Nathaniel 'Hawkeye' Bumppo

One Miniature Finished , New project Started

Ok, so Hawkeye is finished and I can now claim that the French & Indian wars project has officially started. 

“Every trail has its end, and every calamity brings its lesson!” - Hawkeye

“Books! What have such as I, who am a warrior of the wilderness, though a man without a cross, to do with books? I never read but in one, and the words that are written there are too simple and too plain to need much schooling...” - Hawkeye

Obviously all of the quotes are from Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper. I have avoided the obvious one from the film because I am reading the book and haven't got to that part yet. And want to see what is actually written. 

The hunter approaches

Magua and the first of his Huron Braves

Rob

Sunday Night Special

Work in Progress on Nathaniel 'Hawkeye' Bumppo

Nearly finished Hawkeye, I want to go back and tidy up some of the edges, but he mostly done. The colour palette of creams and tans seems very muted compared to my normal range of paints. But I suppose I will get a big dose of colour when I paint the Indians in their warpaint, and British and French regulars. 

When I looked for a photo of Daniel Day Lewis for reference, I was reminded that the film came out in 1992. I can't believe it!

Rob

Walking like a zombie, like a zombie*

 Have I Finished?

So, I thought when I got to fifty, I was done but I couldn't quite stop this project. I think, I am done at sixty but then hundred sounds like a nice round number but then I would need to get another box...

* Jamie T - Zombie

Love, she sees apart from me

Possessed behind the eyes

Apart from the frighting

The moaning the biting

He seemed to be a nice guy

And I know what she thinks when she looks at me

When she looks with such despair

You're not the only one around here who needs a bit of fresh air

Cause I'm a sad sad post teen

Caught up in the love machine

No dream, come clean

Walking like a zombie, like a zombie

Ok this one I get you might not be familiar with but it is still a classic in my book. 

Anyway finished the extra six zombies and the scenic base with the Death Elemental. In a way the Banshee makes an interesting alternative to 'Official' Oldhammer life elemental. 

Rob

That's Wrong Shade of khaki

Or Problems I Have with Historical Wargaming a.k.a. Are these the right Woodland Indians?

About twenty-five years ago, I was running demo games of Grenadier's Kill Zone at Salute. When a historical wargamer (who was probably the same age as I am now) came up to look at the game. Now this was a demo game of Killzone which was a Sci-Fi skirmish game based on Mark Copplestone's Future warriors, Which included some very nice troopers. Which I had painted up using American army desert camo scheme (See example below). His first (& only) comment was 'That's the Wrong Shade of Khaki' and then promptly walked off.  Now there are many levels of annoyance about this comment (not least of which was that I had painted them using Humbrol's Khaki paint) but it is one a good example of one of the things that puts me off historical wargaming.  

Ok, so if you have made it this far , then you are probably asking what has this got to do with the Woodland Indians in the French & Indian wars (FIW)? 

I bought the Woodland Indian Tribe plastic set from Warlord games under their American War of Independence (AWI, 1776 -1783) range. My assumption was the AWI was only 13 years after the end of the French-Indian war (1754-1763). So, they must be suitable for the French & Indian wars? Right... Also Warlord Games also do a FIW range which why I was puzzled they didn't feature in both ranges. 

But Warlord never mention that this range of figures might also be compatible with FIW range. Which is downright odd, as I very much doubt the Indians changed much in the 13 years between the wars.  And come to that most of the Europeans wouldn’t have changed much either. This does make me think I  might be making some massive ‘historical’ wargames faux pas. 

After a bit of background reading it seems that the Woodland Indians mainly supported the French and the tribes that supported the British had been 'civilised' .  So I'm pretty happy they would be suitable  for  the FIW. Anyway, Magua now has some troops for his war on the British. 

On A Side Note

After searching around for the Grenadier Troopers, which I thought I still had. I couldn't find them. But I did find these photos from 2001! Which explains why the pictures have very low resolution.  I was very much experimenting with lighting at this point which explains why some are better lit than others. 

