Sunday, February 4, 2018

'Music/Musician' from SidneyR: The Polish Drummer


One of the soldiers of the Lord of Bek’s contingent is a Polish drummer. He bears an unpronounceable name, and has a dark scowl on his face when I have seen him in the field or in the Gote Markt on parade. Yet the Lord of Bek is resolute in asserting that the Polish Drummer is invaluable to his command, for his drumming on a large Polish drum is both fast and loud. The drummer is rumoured to have fought in the Baltic Wars, and I have heard that on the field of Honingfeld his resolution helped rally an Imperial brigade being hard pressed by their Swedish adversaries.



For the ‘Musician” themed round, I’ve chosen a drummer, recruited from the ranks of Wargames Foundry’s Polish 25mm range, and added the figure to an Imperial brigade commander accompanied by a Croat light horseman.



The commander, the Graf von Bek (perhaps the grandson of Ulrich von Bek from Challenge VII), is a Dixon Miniatures Grand Alliance officer, on a Wargames Foundry ECW horse. The Croat is from The Assault Group. I did a few small conversions on the figures. The commander has a lengthened coat flowing over the horse’s flanks, and I added reins with copper wire. I added some late 17th century-style cuffs onto the drummer’s sleeves, and completely remade his Polish cap into a fur-bagged hat with feathers. The base is by Warbases, and the tufts from Silfor and WSS.


I scaled down the size of the submission to fit the time I had. I tried to think about how to add something a bit extra, and hit upon the idea of the Lord of Bek’s commission for the recruitment of the Polish drummer, complete with the Graf’s personal seal. Some fancy paper and sealing wax later, and I’d added an Imperial commission to my Laarden-themed documents and created some fluff for the player (un)fortunate enough to command the Lord of Bek on the tabletop.




30 comments:

  1. Lovely command stand, all three figures are great and I like your graphic piece too!
    Best Iain

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  2. I would like these story/histories of Laarden to be a novel, please 🙂

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    1. Hey Sarah - there's unlikely to be a novel, but I am considering an RPG scenario along the lines of WFRP or Flashing Blades or Maelstrom. Post-Challenge, though!

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  3. So awesome Sid. So much to love here: the conversions, the colours, the basing and not least of all the story behind it all. Such wonderful work!

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    1. Thanks so much, Christopher - especially for the basing inspiration!

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  5. Another outstanding piece, maestro! And with Lod Roundwood himself

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    1. Thanks Benito - and yes, my photo-icon is from the same Dixon Grad Alliance miniature - well spotted! I must have painted that officer about 30 different times!

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  6. You have really mastered turning this hobby into a storytelling experience. What a delight!

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    1. Thanks so much Phil - that was one of the main aims, so I'm really glad you like the direction.

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  7. Proper backstory and everything! Terrific work as always, Sidney ☺

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  8. Absolutely outstanding Sidney! The conversions, the paint work, the back story and the letter. Who's penmanship?

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    1. Thank you Peter! It's my handwriting, using the calligraphy pens my kids got me for Christmas.

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  9. Excellent work, Sidney! The bar is set very high and this is as entertaining to read as view. I like the Polish drummer and the fluff very much!

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    1. Thanks very much, Deb! Really pleased you liked it!

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