Twenty-four peasant Otomi warriors from my Tlaxcalan command, allied to the Spanish.  Not a lot to  them.  They are in their summer dress uniforms, and can’t afford interesting shield patterns that are above their station anyway. 

I’ve painted like one possessed for this Quetzacoatl Rampant project.  I’ve avoided the trap of over-ordering, and I’ve managed to really persevere and stay focused on getting figures done.

But I don’t think I’ve ever done what I did this week.  I began, painted and based 36 Tlaxcallan warriors. Yes, 28’s.  That’s great because it wraps up all the units I currently own as the newspaper heads into its first deadline week-time to paint will be thin from Tuesday to Friday. I do have two more units of Aztecs coming, and they should arrive about the middle of the week, so I’ll have something to do when the paper is done.

Just a few caveats.  They are mostly without clothes.  They aren’t exactly the Grenadiers of the Old Guard.  They are peasants, so their shields are pretty plain. 12 of the them are archers.  No heraldry involved.

Even so, my painted total of figures for this project is currently is about 260.  That’s pretty good given that I didn’t start until just before Enfilade. I’ve also pinned down the final number needed to meet the 72 point force for each side.  Here is what is left to do:

Aztecs: 3 X 12 figure melee units, 2 X 6 figure skirmisher units= 48 figures

Tlaxcallans: 2 X 12 figure melee units, 2 X 12 figure missile units= 48 figures

Spanish: 2 X 6 figure swordsman units= 12 figures

All in all just about 100 figures.  In addition I’ll add some Aztec command figures and bearer figures for scenario making.

On my painting table

Though I expect this will be a pretty light painting week, I’ve assembled ten 1/285th scale planes by Raiden.  I’m fascinated by the Cuban Missile Crisis and keep thinking I’m going to have some sort of scenario breakthrough for some sort of hypothetical bombing or photo recon of sites in Cuba 1962. I’ve got the following lined up

2 X F8 or RF8 Crusaders–did actual photo recon over the IRBM sites in Cuba, one of my very favorite jet fighters

4 X F-100 Super Sabers–Front line USAF fighter of the time. Don’t have any F-105’s to go with them.  They will be in Air Force natural metal

4 X A-4 Skyhawks-early Skyhawks without the lump.  Somebody has to deliver the payload.

2 X F3H-Demons-all weather, all missile armed fighter.  Progenitor of the F4 which was replacing it at this time.

I have a couple more Crusaders and Demons on the way from I-94 Enterprises as well as some new decals. Won’t have these finished in time for the Museum of Flight on November 6th, but I do expect to have them for Enfilade.  Am bugging Dave Schueler for a good scenario.

Music to paint by

I’ve listened to so much good music lately, and I haven’t shared much of it. But one album I picked up used is Cold Fact by the artist Rodriguez for about twenty bucks. It is a re-pressing of a 1970 record released by the Detroit based singer songwriter that sold poorly and the album and performer sank into obscurity. But Rodriguez’s story became the subject of a 2012 documentary called Searching for Sugarman, and the album was reissued.

I decided to give the record a try, and was not disappointed. Think of early Jackson Browne, the good stuff, but probably not quite as consistent.  Critical of the establishment, observations of drug culture,  the best song is definitely “Sugarman” but the rest stand on their own. Worth a listen, but I found it a worthwhile add to my collection.

I met my painting goal for the week.  I polished off the last of my Aztec figures.  I still have 36 Tlaxcallan allies to wrap up, and tonight (Sunday) I’ll start getting them ready to be primed and painted over the next couple of weeks. My goal is to finish the first twelve–all medium quality warriors, leaving a couple dozen peasant types.  That’s like seven or eight points worth of guys.

Points, I hate ’em. I’m a great believer that points systems kill good scenario making. It’s too easy to just throw figures out on the table at the agreed number of points each and have at it. Most game systems have points that guide choices from Hail Caesar to Flames of War, and I don’t like it.

My two boxes of Aztec warriors.  A total of 15 units so far, with more to come. 

