Armored reiters - Finished

The squadron of armored reiters was finished last week.

I took these guys for the Christmas time painting challenge of Sotavasara forum. A nice little project and the deadline with these fellows helped in concentrating on actually finishing the group.

When making small inventory of what I have finished last year I marked that although I have painted relatively lot of troops to condition where they are recognizable on the table I tend to wander off precisely at that point.

Also, with lots of renaissance guys with very varied dress I have had tendency to work simultaneously with overly large batches with the result that painting monotonous stuff like pike shafts or doing bases has become a too tedious chore to be interesting.

I did not work only with these guys during holiday season. At the same time I had some Polish cossacks on the table and worked on getting mounts of larger batch to some kind of color. On the finishing run of these reiters I also gave finishing touch to the group of pancerni I have had almost finished for quite some time.

Reiters - almost there

After tasting defeat as part of Lithuanian skirmish list my reiters returned to painting table.
They received a wash of strong tone ink, new primary colors for highlights and some touchup.

They need varnish and some work on the bases.
Overall  I am pretty happy on how these guys turned out. Obviously I am need of practise in basic accuracy but with the help of second layer of paint after inking lots of the mess from original painting was eliminated.

Armored reiters - work in progress

Some Acies Edizioni  Pappenheim- cavalry waiting to be drafted to a foreign regiment in Polish service. These guys will probably serve as two banners, combined  into one  squadron on the field.

For some reason they all have white horses and similar, blued armor.

Coats vary between off white, red and tan. Horse gear swords and helmets expect color

Units that have already seen action

None of these units have gotten the varnish or flocking.
Some of them would require more than just that.

The pancerni are most advanced in painting - Legio Heroica production sans lances so far. Lacking some higlighting, maybe  and static grass or other basing texture. The hardest hitting unit in my skirmish force - so far deployed in squadron of 3+2 bases.

 Cossacks - the main troop of a Polish commander - Legio Heroica Polish light cavalry. Some touchup and work on bases required. The hitting power of their charge has been surprising. Elite cavalry rule, companion special rule and impact bonus from long charge really make these guys lethal.

Legio Heroica Gonullu. ie Ottoman cavalry from the Balkans. I have fielded them as Wallachians. Decent scouts - and have even won a melee fight with artillery battery. Without the lances that they would have as Ottoman troops.

The Polish commander - Legio Heroica General with a standard bearer. So far fielded as a colonel in skirmish battles.

Troop of Acies Edizioni Croats. I have fielded them as Polish cossack cavalry with no qualms. They may make an appearance as Croats at some point if I get an Imperial force onto the field. Standard bearer - at this point without his flag, from Legio Heroica gonullu range.

Last a company of Dragoons - From by Fire and Sword Swedish skirmish set, with colors of Polish Crown Dragoons - although in western costume, not the typically Polish.

Together these guys form a pretty strong skirmish force, but they apart from the dragoons and together with the other forces I have underway these guys help to flesh out regiments for the divisional level of play. Especially cossacks are required since Polish division needs to have minimum of two Polish cavalry regiments. There is some leeway whether they are basic, light or elite, Lithuanian or Polish, but cossack cavalry is required in all. They can have as support dragoons, infantry or western type cavalry regiments and divisional companies in relation to the amount of  regiments (max five).

Getting to the divisional level will probably take time, so there is strong temptation to just push on in gettin more units into recognizable colors at the same time and leave final basing and finishing to  one big final effort. However, since I will probably need to look at these fellows of skirmish play for longish period I try to get them into shape that does not hurt my eyes before the New Year.