.Wargames Foundry SB016 “Brutal Sword and Buckler Men” – 6 figures – all with shields shown separately.Wargames Foundry SB017 “Bold Bladesmen” – 6 figures – all with shields shown separately.Outpost Wargames Services CON001 “Sword and Buckler Men” – 8 figures. There are at least 6 shields I’ll do here – maybe 8 – not sure yet as two of the figures have two-handed broadswords.Outpost Wargames Services CON5 “Conquistador Cavalry in light armour 1” – 8 figures (4 riders and 4 horses). There are also shields. I made two armed with lancers and two with swords. Note my rigging for painting riders – and yes those are screws with washers on old paint bottles.Outpost Wargames Services CON6 “Conquistador Cavalry in full armour” – 8 figures (4 riders and 4 horses). There are also shields. I made two armed with lancers and two with swords. Note my rigging for painting riders – and yes those are screws on bottles again.Eureka Miniatures 100ANMo5 “Moving Horses” – 8 figures. Obviously not moving, but de-based and mounted to be used as hacked up and downed horses that could be used as cover or block movement.All the previously alluded-to shields for the cavalry and infantry, as well as crossbows, a banner pole, and a pike.Outpost Wargames Services CONA1 “Falconet and Crew” – 3 figures (2 crew and 1 falconet (small cannon)). I’ll paint parts here before assembling the falconet.
If you’re counting (and that helps) that’s 89 figures – if you count each cavalry as two figures (horse and rider). I used a lot of poster tack and bottles as you see all of them collected here with some of my painting guide resources.
I hope that you enter and wish you the best of luck! Referrers always welcome – just need to follow the rules and importantly be one of my blog followers. Hell, I need the luck too – this is a lot of lead!
Stay tuned for updates as I finish pieces of this project – and I really hope that you find this fun. I’ll leave a synopsis as usual like below. Stay safe!
Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:
Posts on games, units, and other projects for my 16th Century Spanish Conquest supplement for Feudal Patrol™ – “Civilizations Collide”
Mark’s Conquistador Contest – for my loyal blog followers! (this post)
Montezuma and Chieftains – Wargames Foundry #AZ011 for Feudal Patrol – 6 Aztec figures (Montezuma, 4 Chieftains, 1 Warrior Priest)
There were at least two men named Montezuma in Aztec history. The most famous were Montezuma I and Montezuma II. Montezuma I (1398-1469) became the Aztec emperor in 1440. This happened after both the assassination of his brother Chimalpopoca and the subsequent death of his half-uncle Itzcoatl (both had succeeded Montezuma I’s father, Huitzilihuitl, the first Aztec emperor). He had been a general in the Aztec army, and was elected “Great Speaker” which meant he spoke for Tenochtitlan and other tribes under Aztec control. Under his rule the Empire of the Aztecs of the Triple Alliance was established and its power in Mesoamerica was consolidated.
Montezuma II (1466-1520) was the great-grandson of Montezuma I. He is more widely known as he was the Aztec emperor that made contact with – and later was made prisoner by – Cortes and the Conquistadores. His, and the Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire, is a complex story that fills many a book – and is too great to recount here. Montezuma II saw the expansion of the Aztec Empire to its greatest heights, and also saw it fall. His final humiliating act was to be forced by his Spanish captors to appear on a balcony to entreat his people to back off their siege of the Conquistadores. He was then killed by his own enraged Aztecs while speaking to them by a thrown or slung rock.
Both of these men named Montezuma certainly sacrificed thousands upon thousands of victims on the altars of their god Huitzilopochtli. There are also multiple spellings for Montezuma – but I will use this one!
“Emperor Montezuma and Chieftains”
In my supplement for games of Feudal Patrol™, Civilizations Collide, Montezuma (either one) can be deployed as an overall commander or as a hero. In this role, he can stiffen his own troops resolve – as his presence on the battlefield reminds all of his minions that the price of failure or retreat is a trip to the sacrificial altar. I have discussed the game on previous posts, as well as my supplement. See the links at the end of this post to learn more. You can download Civilizations Collide for free on Sally 4th’s website here or the Feudal Patrol™ website here.
Wargames Foundry makes AZ011 “Emperor Montezuma and Chieftains”, and I acquired a blister from Badger Games. All are 28mm, and metal. The figures are of Montezuma (not defined as to which one), four battle chieftains/leaders, and a warrior priest. I did not take many WIP shots of all the figures – but this time I’ll handle each one in turn and share a bit about each one, starting with Montezuma.
Click on any of the images for a larger view!
Montezuma
This figure really challenged me, but the sculpt was quite nice, and my favorite of the lot. I really wanted his cloak and feather work to pop. I ended up using a lot of inks on all of these figures here – and I used a gloss varnish over them to protect the work. This proved to be a good call (similar to what I did with the Shorn Ones).
Here I have painted the cloak red and given it some depth. The edge was done with a black-lined off-white border.
I then used a blue ink on the off-white, then did a freehand pattern in off-white over the blue ink border. Similarly, I inked the feather headdress with yellow and green.
Below, you will see final shots of the completed Montezuma figure. I used a yellow ink (Vallejo Game Ink) to achieve the color on off-white on the cloak border. I’m pretty happy with the shading on the cloak. This was the most freehand detail that I’ve attempted on a cloak. I was inspired by cloaks that I have seen done by The Imperfect Modeler on his blog – an example of his artistry can be seen here – check him out.
Aztec Chieftain/Captain (ACP1)
I designated this figure as ACP1. These chieftains (ACP1-4) will be leaders of warbands or higher, but will serve under the generals. The first one looked almost like a Shorn One except for the haircut. I did not really like the face on the sculpt, but overall I think it’s ok. His crown was odd compared to other Aztec stuff I’ve seen, so I made it yellow. He’s armed with a tepoztopilli (an obsidian-edged thrusting spear) and has a nice big shield that both were part of the figure. His tlahuiztli (suit) is supposed to be feathered.