That said, those same point systems can guide building armies and sticking armies in the field because they do offer an insight to relative strengths of the opposing armies.  I do think it’s okay to have unequal sides, especially of scenario rules and game objectives compensate for that inequality.  But  it’s always nice to know, as a scenario designer what you have on the table.

I like the idea of being able to offer six player games for the “Rampant” series, and the same is true for the Aztecs and Conquistadors. So, with my figures all nearly painted it’s time to evaluate where I am.  The rules call for 24 point retinues or commands, which is a good but not hard rule of thumb. This is what I have:

Spanish

4 X  swordsmen @ 6 pts ea =  24 pts

2 X crossbowmen @ 4 pts. ea.= 8 pts

2 X arquebusiers @ 4 pts ea = 8 pts.

1 X Caballeros @ 6 pts ea. = 6 pts.

1 X cannon and crew @ 4 pts = 4 pts

1 X war dog party @ 4 pts = 4pts

The total is 54 points.  I think that’s plenty of Spaniards.  However, I don’t like the mix.  I would like to add another two units of swordsmen because I feel like the number of missile troops is disproportionate. to a historical Spanish force. It just adds to the counter mix and choices players can make.

Add to the Spanish the Tlaxcallan contingent.

1 X Tlaxcallan knight @ 4 pts ea = 4 pts

1 X veteran warriors @ 4 pts ea = 4 pts

4 X skirmisher @ 2 pts. ea = 8 pts.

The total is 16 points.  I’m not sure this organization works out.  David suggested the Tlaxcallans had separate missile units, so the skirmishers may have to be combined for a total of 12 points.  I will add troops to the Tlaxcallans.  They’ll be the Outpost Tlaxcallans, and I will likely add melee troops to bring them up to about 24 points. Ideally I want them to form about 1/3 the points of a Spanish army. The addition of atl-atls or dart throwers gives an extra point to warriors.

Aztecs

3 X warrior knights @ 4 pts ea = 12 pts

4 X veteran warriors @ 4 pts ea = 16 pts

4 X peasant warriors @ 3 pts ea = 12 pts

4 X skirmishers @ 2 pts ea = 8 pts.

The total is 48 points.  That’s not a lot compared to the Spanish and their allies. The Aztecs could add an extra point to each warrior unit for atl-atl and that would bring things up to 59, but still significantly less than 72 points.  Because the Aztecs are fairly generic, that is a good number to shoot for, so I will continue to add units to the Aztecs.

Even though there is a part of me that wants to be done with this project-I have been dogged in my perseverance with this project for the past five months, both with time and dollars, it’s going to take a bit more to finish up

Feather suit warriors by Eureka Miniatures.  I like the feathered suits by Eureka.  Good stuff. 

Cayman knights by Eureka.  Interesting figs, though almost no source discusses cayman knights. 

Some things really bug me, and being dishonest and untruthful is one of them.

Before I leap into the issues I have with a certain manufacturer, let me first state what a great hobby miniature wargaming is, and how blessed I am dealing with business people, small business people, doing the best they can with a niche hobby, trying to stay ahead of a fickle market; so many of them are polite, prompt, respectful, helpful, and just really nice people. I truly appreciate that.  I’ve bought mail order, phone in orders to Great Britain, and made internet orders with dozens of companies across the U.S., in the U.K., and Australia.  I’ve never had any serious problems or complaints with any of them.  Some are faster than others, but all of them answered e-mails, kept track of and got out orders, and were completely honest about delays, back orders, and in one case even explained  a mold was missing and they couldn’t make one of my items.

But The Assault Group is simply contemptible. I placed an order on August 15th. This was after John Kennedy, my friend and owner of the Panzer Depot, and former distributor for The Assault Group in America explained they could be challenging to work with.  They had the range of Aztecs and Tlaxcallans I was really interested in, the dollar was significantly up against the pound, so I placed an order for $85.00 worth of Aztec enemies. I didn’t receive an order receipt from TAG with my PayPal payment, so when I hadn’t heard anything on August 21st, six days later, I inquired just to be sure they’d received my order-#4650.  I almost immediately received a response explaining:

Hello!

