more Silver Bayonet recruits

Some extra options for the Silver Bayonet, all from Black Scorpion. First a highwayman…

Unaltered from the original model. The slight height difference in Black Scorpion alongside historical 28mms isn’t overly noticeable with this chap. Lovely figure.

And a sailor…

As the Perry sailor in the landing party has an odd little head a different option was required. The height was an issue though, so a cut mid thigh and a mm removed.

Next, well another sailor, but as he has a blunderbuss he’ll work as a coachman…

Another bit of leg surgery needed here. Not sure why a coachman would have a telescope though… 

Quick paint jobs, job done.

Sharpe Bayonet

Obligatory Sharpe reference. A mix of Wargames Atlantic and Perry bits and a Victrix hand for Sweet William, although the arm needs more work.

 

Lord Summerisle’s ghillie…

 Not overly happy with the paint job, didn’t want him in uniform, figured some earthier colours would work, but couldn’t get a brown tweedy look, so went with blue. The tartan is made up, because they all are, but again with more countryside autumnal shades.

A bit satiny, but it’s been damp here so had to use brush on varnish. May redo the jacket.

Some plastic WIP

 A bit of plastic jiggery pokery from the weekend. Inspired by a post on the Facebook Silver Bayonet page, a native scout option, in this case Lord Summerisle’s ghillie.

I also picked up Here’s The Ruckus that was free with Wargames Illustrated a few months back, so figured I’d build the remaining minis from the Perry sprue that contributed the Living Armour.

With Pride and Extreme Prejudice…

Jane Austen taking names, from Lost Heresy via Etsy. 

More British for The Silver Bayonet

Couple more options for the British roster, a junior officer and a light cavalryman. No interest in painting another horse.

The junior officer is from Warlord. I got it from eBay and turns out it’s only available as part of an army bundle. A nice, quirky model.

The cavalryman is from Perry. Unlike the Perry French they don’t do a dismounted sprue, so had to get one of the metal ones. I picked up a single sprue for the cavalryman and modified one of the French horses, so the bedroll looked more like the British one, the rest I put down to looted gear.

British and French recruits

First off, the doctor for the French unit, as previewed in the WIP post.

British and French Marines. The Royal Marine was actually a figure I first made for my deserter bandit idea, but that was improved (see earlier post), but I really liked the pose, so lost the deserter head, cleaned up his whites and converted a RM top hat from a spare Perry shako head, due to his deserter background he has a random side bag and his pack is from the Victrix Highlanders I have. It’s been a while but I think the arms are Victrix Highlander as well on a Perry body. The French Marine is from the Perry Elite French sprue, which has the fancier hats, although those plumes like to snap. 

British and French Grenadiers. Pretty much straight from the sprue.

 

A veteran hunter

A veteran hunter for Silver Bayonet, being the vampire hunting Major Sharpe from Black Pyramid Gamings Regent Z range.

Some quick Silver Bayonet reinforcements…

Not brilliant photos, and the sailor has a really weird face, but a native scout and a sailor as options for the Silver Bayonet.

The scout of course is the excellent Magua from Last of the Mohicans that I did previously for my Folk Horror hunters by Conquest Miniatures. I tried to do a more movie accurate paint job this time round, with black leggings and cloth and war paint. The sailor is from the handy Perry Royal Navy landing party set that provided my Lord Summerisle, Mr z Lennox and Dr Ewan, so as he was kicking about…

 

Lord Summerisle’s Company

Horseguards, or at least those in the know at Horseguards, were surprised when the laird of the most westerly of the Hebridean isles volunteered himself and his militia for the duty. How word had reached Lord Summerisle was never determined, but he spoke of the old ways and the threats that lay within with some fervour.

Both he and his men were equally knowledgeable of the horrors emerging from the older, darker corners of Europe and the ways in which to confront them. It would be often remarked though, that they were also admirably, privately devout, his Lordship frequently leading his men in secluded worship. Few had cause to remark on the amount of kindling this entailed.

