Here is another small addition to my Great Siege of Malta collection. Since I have a command stand for Turgut Reis 'The Drawn Sword of Islam', I thought it only fitting to do-up his arch-adversary, Jean Parisot de Vallette, the Grand Marshal of the Order of Saint John and of the Knights of Malta.
Jean de Vallette was 70 years old at the time of the great siege, and while positively ancient in 16th century terms, there are numerous reports of him in the thick of the fighting at the walls - definitely a tough old bird. His command of the defence of the island is considered today as masterful, but also draconian and merciless. He felt he did what he needed to hold out for reinforcements. He and his Order survived the siege and was instrumental in overseeing the reconstruction of the city and its defences after the battle. The capital Valletta, is named after him.
Sarah and I had the pleasure of visiting Malta a few years ago and were delighted to visit many of the sights of the siege around Valletta. The new military museum is absolutely amazing and I highly recommend it to anyone considering a visit to the island. Sarah even visited the Co-Cathedral of St. John where Vallette's crypt resides (being a lazy bugger on holiday, I slept in).
This is a set from Warlord Games. I'm not 100% sure of the sculptor, but I'm fairly certain it's from the talented hands of Paul Hicks. A lovely trio of models and a wonderful to work on.
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For the brown horses I decided to try something new and did an oil wash of W&N 'VanDyke Brown' with a touch of 'Lamp Black'. It worked fairly well, though I did make a few rookie mistakes here and there. I'd definitely try it again, though with odourless thinner next time - my hobby room still a bit malodorous from this little experiment.
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Jean de Vallette, his trumpeter and banner bearer will give me a base of 30 points, with another 20 for the Historical Drama studio location.
Thanks for dropping in for a look!
- Curt
As promised, we have some of the Snowlord's work to make us feel unworthy.
Stunning work Curt, really fine. I'm looking forward to seeing some of your Malta forces on table for a game. Your new technique on the horseflesh did the trick nicely and I really like the flag. I've added 5 points for the flag and because I'm sucking up.
Haha, thank you Peter, much appreciated. I'm delighted you like the group. A couple more units and we'll have enough for a game...
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to that
DeleteThat's a lovely command group Curt - I love seeing command bases full of figures rather than on their lonesome
ReplyDeleteThanks very much Kerry. I'm much of the same stripe, especially for the big wigs, who typically had clouds of flunkies around them.
DeleteGreat Work!
ReplyDeleteThank you Adam.
DeleteSupurb brushwork Curt, a really nice addition to the collection.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Matt
Thanks Matt!
DeleteVery nice, Curt!
ReplyDeleteCheers Barks.
DeleteWonderful work as always Curt -- one of these days it would be great if you could publish a guide to photographing miniatures as I'm always astounded at how true you manage the colour rendering -- thats something I'm forever struggling with
ReplyDeleteThank you Simon. I just use my old iPhone X in daylight and do the post-production in Photos. I usually take about 5-6 shots of each position, all with slightly different levels of exposure (light to dark). I then pick the best of the batch and do any colour corrections from that (mostly warm/cool adjustments). As to backdrops, I use a black velvet dropcloth and then use PixelCut to clean up the background to a uniform black. I like black as it helps focus attention to the subject and makes the objects pop.
DeleteA masterful vignette and the history as well as the holiday pictures are much appreciated!
ReplyDeleteThank you Sander, it was a great trip.
DeleteAs usual an outstanding paint work. Beautiful command base
ReplyDeleteCheers Benito!
DeleteAwesome looking command stand, excellent work as always!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thank you, Iain!
DeleteA fantastic command stand for your project. Well done.
ReplyDeleteCheers Stuart, just plugging along. :)
DeleteBeautiful work, Curt! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Tamsin
DeleteBeautiful, Curt, despite the sad lack of turnips. Malta is great, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteThank you Alan. Yes, it is sadly devoid of any root vegetables - I will make amends. Malta was a lovely getaway.
DeleteI do like a nice scenic looking stand and this one has your usual quality brushwork - very nice indeed!
ReplyDeleteThank you Jamie and Happy New Year, mate!
DeleteLove this Command base Curt. I remember reading a good story about the siege of Malta. Nice to see some figures being done for this. Really outstanding command base....
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm a big fan of 'The Religion' by Tim Willocks. Rollicking stuff.
DeleteA great vignette, Curt, your army really must be getting somewhere now. Excellent stuff!
ReplyDeleteThank you Martijn. It's coming along in fits and starts. I should be getting close to having enough to put on a small game.
DeleteVery nice work there dude!
ReplyDeleteThank you Dal!
DeleteBeautifully painted Sir!
ReplyDeleteThank you Ray!
DeleteGreat command base, glad you’re still working on this project. We enjoyed visiting Malta very much, though the museum was still under renovation so we missed it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Phil! It's funny, as you remember, our visit to Malta coincided with our stay with you and your lovely family. A wonderful trip. :)
DeleteI learnt to scuba dive in Malta so think of it very fondly - probably not on your commander's agenda, he's much too splendid for splashing about! (Not to mention heavily armoured...)
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