AZTEC CHIEFTAIN/CAPTAIN (ACP2)
This figure had an almost Roman-like look – except the tall feather headdress gives it away. That, and it has a feathered tlahuiztli that I painted blue also. This miniature had a drum for signaling mounted on the rack on his back. This drum would motivate me to use it as an example and make a drum for the ACP3 figure as you’ll see later (which had nothing on its back rack). He is armed with a macuahuitl (obsidian-edged club/broadsword), and his shield was a Wargames Foundry one that I repainted and gave a more fancy look with the two-colored circle and frets.
AZTEC CHIEFTAIN/CAPTAIN (ACP3)
This figure made me think a bit and as previously mentioned caused me to put a little more work into it. It had a back rack, but nothing to put on it – and the painting example on the websites did not either. Why would it have a rack without anything to carry?
Therefore, I decided that a small signaling drum would be appropriate to sculpt and add. I used some styrene bits, paper clip wire, and green stuff to make a drum. View the gallery below left to right and top to bottom.
Here you see ACP3 on left (no drum) with ACP2’s drum.
Started w/a styrene tube and thin styrene circles for the top. Then I drilled two holes for paperclip wires.
Love this stuff to bond styrene.
I used two paperclip wires for the mounting to the figure’s back rack.
I then filled the tube with Gorilla Glue, adding two more wires vertically to seat into the green stuff bottom, and let it dry.
The drum is shown here before adding the green stuff.
The sculpted drum is complete next to ACP3.
ACP with the drum mounted.
ACP2 (left) and ACP3 (right) with their respective drums.
Here is the completed ACP3 below. I think the drum worked out well enough for the tabletop. It has a macuahuitl behind the shield. The figure’s shield frets were a bit uneven, so I did not give them any additional painting details. I wanted the shield to be eye-catching – thought the white rim here is a bit more bright in the photo than in real life.
AZTEC CHIEFTAIN/CAPTAIN (ACP4)
I looked at this figure and frankly thought the helmet and headdress to be a bit odd for an Aztec warrior. Still, if it’s in the blister, I paint it! I did also give it an updated small shield. This figure is also armed with a macuahuitl.
AZTEC warrior priest (Awp4)
This is the one warrior priest in the blister. It actually looks inspired by the image in John Pohl’s 1991 Osprey Book Aztec, Mixtec, and Zapotec Armies – Men-at-Arms. That image shows a Zapotec (as opposed to an Aztec) warrior priest wearing the flayed skin of a defeated enemy. Now, Aztecs did also flay their enemies (in addition to sacrifices and other horrors). Diaz (a contemporary of Cortes and the author of the 16th century book The History of the Conquest of New Spain) described finding the flayed (and yet still-bearded) faces of fallen Conquistadores hanging in captured Aztec villages and cities. My guess is that it is likely that an Aztec warrior priest could have worn a flayed enemy skin to intimidate his enemies on the battlefield. In any case, this is the fourth warrior priest I have painted.
The figure’s flayed suit was somewhat negatively affected (less realistic) by the position in which the flayed feet were sculpted in my opinion. The flayed hands hang loosely over the warrior priest’s hands, and look appropriate (for flayed hands). However, the skinned feet stick out here oddly as you’ll see below. I am sure they would have flopped loosely – as indeed the ones do in Pohl’s book. The back banner was pretty large and came in two pieces. I needed to use green stuff to reinforce part of it but I thought it fun to assemble.
The Warrior Priest before assembly.
Assembled and ready for priming.
Lastly, I did not know what color a flayed skin would have. I’m assuming it would be like a tanned animal skin, but that would not negate any necrotic colors (or smells I’m sure). Luckily, I’ve not seen (or smelled) anyone who has been flayed!
So, I decided to use a couple of paints – Citadel “Contrast Paint – Plaguebearer Flesh” highlighted and dry brushed with a layer paint – Citadel “Flayed One Flesh”. Not sure if this worked – you can let me know! His suit is a bit on the zombie green side. The figure is tall, and also armed with a macuahuitl. The shield design is adapted from Steve’s Balagan.
GRoup shot
Emperor Montezuma and Chieftains completed!
This group of Aztecs completes (for now) the ones that I need for the games I have planned. I have painted 109 Aztecs since April, and 32 Tlaxcalans. I have 81 Conquistadores to do next.
On my last blogpost, I got a request from fellow army builder and blogger Alex. He has a blog worth checking out called Leadbaloony – It’s a Lead Thing ~ (sorry no balloons). His painting is exquisite. Alex wanteda picture of my entire Aztec army – so I will try to comply below!
Here you go Alex, 109 Aztec Warriors!Side view – not including my Tlaxcalans – which would be 32 more figures.Opposite angle
To paraphrase Chief Brodie in Jaws, I’m gonna need a bigger boat box!
I’ll have to break these into two boxes for sure, especially to travel to conventions and game days at the Mass Pikemen Gaming Club post-COVID 19.
Thanks for looking at these and following this journey. I hope to get going on the Conquistadores and some Things from the Basement terrain (from the Lost Archipelago collection) I just ordered from Badger Games.
I hope you stay with me as I round the corner on his project! These will be in games, some even virtually. As always, let me know your thoughts and ideas about these figures. Stay safe!
Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:
Posts on games, units, and other projects for my 16th Century Spanish Conquest supplement for Feudal Patrol™ – “Civilizations Collide”
In the Civilizations Collide supplement (described on my last post) that I wrote for Feudal Patrol™, priests and shamans can be bought for points and deployed along with units. In the game, a warrior priest can both boost the fighting morale of your own troops as well as erode the morale of your defeated non-Spanish enemies. Plus, they can fight as heroes as well.
For my Aztec forces, I needed to paint up some more warrior priests. I already had one figure that I have painted from Wargames Foundry Heroes of Tenochtitlan (seen here). I also have six warrior priests for the Tlaxcalans (seen here), so this disparity needed to be fixed.
Originally to meet this figure deficit I purchased the Wargames Foundry blister pack AZ021 “Tloxtoxl and the Priests of the Great Temple” from Badger Games as I believed that this would get me six Warrior Priests. There is nothing historic about the name, but it sounds very Aztec! However, the pack was a bit different than I had expected. As you will see, two are definitely good as warrior priests, two are priests/priestesses who probably hung around the temple, and two are a command pair. No worries, as I can use all of these one way or another. The figures are metal, 28mm in size, and sculpted by Josef Ochmann. This group was in very good shape and was easy to prep for painting.
