Piratical Pirate Preview or Silly sailor sneak peek

well well well here I am another post before the year is out... what have I been thinking? no new posts on the Oronegro blog but the story there will be completed sooner or later. just got to get a round to it.

here are SOME of the figures that I have done, a few more were completed after these guys and some are being made up now... with a few more as yet un-started and some lying there in need of work. so Here are the Oronegrean Pirates and Sailors

all of them together you can see that they are all based up. for the 18th century I will base all my figs one terrain suitable for their combat home, so pirates and sailors on beaches, for the captain on the left the ships deck or in some building

one of my all time favourites, if you could not tell already... formally Robin Hood himself now a pirate

one of my least liked, his conversion didn't work well there is another converted to a shooting sailor/pirate but with a different method. looks better so far

only a small change for this guy, hat swap and now he wears shorts... I like this guy also

bicorns are hard to make right, they either become to tall or not wide enough, but with practice I should get it right eventually... of coarse he is a gun crew member

another gun crew member, I experimented with a stripey shirt... looks fine to me

the Captain of the HMS Anne. He needs a name. he is a conversion from the Zvezda Medieval field artillery set, not much was changed just the type of helmet.

well there you have it, a few more done before the year is out but the whole lot will not be complete before the year has passed. I hope you have enjoyed this preview and as always have a happy, healthy, hobby filled new year

Oronegro's military groes but what about foes

Well, well christmas gave me 2 sets that I needed to build up my Oronegro force.... the HaT Württemberg Infantry and Strelets British Light Infantry in Egypt now of coarse this gives me some scope for civil wars or some other conflict.... some of the strelets light infantry will find themselves on board pirate ships once they are completed. However once I have painted that plastic mountain (well for me at least that's a lot of unpainted figs to have lying around, except those moderns, damn ooh shiny syndrome) I will need to consider some foes.

Now Laurence Strong (Larry) from the Wargaming Guild is sending me some figs, I am not sure how many yet, they are destined to be crew aboard the ships but I am sure there will be a few appropriate for some foes.

However I have a horrible habit of always looking ahead and planning what to get next... as you may have seen over the history of this blog. However don't worry these posts are fun and your advice is great... so what is gowan planning???

PIRATES
NATIVES
EUROPEAN (styled?) FOES
OTHERS

Pirates are simple really, I think that the gift from Canada should solve that, if not Cossacks will, or actual pirate sets... cossacks wear the right pants... the only reason they are on my realistic idea list. Natives are a bit more complex as I have yet to get a definite design for what they should look like. other Europeans or just European like foes are simple enough, plenty on the market though its a question of sorting out those few sets from the mountains of possibilities. and as for others, well not sure apart from strange jungle creatures.

right my followers, I think its best that any of you who have gamed with musket armed armies offer whatever advice you have before I do something stupid (again). I have also thought of a few bit and bobs to make but as always your input is invaluable. But most of all

What would you like to see in Oronegro?

Now onto official site business. greetings to CPBelt From a league of ordinary gamers welcome to the blog

All you need to know about Oronegro

Archduke Piccolo has been kind enough to give me lots of information on the armies I has thinking of using for Oronegro and also tips and ideas for how Oronegro could have come into being.
However I have had the stories for a while (a few days) and now I am going to present a brief outline for you... But for all the facts go HERE (colonisation and expansion part1) and HERE (colonisation and expansion part2)! These posts on the Special Oronegro blog will be followed by a few more. However here is a basic outline of the story for everyone else.

• First Colonials arrive in 1492, made up of all Spain's unwanted. heretics, Jews, Muslims, atheists, disillusioned catholic priests and christian soldiers who fought for the wrong side.
• 1500 after another wave of Colonials British, french and Italian communities join the colony. La Ley already established now is joined by La Esperanza as the colonial cities.
• 1555 The Land of Oronegro is born... due to the currency being Coco beans instead of gold. the Spanish King is only head of state as the other colonial peoples, mainly British and Italian are too strong for him to exert total control.
• 1570's to 1600 The wars with the powerful Kaxad Empire shake the colony to its knees the surprise attacks leave the cities besieged and the great farming plains covered in Kaxad troops. however due to some festivals the Kaxad withdraws most of its troops allowing the Oronegreans to fight back... the second large attack comes in the 1590's however Oronegro is more prepared and fights back with an army that now is well equipped for hand to hand combat as well as conventional musket fighting. Kaxad empire retreats and breaks down in 1603... still a powerful force it is no longer coherent enough to launch large campaigns
• 1625 The grand Pirate raid on La Ley sees bloody fighting and enormous damage. it is repulsed at the Star Fort and in the river but at heavy loss only when a fleet from La Esperanza enters the river do the Pirates give in.