Your order received on 15/08/2016 was posted today.

Thank you for your custom!

Best wishes,

The Assault Group

Bastards!

I waited patiently as Labor Day came and went and school started. Finally, last Friday, September 17th, I sent out an inquiry to TAG to both e-mail addresses I had. Nothing. They didn’t respond when I threatened a complaint through PayPal.

Today, September 22nd, the order arrived.  It’s been nearly six weeks since my order. That’s not good.  But what really pissed me off is the order wasn’t mailed on August 21st, it was September 9th, three weeks later.

Look, all figure manufactures operate on small margins with small staffs, if any at all. They get behind, they may work “real jobs,” and I am  perfectly understanding if someone gets behind.  All I ask is the truth, not some cock and bull story about “the figures are  in the mail.” The only vote I have is with my dollars, and I will not spend them with The Assault Group again. And you, dear reader, should know in case you decide to play lead roulette with a small miniatures manufacturer in Nottingham.

What’s on my painting table

The autumn winds are blowing on my Quetzacoatl Rampant project. I have 24 Aztecs left to paint with 12-24 Aztecs left to buy.  I have 19 Spanish left to paint, and 40 Tlaxcallan allies.  They paint up relatively quickly, so I hope to have the lot done by Thanksgiving. I’m even starting to look around at what to focus on next.  There is Dragon Rampant stuff to work on, hydroplanes to paint, AWI units that need building. I am never at a loss for things to paint. A quick look at my table shows some Spanish caballeros and a really big orc leader.

Music to paint to

I’ve made no secret about my love of the Beatles and I’ve pretty much put together my mini collection of 28 LP’s that cover all their Parlophone (U.K.), Capitol (U.S.) and Apple releases. But one album that caught my eye was The Complete Rooftop Concert.  You may have heard the Beatles did a concert on the roof of the Abbey Road studio in January 1969.  It was the Beatles last live public performance and included keyboardist Billy Preston, whom the Beatles met as a 16 year old performing in Little Richard’s touring band in 1962.

As I was poking through Discogs listings looking for live Beatles music, I ran across The Complete Rooftop Concert.  I was immediately intrigued.  It was an unofficial, unauthorized, i.e,. bootleg, recording offered by the Spanish label, Gato Gordo. I had to order it from Spain, and combined with shipping from Europe was about $35.00.

As records go, it isn’t much of one.  It is largely a set of studio outtakes and run throughs of songs that would appear on the Let it Be album.  There are three versions of “Get Back,” two of “Don’t Let Me Down,” two more of “I’ve Got a Feeling,” and one each of “Dig a Pony,” and their cover of “The One After 909.” Added on is a couple of takes of “Hey Jude.”

I’m not gonna lie, if you like bootlegs, this is the album for you.  The sound is uneven, the takes are raw, there are even some microscopic blank spaces in the recordings. So it sounds authentic.  But the “Complete” label is a misnomer. There are at least three or four songs from the 42 minute performance that are missing.  Even so, it is hard to mistake this recording as anything but an important artifact from the Fab Four’s career, as the curtain began to come down on one of the most important artists in rock and roll history. Think of this as the caramel drizzle on a fine dessert, unnecessary, but a highly desirable finish to something very tasty.

A while back I wrote about our get together with 28mm gunboats and our shoot-out on the Martian canals. Today we were at it again.

In the six week or so since our last play-test, I’ve been busy with a cruise, school beginning and attention to lots of Aztec miniatures. But one of my tasks between our July meeting and today’s get together at the annual Fix Bayonets game da in Steilacoom, was to re-write a set of miniature rules for gunboat combat that fit with our period.

Re-write rules? Are you kidding me?  I immediately took a look at the rules set that began my interest in Frank Chadwick’s Space 1889 universe in the first place, Sky Galleons of Mars. Most of what I put together is based on Sky Galleons.with some adaptation to the canal milieu from the air.

