Saturday, 17 March 2012

Thomas O'Leary and the Leprechaun - Beastnasters for Hordes

Horde of the Day


Being St Patricks Day and all that, I thought I would share some pics of Thomas O'Leary and the Leprechaun today :)




Boars, mounted as 'Beasts' for HoTT. Little tricky to paint - fading the undercoat from brown on the flanks, to dark on the spine. A little wash of vallejo woodstain does a good job of collecting around the nose and mouth for that red tinge.

There be Tom O'Leary. ..    potato farmer by day .... Beastmaster of the Boars by night !

Thomas O'Leary leading his pack of Boars into rough going.

A man of many secrets, Thomas O'Leary is one character not to be messed with.

And here be a leprechaun - Beastmaster of domesticated swine.

It is interesting to note that Leprechauns migrated to riding wolves some time in the late 1600's ..  which was caused by the decline in numbers of Shetland Ponys during the 30 years war.  I didn't know that before researching this unit.

I highly recommend the Osprey Elite Series book #517 - Mounted Leprechauns of the 17th Century, which provides a wealth of such details. Invaluable reading for those of us who strive for the utmost accuracy in our miniature units !

Thomas O'Leary, issuing another command to his pack of wild boar from under the cover of his cloak.   Note that he wears the necklace of a Siberian Shaman ... an item that was highly valued by the Porcean Cult members of St Agnetha's convent during the 1671 uprising in county Kerry.

Thomas O'Leary - supported by domestic swine and mounted Leprechaun sweep into the outskirts of Limerick to put the invaders to flight !

1 comment:

  1. Enjoyed your unusual units; no Irish in me, but we were out to dinner on the 17th at a "British" pub (menu and owned/operated by a Brit), and in honor of the day there was an Irish bagpiper making the rounds and serenading the patrons. Good stuff, although of course no rendition of "Scotland the Brave" was heard!

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