And there you have it. I hope even the brief context will help you understand Oronegro. The time my miniatures are set in is based round the 1740's to 1780's and the wars where Oronegrean troops marched up the jungle valleys and across some of the unexplored planes... there is also a brief Civil war between the Chocolate kings and the State. All very exiting and not to mention a few Pirates thrown in for Good measure :-D still working on the story as you can see quite a way to go yet.

My mind is in need of help

Well Oronegro has been my project for almost a year now and I LOVE IT!!! the only problem is that in entering this dark new phase I am unable to pin down which infantry to use as basic Oronegrean troops... For moderns it was easy USA all the way their equipment is common through out the world. However for the 18th century I am about as sure as what to choose as I was sure who were going to be Oronegro's neighbours!

What I mean is I need your help badly. I chose Archduke Piccolo's imgi-nations to be Oronegro's neighbours as they offered an interesting set of neighbours and because unlike real nations I don't have to worry about distinct climates and certain other geographic rules also it allows one to say that perhaps its on a parallel earth accessed through say a portal... Bermuda triangle could be one perhaps... put your nation on the other side of a portal and it could be bordering several real nations and yet not appear on maps or satellite photos.
However what to do for infantry or for that matter the entire force of Oronegro. The sets I have looked at so far have been good, interesting and IMHO special in that they wear helmets and yes perhaps I will still get them! However helmeted troops are more likely to be some elite unit, not the norm as I need for a basic force. I have a few options here, as what to pick but what it comes down to is which force will allow me to create an Oronegrean century???

Here are my options:

• Peninsular war Brits > the HaT set is made from a medium consistency plastic allowing easy conversion of Shako into tricorn. Also with the release of the infantry command set I should have a a nice command structure for a century.
• French > lots out there and the uniforms show similarities to the Wurttenburg infantry also there is lots of French support sets like baggage carts which will add to the realism and possible scenarios.
• Nassau infantry> also similarities to the Wurttenburg infantry however they have sabres which makes them stand out and I am not overly keen on the limited supply of other troops types.

There are the 3 options I could of coarse get the Brits, convert shako's get a set with the drummer... what they really need along with guys with flags and repaint them in a new uniform. This would mean that they seem right especially with the marines in the Naval crew set which I will get for certain. I am so confused I just need help.

However if you were able to sell me or trade me some figs with those helmets or perhaps would like any figs I do not like when I bought a set arrangements could be made. until the groundwork for the Oronegrean army is set any ones ideas will not only be welcome but important!!!

what of early Oronegro part 2

well sort of in the last instalment I discussed the possibilities of using some Austrians as Oronegrean infantry and doing some conversions. well in this second installment I am proposing a different group to be the Oronegreans...  Württemberg. well the helmets are very similar as you will see but also its the sets available that makes them appeal to me. well the cavalry is yet to be released but look at the numbers.

HaT Württemberg Infantry  100x figs
HaT Württemberg Cavalry 12x cavalry
HaT Württemberg Artillery  16x figs and 4 guns

yes I know the artillery set has a pitiful crew but perhaps Oronegrean gunners were super efficient like F1 pit crews today. also the infantry are great you can either go to PSR or perhaps you can visit this section of the HäT site. I like the infantry set because of the Ratio of figure types; 40 infantry in helmets, 20 light infantry/ scouts (they will get tricorns or other suitable head gear) and 16 grenadiers (will get tricorns) also not to mention the NCO's officers and drummers that bring this set up to full strength.

so perhaps these men will be our Oronegreans instead. but your advice would be more than welcome.

 

what of early Oronegro

as I said on a post I published just before on the main blog I was recently thinking of doing some early Oronegrean history either in the era of the conquistadors or the 18th century or a strange mix of them both. well I have concluded that it should be set in the 18th century with a few conquistador style people running around! The only problem is that what figures to get, well the conquistadors are the least of my worries. the problem is which of the many musket wielding figures out there do I want to represent Oronegro. well after looking at all the sets on PSR that had tricorns and then looking at which ones would best suit my idea of the Oronegreans I was disappointed so I looked a bit later at the Napoleonic period. Here I found some suitable candidates for some Oronegrean infantry as well as some conversion opportunities.

