Border Reivers "Garrison Men"

 Over the last couple of days, I have finished off a few more of the TAG Border Militia figures. I am still struggling with exactly how to paint them, but I have settled on the idea of putting most of them in "uniform" coats - as that is how the two packs of firing figures are described, albeit English, 

I am not sure how accurate it is, but there are a few images of Scots troops at Flodden, which is roughly the right era, and they are shown wearing a Saltire cross of St Andrew on their padded jacks. I noticed Aly Morrison had replicated this in his experimental Scots pike man for the period, so I have followed suit.

The figures I am using are intended as English Border Militia and the firing figures are wearing a coat with obvious trim around the "skirt" and sleeves, so I have painted them dark blue with a white trim, and a mixture of colours for the rest of the clothing. The various forms of caps are all blue, with the exception of those wearing a steel helmet.

I am reasonably happy with the results and I really wanted some level of uniformity to differentiate these figures from the genuine Reivers

I wont bother with individual descriptions - the first three are fully based, the remainder are not. Images 4 5 & 6 are from one of the two firing packs I got to augment the four packs that came in the unit builder deal. Its the firing figures who sport the "uniform" coats and gave me the idea for how I will paint this group (the first three predate my inspiration but I will leave them as is to add some variety)

Following are a few images from a recent walk. Just to prove you dont have to go to the back of beyond, this is a coastal walkway in Mangere, Auckland, only about 15km from the city centre and 10km or so from the Auckland International Airport.

Above, Google Earth showing the area where we walked, Ambury Regional Park. Note the top left, the suburb of Lynfield, which is where our friend Barry lives and where all out Sunday group games take place

This is a Pukaki, not to be confused with a Pukeko. The former are very numerous and dead ones are often seen on roads and the Auckland motorway, whilst the latter are endangered and a protected species...they look pretty similar though!

View looking north towards Auckland

Close up of the previous picture showing the famous One Tree Hill, minus the tree which was chopped down by a Maori Activist a few years ago. The hill was made famous internationally by a U2 song that was named after it

View across the water of the Waitemata Harbour towards Barry's place

View out towards the Manukau Heads

One of two large horses kept at the farm park - I took this image as the horse looks like the type of animal the Border Reivers would have ridden

A couple more views of the scenery. 

And it would not be New Zealand without a few sheep!