Impetus Rules - Mohacs 1526, part 8 - Hungarian Clipeati and Armati in 20mm

Extra Impetus Nº3 mentions 4 heavy infantry stands each of Clipeati and Armati for a sizeable Hungarian army of the Mohacs period. The problem here is that generally the Clipeati formed the shield wall from were the Armati, probably armed with pole weapons, would fight in a somewhat tight phalanx. The extra Impetus separates both types of heavy infantry but I prefer to use them together in the same stand. In the future, if I see my life in danger in a game or so, I can always divide the stands differently between Clipeati and Armati. 

The Clipeati and Armati figures really look nice together and you can deepen the Impetus spirit of nice big  stands that look like dioramas. 

The figures used are some very nice Caesar copies ordered from China through Aliexpress. For just some 3 euros you get 200 1/72 figures in a poly bag which is obviously a great value for what you pay. The plastic is harder than poly figures and holds the paint very well. The figures were copied from some of the figures of the two boxes of  Caesar XIII and XV century Medieval European Knights. I only used here the ones from the XV century as they are closer to the Hungarian heavy infantry of 1526, even if not a match as there were also some different helmets and pieces of equipment on those day´s Hungarian army. As pole weapons are necessary for the Armati many of the figures were converted as pikemen. In the above picture you can see the original figure (armed with sword or an halberd) sided with the converted one armed with a pike plastic made of a broom stick. Many of the halberdiers were left with its weapon as its a very probable weapon of the Armati. 

I left all Clipeati armed with swords just because they look as if they are somehow dealing with the shield. The shields were made of slightly curved plastic from 1Kg yogurt buckets. This is an highly simplified form of the shield as generally the heavy infantry Hungarian shield had a vertical boss all along. They were colored with photocopies (the ones red chequered or with the Hungarian coat of arms) or hand painted like the tri colored ones. 

The back of the shields were painted brown and were kept standing just with one piece of plastic. Not sure if one or two legs hold these pavesi type of shields but like this it became simpler. 

Another 4 stands of archers were also made in order to finish the 8 that are mentioned in the lists. The flag of this one came from the Russian XIX century Opolchenie. Not the happiest union as there aren't many orthodox people in Hungary.  

Next: Maybe a return to the nowadays Russo-Ukrainian war. 

Aztec army in 20mm for Impetus rules

 

In 1991 Revell released the Aztec box. It was the days in which the hobby was starting to go away from WW2 and Napoleonics and diving into different periods. Revell gave a big push in this direction. The main historical opponent of the Aztecs and the Triple Alliance were other Mesoamerican cultures (the Spanish arrived only in 1519) like the Mixtec and Zapotec more to the south of nowadays Mexico and bordering Guatemala. With this in mind I gathered 10 boxes of Revell Aztecs not only to make an Aztec army but also to have enough figures for a Tlaxcala army for instance. Reading about Aztec warfare is also a fascinating issue with elaborate marching procedures, tactics and different colors and equipment (uniforms if you wish) according to each of the seven types of infantry and even different colors for smaller groups of around 400 men. In this picture you can see more or less the equivalent of a xiquipilli (regiment or division) of 8000 men taken from the calpulli (original clan areas). Impetus rules doesn't care about this but if you want to wargame with specific orders of battles (not easy though...) up to the battle of Otumba or the final fall of Tenochtitlan, each base can represent 400 men (one xiquipilli total) or 800 men (two xiquipilli). Most of this large group was painted for decades by now but recently I rebased them according to the Impetus stands. 

Starting with the lower infantry you can see five bases of novice soldiers who still did not captured any prisoner (for sacrifice, obviously). They are armed with spears or the famous maquahuitl, both with obsidian blades. Mixed with the Revell there are also some 30 Atlantic Egyptian conversions. The only few changes on the Atlantic figures was the addition of a misang on the top of the head in order to represent the head knot and the replacement of the Egyptian shield with a round one. The maztatl (crotch loin cloth) was simply painted upon.  

These skirmishing archers and slingers are mostly Revell but each base includes a Mixtec influenced atatl made from an Atlantic conversion. For the atatl you just need to glue a spear on top of the hand weapon and it will look the part, at least on this scale and bend the arm for a more throwing attitude.  The closest archer on the right side is also an Atlantic conversion. 

Regarding archers most of the stands have pairs of an archer and a shield bearer in typical Tlaxcallan style but most probably also used by Aztecs. Once again there is a mixture of Revell and Atlantic conversions.