I want tricorns so I am not about to give up because there are not any suitable sets I shall convert these bicorn and shako wearing heathens into some true imperial forces! However I am going to make an exception for some helmeted forces... and after a search through the nappies I found that Austria could hold the greatest potential.

look at these sets

What interests me about these is the conversion possibilities, the helmets I'll keep but the other more foolish looking hats will be cut off and replaced by tricorns. Here are the other possible sets, that also include the helmets

this set does include some unwanted Prussians but perhaps a use can be found for them also








this is an older set from Italeri but more of the infantry in this one have the helmet.









But what story do these sets have for Oronegro. Well as I've said this is a recent concept and I am not done refining possible stories. there is some way to go and the project may not see the light of day but with enough encouragement/nagging perhaps I will go into some early Oronegrean history!

ah study leave and some wonderul news

well I have reached that time in the year where all of us senior students go home and prepare for our upcoming NCEA exams my first one is next week gulp. but what this also means is that I have time between study to do some painting and model building. in fact I am just finished with some Spanish :-) I use an online sight called Language perfect, its a great way to study. my current score on it is 14689 points, which makes me first in school, 86th in the country and 166th in the world. next up some physics, well I am about to walk the dog. but this is only slightly good news as these exams are not for passing NCEA lvl 2 but rather for getting endorsed with excellence, the highest rating for NCEA I am currently sitting (I think) on getting NCEA lvl 2 with merit the next level down. but enough of exams thinking about them will only stress me out.... more?

NOW FOR SOME WONDERFUL NEWS!!
Next year is Year 13 my final year of college and because year 13 students are the most senior in the school each year the a selection of year 13 students take up the role of prefect. Of coarse this is a democracy so earlier this year all us year 12 students and the teaches voted for a selection of students, this year only a few of us guys volunteered so voting for male prefects was easy, the girls seemed to all want to be prefect. However during the last couple of weeks the prefect team was announced, the students who will take a lead role in the school and.... I was selected! :-D

so what do prefects do, well we are roll models to the younger students, we organise events and if needed we act to make sure the rules are followed. So what will I do, well I am as you may have noticed from my profile some what mentally and a bit physically handicapped so I intend to help others who may be suffering from what I do. this in fact is actually quite important to me, especially because I know that the problems I have are unavoidable and to some extent incurable (not the best word). On the brighter side this does mean that whenever I do manage to get something right or done well I can take pride in that I have worked through more challenges to do so than some of my peers. Well there is my more sensible ideas for what I shall do but also I am sure that you my followers will be happy to know I may (most likely not) try and get a wargaming club set up or other hobby related events, lets replace photography with painting miniatures :-P (well this country doe shave WETA workshop and have you seen the miniatures they build!!!!! its a serious profession)

oh and some other good news welcome to my new followers
Anne O'Leary from Anne's Attic its a great site and Anne's work is very nice, especially her use of natural materials in dio's
Greetings also to Tankmodels.pl from tankmodels.pl welcome to the blog

Well lets hope that these exams go well then eh... and to all my fellow bloggers who may also be gearing up to exams (that includes teachers) I wish you the best of luck

the wish list. so long it rivals the longest santa list

 To start with, this list is not certain and I am willing to trade figs for figs!
well I think I did this before but here is a new list. I have decided to split it into several parts for ease of use (for me and you). this list is not too long and I should be able to get at least a few of these for Christmas or birthday (January). its annoying that they are close together, I will of coarse limit expenditure of models on this birthday as for the big 18 I want to do some airsoft, if you can make it here I invite all of you, if it goes ahead. I made this list so that I can refer to it in future and so and of you who may have one of these sets lying around and no longer want it or think that you would like some ancients of medievals can trade me for them. any way onto the list
all images are from PSR or the respective companies website.  and one from Dougie's wargaming blog.

must buys! these are the sets that I am determined, 100%, to get hold of. for this reason there are only 2.

the revell set of US infantry,  for Oronegrean standard troops

and the North Korean KPA for Rebel Militia

Hopeful but not sure! These sets have made me think about getting them on multiple occasions but so far no order has been made.

the second Caesar partisan set! for me good source armed civilians

Orion's Russians, good for the soviet unions troops in Oronegro

a companion to the Russian set, these guys will form either rebel gangs or more soviets

and just when you thought I was not going to be looking for more soviets....

