Project F: Early Medieval Soldiers 1

Well, 2015 certainly turned out to be the year of changed plans. Not only did I have to adjust my planning for the Operation Winter Storm project to something more manageable, now there is also something big cooking that has forced me to reconsider some of my earlier plans. Originally I was going to spend the better part of December painting the remaining models for my long neglected Italian Wars project. But then I was drafted into this major and still secret project, master-minded by my good mate Dalauppror and those plans went out the window.

There are still some things to iron out before we can reveal more about this new project, but keep a close eye on our blogs and you will get all the details eventually.

For now, however, I can offer you a sneak peak at the first of my models to be finished for this project. The period is obviously early medieval, as is evident from the models but, as I said, the details of where and when will have to remain under wraps for a while yet ...

The models were kindly donated by Dalauppror and to return the favour I cruelly used them as guinea pigs for trying out some new ideas for painting techniques. I was mainly trying to find out how to cut down on painting time and still keep up a decent standard I can be happy with. As test-pieces go, I think they turned out alright.

The foot soldier is a Foundry model, originally released by Citadel in the early 80s. I really like these old Perry sculpts, they have heaps of character and are a joy to paint.

The cavalry model is from an unknown manufacturer. Anyone recognise it? It has lots of fine details, the casting is very impressive in some parts – eg the reins under the horse's head are separate, which is something I haven't seen before – but unfortunately one of the horse's eyes was slightly miscast.

For the past couple of weeks or so, I have been furiously painting my first proper batch and I'm just putting the finishing touches to these models, which means they'll probably – hopefully! – make the 2015 deadline. More in the next update!