I did not take very many shots this go around – but my painting approach was similar to my previous posts which are catalogued below if you are new to this project. So without further ado…
Eye Candy
First, the two warrior priests – I think these will be fine on the tabletop battlefield, though underarmed a bit:
AWP2 – this figure is armed only with an obsidian dagger, and no shield or armor.
AWP3 – this figure reminded me of IRO’s stuff! He is armed only with an obsidian dagger, and no shield or armor, but is slick with blood after a captive live sacrifice. The dark war paint on his face and body and the skull on his hip were painted according to an Osprey image I had. I tried not to overdo the blood, but I think he would be pretty bloody.
The next group includes a priestess and a priest that do not look overly worthy of battle, but I can always put them in if needed or use them in some other way. Besides, they could be an objective possibly. I thought I’d paint them anyways – and give them flowers on their bases.
AP1 – this Priestess is admiring some turquoise jewelry or some such thing. I would have her armed with only an obsidian dagger, and of course no shield or armor. I tried to give the dress a pattern, but this was not squarely in my wheelhouse. Maybe that’s why I gave her a tuft of flowers as compensation?
AP2 – this Priest was not my favorite, though I did like experimenting with his headdress and his garb patterns. He is also armed with only an obsidian dagger, and of course no shield or armor. He also was missing some fingers. Maybe that’s why I also gave him flowers!
The next two really are a command group pair, and I will use them together as a higher commander of a warband or better.
AZC1 – this leader is dressed as an Eagle Warrior. I painted 6 Eagle Warriors early in the project that you can see here. I really liked this figure. I will treat his weapon as a tepoztopilli, and give him credit for his shield, some cotton armor and his helmet. He of course will need his assistant with the conch shell and drum to send battle signals out.
AZC2 – the leader’s signaler with a conch shell as a horn and a drum. I really liked this figure, though getting the shell right was a conundrum. I am only giving him a hand axe and but he gets cotton armor but no shield. So, he’s a bit vulnerable.
Here’s a group shot:
Thanks for looking – and please let me know your thoughts and feedback in the comments section. Do have a favorite? I do hope you enjoyed this!
Well, not exactly…more like into one of my storage boxes to await a future game…but now that I have your attention, welcome!
A completed slinger from this project. Nine of the 18 figures that I will discuss and display here are armed with slings. In my game, these Aztec slingers are very accurate – and very dangerous. Most Aztecs learned how to take small game with slings from a very young age. The Conquistadores described taking many grave injuries and casualties from slingers like these.
I just finished adding 18 Aztec Novice Warriors to my forces for games of Feudal Patrol™ – using the “Civilizations Collide” supplement that I have discussed previously on several posts (you can see list of these posts at the end of this post if you’d like to see what you’ve missed). I had needed to add some more novices to pair up with veterans for the game. Aztec veteran warriors would have novices attached to them for training and development in the tactics and techniques of Mesoamerican warfare. Aztecs preferred capturing their enemies versus killing them – after all, they wanted live captives for sacrifice.
Under veteran tutelage, novices would try to capture enemy warriors. Their success at this would allow them to gain rank as well as increased Aztec societal and cultural prestige (depending upon the number and quality of the captured enemy warriors). This increase in rank would also be shown by the warriors having the right to wear different and fancier uniforms. Of course the captured warriors would be most often sacrificed alive on the altar of Huitzilopochtli in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan.
Returning to the gaming project, I now have figures for 30 novices and 27 veterans, which should put me in good stead game-wise. These figures came from Badger Games and were manufactured by Wargames Foundry. The 18 figures discussed here came from two blisters of AZ016 “Novice Warriors I” and one of AZ028 “Novice Warriors III”. All were sculpted by Josef Ochmann. I previously painted up 12 from AZ018 “Novice Warriors II” that I posted about here. These were similar to those models, and most of this group are armed with slings. Unfortunately, for the non-slingers, there were no other weapons in the AZ028 blister, just shields. Not a problem, as I had some Outpost Wargames Services extra weapons and some extra shields already painted up for any non-slingers (Badger also sells OWS). I am sure that Badger would have taken care of it if I let them know (they are great), but I had the situation under control.
I must say that the Foundry mold lines here on some of the models were a greater problem than those I have painted before from OWS. I tried my best to fix what I could without destroying the figures, but there’s only so much one can file away before the cure becomes worse than the disease. I am going to jump right into some pictures and then as usual some references for those interested in that sort of detail.
Mounted and ready for painting.Early flesh tone work.Completed.Completed and removed from the specimen jars – ready for eye candy!
Because I had bought two 6-figure blisters of AZ016, I wanted to paint them differently enough so that they would be interesting on the tabletop. I will show the similar poses together, and then the single poses.
I have numbered my novices AN1 to AN30, with this project concerning AN13 to AN30.
AN13 and AN19 – armed with a tepoztopilli (obsidian-edged thrusting spear pronounced tay-pose-toe-pee-lee) and a shield, but no other armor.
AN 13 and AN19 figures from the front.AN13 and AN19, the view from the side.
AN14 and AN20 – armed with a cuauhololli (round-headed wooden club – pronounced kwa-ho-lolly) and a shield, but no other armor.
AN14 and AN20 from the front.AN14 and AN20, reverse angle. As these are all novices, I did not give them overly fancy shields.
AN15 and AN21 – armed with a cuauhololli (round-headed wooden club) and a shield, and quilted cotton armor called ichcahuipilli (pronounced each-ca-we-pilli).
From the front, AN15 and AN21. I painted the shields and ichcahuipilli drawstrings differently.AN15 and AN21 from the shield side. AN21 has feather frets on his shield.
AN16 and AN22 – armed with slings, no shield, and no armor.
AN16 and AN22 looking very choreographed from the front. Note the blue and red arm rings and earrings as differentiators for the tabletop.AN16 and AN22 looking no less choregraphed from the back!