This group can be a number of different types of infantry from the papalotl (three captives) up to the cuachicqueh (seven captives). Frankly all these types are not very well represented in the Revell box which prefered more generic poses missing specific headdress and back banners. One day I may take a number of mohac style heads of the WW2 US paratroopers from both Esci and Revell in order to make proper cuachiqueh. 

Now into the military orders. The famous Eagle warriors have three different figures and that includes a commander with the back banner. This kind of brownish color seems to have been used but recent investigations gives a wider variety of colors to be used. 

Another military order was the Jaguar. Nowadays I see them in blue in many representations but years ago I saw them somewhere in jaguar colors. Again three positions in the Revell box that, if placed carefully can give animated stands. 

These warrior priests were the only group made recently and are all conversions using Revell figures with the conical hat on top. 

The Osprey image that inspired this last group. 

The conversion is simple: take out all headdress from the figures; roll a small piece of GreenStuff with the fingers up to become the shape of a cone; place a tiny piece of super glue on the head; stuck the cone on the head; and, finally, pull a bit of the GreenStuff to the neck area for the figure to have a neck guard. 

As I painted four boxes of Revell Aztecs it gave twelve commanders that were simply painted with no conversions. The only stand that had an extra was the commander of the army, a tecuhtli, that received the company of this crazy naked berserker dying to capture prisoners for sacrifices, or being killed in the process due to the absence of the heavy cotton quilted vest. The figure is another Atlantic converted figure. 

Next: more Impetus stands but with a return to Mohacs 1526. 

A way to store and organize wargame models

Some of you have been asking how I store and organize the models you see on the videos. With this video there are some hints which I think can be useful even if nothing new or extraordinary. You can see a few types of cabinets:
1- Bought at stores but with extra shelves (you just need some 15 cm between them for your hand to reach the end of it).
2- Kitchen/living room/balcony furniture turned into cabinets with glass/acrylic doors.
3- Drawers in upward position also with extra shelves and glass/acrylic covered.
I avoid as much as possible to have models inside drawers I can´t see. Also all cabinets are piled up on top of each other as a space saving measure.

Impetus Rules - Mohacs 1526, part 7 - All arms Hungarian reinforcements in 20mm

Another batch of Hungarians finished. The Hungarian CP stands are now 11 and I'm done with heavy cavalry. Archers and Crossbows are also done with 2 and 4 stands each. At the moment there are 20 Impetus stands for this army but still I need another 20 for more Armati stands and to start the Clipeati (with those big tasty pavises), Hussars, Hungarian CL, Landsknecht and some heavier artillery.

The CP are RedBox and Miniart. The only addition was a plastic card shield of Hungarian design. 

I placed as much Hungarian heraldry as I could find but still this group looks like many European heavy cavalry of Early Renaissance. 

I made two Ribaudequins from EverGreen plastics and old wheels from the tail of the Airfix Mark I WWI tank.

The crewmen are converted RedBox figures. 

The Hungarian army had some 85 pieces of artillery ( against 300 Ottoman) at Mohacs so I still need to find a few more artilley pieces of an heavier type. 

 

The spears at the top of the artifact are made of stretched sprue. 

The archers are RedBox from the Men-At-Arms and Retinue box. The flag is a colour photocopy of my own hand painted designs.

These are the Armati from the same box with a flag given to me by Stephen Sheard.

Next: with the arrival of a batch of new Minigeneral models its time to go back to France 1940.

Impetus Rules - Mohacs1526, part 6 - The Ottoman Janissaries

The Janissaries from Zvezda are one of the most detailed sets around and the figures are of high quality both due to detail and plastic quality.

Another issue is painting them.

There shouldn´t two Janissaries dressed alike and I tried to do so with the exception of jackets to keep some uniformity as these guys were one of the first standing large unit in the world. Blue was the most usual colour but many other were used. For not to drive (even more) crazy I used the same 6 or 7 colours along the stands, dividing the lot in two groups, one based on blue and another in yellow.

This command stand contain the three figures designed for that; the Sancak Bashi (standard bearer), the Çorbadji (which in fact means Chief soup-maker) and a musician. 

The entire Orta (regiment) but there is no such thing as units in Impetus. In the future I will try to make some rules for my own, with Impetus Baroque as base, but in which I can include Orders of Battle. Then one of these stands will be an Orta and all six will be the probable number of Janissaries Ortas at Mohacs 1526.

The yellow Orta looks better than it is. The Yellow colour was a nightmare to paint. I even checked some sites on how to paint this damn colour. I ended by aplying only one layer of thick yellow being careful for not to pass two times the brush on the same spot. 

From the back you can clearly see from were came the inspiration for the future Spanish and Austrian Grenadiers of 7YW and Napoleonic fame.