Captain the Lord Summerisle

Officer (100 / 100)

Speed	Melee	Accuracy	Defence	Courage	Health	Recruitment
6	+2	+1	14	+3	13	(100)

Attributes: Great Faith, Inspiring 

Equipment: Fencing Weapon (Silver Weapon), Pistol(Cold Iron Shot, Silver Shot), Holy Symbol

Dr Hawthorn Ewan

Doctor (10)

Speed	Melee	Accuracy	Defence	Courage	Health	Recruitment
6	+1	+0	13	+1	10	10

Attributes: Medic

Equipment: Hand Weapon, Pistol (Cold Iron Shot)

Sergeant Burleigh MacKenzie

Highlander (18)

Speed	Melee	Accuracy	Defence	Courage	Health	Recruitment
6	+2	+1	13	+1	11	18

Attributes: None

Equipment: Heavy Weapon, Pistol, Oil & Torches

Pioneer Alder Buchanan 

Sapper (12)

Speed	Melee	Accuracy	Defence	Courage	Health	Recruitment
6	+1	+1	13	+0	10	12

Attributes: Combat Engineer

Equipment: Musket, Cartridge Box (Silver Shot), Heavy Weapon 

Private Garrick Morrison

Infantryman (10)

Speed	Melee	Accuracy	Defence	Courage	Health	Recruitment
6	+1	+1	13	+0	10	10

Attributes: None

Equipment: Musket, Cartridge Box, Oil & Torches

Private Acker MacGregor 

Infantryman (10)

Speed	Melee	Accuracy	Defence	Courage	Health	Recruitment
6	+1	+1	13	+0	10	10

Attributes: None

Equipment: Musket, Cartridge Box, Salt Bag

Rifleman Virgil Howie

Rifleman (18)

Speed	Melee	Accuracy	Defence	Courage	Health	Recruitment
6	+1	+2	13	+0	10	18

Attributes: None 

Equipment: Rifle, Cartridge Box (Silver Shot)

Mr Lennox

Supernatural Investigator (22)

Speed	Melee	Accuracy	Defence	Courage	Health	Recruitment
6	+2	+1	14	+0	12	22

Attributes: Supernatural Veteran, Monster Expert

Equipment: Fencing Weapon, 2x Pistols (Cold Iron Shot)

 

[As you may have noticed, the Silver Bayonet, like a lot of small skirmish games, is narrative heavy and units get a bit of fluff. I decided to expand on an idea I had a long time ago when I first got the highlander sprues and have one of my favourite folk horror films, the Wicker Man, take place 150 odd years earlier. All surnames are taken from the novelisation and identify with their counterparts here - Dr Ewan is the doctor, Mr Lennox is as close to a scientist as they get on Summerisle, Sorrel Mackenzie is the Lord’s gillie in the novel and so on. The given names are all nature based in keeping with Summerisle tradition, I just like Mr Lennox just being Mr Lennox. Rifleman Howie is an outsider of course.]

The Dark Watch WIP

 So, a really productive month for me… hampered only by the freezing temperatures which means I can’t go outside and varnish.

But, lots of unfinished bits. Starting with the Dark Watch, my Highland regiment themed warband for the Silver Bayonet.

Some goblins and wolves as well in that shot. But L-R, my officer, a highlander, two infantrymen and a supernatural investigator. 

Victrix Highlanders, the (classed as for the rules) infantrymen are pretty much straight from the sprue, the highlander has a two handed sword from a Fireforge medieval sprue of some flavour over one shoulder. The piping on the flank company epaulettes was a bit inconsistent between poses, so I just filled them in and went with solid black. I also got some Blackwatch kilt decals for the kilts, but they were an epic faff, so I went back to the brush, opting for the Hebridean tartan (for reasons).

The Dark Watch was apparently an alternative name for the Blackwatch in their very early days and suits the theme very well. But I needed a pioneer (a sapper for the rules), so converted one from the sprue, using some bathing brass sheet to form the basis of the apron and greenstuff for details.

For variety, he got a head from the Warlord Games 95th Rifles sprue, that looked the part. The axe head is from one of the GW Nightgaunts that were cheap with one of those part works GW do now and then.

The officer is from the Perry Miniatures Royal Navy Landing Party, which also provided the doctor and the supernatural investigator. With the naval rosette removed from his hat and a suitable paint job, he passes for an infantry officer sans bling. Dressed down seems appropriate for covert missions hunting monsters.

The ship’s doctor…

 So, The Silver Bayonet rules came out and it’s perfectly what I’ve been looking for… black powder, gothic horror and solo play (on account of me being so antisocial). Plus it can move to my ECW Folk Horror setting perfectly (just remove the vampires - there is no vampire in English folklore at that time, very much a European thing), and vice versa a lot of what I have already fits the Napoleonic setting.

With that in mind there was no harm in getting some splendid chaps to form my unit of British monster hunters (6 nations are covered in the rules, with scope to adapt those lists to any nation of the period, but I already had some Nappy Highlanders for an abandoned project). Plus an excuse to have some excellent Perry sculpts again.

This is from the Perry Royal Navy Landing Party set, which gave me some nice options for the more specialist troop types. This chap will do duty as a doctor, so can stay in A Roysl Navy uniform. 

Mostly in contrasts, which are helping me overcome a severe loss of mojo…