Iberian freedom fighters- Combattants de la liberte iberes

Hello everyone. It's been a busy a week, with the discovery of my new classes, the new but temporary timeschedule, the new colleagues... And the lessons I have to prepare obviously. I have therefore had no time to touch a brush.

I have joined Clint's Play by Blog naval game temporarily, to keep me busy on the internet front.

Bonjour a tous. La semaine fut longue et tres occupee, du fait de mon nouveau travail. Je dois preparer mes cours, mais franchement, ca fait du bien. J'ai rejoint temporairement la partie de Clint via son blog, histoire de couler des navires anglais.

Wargaming wise, I intend to play a bit before the mid-term holidays, because I'd like to enter an Art de la guerre tournament. Speaking of which, here is the cover for the very soon-to-be-released rules:
J'ai egalement l'intention de jouer a ADG pour m'entrainer en vue d'un tournoi. Voici a ce propos la couverture de la prochaine version a venir.

Finally, even if I didn't paint a bit, I took some pictures of my last production batch: Iberian infantry for Ancient Spanish army. All minis are from Corvus Belli.

Et enfin, meme si je n'ai rien peint pour le moment, voici ce que j'avais termine recemment, des Iberes Corvus Belli, pour Art de la guerre: des fantassins moyens, une unite de javeliniers, et un general.

First of, a unit of medium footmen. They can be rated as either impetuous or impact in Art de la guerre, depending on their training, and the period. It's a very useful unit, fast, hard-hitting. I just need to be careful about ennemy cavalry.

Next, we have a unit of javelinmen. This unit is very interesting, because, once again, they're fast, they can shoot, evade, and are the nemesis of the elephants:

And finally, one of the generals. Command is not really good within the army, not a lot of leadership points. Unless you take the Sertorian option.Sertorius was a very good Roman general who rebelled against Sylla's domination.

Finally, some more painted minis: armed and dangerous slaves

It has been indeed a while since the last time I showed some painted minis. I'm particularly tired and I don't really feel comfortable painting during the evening. I rather prefer reading... You know what I mean.

Cela fait un bout de temps que je n'avais pas montre de figs peintes... Je suis creve en ce moment, et je prefere de loin, le soir, me poser avec un bouquin.

Before showing you the new stuff, remember Tamsin is giving away some wonderful stuff! So go there and enter. And Daddy needs some 28mm ;)

Continuing my Spartacus army, I've painted  two bases of trained slaves. They look difinitely less Hollywoody than the others, but I need to distinguish them easily. Therefore, I've chosen a lot of mail- armoured figures, from Xyston and Corvus Belli, to create a nice mixed appearence: Legionaries, Soldurii, Nobles, Carthaginian veterans, Principes... I also gave them Roman shields or Scuta. I think they look okay.

J'ai toutefois repris la peinture de mon armee Spartacus, avec, cette fois-ci, deux socles d'esclaves entraines. Je voulais creer un effet moins hollywoodien, avec des troupes equipees a la romaine. Pour cela, j'ai pioche chez Xyston et Corvus Belli, et j'ai donne a tout le monde des boucliers romains ou des Scuta. J'ai de plus change ma technique de peinture pour le bronze: bronze de chez Vallejo, puis or, brossage leger d'argent, et enfin lavis sepia. Qu'en pensez-vous?

I've also changed my techniques of painting bronze: Vallejo Bronze, then gold, then silver light drybrush, and finally a sepia wash. What do you think?

Sex, Blood and Sand...

Or maybe not, well, maybe not sex... But you never know. The ones I am about to show had a reputation. Ladies often visited them, and sometimes bought their sweat as aphrodisiacs... Right. If I don't shower for a day, I don't think I'll attract anyone, maybe some flies ( I know they like me, I had a few of them around me during my last hike.... no comment please). Anyway, back to the minis (ha ha) and let me present you, ladies' boys! The gladiators!

Bon, il n'y aura peut-être pas de sexe, encore que. Les gars en question avaient quand même une réputation à tenir. Ces dames venaient les voir, et certaines n'hésitaient pas à acheter leur sueur comme aphrodisiaque. Mouais, si je ne me douche pas pendant une journée, je me demande qui je vais attirer à part les mouches ( j'en connais à ce propos quelques-unes très intimement). Bref, revenons à nos éros (non, non pas de faute), et voici donc les gladiateurs!

