Going Dutch with Printable Scenery

I’ve just finished painting a couple of houses from Printable Scenery, who are based just around the corner from me in Paraparaumu, New Zealand.

These models are normally supplied as STL files, but not having a 3D-printer myself, I got them pre-printed. They’re sized to fit with my 28mm figures.

The buildings both come apart so that you can gain access to each story. They fit securely back together again, with a lug on each corner to line up.

Although these particular models were designed with Normandy in mind (I think), I decided to give them a Dutch look to go with my WW2 Dutch army and my 17th century Dutch pirates.

My efforts wouldn’t fool any student of Dutch architecture. But to my mind they convey the general look, especially when combined with some of my other (Hovels) buildings that are definitely Dutch.

So here we have Landsverk armoured car (made by May ’40 Miniatures) trundling down a city street somewhere in the Netherlands during WW2.

And here we have a couple of Dutch privateers from a few centuries earlier having a discussion outside one of the houses.

The two things I did to give a Dutch look to this building were to paint the walls as rough brickwork, and to add a typical Dutch design to the window shutters and door. The brickwork wasn’t entirely successful, as the house is actually modelled with stone walls. But from tabletop distance, they look enough like bricks.

The interiors are filled with lots of detail, including stairs, rugs, paintings and furniture.

I painted the interior walls with several different shades of dry-brushing, which added to the modelled-in shabby look of the peeling plaster. Easy-peasy to do!

The second building shows its brickwork where the plaster is peeling away. Again, my painting of the bricks is not too realistic close-up, but the effect comes together from a distance.

This atmospheric shot shows a bit more of the wonderful interior detail of these models.

As you can see, I have used a fairly slap-dash approach to my paining, which I think gives a nice shabby-chic impression.

And this time the fireplace was actually modelled as bricks, so it looks right even from close-up!

Pirates being sacrificed for sustainability

With retirement looming ahead, I’ve decided my hobby needs to be a wee bit more self-sustaining than it is. So I’ve decided to start selling off some of my figures on TradeMe, the New Zealand version of eBay.

I’ve never been that keen on selling any of my figures, as I feel I’ve invested so much time and care in painting them. So the decisions on what will go and what will stay will be really difficult. If I don’t come up with some sort of system, I’ll probably end up deciding to not sell much at all.

So the system I have set for myself is that if I want to buy any new miniatures, I’ve got to fund at last half the cost from my existing collection. Let’s see if I can make that work!

The first collection for sale are some Foundry pirates and a ship. I’ve rationalised this by putting up only half of my small pirate collection for sale, as I usually need less figures than I own to play skirmish games anyway. And I’ll still be able to sit and admire the remainder of them in my display case.

So here’s how I advertised them:

Arghhhh, me hearties! Here’s a motley crew of 28mm metal pirates from the Wargames Foundry range, exquisitely painted and based – and a fine ship for them to sail the Spanish Main in search of plunder!

These will give you a crew of eleven scurvy pirates to play any skirmish pirate game. Included are Captain Morgan, Calico Jack, Anne Bonny and even the infamous Blackbeard himself.

I’ll also throw in a skeleton pirate and Queen Elizabeth 1, whom I’m sure you could find a way of incorporating as characters into a wacky game scenario!

Of course, pirates need ships. So this sale also includes a natty little brig beautifully converted from a plastic ‘Weapons and Warriors’ play-set toy. Its been re-fitted with a balsa deck and given a realistic wood-like paint-job. The masts and bowsprit are removable, as are the four small metal cannons. She measures 25cms long, 9cms wide and 18cms high – plenty big enough to carry the whole crew!

Note that the scenic background and buildings in the photos don’t come with this sale (but if you twist my arm I could include the three palm trees!).

Of course, there is the problem of what if no-one buys them? But let’s cross that bridge after the auction finishes next Saturday night.

On parade! Pirates and swashbucklers!

Continuing with my On Parade! postings in which I’m attempting to review every wargames figure I own, this time we take a look at my pirate collection. 

It’s odd, isn’t it? In this age of parents not letting kids play with toy soldiers or toy guns, and schools not teaching about battles and soldiers, we still find that kindergartens and primary schools love pirates. Some of the most blood-thirsty, villainous, chauvinistic characters around, and yet little Johnny and Sally sit and make eye-patches and cardboard swords (swords?!) in class. On the other hand, maybe it isn’t so surprising – after all, pirate crews were very democratic, and feminists might approve of pirates like Ann Bonny and Mary Read.