Rob

Death & the Fae

And Hell followed with him

This 1980s Death Elemental has a real Oldhammer vibe about him and he painted up very easily. He is the second of the special characters for the (ever increasing) zombie horde. Like the first one, he will be mounted on a 40mm base along with some other zombies so they can be ranked up properly. I must admit I did wince at the price when I pressed the 'Buy It Now' button on eBay. But compared to modern GW  figures he isn't any more expensive than modern figures its just that his original price was £1.25 (originally sold for £2.50 with the Life Elemental who is even more expensive nowadays!). 

"And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts

And I looked and behold, a pale horse

And his name that sat on him was Death

And Hell followed with him"

The Man Comes Around - Johnny Cash*

*I hope didn't have to tell you that!

Dryad

Now this is one of those genius or awful ideas. After (re)painting this Reaper Dryad with a fairly regular army standard paint job. I decided she needed something extra. So, I added a whirlwind of leaves around her. Quite simply a metal frame was bent around her with a paperclip and then I stuck a load of birch tree seeds as leaves onto the frame. Overall I am quite pleased with the effect. I did then dump plenty of PVA glue over the top of the leaves to cement them in place. 

Rob

Just a Duck Hunt

 & Mark Two Fae Queen

After tidying up a section of river, I retook some pictures of the ducks in a more naturalistic setting. Sometimes a project is not finished until it is finished. 

Ok, so I am calling the Fae Queen finished for now. Which sort of how I felt once I painted her for the first time. Like last time I can't quite put my finger on what I am not happy about the final look. Now, to be clear I think she looks much better after the repaint but...

Still, definitely looks more like the Dread queen I  had in mind when I was painting her. But this is one of those figures which will come under the Vexed category. 

Rob 

Work In Progress Wednesday

Trying to Finish Stuff

Work continues on the fae queen who edges towards completion. 

But I did finish the second banner for the zombie. Hurrah! Just the second special leader model to bring this up to sixty. The Oldhammer Death Elemental has just arrived, so I can now start on this model. 

And time for a new project. This one is a bit of a departure from my usual stuff and when I get onto the British and French regulars I will have to follow the 'proper' paint schemes. 

 Rob

Not Just Another Duck Hunt

Ok - Maybe Just a Duck Hunt

A quick and simple paint job to finish off these ducks from Warbases. Again some small prey for Paleo-Hunt.  The set comes with five ducks but I managed to lose one until finished painting the other four. 

The ducks were painted based on Mallard ducks. Each stand painted as a male and a female. 

Minotaurs Finished

Didn't take long to finish the final rank and file minotaur. 

Morgana - The Dread Queen of the Fae

Work continues on the army commander for the Fae. This one has taken a bit of thinking time to work how to paint  to take advantage of the zenithal highlights. 

Rob

Minotaurs Better Late then Never

More Army Building

Look back a couple of years and the first army I built since restarting painting was a Malal chaos army. In this army I had unit of minotaurs. At the time I was using some ex-Grenadier  Hobgoblins as proxies (not pixies). As I really like the models and they have enough weight to act the part.  Anyway fast forward a couple of years and I picked up these minotaurs for £2 each at Salute. I now realise I am still one minotaur short and hopefully I won't have to wait another couple of years to complete the minotaur champion (I have a couple of figures in mind).  But the rank and file are nearly done.  

Nearly done with the third minotaur.

The original 'minotaur' unit for Malal's chaos army. 

Rob

Stabbed in the Back

 More Zombies Stumble forward

A better shot, showing the zombie stabbed with a spear. And a group shot of the next batch of six. 

Caught in Moonlight

After a bit of debate, I decided to go for a zenithal highlight that mimics moonlight above and behind. Leaving the front in shadow. A much more dramatic look for the Fae queen. 

Rob