I took part in a Black Powder mini-competition a month or so back at Call to Arms, the annual convention of the venerable Wellington Warlords club. We had five games over two days using a point system devised by a couple of the competition organisers. I decided to take a Spanish Army but had to settle for Spanish with a brigade of British supports because I did not have enough Spaniards painted.  I didn’t get too badly whomped (2 losing draws, one winning draw, one hiding and one win).

What I decided though was that I needed more good Spanish infantry. So this last week I painted and based a battalion of Walloon Guards.    These are my usual Elite Miniatures from Nathan at Elite Miniatures Australia.  Getting these from Nathan is a no-brainer for me. He is a great guy to deal with and the AUD and NZD almost have parity.

I am pretty happy these guys turned out seeing as they are my second unit in three years. I mean, close up they are alright but they look cracker from Wargames Distance.  I also painted most of these guys while away last week for work and when I am away I am now staying in my camper trailer.  Internal lighting is OK as I have three 24v LED strip lights that provide good overall illumination but not great for fiddly work like miniature painting – but I am working on that. A 2400 lumen work lamp (solar or usb  charged) is on it’s way so should not be a problem much longer.

The flags I just used images off the internet of Spanish flags and resized. After I did this I found an envelope of flags, including some I was sent many years ago by Lawrence from This Life in Lead blog.  Among those were two Ramos fabric flags for the Walloon Guards. Oh well – that is life’s way of telling me to paint another battalion of Walloons. I am still missing finials and cords – will order some soon as I have about six battalions in need of them. I had heaps but ran out – well – about four years ago.

EDIT – I forgot to add that the standard bearers are Front Rank figures. I am pretty sure that Lawrence gave me them as well. Thanks Lawrence.

And yes, the chickens came up to see what I was doing and one tried to peck my miniatures. Vicious little bastards are chickens.