I found the most important point was to determine hull size for each vessel.  Once that was decided it was easy to begin thinking about hit points, armament, and crew.  I decided that steam vessels had an automatic speed of 16″ and sailing vessels were 8″. The one rowing galley had a movement of 8″ with a ramming speed of 12.” Guns had a pretty long range, with the British guns having a clear advantage in range and damage points. The Martians were dangerous up close and looked to board.

British gunboats pass through the Martian line of attackers.

I didn’t really have a scenario planned, and was just interested to see who would arrive with what for our play test.  Needless to say, there were plenty of boats and we cobbled together a British convoy that had to traverse the table. The game only lasted about an hour and a half.  Most things seemed to work pretty well. The gunfire and hit location were great.  I allowed too much damage value to most guns, and I’ll lower those a bit. The critical hit charts seemed to work fine. We tried a couple of boarding actions, and they went well, but I’m not sure I’m happy with them.

The Safieh is boarded by a Martian Xebec.

Just for the record, the British sank one of the Martian vessels and damaged others. They also suffered a fair amount of damage and lost one of their gunboats and a transport to capture. But the game reached a decisive ending fairly quickly.

It was fun.  Now to build a real scenario and try it again.

Spanish gun crew and Quaiaquach warriors waiting for the dip. 36 Aztecs await primer and paint.

There may be some of you who have considered creating an Aztec army for the Mexican conquest of the early 16th century.  There is lots of reading you can do, some of which is helpful to miniature gamers, a lot is not. I’m hoping to pass along a few easy rules of thumb.

First let’s talk general history of the conquest. It began February 1519, led by Hernan Cortes with a small army of 450, including 30 crossbowmen, 12 arquebusiers and 12 horses; the balance were likely swordsmen.

• They landed at Vera Cruz, established a base, Cortes burned his eleven ships, and the conquest was on.
• After encountering native tribes near the coast, Cortes set his sights on capturing Tenochititlan, the Aztec capital in the Valley of Mexico.
• Deeply unpopular with its subject neighbors, who suffered from high taxes and the demands paid in blood taxes, Cortes found willing allies against the Aztec empire in Tlaxcalla.The Tlaxcallans joined forces with the Spanish after a series of three battles resulted in crushing native defeats in September 1519
• Cortes marched to Cholula, one of the largest cities Aztec cities, slaughtered many of its inhabitants and burned the city in November 1519.
• Cortes and his army were welcomed to Tenochtitlan by the emperor Montezuma and showered with gifts.  Cortes kept Montezuma under house arrest as his army took control of the city-one of the largest in the world at 60-300,000 inhabitants.
• In April 1520 Cortes left the city under command of Pedro de Alvarado, and he marched to the coast to defeat a Spanish force under Panfilo de Narzaez, sent to arrest him. Narvaez’s 1,300 men joined Cortes’ little army, which returned to Tenochtitlan
• In Cortes’ absence, Alvarado massacred members of the Aztec nobility, turning public opinion against the Spanish. The city rose in arms against the Spanish and Montezuma was killed. The Spanish were routed in the “Il Noche Triste” (the night of tears,) and fled to Tlaxcalla in July 1520.  The Spanish lost 860 soldiers in their retreat.
• September 1520, Tenochtitlan is stricken by smallpox. Many die, including Emperor Cuitlahuac.
• With their Tlaxcallan allies, Cortes and the Spanish take over many Aztec cities, some peacefully, many by the sword.
• The Spanish launched a siege of Tenochtitlan that lasted eight months. The city surrendered August 21, 1521.  The city was nearly completely destroyed by cannon shot and fire. The siege featured attacks on causeways between the island city and mainland, the use of siege towers, and ship combat on Lake Texcoco.

So the long conquest of the Aztecs in Mexico had a little bit of everything for those who like some variety in their gaming experiences: battles on land and sea, retreats, sieges, a little bit of everything.