AN17 and AN23 – armed with slings, no shield, and no armor.
AN17 and AN23 looking a bit more ominous than the previous pair of slingers. I did not like the size of these figures’ left hands. A shield could have hidden that but I did not think that having slingers should be so equipped. AN17 and AN23 reverse view.
AN18 and AN24 – armed with slings, no shield, and no armor.
AN18 and AN24. These were my favorite sculpts from the AZ016 blister. I really thought the faces were great.AN18 and AN24, reverse view.
AN25 – armed with a sling, no shield, and no armor. This is the first figure from the AZ028 blister.
AN25 looks for a target.AN25 reverse angle.
AN26 – armed with a sling, no shield, and no armor.
AN26 from the front. The figure is similar to, but not exactly the same, as AN17 and AN23, but I am hoping that the yellow earrings will stand out on the tabletop.AN26, reverse angle.
AN27 – armed with a sling, no shield, and no armor.
AN27 from the front, with some yellow color for his hairband and earrings. I liked the sculpting of his face too.AN27 from the back side.
AN28 – armed with a macuahuitl (an obsidian-edged club/broadsword), a shield, and no armor.
AN28 from the front, moving to attack. This is the only figure in this group to be armed with the common macuahuitl (pronounced ma-kwa-wheat). The macuahuitl came from a previously painted OWS kit. You can see an interesting video on this weapon later in this post.AN28 from the side, ready to hack and slash.
AN29 – armed with a tepoztopilli and a shield, and quilted cotton armor (ichcahuipilli).
AN29 front. This was my least favorite figure of all of these – I just did not like the face, though here it looks ok. The weapon is also from OWS.AN29 from the side.
AN30 – armed with a bow, no shield, and no armor.
AN30 from the side. I really liked this figure, plus he is now the only Aztec I have with a bow. Bows were much more the choice of peoples like the Tlaxcalans (as shown here), but Aztecs did use bows at times too.AN30 showing the side with the quiver.
That’s a lot of troops – and this month (October 2020) I have painted 42 in total after adding these 18 – a record for me. And I still have 2 days left, but likely this is it for October. I am nearly through what I need to paint for the Aztecs – then I can move on to the Spanish.
And as for the video I promised, here it is below. A group in Baltimore built a macuahuitl. I found it interesting, even though they did not know the correct pronunciation of macuahuitl! There’s obviously an old gamer there as shown by the paints used. Enjoy!
That’s all for this post. I’d be interested in your thoughts on this post and the project in general. Let me know in the comments section, share this post if you’d like, and as always, thanks for looking!
Project production to date – 121 figures…and counting!
Miscellaneous details and references for those interested in that sort of thing:
Posts on games, units, and other projects for my 16th Century Spanish Conquest supplement for Feudal Patrol™ – “Civilizations Collide”
18 Aztec Novice Warriors for Feudal Patrol Walk into a Bar (this post) – 18 Novice Warriors
Please let me know your thoughts and feedback in the comments section – I really appreciate learning any impressions or thoughts in general (or specific) that you have.
When one looks at the historical images of various Aztec warriors of the 16th Century, some of the most striking ones are those of the Jaguar Warriors. The Jaguar Warriors were true elite warriors, similar to the Eagle Warriors in having high and noble status in Aztec culture. They wore elaborately decorated suits (tlahuitli) that affected a jaguar-like look, replete with head-encompassing hardwood helmets (cuacalalatli) carved to be jaguar-like in appearance. Their spotted gaudy suits were worn over quilted cotton armor vests called ichcahuipilli, which provided a degree of additional protection to the Jaguar Warrior.
The Jaguar Warriors’ actual designation was cuauhocelotl. This was an elite warrior classification level that one earned by capturing at least four enemy warriors for use as sacrificial victims on the altar or as slaves. Aztec warfare valued capturing an enemy warrior over killing one outright in battle. Attaining Jaguar Warrior status had its privileges, such as being able to drink pulque (a fermented drink made from agave), and to have and keep concubines.
In battle, they were armed with atlatl (spear throwers), macuahuitl (obsidian-edged wooden clubs or broadswords), or tepoztopilli (obsidian-edged thrusting spears). As Jaguar Warriors are iconic in Aztec warfare, I knew I needed to have some for my Aztec forces for the upcoming launch of Buck Surdu’s Feudal Patrol™ game, especially for the supplement that I wrote for the Spanish Conquest I called Civilizations Collide. With all of their colorful suits and shields, so I was excited to paint some up and add to my troops that I have previously described in this blog.
From Badger Games, I had purchased a couple of 28mm scale metal Wargames Foundry blisters: AZ012 “Heroes of Tenochtitlan” and AZ015 “Chimalpopoca’s Jaguar Warriors”. In AZ012 there were 6 figures – 3 Aztec veterans, 2 Jaguar Warriors, and a Warrior Priest. I would need at least 5 for the basic unit in Feudal Patrol™ (that being a Warband), so I thought that AZ015 would round that out as that blister pack was supposed have six Jaguar Warriors. Surprise – after opening it I found that there were seven! Bad news, however – the AZ015 blister pack had only 3 weapons, those being all atlatls in hands that needed to be mounted to arms – and only two of the 7 included figures were so designed. The other 5 figures were thus without weapons.
I contacted Badger Games and they were fantastically accomodating. They agreed to send me a pack of 8 Outpost Wargames Services Jaguar Warriors (AZ5), as well as another pack that I’ll describe in a future post. These AZ5 Jaguar Warriors come in various poses. Of note Badger also removed the AZ015 SKU from their website and contacted Wargames Foundry to advise them that every pack of AZ015 that they had had been similarly packed incorrectly. That’s exceptional follow through on their part and I appreciated that.
The downside was was that I had to wait another week+ to get going again on the project. When the OWS pack arrived, I was happy to see that there were two weapons (8 macuahuitl and 8 tepoztopilli) available for each of the 8 AZ5 Jaguar Warriors. This meant that I had plenty of extra weapons to arm the AZ015 Jaguar Warriors! All I needed to do was convert two AZ015 figures to hold an atlatl by cutting off their hands and replace with one of the three atlatls that came with the pack.
