UN & 8th Army Renaissance

 Below left is a repainted HK copy of Lone Star officer in beret, although, at this angle it looks like a turban. I forgot to paint the belt buckle. UN light blue headgear was one of the Lone Star varieties, so I decided to paint this figure that way. The kneeling bazooka man I painted a year or so ago.

  Renaissance 8th Army, yes, you read that right! Actually, as intimated in my earlier post, they are an experiment based on Chesterton's story, 'The Napoleon of Nottinghill'. The interpretation of the appearance of the various militias is fairly open, except to emphasize the medieval or Renaissance clothing and weapons, even though set in 1984. One faction was said to wear purple, but I have varied the colors to allow the Renaissance multi-colored style. The firearms could be anything from matchlocks to breach loaders. I painted these as 19th century rifles.

   It seems strange to me that medieval, ancient or Renaiisance toy soldiers are seldom seen to carry water bottles, haversacks ad so on but I left the 8th Army ones on these. In any case, they are fantasy figures, which just shows that 'Fantasy' can cover a wide range of concepts and not just sword and sorcery. It is also a 'futuristic' projection from the Edwardian era but just not with the technological development.

 I might do some others with big floppy Renaissance hats or even, incongruous top hats. I'm thinking of giving some knights in plate armor revolvers! The general vibe is that some bored Edwardians have decid3d to revert to a few hundred years ago have raided some museums or had some impromptu sewing work done. 

  Other figures I am going to use are beefeaters and Cherilea English Civil War sergeants with halberds.

My assumption is the majority of participants have edged weapons but that some would get hold of firearms.




  This wargame scenario I have been thinking of for some time, and it might be sometime more before I put it into practice. I am taking my time assembling figures as I want to make some more fanciful conversions.

  I figure to play the Battle of Notting Hill a few times and then these figures will be somehow incorporated in my campaign fantasy armies.

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Comments

  1. JimJuly 20, 2025 at 3:02 AM

    I must admit that I have used Renaissance Arquebusers as science fiction infantry with laser rifles in 15mm so I am in total agreement with you in this one :-)

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  2. AnonymousJuly 20, 2025 at 10:51 AM

    I'd love to see that, Jim.

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    Replies
    1. JimJuly 20, 2025 at 6:53 PM

      Alas my painting is not of exhibition quality . In fact kind friends sometimes reassure me that I achieve mediocre on my good days ;-)

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    2. AnonymousJuly 20, 2025 at 11:32 PM

      A couple of suggestions regarding painting. I generally don't do full gloss finishes, but the shine does disguise some bad painting. The other thing to do is just paint the main large areas first then some detail work followed by 'washes'. Various acrylic washes are available. I find Games Workshop's 'Reichland Flesh' wash works well for flesh but also light-colored hair, rope, light colored horses manes and so on. A light grey wash might work for white. Eyes seem to be a challenge for people who don't have good eyes for close work or they can't keep a steady hand. The wash can be used instead. Of course, if you are painting 15 mm figures it might be more challenging to do detail. Looking at the old hollowcast 54mm the painters just suggested kilt patterns and other details.

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  3. RogerJuly 20, 2025 at 7:31 PM

    Your ex-8th Army, Renaissance conversions looks good. I guess you have to use a lot of greenstuff to make their new uniforms.
    I have a lot of 8th Army knock-offs which I plan to convert to something less fantasy. It's a future project. Since you got another UN trooper Perhaps you can field them in so.e 'United Imagi- Nations' mission.

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  4. AnonymousJuly 20, 2025 at 11:23 PM

    I have plenty more suitable figures to paint as UN ones and have some more I have painted, somewhere.
    Yes, I used a lot of Green Stuff. I have also done this kind of thing with Plasticene but that is less stable, although ok when coated heavily with PVA.
    The Death Zap blog has some wild paint schemes for knockoffs of 8th Army and others as 'Space Pirates'.

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