Anyway, I’m not complaining – I love pirates! So they form part of my wargames collection, and have provided many an exciting and fun-filled game.

Yes, that’s a skeleton pirate on the left (from Moonlight Miniatures). All the other figures are by Wargames Foundry. You can see Calico Jack all in white, Bartholomew Roberts in his salmon pink coat, Anne Bonny firing a pistol in the background, Blackbeard with his eponymous black beard, and a quartermaster in his bulky green coat.

This group includes an army or marine officer in his scarlet coat, and a Royal Navy captain.  There’s also a musician blowing a very long trumpet, and a merchant captain dressed in black.

Charles Morgan is on the extreme left. Behind him is a female pirate, and then an old gentleman in wig and glasses (perhaps’ a ship’s doctor?). Pirates were very multi-cultural, as can be seen by the black and the Arab chaps fighting alongside the Russian-looking guy at the back and the Scandinavian on the right.

Here is my whole collection. As with my other pics, click on it to see the enlarged version.

There are five more pirates in my collection. These date right back to my childhood in the early 70s, and are plastic cereal box freebies which I or my brother painted at some stage. They’re actually very characterful – albeit cartoonish – figures. I just keep them for old time’s sake.

That concludes the pirates section of my On Parade! postings. Next time I’ll look at another part of my wargaming collection, so keep visiting.

On Parade! 17th century French crew

In my last On Parade! posting I showed off my Dutch crew for the pirate game Blood and Plunder. This time it is the turn of the French.

Boucaniers: The boucaniers were known for their deadly accuracy. These hunters of cattle and swine came from the western end of Hispaniola, and lived a rough backwoods life. It wasn’t long before these enterprising woodsmen began attacking passing Spanish ships, usually from small canoes or other small watercraft.

Flibustiers: These were only second only to the boucaniers in experience in raiding Spanish ships and settlement. Like most French fighting men of the time, they preferred to quickly move into close action where they could bring their braces of pistols to bear at point blank range.

Milices des Caraïbes: These militia formed the primary defence forces of the French Caribbean. They ranged from well-equipped companies manned by former buccaneers, free blacks, or planters to poorly equipped ones composed mainly of indentured servants, poor workers and slaves.

Marins: French sailors had great experience in naval combat from their many engagements in Europe, the Mediterranean and the Americas. Usually armed with fine French pistols, they excelled at boarding actions.

My commanders (on the right in the above pic) include a rather dandy-ish generic French captain, and the notorious buccaneer Francois L’Olonnais. The latter was an intrepid and inspiring leader, but also almost certainly a sociopath. Spaniards would choose rather to die or sink fighting than surrender to him, knowing they would have no mercy at his hands.

So that’s my French force. Next time we’ll look at pirates! And don’t forget to visit my other On Parade! postings, in which I’m gradually doing inspection parades of every army in my wargaming collection.

On parade! 17th century Dutch crew

Continuing my sporadic series of On Parade! postings, we come to my so-called Pirate collection – not all of whom are actually pirates! So let’s start with my newest Blood and Plunder faction, the Dutch. As per normal, click on the pictures to enlarge them. 

According to the Blood and Plunder rule book, the French were the first to singe the Spanish beard in the New World, the English were to set the beard aflame, but it was the Dutch who truly scourge the whiskered Spaniard from head to toe. Few indeed hated the Spanish as did the Dutch, as with a vengeance they followed their ‘Sea Beggar’ ancestors.

The 28mm figures that make up my Dutch force are all from Firelock Games. They are certainly beautifully sculpted, and really capture the look of the era.

To the right of the above picture are my two commanders. The flamboyant genetleman in yellow is a generic Dutch captain, whom I have painted to resemble Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch in Rembrandt’s famous Night Watch painting.

The figure in black is Piet Heyn, the ‘Delftshaven Terror of the Deep’. His most famous triumph was the capture of the Spanish Treasure Fleet in 1628, but that was simply just an exclamation mark to his long successful career.

Militie: The Dutch militia in the Caribbean and South America were largely a product of the Dutch West India Company. Enterprising settlers from the Netherlands made up just over half of the Dutch colonial militia. These citizens of the Republic fought shoulder to shoulder with the other national groups that augment their ranks, using traditional European tactics.