In Art de la guerre, you can have two such units. To create a dynamic/Hollywood effect, I only painted 14 different gladiators, instead of 16. I also did some conversions, opening some hands, cutting some swords, putting spears... For example, the gladiator jumping from the shield is a Corvus Belli Legionary, whose head was cut off, replaced by another one from Museum. And the one supporting him was originally an Essex bow skirmisher. I cut his weapon off and put a shield, opened his hand and put a spear, cut off the quiver and put a sword handle instead. And his head went off too, replaced by the legionary one ;) All the shiels were hand-painted.

A Art de la guerre, on peut en avoir deux unités, soit 16 figs. J'ai préféré créer un effet plus dynamique, hollywoodien quoi, donc seulement 14 de peintes. En contrepartie, j'ai ouvert des mains, fait de la découpe, mis des lances... Par exemple, l'imbécile en train de s'élancer c********nt vers l'enemi est à l'origine un légionnaire Corvus belli à qui j'ai coupé la tête, remplacée par une tête Museum. Son comparse était à l'origine un tirailleur Essex, à qui j'ai coupé l'arc et le carquois, collé un bouclier, une lance, et la tête Corvus. Pour terminer le tout, tous les boucliers ont été peints à la main.

In addition, I also painted 8 slingers, you know, easy job. Oh, et j'ai aussi peint 8 frondeurs, histoire de me détendre ;)

THe painting comp is now finished, and I ended up at the 19th position out of 47. Not bad, but my objective of  1000 points was not acheived, having only painted a bit more than 780 points. Bah at least I painted some stuff. Thanks again Curt for having managed such a competition. Count me in for next year.

Slaves on fire

Gracious me... You're on fire today

You expected them! you have waited for them! And now here they are! For your own entertainment and pleasure, here come.... the slaves!

Curt published my new entry, so now you can see it on my blog. My first unit, the armed peasants/ desperate slaves... Any names you want to call them.

Vous les attendiez! Vous les desiriez! Et les voici maintenant qui s'avancent, rien que pour vous. Profitez-en! Ils sont la pour vous divertir et vous ravir! Voici, les esclaves!
Curt a publie ma nouvelle participation au challenge, et je peux donc desormais vous la devoiler: mes esclaves/paysans armes. 

I need 12 bases of peasant levies in my Art de la guerre army, and, if I go for the FOG version, at least 12 of them too... So, it's quite the perfect match.

J'ai besoin de 12 bases de levees pour ma version Art de la guerre, et si je passe en FOG, il m'en faudra egalement au mooins 12. C'est donc parfait. Le seul hic est qu'il me faut de nombreuses figs. J'ai certes pioche chez Corvus et Xyston pour avoir de la variete, mais j'ai surtout triche. Voici tout d'abord les 6 bases de levees.

If I had wanted to play fair, I would have needed too many figures for this unit. So I've cheated a bit. First, you can see the 6 bases of armed levies. They're a mix from Corvus belli and Xyston:

And then, the part where I cheated: I wanted a Kubrick/ Hollywood feel for my army, so I've opted for fiery rollers. They're made from pipe cleaners and some metallic stuff whose name I've forgotten. I've also added some desperate/dead Romans too. 

Et enfin, ma tricherie: je voulais quelque chose d'Hollywoodien, ou a tout le moins se rapprochant de la vision de Kubrick. J'ai donc realises ces rouleaux de paille enflammes. Ils ont ete realises a partir de tiges pour nettoyer les tubes/ bouteilles, ainsi qu'un truc metallique dont j'ai oublie le nom. J'y ai ensuite rajoute quelques Romains pour faire bonne mesure. Enjoy

And the final pic, maybe the last vision for many Roman legionaries ;)

A drop of medievals

I'm not really motivated to paint at the moment, and to be honest, I haven't really used a brush for the past two weeks... But then, the weather, my studies... Anyway. Today, I present you my latest production to date, a mix of Corvus Belli and Donnington new era: crossbowmen. They're not especially powerful, armed only with their crossbows and their will to fight (erm). They can however be useful to support other units, or even to do some flank attacks. To follow, I don't know yet, I have a lot of stuff to finish basing, but you'll see soon enough.

Tata.

Je vais etre honnete avec vous, je ne suis pas tres motive pour peindre en ce moment, entre le temps et mes etudes ( c'est trop bon le web-design). Je n'ai guere touche un pinceau depuis 2 semaines... Voici toutefois ma derniere production en date, un melange de Corvus Belli et de Donnington new era, des arbaletriers. Bon, ils n'ont queleur arme de tir et leurs yeux pour pleurer, mais ils sont utiles pour supporter les autes unites, voire pour tenter des attaques de flanc. A venir, je ne sais pas encore, j'ai plein de trucs a finir de socler...