The wishful but at a stretch! Now these might be purchased only id and when the sets above are not bought or in the highly unlikely event that I get some large sum of money (lotto)... of coarse these might be on the list of sets for the 19th birthday. But on the whole most of these are just temporary ideas that has stuck a little longer than most and I might not actually get them in the end, well just wait and see ;-)

militia, for the jungle or the city streets

Militia, lots of Sturmgewehr's which will pass off as AK-47's or another type of Kalashnikov

engineers, I know WW2 Germans, but they are correct for Oronegro's army

motorcycles, which with ample modification  they can form some rather modern looking bikes

METAL & Resin STUFF!!! This lot is set aside due to the material it is made from, these are perhaps more likely to be bought than those above, but still not certain purchases.

Elhiem miniatures: The following figures will be used along with the Revell set to complete the Oronegrean century I have built up :-) which will mean that apart from maybe turning it into a type B battalion later on (see Oronegro blog for info) that will complete my standard Oronegrean forces :-)

well these are from Elhiem miniatures, their armour means they are good for some MP's I only need one but the others will be good for other roles

more of the same, some of these guys will be useful for filling in the roles of medic, I still need 3 to complete the century

I need a five man bomb squad for the century, 4 men + one from the above set and that's done.

this pic is from Dougie's wargaming blog, these are the Elhiem civilian relations team, I just need one of the above infantry to accompany

with a bit of mix and match with current figs these and some others will form the engineers

I hope to get the engineers company out of this lot maybe some back packs and equipment will make the scene

and the backpacks to make the engineers look like ones... might get 2 sets so 8 of them have them

Of coarse Elhiem might also be used to add to the baddies in Oronegro.

they have a nice range of soviets as well as many other figures

S&S models: for those vehicles that you find nowhere else and a few other bits and bobs.

 these guys is a must somewhere along the line. they are the backbone of the rebel army, well them and converted figs

this image is big because the vehicle here is one of my favourites :-) the ZU-23-4, Shilka, I love it because it is so rugged!!! My favourite tank is the Leopard 2 A6 if you are wondering, why do you think I got Germans :-)

That concludes the list!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I must say that this is by no means all that I will buy in future and I am also not saying I will get all of it, I have very limited amounts of money, time and I have more important things like school and qualifications and university to worry about... there are some things like MJ figures News Crew and maybe Zombies and some other things like Little Green men's colonial marines that have been left off due to me not being sure whether to go down that road yet, news crew would be for some game. I have also looked at much more and am still keen on developing the UN involvement in Oronegro. and as always other things like vehicles and aircraft are also on the agenda but do not appear much due to me not having a large can of spray on primer, which I think I need for doing them... if you have one of the sets I am more than willing to trade, my purchasing power is small and as you know for this year I will not be buying more, except for Christmas or if the deal is excellent!

HELLO TOO: Peter. Bonami from Peter's cave great models and I know that he has been looking into some moderns recently :-) welcome to the wonderful and complicated world of modern camouflage.
greetings to Erhan Atalay from mini afv great with Kits from many era's I have seen the ZU-23-4 recently appear on his site.

OH and its the holidays :-D

hmm one more set should do it! Oronegro infantry

well I am not saying that one more set and I am done with them totally no no no I mean to get a century! 100 soldiers + some command and back up... currently I have 88, 60 standard soldiers 8 Command and support and 20 specialists This set should do it...

48 + 88 maybe be 136 altogether however that is not the end of the story... in this set I get 13 LMG's and 6 Rocket launcher troops, 3 potential NCO's and 25 normal guys

well lets try and get 100 troops I have this plan for the Oronegrean century so far...
a team = 5 soldiers (5)
a squad = 4 teams (20)
a unit = 2 squads (40) + 10 specialists; LMG's, stingers, Dragon etc. (50 total)
a century = 2 units (100)

this is what with this set I will have
136 total
85 standard troops (only need 80)
18 LMG's (4 M60 + 14 Saw)
2 dragon
3 stinger
3 Javelin
9 one shot rocket launchers
5 snipers
4 MP's
2 medics
1centurion
4 NCO's

how to reduce the numbers; take the 9 one shot guys and make them become normal soldiers after using the rocket launcher... I now have 27 to deal with, make the NCO's, medics, MP's, Snipers and Centurion not count towards the century... now I have 11 to deal with, 5 normal soldiers should become spotters for the snipers so I have only got only 6 soldiers to deal with, 5 LMG's (SAWs?) can be used as a body guard for the NCO's and the centurion so just on man to deal with and one Saw should become the Optio, a roman term for the second in command of the century :-) all neat and tidy, perhaps in future I can add some bomb squad troops, civilian relation teams and perhaps a could more medics to make a grand total of 150 soldiers 100 under the command of the centurion and 50 either acting in a command role or as support!