I based the green uniforms on the recent movie about Admiral de Ruyter, though I’ve no idea what they based their research on!

‘Zeelieden’ and ‘Enter Ploeg’: Progeny of the North Sea and heirs of the ‘Sea Beggars’, the Dutch sailors of the seventeenth century were uniquely equipped to be masters of the sea and sail. A great deal of romance is attached to mariners in the culture of the Netherlands. They are regarded as champions of Dutch liberty and the promise of empire. 

Some of this group are members of the ‘Enter Ploeg’. Victory in naval combat often rests on the most harrowing part of the engagement: a successful boarding action. Only the most battle-tested crew are trusted to transgress the gunwales of an enemy vessel and claim a foothold. Amidst a hail of musket fire, the boarding party thrusts headlong into hostile territory, breaching bulkheads with boarding axes and clearing decks with grenadoes and blunderbusses, breaking enemy defences and making way for the rest of their crew.

Kapers: The term sailor and soldier are interchangeable for Dutch privateers. Naval success for the Netherlands depends on every mariner being a master seaman and proficient in their martial skills. Even merchant sailors need to be ready to bear arms if their captain decides to turn privateer once he unloads his cargo.

In my next On Parade! article I will look at the French, and later my generic pirates.

Dutch force for Blood and Plunder *really* afloat

I’ve been working on some 28mm Dutch figures for my Blood and Plunder forces. These are exquisitely sculpted figures, which my fairly impressionistic style of painting doesn’t really do justice to.

I based my militia on the marines/soldiers in the recent movie about Admiral de Ruyter, who wear green coats. I’ve no idea what they based their research on … but it is good enough for me!

I loosely based my two commander figures on Rembrandt’s famous painting, The Night Watch.

For these pics, I posed my miniatures on a 3D-printed ship from Printable Scenery … afloat in my spa. She only sunk with all hands once!

A Kiwi at Partizan

As I mentioned in my last posting, during my recent trip with my wife to the UK and Europe, I was able to fit in a day at the Partizan Wargames Show in Newark.

This was actually the second British wargaming show I’ve visited, as back in 2013  I was lucky enough to attend SELWG in London. Based on that previous experience, I had some idea of what to expect. But despite this fore-knowledge, the sight of so many incredibly impressive games at Partizan was a real eye-opener to this colonial boy!

The show was held in a very roomy and light venue at the Newark Showgrounds. I arrived just before opening time, and there was already a queue at the door. At 10.00 exactly the doors opened and the line moved quickly as the entry formalities were carried our efficiently by the organisers (including giving the first 500 visitors – including yours truly – a specially commissioned 28mm figure of the famous inter-war revolutionary, Rosa Luxembourg).

I spent the next six hours happily wandering round the hall, feasting my eyes on loads of beautiful games, and occasionally taking out my wallet to add to a burgeoning carrier bag full of purchases.

I was asked several times how Partizan compared to wargaming shows in New Zealand. Now, truth to tell I have only attended a few shows in New Zealand, mainly Wellington’s Call To Arms. Therefore my answer to this question could only be based on my relatively small experience of the New Zealand show scene.

The main difference I noted was that the New Zealand shows I’ve attended have mainly revolved around competition tournaments, in which players fight a series of bouts throughout the day. This means that the main emphasis of these shows are on game-play. Almost all the show attendees are there to play in the competition games, and very few people attend purely as spectators. 

There are also usually a few demonstration games, but these tend to play second fiddle to the competition games. And because most of the competition gamers have to play to a strict timetable, they can usually snatch only a few brief moments between bouts to look at the demonstration games.

At Partizan, however, there were no competitions. Instead, the show was split into two main groups – demonstration games and participation games. And there were spectators aplenty. A large portion of the crowd of over 1,000 attendees weren’t there to play at all, but had come to look at some top-notch games, buy from the many traders, and network with other gamers. With so many non-playing spectators, and without the constraint of  a busy competition timetable, every demonstration table was always crowded with viewers. 

All in all, Partizan was an entirely different show to what I was used to back home. And as someone for whom the look of the game is far more important than the game-play, Partizan suited my tastes very well!

The games

Now, on to the games. There were so many games that I never got to photograph them all. I’ll only show some of the tables that particularly impressed me. But there were many other fabulous games too. From looking at other people’s photos of Partizan, I think I might have actually missed seeing some tables altogether … so many great games, so little time!

