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Monday, November 29, 2021

Regency Monster Hunters

When I got excited about The Silver Bayonet a couple weeks ago I went digging through all the minis I have and tried to cobble together a couple of Special Units with stuff I had - preferably already painted... and, despite HAVING lots of painted Napoleonic soldiers, ended up painting new stuff for most of what I used in the Units!? At least the MONSTERS were all suff that had been previously painted! (though, even THEY ended up being rebased!?) 

In the process I found a BUNCH of regency era Monster Hunters. Most of these are from Westwind Productions Vampire Wars line. I picked up a LOT of these... oh... over 15 years ago!? (I was playing Savage Worlds Pulp Adveture games when I started this block 15 years ago... and the Pulp gaming was AFTER all the Victorian Horror gaming!?) I used them with Rippers: The Horror Wars - a Savage Worlds setting. Most of the figures in the Vampire Wars line are later victorian in dress, but there were a few I picked up (from the Headless Horseman series. I think...?) that were more Georgian/Regency in the cut of their clothes and never really got painted... UNTIL NOW! 

Regency Monster Hunters. 

I haven't named or developed characters for these, or even organized these into special units, just yet... but they are available when I do. 

I'm not even sure what I'd even classify these as... While there are a few non-military options, the game really assumes the nucleus of your force is a Military Special Unit of some sort - perhaps with a few civilian specialist. 

The model with the lowest recruitment cost is a bog-standard Infantryman - at 10 points (or the Artillerist, which is also 10). Then there are Grenadiers, Guards, Heavy Cavalrymen, Highlanders, Junior Officers, Light Cavalry, Marines, Riflemen, Sailors, Sappers, Swordsmen, Tactician, and Veteran Hunters... There are a few civilian-types; Champion of Faith, Doctor, Irregular, Native Scout, Occultist, Supernatural Investigator... Though some of these could also be in uniform...?

There is no armed Civilian... There are irregulars... but they're actually 15 points and are basically armed the same and have the same stats as infantrymen... but ALSO have the Nimble and Master of Cover traits - suggesting they are hardened guerrillas or some such.  

I suppose a lot of those armed with only a Musket could simply be fielded as an Infantryman. Part of me feels like an Infantryman would be better trained in the ways of war than a civilian... but then, most of that training would be marching drill and staying in formation and following orders... little of which would come into play in a small skirmish... And any civilian that privately owns a musket could very easily be believed to be just as accurate with it and if they're motivated enough to operate with such a unit, they're clearly made of sterner stuff than your average shop-keeper or accountant...? 

These two are actually from Casting Room Miniatures/Wargames Foundry. 

The fellow on the right could be a Champion of Faith...? 

The rest are from Westwind Productions. The guy with the Torch is only armed with the sword - perhaps he could be a civillian duelist and count as a swordsman? Or possibly a Supernatural Investigator (if we assume he has a pair of pistols concealed on his person...? 

The fellow with the axe could be an Occultist? 

Probably just call these Infantryman... but have a clever backstory as for why they are with the Special Unit.

I also have a few more military-types on the workbench. I reorganized some units and released some more Riflemen from service in Rebels and Patriots units to so I could paint them up to complete (or, at least, add a few more to Dulles' Rifles). Also trying to put together a French unit (or two... or THREE!? Really, it's getting a little out of hand....). 

I also broke down and ORDERED a few more - Minifigs/Matchlock Miniatures has a line of "Regency Zombie Hunters" - inspired by Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and I ordered a bunch of those. Not zombies, just the characters - to have a few more civilian-ish characters. 

I have been doing some more stocktaking... but it got unfun real fast, so... I may or may not finish any of those posts... I'd hoped it might help me get MORE FOCUSED, but it kind of did the opposite by reminding myself of ALL THE THINGS that I want to PAINT ALL OF.... RIGHT NOW!!!

20 comments:

  1. Great figures, full of animation ready to go about their business.

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  2. Interesting cast of characters, nicely painted.

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  3. Great looking armed civilians, getting a little out of hand? Surely not!
    Best Iain

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    1. Ha! It's seems to be my M.O.

      Thanks, Iain!

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  4. Can't wait to hear a game report before buying! Thanks.
    Neil

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    1. Thanks Neil!

      There was one last week:

      https://saskminigamer.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-silver-bayonet-wolf-pack.html

      Finnegan and I were planning on playing again this evening... or maybe tomorrow....? So hopefully by the weekend I'll have another report up!

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  5. 'I also broke down and ORDERED a few more - Minifigs/Matchlock Miniatures has a line of "Regency Zombie Hunters" - inspired by Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and I ordered a bunch of those. Not zombies, just the characters - to have a few more civilian-ish characters.'

    I have ordered the exact same figures for the same purpose! I ordered mine on 21 November, but still waiting for them. Have yours arrived yet?

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    1. Nope. I ordered mine just over a week ago. I expect it will be another week or two before mine arrive. It's travelling overseas, during the Xmas/post-Black-Friday rush, during a pandemic... These things take time.

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    2. Mine arrived today! I live in the UK. The time between ordering and the time they arrived on my doorstep was 17 days. However, they're beautiful! I love them so much. That said, they're quite BIG. More like heroic 32mm scale.

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    3. Yay! Good things DO come to those who wait!?

      I wondered if they might be big and chunky... I'm not too fussed about such things, tho!

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    4. Yeah, pretty big and chunky. They remind me of Neanderthals in regency dress. But I like them that way.

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    5. Ha! Yikes!

      I didn't get any of the zombies - just characters, to use as the "heroes" - and heroes SHOULD Be imposing!

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    6. I wonder if perhaps they are scaled to work with Alternative Armies fantasy Napoleonic? I have a handful of those and THEY are HUGE!!

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  6. Yeah, I too only ordered the characters -- no zombies. I have never seen the AA Napoleonics in person, so can't really say if the scales would fit.

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    1. I have a handful that I picked up in a boxed set that I think was meant for a little skirmish game - Russians vampire and zombies versus a few elves - looking like they're on the retreat from Moscow (or the fantasy equivalent). They are HUGE! I'll post some pics in the next week when I get them finished up - along with some size comparisons...

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    2. Cool! Did you also order Lord Byron from that range? He, very clearly, is not in the same scale as the others and I suspect was not made by the same sculptor. I have a suspicion he was part of another range and was folded into this one. I was actually looking forward to using him the most of all of them, but once I saw them in person, although he's a great model, he doesn't fit with the extremely chunky look of the actual P&P characters, so I'll leave him out for another project. I think he'd be good as the leader of a band of similarly-proportioned Greeks for a Greek War of Independence setting. The real Lord Byron actually did form a Greek/Albanian mercenary band called 'Byron's Bridgade' during the final years of his life in Greece, so seems appropriate.

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    3. Ha! That's crazy! I did order him. I ordered everyone that wasn't a zombie from the range - plus a handful of assorted others from other lines that I thought might work. Even ordered a few Ottomans!? I guess I'll just have to wait and see..

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    4. Nice. Looking forward to see what you do with them. I myself have got distracted from my Pride & Prejudice idea by making a Irish warband, using some Trent Miniatures Insurgents from the 1798 rebellion. We'll see where that goes...

      P.S. correcting a typo from my last message: Byron's self-funded Albanian mercenary force was called 'the Byron Brigade'. Steve Barber Models makes some appropriate Greek/Albanian miniatures which could be used to accompany Byron for a Philhellene themed warband for TSB. That's probably something I'm going to look into in the future. I'll probably also get some Ottomans to be their adversaries.

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