Would you like to command a Regiment?

When I created the original Army of the Grand Duchy of D'Argent I named several of my reenactor or gaming pals as Colonels of the various regiments.  As I am working on an expansion of that army I thought I would open those slots up to my readers.  Comment below if you interested, let me know if you would prefer infantry or cavalry (both regular and irregular).   If you want to provide a little 18th century military resume for your self  I will try to incorporate that as well. 

Hussar Regiment von Triggs

Baron von Triggs is an old friend of the Duke and has served as his ambassador at large to the Holy Roman Empire. He has served in or with the armies of many of the petty princes in his long career.

The regiment recruits men from around Europe and Baron Triggs seeks out men who can speak the languages of the D'Argent's enemies.   These troopers excel in the scouting and intelligence gathering role of light cavalry.

While the Hussars must still be able to ride their horse well and for long periods as they range ahead of the Army gathering intelligence recruiters for the regiment focus less of size and brute strength an do those of other regiments.  A man who is small of stature but clever and tough can find a home in the Baron's troop.

This regiment carries no colors in part because hussar uniforms vary only a little from one country to another a fact that the poly-lingual regiment had exploited in its intelligence gathering role from time to time.  The regiment functions as Irregular Cavalry for the game Maurice.

Hussar Regiment Princess Fortina

As part of my project for "second" D'Argent army I decided I needed some Hussar regiments.  As I have gained a niece to go with my nephew (who you will recall has a regiment of dragoons) since my initial set of units I decided my niece shall have a regiment of Hussars.

The yellow and red clad Princess Fortina Hussars are recruited from the eastern provinces of Europe especially Poland and Hungary.

A contingent of the Hussars travel with the Princess and her family as her parents serve as the Dukes agents in foreign lands.  The remainder of the regiment serves with the Duke's army in the scouting, raiding function at which Hussars excel.

Saxon Champion

A lord can't waist time dealing with petty battles he has a champion for that some one to dispatch any problems I don't want to waist time dealing with my self.

 I decided it this young fellow would be related to my priestess so I did him with blond hair and I figure she has decorated his shield with runes to protect him in battle (if the rune combination has any meaning its purely accidental) I might need to square off the edges of the white wedges.

 The color of his cloak is also similar to the robes of the priestess. The copper broach gives him a little decoration.

 The shading of the cloak came out really well here.

Saxon Lord at work and play

 One of the things I liked about this set was the fact that the Lord figure comes in two form every day and battle dress.

 Battle dress first I did the shield by hand, I'm not a great free hand painter but I think it came out pretty well.

 The mail hauberk came out well and I am very pleased with how the helm cam out.

 The shading of the cloak came out well maybe even better than the robes of the priestess.

 Here we have the same lord ready for an evening in the meed hall or other sport.

 Cloak shading again...

Still ready for action even if he isn't on the battle field, a warrior can never be too careful.

Pagan Priestess

Between the unpacking from the trip, trying to shake a lingering chest cold and the need to do a bunch of car work painting time has been at a premium.  I did manage to snag some on Sunday and a finish up a few projects.

 The Priestess is ready to go I just need a proper base of some sort for her.

 This is a Reaper miniature one of the new "Bones" line and actually is supposed to be an elf wizard but a cloaked and hooded person can stand in for just about anything so she is now a  Saxon Priestess ready to strike fear into my enemies with her knowledge of dark mysteries

 I tried some half remembered shading techniques on her robes and I am reasonably pleased with the results.

 The hood in particular came out well...

 other parts are adequate for the table though they don't necessarily look right examined close up under bright light.

Mayan Ruins Cozumel and Belize

The first stop on this cruise was Cozumel and Ariana and I went to place call Faro Celarain or Punta Sur. Its and ecological Park with a Large Lagoon that is filled with Crocodiles, a light house and a few small ruins left by the Mayans. The Structure above is also a small temple (maybe shrine is a better word) that also functioned as a primitive weather station.

The dome at the top has three holes made using shells at each of the 4 points of the compass.   The changing wind would change in tone, pitch and volume would provide the people of the island a clue as to coming weather.  The doors on the lower part also a line with the sun on certain days of the year(our guide showed us a picture but at a near by museum but he din't know when it happened and the writing with the picture was in Spanish).

This second building is beside the first our guide told us it have functioned as a beacon or light house.

Our second port was in Belize were we made our way to Altun Ha (this is a modern name the real name of the city is not yet know)

They don't look like much do they? just some low hills... but this land is flat without any hills.

each rise of the ground is the remnants of an ancient structure over grown with earth and plants of the jungle...

This looks more like what you expect right?  These are Temples that have been uncovered and partly restored. I didn't get a picture showing it but the restores carefully did there work so that it could be distinguished form the original.  Ancient work has square stones, modern work has rounded stones.

These are the only remaining original steps of an old temple that seems to only be a step hill if you didn't see them.

This is the Temple of the Sun the largest of the temples as yet uncovered (at most 10% of the ancient city has been uncovered the rest remain in the dominion of the jungle)

These structures are to the right of the Temple of the Sun they were three buildings but they have been built into one.  One of their functions was to house a ceremonial bath where priests would come to purify themselves before entering the temples.

That is the face of the Sun God Kinich Ahau

Close ups of the Temple of the sun note these structure have interior chambers that we cold not enter many of them served as tombs.

Its a long climb to the top of the temple, these stairs are modern to preserve the original structure.

Between these two picture you can see how steep it is.

And now you have a view of Altun Ha that was once reserved for the high priest alone.

The location and its Sun Temple is on the local beer, which is decent beer at least as good as any of the mass produced brews here in the USA.

Back from Vacation

I just spent the last 7 days on board the lovely Carnival Liberty exploring the coast of Central America.  No new additions to the Forts of the Caribbean segment as there were none in this area.  We did see some Mayan Ruins that were pretty cool.

Last vacation I narrowly won the Skip-bo Tournament... this time Ariana kicked my Ass winning all but two games and most of them weren't even close.  More latter.

Saxon Leaders Work in progress

 Saxon Lord in both battle and common dress.

 Banerman (no game function but he looks cool)

 Lord's Champion for those times when I can't be bothered to slay my enemies personally

 Priests... because the gods must be appeased and I needed an excuse to get this fine miniature

Still a lot of work to do on these but its a slow week so I thought I would show you (some) of what I have been working on.