So that sneaky virus has managed to infiltrate Fortress New Zealand once again…..in late August….. and the borders once again resemble a block of Swiss Cheese……..

Now for those of us not in Auckland it was 2 weeks at Level 4 followed by 1 week at level 3. This basically means stay home….. in my case…I was told had to go to work…..how annoying. Poor old Auckland is still locked up….they may be allowed out by Xmas(hopefully this year)This has meant minimal hobby time as been a bit busy….especially as the eldest daughter and the boyfriend moved in while between flats for a month(and the lads gaming machine was put on landing by my paint table…meaning I couldn’t paint as too noisy)…..but some progress has been made.

Now first is another unit of Byzantine Heavy Kavallarioi. I have just based them as I didn’t get the right shields or decals and so had to do an order to Gripping Beast and at the moment orders take 4-6 to make it out here to the ‘Hermit Kingdom’. A big thank you to Gripping Beast for buying Front Rank Miniatures as well! So figures are Gripping Beast, shield decals and banner from LBM.

The figures are mainly from a SAGA box set I picked up in a sale. So I decided to use the ‘Warlord’ or General figure in the unit. Was fun to paint as I played around with a box set of Army painter washes I have on the figure. Happy with result. I have adopted a mainly consistent approach to armour…leather etc across all the Byzantine units with slight variation on the ochres and browns and then differing washes.

The next unit is one of Byzantine Infantry. Again from Gripping Beast and decals/banner from LBM. The unit is 2 ranks of long spears and then bows at the back.

And a close up.

This brings my Byzantine force up to 2 Heavy Kavallarioi, 1 light Kavallarioi and 2 Infantry units. Next up is a 2nd light Kav unit to finish off a Division of 4. Below is photo of the force.

Now about an hour before Lockdown started at midnight there was a knock at the door and Goldie had turned up to hand over some Front Rank Wurttemberg Jager he had just finished for me to base for him. Now I have finished the basing and returned them, but being an idiot did not take finished picture. So here is one of the 3 oval bases part based. Will steal them back for a photo shoot!

Next are 2 Bttns of Austrian Grenz for my 1809 force. These are the 2 bttns of Grenzer Regiment No 13 Wallacho-Illyrian with the figures being Front Rank.

Still being worked on are a Bttn of 1809 French to add to Friant’s Division. This is the first of the 108th Ligne’s bttn’s. Figures are Front Rank Reinforcement pack figures. Am going for a non parade look…so making look bit scruffy with stained uniforms using some Army Painter inks.

Next up are some light infantry and skirmishers for my Romans. A bit of Ancients Gaming is starting so was time added some light units to my Legions.

Now Alan and Goldie have started painting the Prussian Hordes for the Franco Prussian War. The French plastic infantry have not been released yet for me to paint thankfully. But below are some of Alan’s figures.

Til Next time….Terry out.