Saturday 11 February 2017

Māori Artillery

More from the ‘Empress Miniatures’ New Zealand Wars range, this time a captured Royal Navy Carronade and a Māori crew.
Now I have to confess that I know little of the Carronade other than what I have gleaned from my limited research, but it strikes me as a particularly formidable short range, anti personal weapon, particularly when in the hands of a determined adversary – perfect for defending one’s Pā against the British!
This lovely set comes with three crew members and again sculpted by the talented Paul Hicks.  I couldn’t resist having a go at their facial tattoos or more correctly the Tā Moko, perhaps an unnecessary addition given the scale of the miniatures, but something that is so literally ingrained in the culture of the Māori, that I thought that it was worth the effort.
A final addition in the form of an etched brass Silver Fern, again a nod to national identity of the group. 

79 comments:

  1. Unusual and absolutly superb!!

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  2. Yet again another stunning piece of work and such variety.
    Keep it up sir.

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    1. Thank you Dan, always good to work on something Victorian once in a while.

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  3. I've always loved the New Zealand 'thing' and the maori :)

    What a great post!!!
    Cheers

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    1. Thank you so much, they certainly have a ferocious reputation.

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  4. Trust me the tattoo were worth the effort!

    They look great.

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    1. Thats very kind, thank you. They were a worry to do as my hand kept shaking.

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  5. Excellent! I really like their Tā Moko tattoos.

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  6. Lovely little group...but he needs to watch the kick back from the gun !

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    1. You're not wrong, he's only going to do it once! :)

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  7. That is some excellent work. The skin is brilliant, and I particularly love the bared metal on the gun.

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    1. Thank you Roy, I wasn't sure about the bared metal, but knew I wanted to give the barrel a highlight of some description; glad you like it.

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  8. Love the skin tones and the facial 'tattoos' were well worth the effort imho.
    Superb vignette.

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    1. Thank you so much Joe, I became fixated on the tattoos and had to go for it.

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  9. An unusual & very well painted set of figures. Excellent skin tones & tattoo detail!

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  10. As the others have said lovely detail and great work. Maybe I missed the post but what game is this for?

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    1. Thank you Andy, these are part of my collection of New Zealand Wars, at the moment no real thoughts as how to use them, but 'the Men that would be Kings' is a real possibility.

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  11. Lovely work as always Michael, The Tattoos are excellent and well worth the effort, but haven't you stolen their souls by photographing them? or is that just Aborigines'?

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Thank you Roger, I think we are alright with the souls, pretty sure that was just Aborigines - I hope.

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  12. These a very dynamic which is odd given the subject. Top work as always

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    1. Thank you Martin, the quality of the sculpts really helps.

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  13. Superb job! Love the face tattoos!

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  14. Some truly original figures, very nice!

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  15. Nice skin tones, cool looking cannon and lovely tattoos. :)

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  16. Really lovely work Michael. I especially like those skin tones.

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  17. A lovely little vignette. I believe it was Jack Aubrey, who dearly loved a gun, that called the carronade the 'genuine ship-smasher.' It had a powerful punch at short range, coupled with requiring a smaller crew than the long gun.

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    1. Thank you A.J. and thank you for the insight, that certainly seems to fit.

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  18. Not exactly rolling out the welcome mat, are they?

    Looks great. Love the tattoos.

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  19. Fantastic work Michael!Love the paint job and the silver fern is a really nice touch.

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  20. They look perfect Michael. It can be really easy to overdo the ta moko on 28mm figures, but these are just right. The broken carronade that was at Ruapekapeka pa is still on site there and has apparently recently been restored http://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503450&objectid=11182899

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  21. Kapai! Very, very nicely done! And so brave to tackle the tattoos - and succeed! By the way, Māori had quite an extensive collection of artillery in the 19th century - around 165 individual pieces have been identified in this book alone: https://www.mcleodsbooks.co.nz/p/maori-books-tribal-guns-and-tribal-gunners-the-story-of-maori-artillery-in-19th-century-new-zealand?barcode=9781877427527

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    1. If you go to the section "Kawiti's Carronade" on this page, you'll be looking at the very gun that I presume Empress modelled their carronade on: http://www.ruapekapeka.co.nz/battle-ruapekapeka/armaments

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    2. Thank you Roly, I really appreciate the kind comments and great links too. Just looking at the Kaiti Carronade, I think you are absolutely spot on.

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  22. Very nice work full of great little touches from the facial tattoos through to the ferns. Great stuff. :)

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  23. Great stuff and the facial markings are perfect, something that is really difficult to achieve.
    Cheers
    Stu

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    1. Thank you Stuart, they were certainly a challenge.

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  24. Another work of art!!! Outstanding job, Michael!

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  25. Quite simply awesome stuff Sir Awdry. They look truly excellent.

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  26. Excellent work. I expect they are about to leap into a haka before firing grapeshot into the British.

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    1. They certainly look like they have murderous intent in mind.

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  27. A smashing entry Michael! I do especially like your take on the skin tones as well as the tattoos. Does look spot on to me.

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  28. Not a war I'm familiar with, but a lovely and unusual little vignette. Things like this cause me to look stuff up on the Internet, which is a good thing.

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    1. Thank you Jez, happy to keep you interested. ;)

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  29. Brilliant stuff, Michael. The tattoos are superb.

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  30. Excellent work on those skin tones Michael & that one fellows 'grass'? skirt has quite the colourful palette!

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  31. Fantastic painting - Empress do make some brilliant ranges!

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  32. Fantastic work. The whole piece just works. I know it has become a cliche to say you have brought this piece to life but you really have.

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  33. A lovely trio. Is a great vignette and hopefully will get some use in the future in a game or two? (The fern is a smashing touch!)

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