A note on scale

I always puzzled over WRG lists for this period.  The Spanish did eventually have a fair number of troops, but they lost a lot too. It would be pretty difficult to even sort of represent them accurately with a set of 1:20 or even 1:10 rules. They depended considerably on their native allies, the Tlaxcallans to fill out their forces. Contemporary writers such as Bernal Diaz wrote repeatedly about being outnumbered and surrounded.  In adopting a set of rules for the period, I recommend something to the scale of Daniel Mersey’s Lion Rampant.  I confess I have an intellectual investment in the success of our knockoff, but something semi-skirmish makes sense to properly represent the Conquistadors. I’ve also played Osprey’s En Garde!, which has rules for the period, and those were fun-just pay attention to complete point costs for the Aztecs.

Building a Spanish force for Quetazcoatl Rampant

David Sullivan, consulting with me, made Spanish units deliberately small and expensive. At six figures, they are brittle, but nasty.  Generally a Spanish retinue (for lack of a better word,) should have Rodeleros, or swordsmen as the main building block. A unit or two of arquebusiers and crossbowmen are add-ons, but both were slow to load in combat-very nasty when they did fire. Horsemen, trained or not, played a significant part in the Mexican conquest. This will be my Spanish army for Quetzacoatl Rampant:

2 X 6 Arquebusiers

2 X 6 Crossbows

6 X6 Swordsmen (Rodeleros)

1 X 6 Horsemen (Caballeros)

1 X 2 Cannon

1 Pack wardogs

Note:  These are not likely to appear in a game together.  The troop types are really intended to provide some scenario flexibility.

Any Spanish force must also be accompanied by native allies. The Tlaxcallans in particular  contributed large numbers of troops to the Spanish attacks on Cholula, in Tenochtitlan, and the final campaigns against the Aztecs. They should always be an element in a Spanish army. The Tlaxcallans had similar troops to the Aztecs, but many more peasant troops than the noble and elite troops of the Aztecs:

1 X 12 Tlaxcallan nobility

1 X12 Tlaxcallan suit wearers

2 X 12 Otomi missile troops

2 X 12 Otomi peasant warriors.

Building an Aztec Army for Quetzacoatl Rampant

I confess I don’t fully understand Aztec army organization.  I could be fully correct, which I doubt, partially right, which is likely, or entirely incorrect, which is possible. However, David has done more research than I, but I think I differ with him slightly.

The Aztecs had a warrior society, one that was ruled by elites, a nobility that played a prominent role in their organization.   Unquestionably, there are three classes of warriors in this organization, though I see it slightly differently than my colleague.

The base of the army rests on a motivated, but unarmored class of peasantry.  Peasant warriors had plain shields, and could not wear armor, feathered suits, or sandals. Peasant troops were more likely to be missile troops with the atl-atl or dart, bows, or slings. They formed the front rank of the Aztec army in combat, and were the most numerous. However, peasant troops could achieve status by capturing enemies, who would inevitably be sacrificed.

The second group of warriors were nobles. Noble warriors also achieved status by capturing troops.  For example, they could not wear sandals until they had captured two. Noble warriors could wear the beautiful feathered suits and shields. Some noble warriors, late in the conquest campaign, may have carried captured Spanish swords and shields.Though it seems the nobility were numerous, they were not the majority of the army They formed the second rank of the Aztec army.

The third class of the Aztecs, were the knights.  They were elite soldiers, adept at capturing enemies. Apparently, they were almost martial arts-like in their ability to somersault, move rapidly-Aztec knight ninjas. Maybe not quite so useful against Spanish steel or ball and shot. There is little question, however, they were brave and fierce. Eagle, Cayman, Ocelot/Jaguar knights are some of the elite class.

A final class of warriors are the fighting priesthood. The priesthood had a prominent and pervasive role in Aztec society.  It was a society dependent on blood sacrifice, not just rip-yer-heart-out death sacrifice but for every day living, and the priesthood was large and played an important role of society. And the French thought they suffered from a plague of priests-these guys had stone knives. It seems inevitable there would be a warrior role for some priests like the Templars, the Hospitallers and the the Teutonic knights.  Like other warriors, the fightin’ priests had status based on the number of captives they took.  They could be either 2nd class warriors, like the nobles, or 3rd class warriors like the knights.