The Wargames Foundry AZ015 “Chimalpopoca’s Jaguar Warriors” improperly packed blister as received. As a side note, Chimalpopoca was an Aztec emperor in the 15th Century.
Now I had not 8, but 21 figures for this project, which was definitely not my goal at the start! Still, with this many figures, and permutations of shield design, weaponry, and colors, I needed a plan. So I made one – as shown below. Also, the WF and OWS sculpts were different of course, and I wanted a variety of Jaguar Warrior tlahuitli and cuacalalatli both for ease of play and to be historically accurate. The best resources were this were the plates in my Osprey books and two Steven’s Balagan blog posts (THANK YOU STEVEN FOR SHARING!). Both are phenomenal and invaluable (especially for shield design examples) – here they are:
Books:
Pohl, John M. D. (1991). Aztec, Mixtec, and Zapotec Armies – Men-at-Arms.London: Osprey Publishing.
Pohl, John M. D. (2001). Aztec Warrior, AD 1325-1521. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.
Pohl, John M. D. (2005). Aztecs & Conquistadores. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.
As far as my painting plan, I should mention that I have a numbering system for all of my figures for Civilizations Collide. This system will allow me to have a points-based menu (like a “take-out menu”) for the gamers. At the beginning of a game, they will be able to use the menu choose how to spend their available scenario points by choosing specific troops for their side by checking them off on a menu that I will provide. I have an Excel spreadsheet with the figure values and designations that I will use to make the menu. Also, I will print out a disc to glue under each figure’s base with that information as well. This, I hope, will make the gaming experience better and very easy.
The pictures below show my initial organizational plan for arming the figures – I did have another corresponding Excel plan (not shown) where I planned the base colors and the specific shield designs for each of the figures.
The WF “Heroes of Tenochtitlan” AZ012 blister figures initial plan. The “AV25” for example means that it was an “Aztec Veteran #25”. JA1 means “Jaguar Warrior #1”, and so on. I later changed the Warrior Priest designation to AWP1.
The AZ015 WF “Chimalpopoca’s Jaguar Warriors” blister showing OWS weapons, the conversion of JA9 and JA9, and all the shields to paint from both WF blisters.
The OWS AZ5 pack of 8 and their shields. I found both these and the WF sculpts to be fun to paint. As this post goes on, you can be the judge of their different styles.
After I completed the plan, I mounted the figures in my usual way. I labeled the bottom of the washers under the figures with the figure number and I similarly labeled each of the specimen jars. I also organized the shields as shown below – plus I also had painted shields from previous projects available. I decided to first do their flesh and weapons, and then move on to do each figure in order and separately. This way I would gain experience (and hopefully improve) with painting the patterns on the tlahuitli and cuacalalatli, especially the jaguar-specific aspects. This approach did help me maintain focus on the figures. I ended up with fewer WIP pics, but this was a big varied project. Hell, most of these figures had not one – but two sets of eyes. It took about a month-and-a-half! Of course, the July 4th holiday weekend did keep me out of the painting mode – as did some golf.
Mounted for painting
Early painting of flesh
More early flesh painting
I did change my approach to the flesh painting a bit. Trying to get that right on dark flesh was a challenge. The list of paints I used was extensive given the breadth of the figures needs, but for flesh I mainly moved more to using Citadel “Darkoath Flesh” over a Vallejo “Sunny Skin base” with Vallejo Model Color “Medium Skin Tone” as highlights. I also experimented with Vallejo Model Color “Mahogany”.
Below are some examples of mostly completed and unvarnished figures which were awaiting shields, flocking, and of course varnishing.
WF Aztec Warrior Priest with a macuahuitl
WF Jaguar Warrior JA4 with OWS tepoztopilli
WF Jaguar Warrior JA5 with atlatl
WF Jaguar Warrior JA8 with atlatl – this was a conversion
OWS Jaguar Warrior figures JA12 and JA13. The figures are the same pose, but I armed JA12 with a macuahuitl and JA13 with a tepoztopilli. Note that I also gave them both different painting schemes.
Painting of the figures was followed by my working on the shields. Using my plan I was able to finish them all after a few days and they are shown below with a ruler for scale.
I then mounted the shields, flocked the bases, varnished them, and applied static grass.
All ready to get off the painting mounts.
Now comes the fun part – sharing the final products. Each of the figures is shown below – and I gave each blister a different photo background.
“Heroes of Tenochtitlan” (AZ012) Blister Pack (Wargames Foundry)
Aztec Veteran Warrior AV25
The first of three Aztec Veteran Warriors in the blister. I experimented with darker skin tones on this figure. The background photos are of a young Mexican cornfield.
Aztec Veteran Warrior AV26
This Aztec Veteran Warrior was a more interesting sculpt for me than the previous one.
Aztec Veteran Warrior AV27
This was the only figure of all of these that had an already-affixed shield.
Jaguar Warrior JA1
I looked to create a true jaguar coloring with this figure, though he came off a bit dark. in these photos.
Jaguar Warrior JA2
The blue and spot patterns were from an Osprey plate. The shield was one of the more difficult freehands to do. The blue color is purposefully dark as were the Osprey images.
Warrior Priest AWP1
I enjoyed painting this guy and his shield. Again, the details came from an Osprey plate. The white-dotted tlahuitli and shield were supposed to be emblematic of the stars in the night sky. Warrior Priests have special rules in my supplement and in general help keep an attached unit in the fight longer (better morale). I have more of these to do – eventually…
Some shields were simple wicker-covered designs like this one has. The background for this blister is a Sonoran Desert shot. The rosettes (jaguar spot patterns) were a challenge on all of these figures.
Jaguar Warrior JA4
I tried a lighter base on the tlahuitli here.
Jaguar Warrior JA5
Another Osprey plate-inspired base color. I love his facial expression.
Jaguar Warrior JA6
Painting a complex design on a wicker-type shield is definitely harder! The OWS tepoztopilli’s definitely worked well with the WF figures.
