Partizan I Game Cancelled- Game will be at Partizan II :>(

It is with some regret that I have had to cancel the game for Partizan on May 16th this year. Time that must be spent increasingly with the health issues of some the older members of my family which inevitably has encroached on the amount of time I could dedicate to producing the game. Family first.

As you might have noticed on social media I toyed for a few weeks with setting up a different skirmish based game, Aedric the Wild, Battle of Shrewsbury 1069, but in the end it felt like I was going to be putting on a second rate game and just did not sit right with me. I think the right decision has been made at the end of the day.

Apologies to all who wanted to see the game (I am making the assumption that there are a few of you out there?) and to the organisers especially Richard Tyndall who has offered to send me an invitation for Partizan II.

The good news is that the Reconquista game will continue to be worked on and will be on show as a display game in October the 11th and Partizan II.

Reconquista at Partizan 2020, Shield Tassels and Remodelling Spears

Just a quickie today.....

As well as getting on with the brushwork on the Mounted Hasham Guard I've been doing a little work every day on adding shield tassels made easily from Greenstuff and repositioning the hands of the Artizan models that will be making up the Sudanese Guard unit. As I've explained before the natural angle of most of hands on the Artizan Designs 'Moors'  are angles in such a way as to make it look very unnatural once the spear is placed in the hand. So, I have gently cut the hands off the models with a razor saw and then pinned them back into position at a more natural angle.

These miniatures are ready for priming. I use Vallejo black spray primer for a couple of reasons. Firstly even if it begins to pool this soon evaporates leaving all but a solid thin layer that acts as a key for further paint. Second, I have in the past experimented with using grey primer and even white but I'm so used to working with a black 'undercoat' that it is really just the habit of being able to leave a little black showing through the base layers that makes a model 'pop'.

Reconquista at Partizan 2020, Yusuf ibn Tashfin Command Base

Yusef ibn Tashfin victor against Alfonso Vi of Leon and Castile was a very remarkable man. As leader of the Moroccan Almoravid dynasty and was one of the founders of the city of Marrakesh. On heading the call of the Taifa Kingdoms, the once mighty kingdom of Al Andalus in Southern Spain; pleading for military aid and intervention in order to block the encroachment of the resurgent Christian Kingdoms. Tashfin managed to unite the Taifa Kingdoms with his Almoravid invasion force and lead a very successful campaign, putting the Christian forces under immense pressure and devastating the ambitions of Alfoso.

He faced Alfonso VI of Leon and Castile twice in open battle winning spectacular victories on both occasions at the Battle of Sagrajas 1086 and the Battle of Consuegra 1097 respectively.

This piece is the command base that will be attached to the Yusef ibn Tashfin's Black Guard. His personal guard and chosen mostly from Slav and Sudanese slaves.

Reconquista at Partizan 2020, Andalusian Noble Cavalry

Things have been a bit stressful of late with various close relatives in and out of hospital but I have managed squeeze in the time to get quite a lot of painting done! I'm not sure where I found the mental resources let alone the time but it has been managed!

I have delayed posting these pics as I had entered The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge and the rules state I must wait one day before I can publish anything I have entered on my Blog- which is fair enough of course. I was drawn to the Painting Challenge as a means to keep the impetus going to get the right units painted up for the Partizan show on May 17th of this year. It's a tall undertaking but I am armed with enthusiasm, a love of painting miniatures and with the added impetus of the Painting Challenge all should be well.

A word in regarding the planned Partizan game. Nothing is written in stone yet but I feel myself moving away from what I had originally planned, that being the Battle of Sagrajas 1086, to that of the Battle of Consuegra 1097 which followed a siege of the town by the same name. This will allow for city walls to be introduced to the tabletop which will add two important factors; as well as a historical 'flash back' at the preliminaries prior to the battle, it will serve as a nice focal point and help counterbalance out the masses of miniatures with a large section that is all terrain and scenery. In fact I have the city walls on order and will be picking them up at Vapnartak on February 2nd!

Back to the subject at hand! Andalusian horses were famous throughout Europe for being of the finest quality and were often bread with other breeds in North Western Europe to produce warhorses. Whilst being strongly built, they were compact yet elegant creatures. These steeds were ridden into battle by Andalusian Nobles and lesser men alike.