whoops wrong set

admittedly it appears that I am also to blame, I appear to have got the Republic of Korea Imex set instead of the KPA, well I am not too fussed these guys will make some good new rebel forces. Also it appears that the modern set has a part missing a shield for the riot police :-(
the KPA is the biggest concern as I wanted to get them because they all wore the caps however in the RoK troop set most of them have M1 helmets which though OK for a militia force is not in keeping with Oronegro because...
the Oronegrean stockpiles would have had British style of 1940's style German helmets, as is shown by the native units it was the third Reich not America that influenced the uniform of the Army of Oronegro from 1946-1967 before Oronegro started to change its uniform to the field caps that are worn by many of the rebel forces from the boarders and rural towns. However there is room for the US equipment as it is likely that after 1967 that the M1 helmet was introduced in small quantities with the German Stahlhelm remaining the standard helmet up until the 1980's when it was replaced by the newer US Pagsat helmet and later the Fritz...
just a small bit of history for you there, but I shall not complain and I will continue to look out for the KPA set perhaps a Christmas prezzie :-) have a nice day guys

more goodies - no more till Christmas

well I have ended my recent spending spree with a trip to the annual? town rotary book sale, fair, thing. so I roved the tables full of thousands upon thousands of books and then made a bee-line to the History/war section and there in front of me, the first things I saw, were some books anyone with an interest in the cold war would jump for, I didn't though I did grab them quick :-) then I decided to buy my sister (who came with me) 2 books on dog breeds because she loves dogs and she chose a book for my mum! Then I went off to the Sci-fi section to see if they had for some strange reason some books in Isak Asimov foundation series, I have foundation and prelude to foundation, I looked for a while and almost gave up but then! there they were foundation and empire, second foundation and foundation and earth, I decided not to get foundation and earth because I only had $2 left. So how much did all this cost? I hear you ask.... $10 that's right just 10 New Zealand dollars, not bad for... 4 cold war comics (both in terms of subject and age) + 2 dog related items (one BIG magazine? or book from 1998 and a little book) + 2 smallish Sci-fi novels + one Book for mum. I will not show you all the books, just the cold war comics.

they are very similar to the Soviet war power book I can get out from school

they are old - for books 1976 they were published! at the time they cost $3.15 for all except the weapons and Uniforms book which cost $2.35 I got them for $1 each :-D take that inflation

the soviet war power book at school is from 1980 so these are slightly older

this one might be of use then it comes to doing more in depth structuring for my Oronegrean forces

this is a very useful book, its funny to see the prototype Apache though and the Hind A-B instead of the Hind F (totally different cockpits).

well there you go. these are just another useful source of information and if any of you cold war gamers are interested I can give you some facts from these books. OK spending over now to save as much as possible for the future, well until Christmas and birthday and then I can stock up on some more stuff if necessary.

dream figure

now I have only ever done one post like this before so this is the second. I play an online game called Red Crusible2 its mostly free but recently I splashed out to make my character look cool. but now I have decided that not only was my decision was not my best way to spend my money but also that y character was so good I must turn it into a model! so here is James.ep3 he is not the greatest player on Red Crucible 2 but he looks cool and as such I am now determined to create a 20mm figure to do him justice! now I am not a good sculptor, far from it. however I wish to perhaps convert some figs to make him, or perhaps there is a sculptor out there willing to sculpt him- he would make a pretty good Russian (apart from the gun), or mercenary.

a backpack for good measure!

yes the gun is wrong a L1A1 sniper which is not Russian so not in keeping with the figure but hey if he was a mercenary it is OK

and he has a gas mask for protection

now remember my Spetnaz well I chose this uniform for the character because it reminded me of them

 
 

well there you go. his role in Oronegro will either be an elite Russian soldier or as a top operative for the National forces, a mercenary, who is known for his tactical know how and his great ability for planning! so if there are any sculptors out there willing to give this a go! or some on who can tell me some ways to create this guy I would be very happy to hear them. and some general comments on his look would also be good! thanks guys so many posts in one day it must be a record for me today.