Jaguar Warrior JA7
Another blue-themed WF figure with a simple shield and OWS tepoztopilli.
A lighter pattern with the OWS shield. These shields were smooth and easier to design and paint patterns. The sculpts have their own distinct character – less fine detail than the WF ones, but no less visually impressive to me. However, I did really find the OWS sculpts to have easier tlahuitli to paint as they were far more amenable to dry brushing and shading. The background photo for all of these is an Aztec temple.
Jaguar Warrior JA11
One of the fun aspects here was being able to use so much yellow on most of these. Yellow is a tough color to use (I find) on minis, and it’s a common color for the Aztecs shields and tlahuitli. JA10 and JA11 are the same sculpt – I just added different weapons and used dissimilar paint and shield schemes.
Jaguar Warrior JA12
This sculpt seemed to be almost more dog-like with its cuacalalatli (hardwood helmet).
Jaguar Warrior JA13
JA12 and JA13 are the same sculpt, with different colors, weapons, and shields.
Jaguar Warrior JA14
I liked his charging into action pose! I wonder if the tails cased problems in melee for those who had them?
Jaguar Warrior JA15
Another red-themed warrior.
Jaguar Warrior JA16
Just two pics here as he’s one of the few with his shield facing front. Got the shield design from multiple places.
Jaguar Warrior JA17
More like a snow jaguar – but an available pattern. Checkerboard shields are fun!
“Jaguar Warriors” Blister Pack assembled
And next here you have all 21 gathered:
Hopefully you enjoyed the pics and this post – and if you have feedback, a favorite among these, or a least favorite – positive feedback or devastating criticism – I’m up for all of the above.
With many conventions cancelled, and even gaming club get-togethers not happening, it may be a while before these Aztecs get into a fight. I guess that just leaves more time to complete them – and eventually some Conquistadores and Tlaxcalans as foes.
This project hopefully counts as an entry for me for Azazel’s illustrious “The Jewel of July 2020: Community Painting Challenge” under the “Heroes” category – just that there’s 21 of them! By the way, it’s been mercifully extended until the end of August if you want in – check it out at the link.
I’m also reading this book as more research:
Until next time – take care and stay safe all!
Miscellaneous details and references for those interested:
Posts on Units for my 16th Century Spanish Conquest Supplement for Feudal Patrol™ – “Civilizations Collide”
A June and July Jaguar Warrior Frenzy (plus some Aztec Veterans and a Warrior Priest to Boot) (this post) – 3 Aztec Veteran Warriors, 17 Jaguar Warriors, 1 Aztec Warrior Priest
Readers of this blog have seen that I have been building a large force (Aztecs, Conquistadores, and others) for the 16th Century Spanish Conquest of Mesoamerica for the upcoming game of Buck Surdu’s Feudal Patrol™. This game is exciting for me as I got to write the supplement for this period (“Civilizations Collide”). I invested in a number of figures, and I have a need to push myself production-wise, without sacrificing quality. I had two blisters each (AZ017 “Ixtlilxochitl’s Veteran Warriors” and AZ023 “Cuauhtli’s Veteran Warriors”) from Wargames Foundry.
Those Aztec names just roll off of your tongue so easily don’t they! There were two Ixtlilxochitl’s – Ixtlilxochitl I was a Chichimec leader who fought against the Aztecs of the Triple Alliance, and Ixtlilxochitl II was his grandson who fought against Montezuma II. So they were Aztecs – just not the ones that fought Cortes and the Conquistadores. Cuauhtli means “Eagle”, but these so designated are not Eagle Warriors. So, the names chosen by Wargames Foundry for the blisters sound Aztec, but are a bit off historically. Still, the sculpts are great.
These metal figures were sculpted by Josef Ochmann and are 28mm in scale. They are available in the US from Badger Games and from Wargames Foundry internationally. Each of the two blister packs had 6 figures leaving me with 24 figures – with 12 of them being duplicates. Similar to what I did with the Novice Warriors, I decided to differentiate them by both a color theme and by their shield designs.
As I had finished 24 figures previously, this project would effectively double my Aztecs – hence I am doubling down.
I also had a few technical goals here for this project. One was to improve upon my painting of flesh tones on the models. The second goal was to attempt to improve my shields by freehand painting historically accurate and authentic shield designs. The last goal was to try better to use contrast medium to thin contrast paints on these figures. As always, dear reader, you may be the judge and jury on that – and I am open to how well or how poorly you think I did here. I find that sometimes when I am doing a platoon-sized project, I can easily overlook mistakes that would not be overlooked when doing a smaller group or even an individual figure. Hopefully, I was able to catch any errors.
This will be a photo-heavy post. I’ll share some WIP and some eye candy of the finished figures, along with the list of paints used here. To do 24 figures at a time can make quite a list as you will see at the end of this blog post.
Figure Prep and Priming
Ixtlilxochitl’s Veteran Warriors blisters
Cuautli’s Veteran Warriors blisters
The group here is mounted for painting. I label the vials and the base bottoms, and I had a matrix for keeping the colors straight on all of these so as to make them realistic enough and to help with tabletop identification. I needed this as historically each Aztec warrior’s uniform was unique to the status of that warrior, and based upon his individual accomplishments in battle, as opposed to the unit to which he belonged. The elite units were the exception to this – these are of course veterans warriors, not elites.
Ixtlilxochitl veterans early flesh painting
Cuauhtli veterans early flesh paintin
May 17th progress
May 17th progress
May 29th progress
May 29th progress
I must give a nod and thanks to my blog buddy Azazel’s suggestion as to how to use contrast medium, I did the above. Basically I placed a drop of the contrast medium next to some of the contrast paint on the palette, and drew them together to get the shade I wanted. I did this with flesh here (also used Gulliman here as the main flesh contrast paint instead of Fyrestarter) as well) – and it really was helpful. Check out Azazel’s blog too – his stuff is really good!
There were a few problematic mold lines – most I caught and filed/fixed but some were on the figure’s faces like below. To eradicate some mold lines, I would have had to nuke the face, which I did not want to do. In the end, I think I minimized most of the more egregious mold lines.
