Just a quick post to show off my Spanish Peninsular draught animals to get 'The Gun' to Ávila while avoiding the French. It's not their first appearance as they did get a walk on part in my first ever post.
First, an overview of the whole baggage train.
The ox-carts.
The mules.
The postillions on the mules, like this figure ...
... were all fairly straight-forward conversions of the Jacklex Colonial figures inspired by Suhr's contemporary illustrations of Romana's Spanish Division in Hamburg, 1807-08.
And the reason for it all, The Gun, complete with Cary Grant, Sophia Loren and Frank Sinatra.
Yes, the gun is ridiculously over-scale being a Warhammer Great Cannon, but the Hollywood version is even further over the top.
In C S Forester's 'The Gun' it's only an 18-pounder, and in the historical event on which the story is based it's a 12-pounder.
Mules and Oxen what could be better? The whole set looks brilliant!
ReplyDeleteCheers, I must actually get a game out of then sometime.
DeleteThey look great, super work on them.
ReplyDeleteThanks, for some reason I enjoy painting animals.
DeleteThose look wonderful and it reminds me how long it has been since my Spanish limbers, guns, wagons and pack animals marched/lumbered across the table. I love your nonchalant looking mule rider working "hard" between cigarette breaks.
ReplyDeleteStephen [naturally the Duke approves - after all it's how we won the war against the Corsican Ogre]
Thanks. You shouldn't worry about how often your guys get out, mine are more than a year old now and haven't had a game yet.
DeleteNice conversions and repurposing of equipment to create your baggage train.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I do enjoy small conversion projects like that one.
DeleteAn excellent idea, very well carried out!
ReplyDeleteCheers, it would've been better if I'd actually come up with a game concept to make use of them - maybe one day.
DeleteDon't mind seeing these again at all. I took a closer look at you mules and oxen and was left speechless. The way you blended the various colours is simply superb!
ReplyDeleteThat's using a bit of white spirit to thin the paint and also blend different coats. Also actually studying photos of the animals really helps to get the key bits right. For example, the pale bellies, muzzles and the area surrounding the eyes on the mules. Also, the spots/patches on the oxen where getting the blotches suitably random is key - I find if you just make it up they're too regular as the mind often confuses random with uniform.
DeleteI do like a baggage train and the red capped muleteers look very grand. The Hollywood "Gun" is fabulous, I'd never realised the original was only a 12pdr! I though CS Foresters was a 32pdr? But it is some time since I last read it.
ReplyDeleteBoth in reality and the book, the gun didn't need to be that big because when taking on small fortified way-posts (typically based on convents and the like) which had no artillery then even a 12-pounder is game-changer.
DeleteJust fantastic Rob.....you'll get around to a game eventually...didn't the gun blow up on its first discharge or am I thinking of something else? If it did it could make for a really interesting roll of the dice!!
ReplyDeleteNo it blasted holes in the walls of Ávila, which was then stormed by the guerrillas, Sophia and Frank both dying in the process.
DeleteDelightful shininess Rob…
ReplyDeleteWhat’s not to like about an outrageously large cannon…
All the best. Aly
And being plastic it bobbles along just like the glass-fibre version in the film.
DeleteYour painting technique and conversions are second to none, Rob!
ReplyDeleteCheers, one gets plenty of practise if one wants a Spanish army.
Delete