There’ a lot to see in some of these photos, so don’t forget that you can enlarge the pics by clicking on them.

Siege of Oosterbeek, 1944

I had several favourite games, but this one particularly rocked my boat. The Old Pikeys gaming group had chosen to depict the siege of Oosterbeek during the Arnhem operation.

What initially struck me, having just come from spending eight days with my relatives in the Netherlands, was how the terrain actually looked Dutch, in particular the architectural style of the buildings. So often Arnhem games use generic European buildings, but in this case the players had spent a lot of effort to replicate the typical Dutch style of buildings.

Another eye-catching feature of this game was the use of well-modelled aircraft flying overhead. There were even paratroopers jumping out of the Dakotas (unfortunately my camera overlooked capturing them, as I took no photos of the door side of the planes!).

Now, I know someone is going to ask me what rules they were using. Well, you’ll recall I mentioned above that I am more a ‘look of the game’ guy than a game-player. So I never thought to ask the presenters about the rules – and, truth to tell, I didn’t even notice if it was a game being played, or a static display!

The Old Pikeys deservedly won the best demo award.

Battle of Assaye, 1803

This ‘Wellington in India’ game really took my fancy, not only for the colourful period, the lovely Indian castle, the beautifully rendered smoke-trails from the rockets – but also for the stylish way that the Boondock Sayntes gaming group played their game, complete with uniforms and wine.

The Battle of Assaye in 1803 pitted a standard Napoleonic period army (albeit with sepoys) against the wildly exotic Maratha army, a juxtaposition that makes this period one I’ve always fancied doing (though I probably never will, as I am no longer keen to start two large armies from scratch!).

You can see that the Sayntes included some playful touches in the castle interior, including a multi-armed deity and a magic rope climber.

If I recall correctly, the Sayntes were using ‘The Men Who Would be Kings’ rules.

The Battle of Mandara, 1801

My pals the Perry twins never disappoint,and this wonderful recreation of a battle in Egypt was no exception. Like the above Indian game, Napoleon’s Egyptian adventure provides an opportunity to add a touch of the mystical East to your more standard Napoleonic game.

This game featured some of the latest offerings from the Perry Miniatures range, and beautiful they are too. I especially loved the cameleers, and of course those impressive British landing craft.

The terrain looked suitably hot and dusty. The ruined temple really set the scene. It was cleverly made from wine bottle corks!

Invasion of the Sugar Islands, 1759

Graham Cummings of Crann Tara Miniatures put on this game based on Stuart Insch’s booklet  ‘A Guide to the British Expedition to Martinique and Guadeloupe in 1759’.

Most of the figures are from the exquisite Crann Tara range, or conversions of these figures. Graham and his friends used the ‘Musket and Tomahawks’ rules.

As a side note, I got excited speaking to Graham when he told me that he is finally going to produce some Gardes Françaises officers wearing stockings, something I’ve long tried to convince him to produce. At last I’ll be able to do a unit of Gardes Françaises exactly as per the famous painting by Henri Félix Emmanuel Philippoteaux.

Attack on the Abbey, 1918

This World War One game put on by the Earlswood Wargames Group was the overall winner of the ‘best of show’ award, and you can see why.

The terrain is what made this game. And it went to show that modelling an effective trench system doesn’t necessarily mean having to cut trenches into a custom board. Instead, this group used individual bases with the trench system raised above the tabletop. They then simply scattered a large amount of flock (homemade, I think) between the individual bases to merge them together. A simple but very effective approach to represent the trench-scarred and crater-spotted earth.

Each of the individual terrain features was a work of art in itself, with puddled craters, duckboards, bits of ravaged trenches, shattered trees, shell bursts, and of course the ruined abbey. There was even a dogfight taking place overhead.

I believe that the trenches were made using Kallistra’s modular Hexon trench system.

The rules being used were Chain of Command.

Russo-Turkish battle, late 17th century

I’ve admired the work of the League of Augsburg from the very first days I began following wargaming pages on the internet. This was the first time I had seen one of their games in real life, and boy did it live up to my expectations!

The modelling work on the wagons, buildings, figures and flags was fantastic. And the teddy-bear terrain was beautifully done.