Mold line on face I missed
Same model, no facial mold line!
The shields that came with the blisters was more than sufficient. For the 24 figures, I needed an additional 18 shields for figures that did not have one. I also had leftover shields from the Novice Warrior project that I saved – so I ended up painting 29 shields. It was a good chance to try some new techniques and practice with some different Aztec designs (of which there are many luckily). The most difficult type to paint were the type that were cloth-covered types with “crenelated” surfaces (as on those the paint flows into the shields’ low areas). I also had to be careful when painting both sides so as to protect the previous coats of paint. Using diluted satin varnish between side swapping helped to protect the work, but I still did need to go back over the shields and touch them up. In the end, I was happy with the results and will save the extras for future use.
I used a plate and poster tack to prime
Then I took each type and painted them separately on smaller plates.
My shields completed and ready to mount. Thankfully, I got a shipment of Windsor & Newton brushes (0000) which was a must for my freehand work here!
The group shown here freshly off of their specimen jars. They have been flocked and are ready for some eye candy shots.
Eye Candy
First, here are Ixtlilxochitl’s Veteran Warriors – there are 6 poses with two of each painted. One was “blue-themed” and one was “red themed”, mainly to add to tabletop differentiation in addition to the shields.
Ixtlilxochitl’s Veteran Warrior 1 – armed with an atlatl
Ixtlilxochitl’s Veteran Warrior 2 – armed with a macuahuitl
Ixtlilxochitl’s Veteran Warrior 3 – armed with a cuauhololli
Ixtlilxochitl’s Veteran Warrior 4 – armed with a macuahuitl
Ixtlilxochitl’s Veteran Warrior 5 – armed with a macuahuitl
Ixtlilxochitl’s Veteran Warrior 6 – armed with a tepoztopilli
Here are the warriors from the “blue-themed” blister pack of Ixtlilxochitl’s Veteran Warriors assembled for battle.
The “red-themed” blister pack of Ixtlilxochitl’s Veteran Warriors defending the temple.
Ixtlilxochitl’s Veteran Warriors (all 12).
Secondly, here are Cuauhtli’s Veteran Warriors – there are also 6 poses with two of each painted. Once again, I painted 6 as “blue-themed” and 6 as “red themed” in addition to the shields.
Cuauhtli’s Veteran Warrior 1 – armed with a macuahuitl
Cuauhtli’s Veteran Warrior 2 – armed with a macuahuitl
Cuauhtli’s Veteran Warrior 3 – armed with a macuahuitl
Cuauhtli’s Veteran Warrior 4 – armed with a macuahuitl
Cuauhtli’s Veteran Warrior 5 – armed with a tepoztopilli
Cuauhtli’s Veteran Warrior 6 – armed with a macuahuitl
Cuauhtli’s Veteran Warriors in the “blue theme” moving out.
Cuauhtli’s Veteran Warriors in the “red theme” form up for battle.
All 12 Cuauhtli’s Veteran Warriors in the desert.
I enjoyed painting these – though I do not think that I will be doubling down with a project of 48 at a time – “a man’s gotta know his limitations” as Dirty Harry so eloquently said.
Here’s the 24 all together:
Oh yeah, I also just got a set of Feudal Patrol™ cards from Buck as a gift – try and guess which deck backings are my current favorites?
Hope that you enjoyed the post and the minis – if not, let me know – if yes, the same.
Until next time – take care and stay safe all! Posts on Units for my 16th Century Spanish Conquest Supplement for Feudal Patrol™ – “Civilizations Collide”
Last month (March) was the first month in several years that I had not painted any miniatures at all. This happened because I was busy early in the month looking for a job, and then the pandemic hit with all that that entailed. I decided that I would take the time to honor a commitment made to my good buddy Buck Surdu (who attended West Point with me).
Buck has published many games, and as readers of this blog know, I am very fond of his Combat Patrol™ – WWII Skirmish card based system. If you take a look at his website, you will see many different (and very well done) free supplements that have been written for other periods and conflicts – check them out here. One limitation of Combat Patrol™ is that it does not adapt well to the periods before firepower became predominant in warfare – such as before the 17th Century. Buck has developed a new set of card-based rules for these earlier skirmish battles called Feudal Patrol™ – and they should be published this year I believe.
So back to my commitment – I agreed to help Buck by researching and writing one of the free supplements for the upcoming Feudal Patrol™. But which era?
When I returned to the hobby (back six years or so ago), I bought many miniatures that I found on eBay that were from the 1970’s to 1990’s. It was my way of catching up. One of the groupings I bought were Aztecs, so (without a fully developed concept – or an in-depth understanding of the history of the Conquest) I volunteered to write a supplement covering the Spanish Conquest of the Americas in the 16th Century – covering the Aztecs, the Maya, the Tlaxcalans, the Mixtecs/Zapotecs, the Inca, and of course the Conquistadores. The research (reading 4 books and other internet material) for this took me the better half of March, and writing the supplement (about 30 pages) took up the rest – so no painting in March for me. I have finished the draft and we’ll see where that goes – but so far it looks (to my biased eyes) pretty good.
Research, research.
The resources that I found were adequate I believe – as the authors are all subject matter experts. Besides, I just needed enough to design a gaming supplement – not pursue a doctorate. In any case, I now can start painting forces to use with the supplement and hopefully bring to club meetings and conventions.
I started with Aztec novice warriors. A major aspect of warfare in this period was the overriding need to take captives. The Aztecs would place the taking of captives at a higher premium than actually killing the enemy. Rank and prestige in the Aztec army (and Aztec society) were dependent on two things – the number and the quality of the enemy warriors one had captured. These captured were used for ritualized sacrifice or for making into slaves. The value of all captives was not equal – capturing a high-ranking member of a strong warrior tribe was better than a weaker one from a less-respected foe. Aztec troops were typically composed of a group of veteran warriors and an attached group of novices. The novices were usually (but not always) in a second rank, following the veterans. The veterans were supposed to be responsible for the novice’s training. In the game, I match up a group of novices to an equally-sized group of veterans (not elite units).
