The Quindian 69th - More Turnip 28

 My Turnip 28 regiment is filling out nicely! The painting style of chosen for this project is fast and fits well with the style of the game. It's basically black primer with a zenithal spray of Citadel Wraithbone from above, then Citadel Contrast paints. I spend a little more time highlighting faces and hats. Finally, I use several layers of weathering powder of different earth tones, mostly concentrated on the lower third of the model, to blend them into the bases.

These two worthies are my Toadies—lieutenant Snobs, if you will. On the left is Sir Tripdenfel and to the right is Mr. Biggles. Each leads a unit of hapless, but enthusiastic (until the bullets start flying) Fodder:

To add a little more competency (a very little more), I've gone for a unit of Brutes to spearhead my attack...

All of my units are armed with Black Powder weapons, but it's easy enough to declare them as Melee before a game ("What? You thought we were going to give you bullets? Don't be absurd!").

I'm having a blast with this little game. I haven't decided on a specific Cult for the Quindian 69th (and you can choose more than one, shifting between games), but I did design their heraldry!

More to come (my Toff and a unit of Bastards are primed and on the painting desk)! I also only have ten models left to paint for my second regiment of infantry for the Gran Duchy of Sazir!

Throwback Thursday - Nile Paddle Steamer

 Maybe not technically a "throwback" post. Last year was dismal for me maintaining the blog, but I had a wedding to help plan, so I had other things on my plate. I wasn't idle on the modeling and painting front - I just didn't have the time to post about things very often. So... Throwback Thursday. As I can, I'll blog about stuff I did last year (mixed in with the new stuff).

First up is a Nile paddle steamer I built for my growing Sudan collection!

This ship was constructed with parts from the Southern Belle kit from Lindberg, but I had to modify things pretty extensively because it's too small for 28mm. The paddle wheel alone is worth the price of the kit!

I was extremely happy with how this build worked out. I'm planning on getting another kit to add a second gunboat at some point. I already have a couple of pirate ships I can press into service as Dhows for a grand encounter on the Nile! I have a small contingent of Royal Marines setting on the desk (and that Nordenfelt Gun see in the last pic) waiting for paint.

I won't drone on about how it was built, but I'll be happy to answer questions. The modifications are mostly balsa and matboard. The sandbags were purchased on Etsy and various other details came from stuff I had lying around.

I'll dig out another project and present it for Throwback Thursday as I have time!

Turnip 28 - The Squelchy Wargame

What? My new favorite game. I'm still working on my oldschool imagi-nations project (2nd regiment is two-thirds finished!), but I took a little side trip last week after discovering this wonderful world...

Churned mud and swampland stretches out into the gloom. Thick fog hangs heavy in the air. Rolling barrows loom out of the murk. A strange root writhes underfoot. A thousand years after the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz, the world has fallen into decay. Endless war has led to technology stagnating, and beautiful countrysides have been ground to a thick ruin under the boots of a million dead men.

Now, nothing grows. A bizarre and horrible root covers the land; strangling the life from the trees, poisoning the water, and filling the sky with an acrid mist. Humanity barely endures by harvesting this disgusting tuber. It twists their bodies and minds. It infests their thoughts with divine visions of lost vegetables.

Bizarre religious orders have formed. They stockpile abandoned weapons unearthed by the twisting roots. Marching in column under fluttering banners, brandishing mud-clogged muskets and rusted bayonets, they are cruel parodies of long-forgotten armies on the march.

Gather your troops. Fix bayonets. Devote yourself to the roots.

Turnip 28 is based on the art of Max FitzGerlad (Patreon). The rules for the game were designed by Gaetano Ferrara (from Onepagerules) and are still a work in progress—a living rulebook—though already very playable. There are very few "official" miniatures (yet), and the concept is that you build your own units by combining various plastic historical kits from Perry Miniatures, Warlord, Victrix, Wargames Atlantic, etc.

It was this aspect of the game (and the great artwork) that inspired me to have a go at creating an army. In Turnip 28, your force is called a "regiment" and consists of a number of noblemen known as Snobs. The basic game consists of one Toff (your general) and two Toadies (lieutenants), but you can play with a different number if you like, as long as both sides field the same strength force. Each Snob has one unit (the Toff gets two, 'cause he's the Toff) so for a basic game, you have four units chosen from several different types of infantry, cavalry, and artillery. You can also pick a Cult, which gives you access to unique units and special abilities, but this adds complexity (and maybe some balance issues). Your regiment can actually change Cult allegiance between games, so you're not stuck with only one theme!

This isn't meant to be a review (other than I LOVE it) so I'm not going into more detail than that (the book is free - download it and have a look). It was really just to show what I've come up with over the weekend... Introducing the first unit of the Quindian 69th!

This is a unit of Fodder, 12-strong (like in Donnybrook), I spent spare time during last week building the models and literally painted the entire group Saturday morning. I'm planning another unit of the same because these guys are awful (pretty much EVERTHING in Turnip 28 is hapless) and I'll need to numbers on the battlefield. These models are based on Warlord Prussian Landwher with heads from Victrix, Warlord, Perry, and North Star (Frostgrave). There are various bits from other kits and some greenstuff work as well. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.

I'll have more soon, plus I should have my next 48-model regiment for the Gran Duchy of Sazir finished this week!