A plus

Antoine de Chabannes

Right, another day goes by, and I may have another job opportunity. Still as a tutor, but I think mostly for teaching French in businesses. It could be interesting on my CV. Anyway, back to the minis, and today, you'll have one unit of heavy infantry, under the leader of Antoine de Chabannes, count of Dammartin (1408- 1488)

He was at his first battle at the age of 15 (battle of Cravant), then joined Joan of Arc. Afterwards, he became one of the Ecorcheurs, though he was amongst King Charles VIII's friends. One interesting fact is he despised his son Dauphin Louis, and the feeling was mutual. After Louis became King of France, Antoine was exiled for a time in Rhodes before coming back. He became Grand Maitre de France in 1467.

Les jours passent et j'ai la possibilite de commencer un nouveau job, toujours en tant que tuteur, mais en entreprise cette fois. Ca pourrait etre utile sur mon CV. Si j'en reviens aux figs, c'est pour vous montrer une unite d'infanterie sous les ordres d'Antoine de Chabannes, comte de Dammartin (1408-1488),

Participant a sa premiere bataille a 15 ans ( Cravant), il rejoignit les compagnons de Jeanne d'Arc, avant de devenir un des chefs des Ecorcheurs. Proche du roi Charles VIII, il destestait son fils le dauphin Louis, qui le lui rendait bien. Ce dernier une fois roi l'exila a Rhodes pour un temps. Il finit Grand maitre de France en 1467.

Pardaillec is back!

After the heat from the past few days, a somehow cooler weather is appreciated, and I can go back to my brushes. I finished a simple unit or armoured infantry, all of them coming from Corvus Belli. You will need to prep them, because of the heavy you need to remove, but otherwise, they paint really nicely. I'd say they're slightly easier to paint than their Roman range. Anyway, here they are, under the leadership of one of the most famous French knight: the Knight of Pardaillec.

And for those who don't know him, here is a video about his life ;)

Maintenant que la chaleur des derniers jours est passee, je me sens mieux pour peindre. Du coup, j'en profite pour vous montrer ma nouvelle production, une unite d'infanterie de chez Corvus Belli. Certes il m'a fallu du temps pour tout ebarber, mais j'ai trouve que ces figs etiaent plus agreables a peindre que celles de laeur gamme romaine. Bref, ces gentils soudards sont a la solde de l'un des plus celebres chevaliers francais, le chevalier de Pardaillec ;)

A second volley of bowmen

I was complaining about the dreadful weather last week, with so many showers and so few sun. Now I should probably do the same: complaining about the heat, the mind-numbing heat here in London. I really don't like to paint when I'm too hot. Bah anyway, you fellow readers are lucky because I now managed to finish another unit of bowmen, the usual mix from Donnington and Corvus Belli. The end is near! Hurray!

En bon Francais que je suis, je vais etre raleur. Je l'etais deja la semaine derniere alors qu'on avait un temps de merde, avec averses a repetition et pas l'ombre d'un rayon de soleil. Et voila maintenant qu'il fait trop chaud pour peindre. Puree, ou habiter pour avoir de bonnes conditions:soleil, pas torp chaud, et un peu de pluie?

Bref, j'ai quand meme pu finir une nouvelle unite d'archers, avec l'habituel melange de Donnington et de Corvus Belli. Enjoy.

Let the sky be darkened! We need the shade

I'm still busy painting this medieval army. And after some "exotic troops", it's time for me to present you an other one, though more common during the late medieval times: some longbows. Here you have either 1 small battlegroup for FOG, or 3 units for Art de la guerre. I just hope they can be deadly and accurate, otherwise, they'll be dead. Minis are mainly from Donnington, with some Corvus Belli. I really prefer CB over Donnington.

Don't be so rude guys

Apres des untes "exotiques" dirons-nous, voici une vision plus commune: des longbows. A base de Donnington et de Corvus Belli, la peinture fut rapide. Je prefere de loin les Corvus, plus faciles a lire et donc a peindre. Nous avons ici soit un petit battlegroup pour FOG ou bien 3 unites pour Art de la guerre. Esperons qu'ils ne me feront pas defaut en tirant a cote ;)