One feature that caught everyone’s eye was the mortar being fired from inside the encircled wagons, with the shell visible flying out of the plume of smoke – you can see it in all three of my photos below.

Malaya, 1942

During the course of day I was fortunate enough to meet and chat to several well-known faces of the wargaming hobby. Most I had never met in real life before, knowing them only through our online contact via blogs and forums. It was great to finally meet Richard Clarke from Too Fat Lardies in real life rather than ‘virtually’, and for him to treat me like a long-lost friend!

Richard and his team were doing a WW2 participation game set in Malaya. This was another fantastic-looking game, with some great buildings and very effective jungle.

I was so entranced at meeting Richard that I unfortunately neglected my photo-taking duties, and only ended up with these few photos! There was just so much more to this terrain that I should’ve captured. But from these photos, you can at least get an impression of the quality that you’re not seeing!

Blood and Plunder

The Leicester Phat Cats hosted a large ‘Blood and Plunder’ game. The model ships really caught my eye, as this was the first time I had seen these beauties in real life. Although some concessions have been made to make these models workable with wargaming figures, the producers have done their homework and they really look like actual ships.

I didn’t catch the gaming action, but it appears that battles were taking place both on land and sea.

Test of Honour

This was the first game I spotted when I entered the venue, and it immediately attracted my attention because I too am into the Samurai period.

Terry Broomhal had some very impressive buildings and colourful vignettes on his board, as you can see from the pictures.

Discworld Witch Racing

Having travelled halfway round the world to visit Partizan, but with only six hours to take it all in, I didn’t want to lock myself into participating in any games. But as a lover of the Discworld series of books, I just couldn’t resist this ‘witch broomstick racing’ game put on by the Grantham Strategy Club. Luckily it took only about half an hour to complete. Needless to say, I lost the race!

The model figures accurately captured various of Terry Pratchett’s well-loved characters. And the model of Unseen University (made from a cut-out book) was very impressive.

Riot: the Brexit Years

Finally, I’ve got to mention this timely little game put on by the Doncaster Wargames Society. Everyone was talking about Brexit during our trip, so it was interesting to see it represented as a game.

I don’t really know the details of how the game was played, other than I think the vehicles had to negotiate their way from the Houses of Parliament (right) to deliver a message to Buckingham Palace (left), all the time being beset by angry mobs along the the way.

I wish I’d returned to this table to watch the game being played, as I’m sure there would’ve been some very interesting discussions between the players, depending what their views on Brexit were!

 

 

 

 

Fantastic new 3D-printed pirate ships!

Yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum! At last I’m able to mention a project I’ve been working on for the last month, which has been shrouded in secrecy.

I was helping out my mates at Printable Scenery to prepare for their new ‘Lost Islands’ Kickstarter, which launched this morning. They asked me to build a couple of their prototype ship models for use in the photography on their site. I was only too happy to oblige, but I was sworn to secrecy to ensure maximum impact when the Kickstarter came out.

I almost let the cat out of the bag when I posted some photos of the model sloop at sea in my swimming pool (yes, they actually float!) … but that was before I realised there was a secrecy clause, so I had to quickly delete the pics when I found out.

Anyway, all can now be revealed! The models are part of Printable Scenery’s new ‘Lost Islands’ Kickstarter. This is a collection of highly detailed 3D printable port buildings, ships, and tribes for home 3D printers, shown in the short video below:

As the Kickstarter publicity says:

Swashbuckling adventure awaits. Sail with your motley crew from the wretched streets of Port Winterdale to the jungle tribes of the Lost Islands. Defeat monsters, pirates and explore the world with nothing more than a barrel of rum, a fine ship and the stars to guide the way.

Each pledge is delivered as an STL file pack to print on a home 3D printer. If you haven’t got a printer, then Printable Scenery also maintain a list of licenced printers around the world who can do the job for you.

My brief was to build, paint and rig the two ships in the new collection – a sloop and a frigate.

The first model I made was the sloop. The hull was dead easy to paint – just a black undercoat, then dry brushing with a couple of shades of brown, and painting in details such as the carving, bolts and ironwork.

A final dry-brush with the lightest of coats of white really brings out the detail, and weathers it at the same time. But use only a very light touch – if you use too much white, the ship will look like its sailing the polar regions!

