Ducks of War - sculpting a 28mm duck army

[lilljonas]

Two years ago, I started working on a set of duck adventurers, which eventually turned into these ducks. It was so much fun that I wanted to do more with the ducks, but something bigger. I wanted a lot of ducks. I wanted enough to field an army.

Now, sculpting an entire army on your spare time, especially with a small baby arriving, is tricky. But I could do it in steps. So this is step one, where I set out to make the core infantry. With my local club looking at doing a mix of renaissance and fantasy renaissance style battles some day, a landsknecht style pikeduck core sounded like exactly what I wanted.

First out where the basic rank and file. I made these without weapons attached, so that they can easily carry spears, halberds or pikes. A lot of them could easily be given crossbows or arquebuses too if you don't sweat it about quivers and powder bags (or add those afterwards).

I quickly decided on making two versions of each group, one with breastplates and a higher ratio of helmets, and one lighter armoured with jackets.





First sets holding weapons straight up





Second sets holding weapons somewhat lowered





Third sets holding weapons straight forward



Examples with various weapons


The pike/spear ducks of course need support.



Two handed sword ducks



Arquebus ducks. I plan to expand the ranged part of the army later, but I just wanted enough done to at least form a minimum of shooting.



To do this I also made a small artillery crew. I plan to get to making actual cannon later, but I need to learn how to sculpt those first.

Now it's starting to look like an army. But I needed someone to lead them:



Three command groups with flag bearer, champion and musician.



A paymaster, it's bodyguard and trusted bagpipe player



A wealthy conduckttieri, ready to marshall the mercenaries

This nascent warhost has even started to attract all manners of ducks. In the baggage train you can find:



Civilians following along



Weird egg cultists?!



Upset wounded mercenaries


So, it's quite a gaggle of soldiers! Let's get a group shot:



Hopefully I will be able to get these done with my caster. I'm really looking forward to making a small army with them. I plan to add more "waves" to these as I go, as I definitely want to add some more varieties of infantry, but especially a small cavalry force (learning to sculpt horses is scary!) as well as more shooty ducks, including both small arms and cannon.

If you also like the ideas of a duck army, I'd love to hear if you have ideas for stuff that would belong in it.

Cheers!

[Digits]

Totally quackers!    😉

But I love the idea!    I’d be tempted to forgo horses for say Geese mounts.    You can clearly do fowl so geese would be easy…..

[Spinal Tap]

This is brilliant,  can't wait to see them all painted.

[Cat]

Some great looking billmen there!

[Clearco]

Marvellous!! 
Looking forward to see the next waves too!

P.S: I can totally relate with the fear of having to learn to sculpt horses! Mi advice: after looking at some horse anatomy, don't think too much, treat them as regular humans (or ducks) on four legs and simply try. The worst part is one's mind 

[Dags]

Be careful, you're starting to develop a quack habit.

[Inkpaduta]

Well done. What I wonder is who will be their opponents?

[lilljonas]

Totally quackers!    😉

But I love the idea!    I’d be tempted to forgo horses for say Geese mounts.    You can clearly do fowl so geese would be easy…..

Thanks! A clubmate is vehemently pushing for ostriches to be included in some way, I'll see how long I can resist it.

This is brilliant,  can't wait to see them all painted.

Thank you, I'll see when there's a slot for master molds at the caster, might be sometimes later this Winter. Very exciting!

Some great looking billmen there!

Billducks will be an obligatory addition later on, yes.

Marvellous!! 
Looking forward to see the next waves too!

P.S: I can totally relate with the fear of having to learn to sculpt horses! Mi advice: after looking at some horse anatomy, don't think too much, treat them as regular humans (or ducks) on four legs and simply try. The worst part is one's mind 

Thanks for the tip. I think hiding the worst mistakes under some kind of armour is always an available solution too.

Be careful, you're starting to develop a quack habit.

It's too late, after 70 ducks I realize that I am now a duck sculptor.

Well done. What I wonder is who will be their opponents?

That's a big question. I got into fantasy as a wee lad collecting goblins in the 90's, so early 90's style greenskins have always had a special place in my heart. But I've also been thinking of a salamander-style lizard people, with much softer features than your typical lizardman. That might be fun to do too.

[LouieN]

Well duck me. 

 That is some amazing sculpting.  Very unique. 

[Old Hob]

This is brilliant! Looking forward to following your progress.

And hats off to everyone else for all the duck puns. Eggscellent stuff.

[Tactalvanic]

Great project, your sense of the spectduckular is very evident.

Will enjoy the upquacks as and when, wish I had similar levels of inspiration.

Obviously if horse-mounted War Ducks are not possible, then Ostrich mounted ones would do in a pinch

 

[jon_1066]

Never thought I’d see a bagpipe playing renaissance duck when perusing Lead Adventure today.  They look great.

What about giant snails for the duck cavalry?  Easy to sculpt, has that weird medieval vibe and can double as emergency rations for the ducks.

[punkrabbitt]

I like ducks. I did some Hellenic conversions of the Rebel Minis ducks.

[Phil Portway]

Fabulous.

The Cavalry should be gun dogs, the Ducks getting their own back!