My Aztec Army

8 X 12 Peasant units-These are tricky because I will probably include at least four missile units.  Missile troops probably were integral to many units.  Just not sure how represent this.  David includes a bidower type unit.  Not sure about this, maybe.

4 X 12 suit wearers (Veteran Warriors) I have a pair of Huaxtec units, a unit of barely veteran Quaiaquach, and a unit of suit wearers in feathered suit.

3 X 12 elites.  One unit of Eagle knights, one unit of Cayman knights and a unit of fightin’ priests.

This is kind of a projection.  I have almost all the figures, and am painting more all the time.  Probably enough for two “retinues” in Lion Rampant

Our first play test is scheduled for September 24th, so I’m very excited to give them a try.

Since returning from my cruise, it’s taken a little time to get back in the swing of things. It’s further complicated by the fact that I’m back at work, even if I’m pretty much working for free.

In any case I’m back hot and heavy working on Aztecs.  I’m using figures from two different ranges. There are a number of manufacturers who make figures for this period, including the British company Gringo 40’s.  But I’m sticking with Eureka from Australia (though I order, quite happily, from Eureka USA,) and The Assault Group in England.

Honestly, both do a nice job of interpreting the appearance of Aztecs and the Aztec world. But their ranges are quite different from one another.

The Eureka figures are quite nice, but not perfect.  I’ve painted four units (48 figures.) Their “novice” bowmen and atl-atl figures are simple, just appearing in loincloth, and can be painted in an evening. Unfortunately, they can also seem a little flat.  They don’t seem to be as robust as other figure ranges, and lack animation.  This characteristic is accentuated by their height.  They are quite tall, and seem to have that lean and hungry look-a little less proportional than I’d like.  At least half an Aztec army should be these novice and peasant classes. Non-noble types, like these, were forbidden from wearing cloth armor (with some exceptions,) and sandals-which seems just a little punitive.

Eureka Huaxtecs.  The feather suits can clearly be seen.

But you may know, the really cool Aztecs wear brightly colored feather suits. Only nobles can wear these suits.  The gear is often determined by local custom AND the number of prisoners taken in battle. Eureka has painstaking included the individual feathers in these suits.  It makes for a beautiful miniature, but also not sure they have it right. They seem a little too spiky, and, as we will see, hard to work with. Eureka figures have their weapons molded into their hands, with no ill effect: the macuahitl, or war club, and tepoztipili, or obsidian edged spear. They also have large, feathered shields.  I’m not quite sure they have these correct, but they certainly are nice to paint.

I’ve painted a few units by The Assault Group.  TAG has a broad range for this period, covering units by specialty and region of the Valley of Mexico.  Their figures are shorter and rounder than the Eureka figures-proportioned a bit more correctly. I’ve painted three units, including a Tlaxcallan upper class unit-allied to the Spanish. I’ve also painted a non-noble unit.  This last unit is particularly nice, with a mix of bare-chested and quilted armor types. TAG figures have to have their weapons glued into their hand, offering moments of frustration.  The shields are varied, with feathers and without, but seem much too small to me.

Huaxtecs by The Assault groups. The parallel black marks are called ‘hawk scratches,” and are typical of Huaxtec dress.

The feathered suits of the TAG Huaxtecs are less detailed than the Eureka miniatures.  They have an irregular surface indicating something is going on, but the feathers aren’t individually articulated.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  Huaxtec suits often carried the parallel black “hawk scratches.”  It wasn’t hard to paint these on to the TAG figures, but virtually impossible with the very rough feathered suits on the Eureka figures..

The size of TAG Huaxtecs is considerably smaller than the Eureka figures. David Sullivan suggested they look almost like Huaxtec warriors and their sons with figures side-by-side. The photos show a clear size difference.  What to do?  I’ll likely stick with the Eureka as my go-to figures of choice.