The rigging is the biggest challenge of making a sailing ship model. But I found it very easy in the end. I used a couple of pictures of real sloops to give me an idea, then cut some pieces of dowel to size. I roughly scratch-built the cross-trees where the main and top mast join together.

I gave the masts and yards  tapered ends with a pencil sharpener. They were then all stained with normal household wood stain. I chose a rather dark walnut shade that I happened to have on hand. However, if I were to do this again, I would get an oak stain instead, I think.

Once the mast and bowsprit were done, then I started on the rigging. And this is where I found out the secret to ship modelling – use thin elastic instead of cotton or thread. With the latter, it is difficult to keep everything tight. But elastic keeps every shroud and stay of your rigging completely tawt.

I had an added challenge – my project brief from Printable Scenery was to make the ships so they could be folded up to be transported from New Zealand to the USA to go on display at the GaryCon and AdeptiCon shows.

By using elastic, this problem was quite simply solved. I just placed the masts into their holes in the hull without gluing, so they were held in place with the elastic rigging. To fold everything down, all you have to do is lift the mast against the stretchiness of the elastic until it pops out of its hole, then lie everything flat on the deck. Reassembling, you just do the opposite. Simples!

The actual model (though not the early prototype I built) will have accompanying layers to portray the interior, so your miniatures can fight ‘below decks’ a well. Cool!

The frigate was a bit more challenging, as it has three masts. I also wanted to experiment with adding furled sails.

The hull was painted in the same way as the sloop, though I decided to add a a bit more colour, such as the blue and white upper-works, and the red insides to the bulwarks.

I used some cardboard to scratch-build the fighting tops that hold the top-masts to the fore and main masts, and a simple set of cross-trees for the mizzen mast. Winding a bit of string around the masts at intervals adds some interesting contrast to the plain dowel.

The hardest part was that I decided to move the position of the platforms where the shrouds and ratlines are attached to the hull. I preferred them to be smaller than on the printed model, and aligned behind each mast, rather than forward. A bit of cutting and gluing of the platforms, and, hey presto, quickly done!

The ratlines are formed by gluing bits of cotton across the shrouds (tying them on was far too fiddly for me!). The sails are some light linen folded into position and tied onto the yards with elastic.

Of course, I just had to see if this ship would float too, and, sure enough, it did! Hmm, playing a wargame in a swimming pool – that brings to mind some ideas for the future …!

 

 

‘Blood and Plunder’ French faction

I’ve finally finished painting my French faction for the pirate game Blood and Plunder.  Despite the undoubted beauty of these sculpts, this project has been a long one by even my usual slow painting standards. My initial enthusiasm wore off mid-project for some reason, so getting the mojo to finish painting them has taken quite some doing.

I’ve divided the Milice des Caraibes and the Flibustiers figures into two similar units of eight men each (on the right in the above picture). I painted the Milice in off-white coats, which was the most common French uniform colour at that time. The Flibustiers are in blue and red.

Trying out Army Painter Quickshade for the first time helped quicken my pace towards the end. Whilst the Milice and Flibustiers were painted in my normal three-shade style, the Marins and Boucanniers (on the left in the above pic) were simply block-painted and then shaded with brushed-on Quickshade to give depth. I was quite pleased with the final result of this short-cut method.

Another thing that helped rebuild my enthusiasm for painting these figures over the last couple of weeks is a very hush-hush related project I’ve been helping with. Sorry, I wish I could show you, but I can’t for now! So keep watching this space …

The slowest pirates in the world

This has got to be one of the longest paint-jobs I’ve ever done.  A measly eighteen French flibustiers and militia from the Blood and Plunder range by Firelock Games have taken me months and months to paint.

There’s nothing wrong with the figures. In fact, as you can see, they are absolutely exquisite sculpts. But for some reason my heart wasn’t into painting them. Maybe because it is that I have already painted pirates before? Or maybe it is just my whole painting mojo needs a refresh? I’m not sure.

But, anyway, here they are at last. I still have eight boucaniers and seamen to paint (and, again, seem to be continually putting off starting them). And I have a Dutch faction ordered from their Kickstarter – I hope my mojo comes back before they’re due to arrive next  year.

Above: My French captain orders his men into the fight.

Above: The flibustiers in their snazzy blue coats and red breeches.

Above: French ‘special character, Francois L’Olonnais.

Above: The Milice de Caraibes (militia), which I painted in Bourbon pearl-grey uniforms.