The remainder of the units Palmitl are 50% finished. I'm out of town until Saturday night so I'll hopefully finish them then.
This was the other day. I'm at 18 of 20. Today I actually did a little work towards getting these finished. I should have them finished sometime today and there will be another update when they're done. In the meantime it was a lovely day and since I got done with some work early I took a extended break and built 17 eagle Warriors while I was sitting outside getting some nice afternoon fresh air. I'm also about to build the remainder of the earlier spear unit.
So this is going to be a small project that may work up into a much larger one. Wargames Atlantic has recently begun releasing kits in their "Age of Chivalry" line which covers the period between the 12th and 15th centuries. As a way of supporting the release of this line, and as a nod of respect to my other hobby/group of hobbies in the SCA, I will be painting a series of units for display. The working title is "Exploring the past through modern artistic medium: Kingdom colors across massed units." The intent of the project is to provide a visualization of what a massed army of medieval troops in Kingdom livery colors might look like. The first two units will be Trimarian knights on foot, utilizing the foot knights plastic set that was just released. I will continue to feed units in both Trimarian and Ansteorran colors. If I can make it to art sci events, this is what I will be bringing to set up at a table somewhere. To me this is the closest way I can bring my chosen form of art to the sca in a constructive manner. I've had some grandiose, long range ideas that I've written down as possible ways to turn this into a class or series of classes about different types of warriors throughout history, supplemented by a physical visual aid of a miniature. We'll see if those notes become something. On a personal level, this is also my way of working on my freehand technique, because I will be having to paint quite a lot of triskels and black stars. Maybe I'll cut that back through water slide transfers or some other method, but for now it will be freehand. And finally, as a way to begin this undertaking, I present the first six Trimarian knights on foot. Four with sword and shield, two with two-handed weapons.
Tlacateccatl general with an attendant eagle warrior as bodyguard. Eagle warrior is fully Atlantic digital. Tlacateccatl is the Aztec plastics Plus a Wargames Atlantic Digital Palmitl war banner.
I'm finishing off an Aztec unit tonight. I also painted up a Roman civilian out for some stabbing. He will eventually get put with a unit of militia in my generic fantasy in my generic human army for kings of war.
10 more youth Warriors with spear and shield completed, including a captain dressed as a Papalotl warrior, in full warsuit this time. Also an army update photo. 6/9/2024
Prime to load of Aztecs, including those from yesterday, then built more. As you all know I've swapped to the Aztecs being my primary project. I have a book I'm writing that requires them for imagery purposes. I'm hoping to complete both the Army and the book before end of year. I'm also taking a fantastical excursion for a good friend of mine. This beast has been through 3 cleanup stages so far. There is a fighting platform that rests on his back I'm building and painting separately.
I built the howdah for the beast today. I also primed the remaining Aztecs from this batch, though some Shields remain unprimed and will be processed later on. I've got some horns to glue on to the howdah and then I will be priming it and the beast. After that I will be moving on to painting this batch, mixing work on the beast and the Aztecs. Then I'm going to have to plan out how I will move forward on the Aztec project. I'll be on later to write out a thought outline.
Well, I have 2 boxes of Aztecs currently set aside at home. That's 3 units of 20 warriors. The best way to graph this, in relation to the historical warrior orders and other ranks, and how equipment was governed in Aztec society. For rough example, based on my interpretation of what Ross Hassig put forth in his book Aztec Warfare Body A: unarmored Can be novice youths with spears or macahuitl Can also be commoner ranged Infantry If painted with red loincloths, unarmored 1 captive warriors with macahuitl. Body B: padded vest armor - I have not memorized the spelling of the nahuatl word yet, will edit this later Youth Warriors with spear and vest armor (what I would consider well equipped Noble adolescents) 1 captive warriors with vest armor and macahuitl 1 captive warriors with vest armor and spear Both types of commoner ranged in vest armor 3 captive Papalotl warrior, if given appropriate palmitl. Body C: Every warrior order and rank in a full warsuit bar 1. With and without palmitl. The one exception is the eagle warriors, who are a digital kit. So for this next set of three units, I'm thinking one captive Warriors with body A, slingers with body B, and a unit of coyote priests. I will need at least one more unit of coyote priests to show off other suit options in terms of color. Which necessitates more boxes. I've also got other warrior order units to finish that are currently partials. So lots of work to do this summer to finish.
I built two more foot knights. These are not part of the trimaris project, but are instead going to be painted with a friends medieval arms. The trimaris project will continue though. I've got 8 Aztec Shorn ones on the painting table.