Conquistadors and Incas project *Update: Conquistador command added (19 Jan)

[oxiana]

Recently my painting has been all over the place. Lots of odd unrelated minis, fun enough but a bit lacking in focus. So, I've decided that what I need is a proper project. Something with a clear objective that I can aim towards and now how I'm progressing and when it'll be completed. In the last year, I've been doing a lot of Doctor Who, so I also wanted to get back to something more historical.

I've decided to go for Conquistadors and Incas. I've always had a thing for the Incas since a school project back in the day. Although the common picture of the Spanish conquest of Peru is something like 'Pizarro shows up, sneakily takes Emperor Atahualpa hostage then kills him, game over', it actually took something like 40 years for the whole of Peru to be subdued, and so there's a lot of gaming potential, from set piece actions to skirmishes to sieges on both sides. And there are some great figures out there.

My original plan was to have a self-contained project with no more than 100 figures, with Incas outnumbering the Spanish by about three to one, plus some accompanying scenery. I'm going with a mix of Foundry (Incas and Conquistadors), Eureka (Conquistadors) and Outpost Wargames (Incas). Monolith do Inca scenery, just in case I don't fancy scratch-building Machu Picchu.

I thought I'd start this thread to keep myself honest - it's easy enough to start a project with good intentions, then quietly fold it halfway through because something else has caught your eye. So my plan is to post updates as the figures come off the production line. Feel free to point and laugh should I start to backslide...

So, here's the product of the opening weekend of the campaign, my orders from Eureka and Foundry:



On the table are 28 conquistadors on foot, 4 cavalry, half a dozen or so Inca civilians, an Inca command group and 36 Inca warriors still in their packs. Oh, and 8 llamas too - can't forget those! The Outpost order will add another 24 Incas, plus an Inca ruler carried in a palanquin. 

More pics as things develop...

[Lowtardog]

Looking good so far Oxiana

[Mad Doc Morris]

Good luck, dear fellow!
The Conquista is one of those themes I keep as far as possible from my focus, because it's such a fascinating period with very nice ranges to choose from and a lot of "adventure skirmish" potential. If you start something here, it might draw my attention eventually to the Spanish lads and their Native foes.
Now, let the games begin...

[LeadAsbestos]

Terribly excited to watch this develop! Best of luck!

[Svennn]

I am looking forward to seeing these also. I have a load of the Outpost ones including a couple of palanquins that I bought on release but they are still in the original packaging as a forgotten project. This may tempt me to get them out again instead of selling them.

[Malamute]

Looking forward to seeing it come together, A spectacular looking project.

[nomadik]

That sounds like a really great project, thanks for listing where you obtained los conquistadores. Maybe a future project for myself?  .

[Captain Blood]

Wow! That's a lot of lead 
Good luck with that lot!
'Climb every mountain... '

 

I'll be following with interest, as I have a fair few of these myself, and have only managed to paint a handful...

[Helen]

Good luck Oxiana.

Helen

[Saya]

Aaaaahhhh!!!! niceeeeeeee!!!!!! 
I also had in mind a similar project !!!!,
Please keep us informed 
Congrats and thanks for sharing

[matakishi]

Llamas!
Yessss!!
Can't go wrong with llamas.

[bc99]

Awesome!

Do you have a link to the "outpost" website?

I'm very inspired by this. My undergrad work was anthro, and I worked in archaeology when I was younger. My area of interest has always been mesoamerican and pre-contact cultures.

Good luck!

[archangel1]

Do you have a link to the "outpost" website?

http://www.outpostwargameservices.co.uk/index.htm

[oxiana]

Thanks for the interest - it'll help keep me motivated!

My Outpost order arrived this morning. Another 24 Inca warriors plus palanquin. All the weapons and shields come separately, and they provided a few extras to make it easier to mix and match - a nice touch. The palanquin looks fantastic.

As these things are often of interest, here's a quick shot for size comparison between the ranges:



Left to right: Outpost Inca, Foundry Inca, Foundry Inca Foundry Conquistador, Eureka Conquistador.

Will you be doing natives vs natives as well?

Well, there are lots of options here. With the Foundry order I got two packs of Colla Indians - technically Inca allies, but who could presumably be pressed into service as opponents (don't forget that the Spanish made great use of local allies). There's also scope for Amazonian headhunters and the like, but now I'm looking at the immense pile of lead in front of me I think I have enough on my plate for a while! but I do like the potential flexibility of the figures, and of course there are plenty of alternatives for using the conquistadors down the line.

Now, back to cleaning and basing the horde...

[oxiana]

Well, in the week since I first posted I have based and primed 80 minis for the project: 32 conquistadors (including four cavalry), 40 Incas and eight llamas. I would have done more but I ran out of washers. My theory was to get every mini ready to go so that I could have a recognisable start and finish point, but doing them en masse is actually deeply tedious so I needed to paint something just to keep sane. So, here are the first Incas out of the block. These were just a trial to experiment with skin tones before I leapt into painting whole units.



From left to right, these are a royal mummy, a messenger and a 'scribe'. The mummy is a huaca or sacred object, and may be carried into battle as a sort of totem. The messenger is called a chasqui, running between waystations on a series of royal roads that could more than hold their own against Roman highways. The 'scribe' is actually reading a series of knotted strings called quipus that the Incas (who never invented writing) used to for record keeping. This mini is actually a Foundry Aztec priest, but he's lost his topknot and priestly codex, which I replaced with a greenstuff carpet and cotton thread for the quipus (sorry for the slightly blurry picture):



The recipe for the skin I ended up using is a base of (all GW paints) dwarf flesh + graveyard earth, shaded with scorched brown, and highlighted with dwarf flesh alone. Awful paint names, but I liked the end result.

Not sure now whether to just dive into some Inca units, or do some trial conquistadors now. Any suggestions?