Wallachia - Under Vlad The Impaler 4

Wallachian Army Part 4 - The Curteni Foot

As part of this years army projects I am continuing work on the Wallachians having just completed the Early Polish army. The list has a significant amount of what are termed Curteni foot. They are a mix of Archers, Crossbowmen and Handgunners. Having already ordered from Donningtons in the past I knew they had a range of Wallachians and this completes part of the order I placed back in May 2017. The figures were crisply cast and required minimal cleaning up. There was a problem with the metal used for the crossbowmen which was very hard and brittle. They have the bow arms cast vertically and they needed to be twisted horizontally before they can be painted. After the second casting snapped off at the hand holding the crossbow shaft I realised there was a problem with the metal and took a lot more care in how I rotated the bow arms to the horizontal and reinforced them using superglue and repaired the two damaged castings. I emailed Damian to let him know of the casting problem but as I only needed six castings I did not require any replacement figures.

There is very little information on how these foot figures should be painted so I used my initiative, did a Google of other people's armies and checked in the Warhammer Ancient Battles Vlad the Impaler book I currently have for sale on EBay. I decided I would produce small irregular battlegroups wearing some sort of basic uniform for a change as this is a distinctive army not often seen on the tabletop. I started the figures on Monday 24th July and they were varnished this morning ready to go into the army storage box.

Here are a series of pictures of the various groups of now completed elements.

Donnington Miniatures Originals Range Massed Curteni

Donnington Originals MOLF02 Curteni Firing Hand Gun

Donnington Originals MOLF03 Curteni Firing Crossbow 

Donnington Originals MOLF09/01/10 Curteni Firing Bow

Donnington Originals MOLF09/01/10 Curteni Firing Bow

Donnington Originals MOLF09/01/10 Curteni Firing Bow

Donnington Originals MOLF09/01/10 Curteni Firing Bow

Painting Commission for a Club Mate

Surprise Painting Commission

On Thursday I got an email asking if I had some figures in Project Lead Mountain that would be suitable for a Late Antiquities period army. I wont expand on the particular army as the project is currently ongoing. I didnt have any of the first type he wanted available but I had a couple of bags of slingers which once painted will be perfect for this project. A quick photo was taken of the unpainted metal just to confirm that they were acceptable, a price agreed and a timescale set. I purchased the figures many years ago so I have no idea of the maker or figure codes.

I am currently working on some Wallachian infantry at the moment and in the down time on Thursday evening between painting those I prepped the slingers, put them on their painting batons and undercoated them ready to go in the painting queue. As often happens with small commissions its easier to get them out of the way quickly rather than end up facing a deadline for them to be completed. So I spent some of yesterday painting the figures and finally hand varnished them this morning so they are finished and ready for delivery next time I see him.

Heres some pictures taken of the completed figures still on their painting batons.

So when you think you have finished a commission I get an email saying. Can I have the other ten painted up now as I realised I want some more figures. So I spent the last couple of days quickly getting these done so I can deliver them on Sunday at the club. Plus I hate having things in the queue to be done when its taking up space.

Wallachia - Under Vlad The Impaler 3

Wallachian Army Part 3 - The Baggage & Voynuks

At the beginning of May those of you that follow my blog would have read that I purchased an incomplete and partially painted Warhammer Historicals Wallachian Army for Vlad Tepes. I have already blogged about the army and its progress. I then had to stop working on it whilst I finished off my Early Polish army and buy the missing infantry for the Wallachians. After I completed the Poles on Monday I decided that I needed a break from them and resumed work on the Wallachians.

I purchased a lot of infantry and cavalry from Donningtons and a also took advantage of their rather interesting baggage figures and accessories. Those of you that are aware of Vlad III Dracula and his reputation will know that he gained the appellation "The Impaler".

The Donningtons castings mix in well style wise with the ERM mounted figures. So today I completed the four elements of Armoured Voynuks Irr Bd [O] that the army list has. I used a mix of OF23a and OF32a for the Voynuks and I purchased more OF23a as Baggage Guards.

The Voynuks painted up really well and the castings required minimal cleaning up, mainly a little light flash on the halberd blades and around the sword scabbard. I found a few pictures of Wallachian heraldry to work from and will use these for all of the figures that carry shields.

Donningtons OF23a and OF32a Armoured Voynuks 

Next up are the baggage elements and their guards.
I used Donningtons codes OF23a Voynuks as guards, DD34 Pile of stripped bodies, DD36 Impaled Man, DD41 Tower of Skulls, CB30 Prisoners Barbarians and CB31 Prisoners Medieval for the baggage elements. Because a human body when it is dead loses heat very quickly it ceases to look pink like very quickly. It goes a greyish colour and the surface of the skin started to take on a mottled bluish purple colour quite soon after death. I wanted the baggage elements to be as gruesome as possible and am very pleased with how the baggage has turned out. All of the castings were quite clean and required minimal preparation. I hope that it scares the Ottomans when I play against them!

Donningtons OF23a Armoured Voynuk with DD36 Impaled Man

Donningtons OF23a Armoured Voynuks with - DD34 Pile of Stripped Bodies, CB30 & CB31 Mixed Prisoners or DD41 Tower of Skulls.