Kings of Bronze - Prisoner of the Pharaoh.

Another dip into the box of spare metal.

These have been hanging around for quite a while, purchased from Foundry I am sure to make up the postage :-) 

They do some nice occasion pieces which can really bring the table to life, in this case Egyptian guards bringing in some prisoners together with a couple of overseers dishing out some justice to a captured Hittite.

I have added in some dice sabots so they can double up as object or shock markers. These will come in very useful for a number of scenario's.

Next up the last of the Ancient foot figures....

Silver Bayonet - Emerald Dragon Club

It's quite nice to flit between periods and topics at the moment, I am embracing my Wargames Butterfly another opportunity to clear some of the figures from the spares cupboard and a new faction for Silver Bayonet Edwardian style...

The war in Manchuria rumbled on and rumours of the weird the strange started to reach the newspapers in Europe.

The stories attracted adventurers and supernatural explorers - none more so than the Emerald Dragon Club with branches from London to Berlin including Port Arthur in Manchuria.

Countess Demitriov,  The leader known only as Victor, Bogdan Kilvov

Eric Wipsnade & Dermont Harris

Boris Kaslov, Dwight Lee & Percy Dumont

The occasional driver for the gang - Louis 'smiler' Letour 

A mix of manufacturers that I actually had lying around complimented by a Foundry Victorian villain pack which had been tucked away in the box of shame for years, The masks were a lovely touch.

These will make for an interesting faction sandwiched between the waring factions and things that go bump in the night :-)

Desert Terrain make over and a new project.

The recent return to Kings of Bronze and the last of the New Kingdom Egyptians and Hittites gave me the most suitable nudge to complete some of the terrain pieces which were needing an upgrade.

I purchased some rough terrain several months ago but was a little disappointed when they arrived, they look okay from a distance but up close more of a decorators apron with what looks like masonry paint slapped all over the place.

I had toyed with simply putting them on ebay but as I had been working on some other pieces which looked far better and more in line with the Syria type terrain, I figured I would give them a make over with a new paint job and added large pebbles and tufts.

With the terrain make over bug firmly underway I had a crack at this plaster stream, which was a lovely gift but it just did not fit with my other European type terrain and another one of those items that looked far better in the picture than in the flesh. With high banks and a rough paint job it really didn't add anything to the table, but would make a great gully or small wadi. 

Several coats of paint and half a pack of grasses later and the small wadi is complete.

Plenty of twists and turns and whilst the pieces don't fit together that easily, it is sure to get more use in the desert than it would as a stream.

With a bunch of new terrain I have been thinking about how to make more use of it, whilst you could describe the Hittites and New Kingdom Egyptians as mainstream, for some in explicable reason I seem to be unable to stick to sensible armies or theatres and find myself gaming in areas that little more off the beaten track... So over the usual post game chat we talked about other desert periods.... 

So when a birthday gift landed in the shape of Perry's Desert Rats... how could I resist but find a use for them and a new project starts to take shape ;-)

Stay tuned over the next few weeks....

Back to Bronze.....

The recent Wyre Forest club game got me open the cupboard of shame to see a pile of bare metal which needed promoting to the paint table, I am trying to stick to a strict routine of painting what I own, in the words of the US Marine Corp "No man left behind"....

Purchased from Warlord, I suspect simply to make the postage up, a fresh unit of New Kingdom Egyptian archers.

The metal is a little weak on some of the joints and one of the archers has lost the top of his bow, it will need replacing at some point.

To counter balance the Egyptian missile men a fresh unit of Hittite Levy Spear, these will help bolster the Hittite army as it pushes south.

A quick delve into the box reveals two more chariots, a couple of shock points and another skirmish unit..... If all goes to plan they should entering into pre-production over the coming weeks.