Novice warriors advance by capturing enemy warriors under the tutelage of the veterans. The first two blisters that I had were “Aztec Novice Warriors II” and came from Wargames Foundry. These are available in the US from Badger Games – here is a link to them.
My first two blister packs of Aztec troops.
The metal models cleaned up easily enough – but I discovered that there were a few lingering mold lines that I missed. Still, these would be a nice way to challenge my painting skills (and add to them) as I had not painted human flesh of any type in 28mm for several years – maybe these old 1970’s era Minifig neanderthals were the last similar types that I did. As these novices are mostly wearing only loincloths, it would be a lot of skin to paint.
The packs also came with many shields. Each blister pack of six contained 3 novices armed with slings, two armed with an obsidian-bladed wooden sword club called a macuahuitl (ma-kwa-wheat), and one with a a roundhead club called a cuauhololli (kwa-ho-lolly). One of the macuahuitl figures had a quilted cotton armor tunic called an ichcahuipilli (each-ca-we-pee-lee).
As a side note – part of the research into this era was the major challenge of pronunciation and spelling for Aztec terms!
I filed and cleaned the models, and mounted them on 1″ steel fender washers for painting. These were then mounted on specimen jars with poster tack for ease of painting.
The blister contents – there were many more shields than I needed – as I did not think slingers should have shields.
Mounted for priming and painting. I used a plastic plate to mount the shields for separate painting and later attachment to the models.
Early base coat of the flesh with Vallejo Model Color “Sunny Skin Tone”.
I decided that I would try to paint a lighter flesh base coat and then use Citadel Contrast paint (in this case Citadel “Contrast Paint – Fyreslayer Flesh”) on that. Here, I have only done one leg to show the effect.
The Citadel “Contrast Paint – Fyreslayer Flesh” proved to be in need of thinning. I painted these in order from left to right, and the ones on the far right came out way too dark and needed a redo. By using Testors Universal Thinner with the Citadel “Contrast Paint – Fyreslayer Flesh”, I was able to get a better Aztec skin tone.
The two slingers on the far left after the redo.
I tried to highlight and shade the flesh here such that from a distance the figures would look right. I also gave each type of model a slightly different color theme on their accouterments for easier identification and better play on the tabletop.
Moving on here to start painting the shields. I had very little experience in panting tiny designs on tiny shields (as you will see).
By April 19th and 20th, I had gotten the models to where I could begin to choose which shields to use and affix. I did this with first Gorilla glue, and then with E6000 epoxy – allowing to harden overnight. At that point, I was able to use shading on the models and the shields – and flock the bases.
April 19th progress…
April 19th progress…
For flocking, I used Army Painter “Brown Battlefields”, followed by some pigments (see painting list below). I then airbrushed the models with varnish, and after that dried overnight, I applied random grass patches to the bases.
Finished models.
For better viewing, I will now share close up groupings of photos of each type of figure and some group shots as eye candy.
First, the slingers with cocked arms:
A blue-themed slinger w/cocked arm
A red-themed slinger w/cocked arm.
Both slingers from the side
Next, the slingers loading their slings:
Red-themed slinger loading
Blue-themed slinger loading
Rear view of these slingers
Next, the novice figures with shields and macuahuitl advancing.
Novice w/blue shield + macuahuitl advancing
Novice w/red shield + macuahuitl advancing
Both of these models, front
Both of these models, rear
Next, here are the two cuauhololli-armed novices.
Blue shield and cuauhololli
Red shield and cuauhololli
Both cuauhololli novices
The one type of figure with a macuahuitl , and a quilted cotton armor tunic called an ichcahuipilli.
Red-themed figure w/macuahuitl and ichcahuipilli.
Blue-themed figure w/macuahuitl and ichcahuipilli
Both figure w/macuahuitl and ichcahuipilli, side view.
Both figure w/macuahuitl and ichcahuipilli, back view.
The sixth type, a slinger with sling above his head:
Lastly, as an add-on bonus , I also redid seven Archive Power-Armored Archive Frinx infantry that I found on eBay a while back. I have a good number of Frinx and game with them often as shown in this blog – just search for “Frinx” on my blog and see what I mean!
I did not paint their original colors, but they were done well-enough with a dotted camouflage scheme, very different from my other brightly-painted Frinx. But as they were based such that I’d never get them off of the bases that they were on, I just touched up the worn-away paint, used some shading, varnished them, and improved the worn bases. I’ll use them as commando Frinx. For fun, here they are:
After varnishing.
In the desert.
Close up of the leader.
How did this happen?
That’s it for now!
PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE USED ON THE AZTECS:
Gorilla Glue
1/8″ x 1″ Everbilt Fender Washers
Poster tack and plastic plates
Vallejo “Surface Primer – White Primer”
Vallejo “Flow Improver”
Vallejo “Airbrush Thinner”
Vallejo Model Air “Weiss” (off-white)
Vallejo Model Color “Red”
Vallejo Model Color “Black Grey”
Vallejo Model Color “Sunny Skin Tone”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Fyreslayer Flesh”
Testors “Universal Acrylic Thinner”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Basilicanum Grey”
Citadel “Contrast Paint – Apothecary White”
Battlefront “Dark Leather”
Battlefront “Wool Brown”
Citadel “Dryad Bark”
Tamiya “Copper (XF-6)”
Tamiya “X20A Thinner”
Citadel Air “Evil Sunz Scarlet”
Deka Lack “Blau” (a survivor from 1987!)
Vallejo Mecha Color “Turquoise”
Vallejo Model Color “Glossy Black”
Citadel “Balor Brown”
Elmer’s PVA Glue
E6000 Epoxy
Army Painter “Brown Battlefields” (flocking)
Vallejo Model Air “Moon Yellow”
Citadel “Seraphim Sepia” (shade)
Vallejo “Dark Yellow Ochre” (pigment)
Vallejo “Burnt Umber” (pigment)
Americana “Desert Sand”
Citadel “Agrax Earthshade” (shade)
Vallejo Mecha Varnish “Matt Varnish”
Army Painter “Grass Green” (flocking)
Thanks for looking – please let me know your thoughts and feedback!