Next; a return to Brandywine 1777.

Impetus Rules - Mohacs 1526 in 20mm, part 5 - More Hungarian heavy cavalry in 20mm

Led by Archbisop Pál Tomori another wing of Hungarian Heavy cavalry charges the Ottoman lines at Mohacs. The figures are Zvezda and  MiniArt.

There are some problems with the horses: The MiniArt are too thin and the Zvezda too short. But for the Hungarian Cavalry there aren´t many choices apart from the difficult to get Dark Dream Studios.

The figures from Zvezda are some of the French for the 110YW that suited the beggining of the XVI century. Some of the original weapons were replaced by new lances made of broom sticks. The Miniart figures come from the French Cavalry and the Burgundian cavalry sets. 

The flags are photocopies of my own designs of flags used in the battle (at least they are shown on the Mohacs 1526 Internet movie).

The stand of Pál Tomori uses a Zvezda figure as the Archbishop. To make it distinguishable painted the character with a beard he shows in its statue at Kalocsa. 

Next: BEF 1940 of Russo-Georgian war 2008.

Impetus Rules - Mohacs 1526 in 20mm, part 4 - Azab infantry

 I had these StreletsR figures based and painted for months still without an idea about what to do with them. They would become part of Suleiman's army for sure so I chose to depict Azab close combat infantry, armed with lances, axes and swords.

Well there is no such thing as Azab close combat infantry in Extra Impetus No 3 so if they (ever) fight they will have the status of FP Levantine Infantry. I used plenty broom sticks lances instead of the separate swords provided in the set. 

This set is the Arab Infantry set of StreletsR aimed at the Crusades, 200/300 years before Mohacs battle. The teardrop shields are anachronistic but I like to think that they could still be used mainly by the many Arab forces that integrated the Ottoman army. 

The standards are my own and you can track them in previous Impetus posts. 

Next: Wether more Hungarian CP for Mohacs or the second British Motor Battalion for 1944/45. 

Impetus Baroque, 20mm - Portuguese War of Restoration, 1640-1668. Part8 - Landsknechts under Spanish pay

At the beginning I wanted to paint three of these stands in a row. They would be more than enough for the German mercenaries fighting for the Spanish in the battle of Montes Claros, 1665 . 

The problem became all those different colours and  stripes that will leave you mad if you don't change the issue. And so I did. I finished my Hougoumont farm and started some new PSC tanks for the sake of mental stability. 

But for the moment here it is the first Landsknecht stand. The next ones will probably take a lot of time to show up according to this experience. 

The models are the nice Dark Dream Studio and the references used are the usual Osprey and a fantastic blog I found googling from a Saint called Stuart Mulligan, http://paintinglandsknechts.blogspot.pt.

The DDS figures are to be built. Exceptuating  the arquebusiers the pikemen come in 5 pieces and the patience exam starts here. But in the end the final result is quite pleasant. 

The İmperialist flag is one of the home made photocopies for the Mohacs campaign. 

The Doppelnsoldners were double pay crazy guys that would venture out of the formation cutting and slashing everything in their path with their big double hand swords.

This one doesn't want to see the end of the battle...

The flag bearer is the only conversion. His sword was taken out, hands were drilled and a pole from a plastic broom thread was placed instead, as usual with my figures. 

Impetus Baroque, 20mm - Portuguese War of Restoration, 1640-1668. Part7- Added 4th row to Terços

Revamped Portuguese Terços with a 12cm x 4cm added piece of basing and 7 more figures in each.

The addition of another piece of 4x12cm is barely seen afyer texturing and cyanocrilate was used for the joint. 

 The sole Spanish Terço was also revamped to four lines.

Now I learned: four lines next time...

Impetus Baroque, 20mm - Portuguese War of Restoration, 1640-1668. Part 6 - RealTerço da Armada

The  Terço da Armada Real ( Royal Fleet Terço) was a famous military unit built during the Iberian Union.

 Around 1621 it sported this uniform under Filipe II rule:

but during the War of Restoration the uniform changed to green and yellow facings. The sources from 1664 show them with black feathered hats...

... but I have more boxes of helmeted infantry and so helmets they have. 

The flag bearer is a pikeman and the flag itself it's an absolute invention as I could not find any one from the Terço da Armada of the time. 

The drummer comes from the plan of uniforms of 1667...

... already after Montes Claros but once again I could not find a better one. 

Now let's go for some Landsknecht under Spanish pay. So as these guys dressed very strange it will take some time before next post. 

But meanwhile maybe I add some extra 4cm and another row of miniatures to each terço. They will be 12cm x 12cm like Impetus orders.