Eureka Huaxtecs, right, and their shrimpy little brothers from The Assault Group, left. Both are quite good.  At the very least, don’t combine them in the same unit.

One thing, more than any other determines my future figure purchases, and that is ease of acquiring figures and service. The Assault Group is located in the U.K., and they have no U.S. distributors. A local game store, The Panzer Depot, was their American distributor, but finding them difficult to work with, the owner chose to discontinue that relationship and sold off his stock cheap, which is why I have some. On August 15, I placed an order for some Tlaxcallan troops to fill out my Spanish allies. You must be an approved member of their site to order from TAG-it is impossible to order without an email approval of membership.  When my order was completed, and payment was made through PayPal, I didn’t receive a receipt as I do from all other online orders. I finally contacted them August 26th, just to insure they received my order. Coincidentally, I received an e-mail the same day to let me know my order shipped. That’s not terrible or even slow service, but I would like to know my payment was received, and fewer hoops to jump through in an international order.

Eureka USA simply has the best service I’ve ever received from any manufacturer or distributorship in any country. The website lets you know what is in stock. The shopping cart is easy to use as a guest or member. Rob Walter, Eureka’s “Man in America” gives super customer service, responds quickly, and turns around orders very fast. I receive e-mails letting me know my order was received, receipt given, order shipped, and my order is about to be delivered. I always have an shipment within five days of making it-and Rob is near Boston, I am in the Seattle area.

Finally, TAG and Eureka figures are about the same price, $2.25 per figure. Purchasers from The Assault Group will benefit from the currently positive exchange rate with the U.K., otherwise their figures would be more spendy.  Eureka usually charges about $7.00 or so to ship.  TAG has a shipping policy based on points determined by number of packs purchased. Orders over 52 pounds are shipped worldwide free.

About the Huaxtecs

These aren’t actually Huaxtecs, they are Aztecs in Huaxtec dress.  That is characterized by the feather suit (troops in these suits are often referred to as suit-wearers.) Though there are many types of suit-wearers, the tall conical hats make them unique. Huaxtecs also sported some unique facial jewelry, a gold ornament often covered their mouth. The shield pattern is unique to the Huaxtec region of the Valley of Mexico.  These were sent as tribute to the Emperor in Technotitlan. According to a wonderful little guide to the Aztec army by web designer Chronofus (be sure to download the .pdf on Aztec shields etc.,) these soldiers are nobles who have taken at least two prisoners. They are allowed to wear feathered suits and sandals.

I painted my Eureka figures in a variety of suit colors. I chose four different shades of red for the TAG figures.  They have similar shield patterns associated with the Huxtecs.

On my painting table

Aztecs, millions of ’em. Almost.  Another unit of suit wearers from TAG.  I’m also finishing my cannon by Eureka for my Spanish forces. I have one week left before school starts and takes over my life, but an entire week of teacher training.  Will squeeze in as much painting as I can.

Music to paint by

Pat Benatar was in town last weekend, playing the the King County Fair in Monroe.  I was not a huge fan during her MTV days.  Her image and her songs took advantage of her amazing voice to create something that seemed to be incredibly contrived, and it just didn’t feel authentic to me.

But the little minx really did get my attention with her first record. In The Heat of the Night seemed to have a bit of a New Wave sound, featuring a belter who could cover ALL the octaves. Benatar got my attention with “Heartbreaker,” not the Led Zeppelin version (all four guys have writing credits,) but rather the Geoff Gil/Clint Wade song.  With future husband Neil Giraldo on guitar, this song just smokes in a way that “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” never did. The album also has a solid cover of John Mellencamp’s “I Need a Lover (Who Won’t Drive Me Crazy).” Lots of other gritty, streetwise songs, including the quirky, but wonderful “My Clone Sleeps Alone.”  The title track is also quite good, and the good stuff doesn’t stop there.

In The Heat of the Night may not be the most memorable record of 1979, but it is quite good.  It is an album that is usually available pretty cheap.