Pikeman´s Lament

I recently got hold on the rules of The Pikeman´s Lament and have just started to flick through the pages. This post is not meant to be a review so I will not go into details. I can just say that if you like the Lion Rampant rules you will not be disappointed.

When I first heard about the rules my initial thoughts were that this could be the excuse to get that force of Polish Hussars in 28mm with feathers and all that all wargamers dreams about...
I now realise (atleast now when I write this here...) that I have more project then I need so I have done an small inventory of some projects I already have in 15mm that could be translated to The Pikeman´s Lament.

But with that said, its not impossible that I just might start an 28mm project. I have always wanted to do 30years war but never took that step.




First out in fitting miniatures to reuse in Pikeman´s Lament is from my 15mm Great Northern War.
The miniatures here are initially painted up for Gå På but I never got enough painted to play the game with my miniatures.

Here under we have an Danish force of

* Guards - Shot, Veterans: 4+2
* Line - 2x Shot: 2x4
* Dragoons: 4
* Regimental gun, Field guns: 4+2

I got some Swedes painted up but not enough or not right configuration for this set of rules, but I got loads of unpainted miniatures left so that could be a future project to fix up.



Next I got is my 15mm French and Indian war project. The project was initially planed for Black Powder and I played some nice games with them.

I didnt have enough painted up to field an French force in The Pikeman´s Lament so that would be a nice future project.

But for the British I could come up with this:
Much more skirmishers then I would like but it is doable.

* 2x British Line - Shot, Veterans : 2x(4+2)
* Colonial Line - Shot: 4
* 2x British skirmishers - Commandet shot: 2x2
* Indian trackers - Commanded shot: 2
* Colonial skirmishers - Commanded shot: 2

So there you got two future project I just might reboot with these rules. Nice to already have lots of miniatures just waiting to get some paint, stuck away in a drawer...

Bülows Dragoon regiment - Great Northern War

These were fun to paint.

Nice to actually see the old leadpile shrinking somewhat for a change…

They are painted to represent the Danish Bülows Dragoon regiment from the Great Northern War.

Danes for Great Northern War

Every now and then you open your drawer/box with halfpainted miniatures, most of the time you givet hem a quick look and then close it again. But sometimes you actually finish of the last of the painting on them…

I give you Danish artillery and officers from the Great Northern War. This project have run really slow for a long time now but I could at least finish these.

The miniatures are from Black Hat miniatures.

Jönköpings regemente

Jönköpings regemente

Great Northern War

I finally finished a new unit for my slowly (extremely slowly…) Great Northern War project.
Its my old hometown, Jönköpings regiment. Painted in 1718 uniforms.
Miniatures from Dixon in 15mm scale.

And a upclose picture of the regimental standard.

Fynske regiment

A small update.

Here we have the Danish Fynske regiment.

That means that all my old stuff for this project is published but that also means that I have to start painting some more miniatures…

"...Sveriges blomstrande ungdom..."

Well you can’t just have Danish troops on a battlefield, you need some Swedes to make a Great Northern war. Here are some of the Swedish troops I intend on going Erst-Hugo on their asses.

Närkes regiment in red and blue.
Västerbottens regiment in white and blue.
 

And a steady hand will come in handy in this scale...

How I painted the Danish troops

How to..

What I have done
* Removed the flash and cleaned the models.
* Glued the models on wooden sticks, paint stirrer or popsicles is perfect for this.
* Gave them a “zenith light” painting, this is probably totally unnecessary in this scale but I did it anyway. I first sprayed the models black and when that had dried I sprayed a light layer of white over the models in about 45 degree angle. This will make a natural light and shade on the model. This will give a much better effect on 28mm scale and I will not use it on all my 15mm models.
* I then painted them in the colors they will have, making no attempt to make any shade.
* Then I painted the models in a thin layer of GW:s Devlar mud.

* Then the trick is to highlight the models in the same colors that was under the thin layer of Devlar mud. This will make a quick and very effective effect.

And with some sand painted in downwatered brown and some flock they look splendid.

Handpainted flag...

Great Northern War

 

When I started my Great Northern war I chose the 15mm scale. This project was never intended to be a main project but rather something that would always be in the rear, something in between other projects.

I needed Swedish troops and someone to battle against, and instead of choosing the more common Russian troops I chose Denmark.
Many years ago I played a demo game of “ Gå På ” in Lincon here in Sweden. I got the rulebook but nothing more happened. 

Sometime this spring I think, something made me get interesting in the whole thing of Caroleans and the Great Northern war again and I bought some miniatures and the new edition of the rules, and now I think it’s about time to show off some of the models I have painted since then. My hope is that these posts will inspire me to pick up the project again and start painting some Swedish and Danish troops.
If I will use the Gå På rules or the Black Powder rules I haven’t decided yet but I will base the miniatures according to Gå På and then I could use it to either one of them.

 

The Danish troops are bought at Black hat miniatures
http://www.blackhat.co.uk/online_shop/index.php?cPath=22_161&osCsid=e926a01a00ecb1e355d85293ff5823a0

The Swedish troops are bought at Dixon miniatures
http://www.dixon-minis.com/dixoncatalogue.php?maintype=22

Caroleans

What would later be known as the Great Northern war had its background and the excuses to start a war many years before.

Carloeans, the most well known soldiers of at least the Swedish part of the Great Northern war made their name during this conflict. But they were formed before the war.

Charles XI (eleventh) (1660 –1697) quickly found out about poor shape of the Swedish army and navy early in his reign in the wars against Denmark. And something had to be done.  In 1682 the new army reform known as the allotment system was decided. The system would prove to be so effective that it would be used for 200 years.
Each counties or province would raise and supply a regiment, about 1000 or 1200 men in “good or bad time” A couple of farms (about four) was called a Rote and would have to equip a professional soldier, provide a croft (a small farm cottage), farmland and one volunteer soldier who then could make a military career. This meant that the rest of the men escaped the former use of forced conscription.
The regiment was made up of men from the same region and would have attended the same military drills and would then know each other and already be friends if the war would break out.
Each company had to report how long time it would take to be gathered and formed at the regimental gathering place. Many test mobilizations was conducted and detailed maps was drawn, roads for the mobilizations war improved and many gästgiveri gårdar was built (a kind of hostel were you could spend the night, get some food and change to a fresh rested horse).

Detailed plans were made and tested and after some years the King would have a peacetime force that could mobilize and be ready to be shipped out of the many military harbours within a very short time. 

And the force would be a masterly drilled and a very disciplined force that with the belief in their own fighting force and king and country would be on the same level of combat will of the SS of the second world war, totaly brainwashed in a fanatical Lutheran indoctrination. 

This would become very handy when his son Charles XII (twelfth) (1682 – 1718) was crowned king after his death and all of Swedish neighbors thought that the young and inexperienced king and a famine that had befallen Sweden would make her an easy picking and it was time to take back all the land Sweden had won in the wars of in 17^th century.

Sweden blue-eyed believed the diplomats and “eternal friendship” reassured by Russia, the friendship agreement signed by Denmark and so on. Little would Sweden know of what would befall her in the years to come…

Oh and as a side note, thank God for Erik Dahlberg and his mistrust and his prearrangements in the parts of what was then eastern Sweden.

Meeting a cavalry charge...

And with that little introduction written in a Swedish view of things I think it safe to show some of my Great Northern War stuff.