I decided to move away from the dark I used on colours of the unit of Yusef ibn Tashfin's Black Guard and to go for it with a colour scheme on each mini with both complimentary and contrasting colours. Due to the limited time I have to prepare for the game I was not able to be as lavish as I would have liked, for example, no complicated patterns of the hems of the clothing, no patterns on the silks gowns. This is something that sits easily with me as the unit looks good enough in my opinion. It is not my best work but for the purposes of the game, given that one looks at a game from a metre or so away, it is detailed enough.

I went with a uniform shield colour and pattern to visually pull the unit together using neutral grey as to avoid any 'violent' colour clashes that might otherwise have occurred. 

Reconquista at Partizan 2020, Christian Baggage Base

These mini's were painted a wee while ago and re-based for use with the Reconquista game at Partizan this year in May (2020).

They are part of what will be a large collection of baggage for both the forces of Islam and Christendom.

I think it looks kind of nice. The composition works with all the models seemingly interacting with one another in some way.

Spanish Reconquista Literature Arrives!

The postman must have good timing! Three books on the Spanish Reconquista and a nice book authored by Mike Ingram, The Battle of Northampton 1460, from the Northamptonshire Battlefield Society arrived simultaneously through my letter box!

Before I talk briefly (having not read the Reconquista books) I will mention the Battle of Northampton 1460 book. Mike is a long time protagonist for the preservation of the battlefield and has written a book that reflects his passion. The book is perhaps the most in depth at the violent dispute between the Houses of Lancaster and York just outside the town of Northampton. It has some nice illustrations throughout including maps of the action; but, perhaps of most interest to wargamers the book contains artwork by Matthew Ryan, a medieval illustrator of renown.

Of the three books arriving today the most War in the Iberian Peninsular 700-1600 , Francisco Garcia Fitz and Joao Gouveia Monteiro looks to be the most comprehensive with details of the conflict throughout as well as cultural and social surroundings. It covers the three main battles that I'm beginning my focus is moving toward, those being the Battle of Zalaca/Sagrajas 1086, the Battle of Fraga 1134 and the Battle of Las Navas De Tolosa 1212. 

The period of 1086 and 1212 saw gradual improvements in the armours of the soldier, particularly the upper echelons of society and this will be reflected in my choice of miniatures for each battle. For Sagrajas I'm looking mainly at Gripping Beast's El Cid: The moors And the Spanish range along with Crusader Miniature's El Cid range ans well as their Normans. 

For Las Navas de Tolosa 1212, at least for the Christian nobility I'm looking to use Footsore Miniatures Baron's War range which was part of a Kickstarter project but will be on general release by Footsore sometime next year. I've seen many of the miniatures for the range and they most certainly are a real treat, being the only comprehensive range of miniatures I can think of that accurately represents the armours and weapons of the time.

War in the Iberian Peninsular is top of my list followed by The Quest for El Cid, Richard Fletcher, Chronicles of the Spanish Reconquest a general narrative from 1110 to 1157 then The Ques for El Cid, which is written in more, well, understandable English.

Before my lunch hour is over I should add that the first of the Black Guard infantry models have been glossed and having allowed this to thoroughly dry they will be getting a coat of Mat Varnish tomorrow before being based. In other words there should be some eye candy available very soon!

Spanish Reconquista Game, Partizan 2020- 191 Days and Counting!

So, with Partizan 2020 and my Spanish Reconquista game not so far away I'm going to be taking stock of what I have accomplished to get the game ready from day to day.

This may make for quite boring reading but I've decided just to include the number of days left in the title of my posts so as to not leave you all with a bemused look and possibly a well deserved gaping yawn to boot!

So, thus far:

1/40 Black Guard Infantry, cleaned, filed and undercoated- 20 of which are being painted- pics posted ASAP.

2/12 Hasham Black Guard Cavalry, cleaned, primed and undercoated.

3/1 Vignette (all hush hush until completion)

I have left you with a picture of a statue of Alfonso I of Aragon. It is very tempting to try to do some sort of conversion to try to achieve the same level of poise and drama as in the statue that stands in the Parade Grande Jose Antonio Labordeta, Zaragoza. We shall see!

Alfonso I of Aragon, "The Battler"