Harness and Array

New Scots figures

2012-01-23T15:13:00.000-08:00

These images are already buzzing around the virtual wargames world, so I hope that Dave Imrie won't mind me sharing them here too. Dave and figure-painter Andrew Taylor have commissioned Paul Hicks to design these lovely medieval Scots - covering the 1388-1402 Anglo-Scottish wars. The range currently includes spear-armed figures for a schiltron, with others planned. The image I've nabbed here is the command pack - all the figures are full of movement and bags of character and look like they'll be great to paint (...I maybe one of the few people who've not yet painted a Paul Hick's designed figure I'm rather ashamed to admit ...now only a matter of time to resolve that!).

I certainly intend to press them into service, as their sons of the next generation of Scots, still fighting against the English (now in France), to bolster my HYW collection.

More info at the Saxon Dog website, which is very highly recommended, in case there is anyone out there who's yet failed to find it!

Fortified Farmhouse - completed.

2012-01-02T07:09:00.000-08:00

I have finished painting the Hudson and Allen farm.

The thatching was highlighted with a drybrush of Vallejo Burnt Umber. I decided to flock the grass areas, as I couldn't get a convincing finish by just painting the mouldings. I added a few Silfor tufts and flowers for some variations of colours. I also made changes to the wooden gates. When painting the ones I'd made with plasticard I felt that they lacked the level of detail I wanted. So I remade them, this time using cut-down spare protective sides of Kingmaker Hussite wagons I had, which are typical of medieval fence construction. To these I added balsa strips to the bottom and reverse. The small brass hinges were glued on the reverse and then hidden by a covering of thin slivers cut from balsa sheet - all was then painted as with the other wood in shades of grey. They were attached into slots I'd cut in the walls and open and close sufficiently well.

I've added a couple of smaller farmyard items I had to hand in the 'lead pile' - barrels, basket and sacks - and plan to order some more small items and tools (probably from Mirliton?) to enhance it further.

Some pics here done quickly to show it's potential use as a defensive position. This has been one of my 'to do' medieval buildings for some time and as I approached it with some trepidation, I'm pleased with how it's come out - as terrain & buildings aren't usually my forte - back to the comfort of painting more figures next!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T06:36:00.000-08:00

Just a quick one, to wish all followers and occasional visitors to this and the other blog, a very wonderful and peaceful Christmas and New Year. Many thanks for all the comments made over the last twelve months, they really do provide great encouragement.

More models and related fifteenth century stuff will be coming in 2012.

Restoration - stage 3.

2011-12-20T09:20:00.000-08:00

A little more progress made, despite commitments to Xmas preparations. All the wood has had another highlight; a very thin drybrush of GW Fortress Grey. The rest of the work has been focussed on the dawb rendering, which requires carefully painting as some of the angles are hard to reach on such a large model. The barns have been done with Foundry Buff Leather, highlighted with some white added. This looked a bit too 'fresh' and bright, so I've washed it with GW Ogyrn Flesh wash, which has toned it down to a degree that I'm happy with.

The farmhouse itself I wanted to be a little different and as medieval folk were keen on bright colours I've gone for a red-pink tone. The shade is GW Mechrite Red, again with about 25% white added for a drybrushed highlight, and then Ogryn Flesh washed over when fully dry.

The stonework has had another highlight to pick pout edges of the stones and corners - Plaka Yellow Brown and white added. I've also opened up gaps either side of the gateway to insert the hinges of the homemade gates I'll be adding. Next I plan to tackle the thatching.

Restoration - stage 2.

2011-12-16T13:15:00.000-08:00

For those of you with extremely long memories, I started work on this fortified farm almost a year ago (!). My recent foray into a building has prompted me to try and make some meaningful progress with this great Hudson and Allen casting.

The building has been black undercoated using Humbrol enamel. The stonework has had a basecoat of Pelikan Plaka Yellow Brown and black, mixed to about 50-50. Then the drybrushing has begun. This model is so well detailed and so finely cast that this is the best method for gradually bringing out all the immense detail. So first has been a neat Yellow Brown drybrush. When fully dry I've gone over with another layer of Yellow Brown mixed with light grey, again about 50-50 proportions. I plan two other lighter layers will be added to the stones to pick out the details. Plaka's Yellow Brown has been one of my 'go to' shades for stones for many years, as I love the warmth of the colour, a bit of a Cotswold stone finish I guess. Regretably, for reasons that aren't clear, it's recently been removed from their Plaka acrylics range by Pelikan and getting hold of a few pots in the UK in the late Summer, to put aside for projects like this was a bit of a challenge.

I want the woodwork to look old and to contrast with the stone - so I've gone with a grey - starting with Vallejo German Grey over the black undercoat. Over this I've highlighted up with Vallejo Grey Green. Again at least two more highlights will be added.

The black and grey on these photos has come up very blue which doesn't show how it looks to my eye - I'll ensure that the next pics are taken in daylight.

Medieval Chapel - completed

2011-12-10T14:18:00.000-08:00

The finished model - constructed and painted - with a figure to show overall dimensions.

Overall I'm pleased with it; it'll serve the purpose I want of an additional model to place on the table and add some visual interest, that I can employ with my HYW and Burgundian-Swiss. The stonework is primarily Pelikan Plaka Yellow Brown, with black added for the initial undercoat and then grey and white added for the drybrushed highlights. Rendered walls are Vallejo Khaki, with white added for the highlighted layers. It'll get a quick spray of Coat d'Arms matt varnish to seal all the paintwork.

Medieval Chapel - roof

2011-12-09T10:12:00.000-08:00

The roof construction is basically a straightforward 'from the box' build. There are no changes needed and the model has a nice finely detailed wooden shingle roof, with a small prominent bell tower. The roof was painted Vallejo German Grey and then drybrushed with mid and lighter greys. The exposed wooden framework at both ends of the building have also been treated the same way whilst still attached to the sprue, which will be added once the walls have been painted.

Hoping to get this all done this weekend.

Medieval Chapel - stonework

2011-12-08T12:33:00.000-08:00

I've now added the stonework to the bottom section of the walls, which cover up the extensions to the height. These are cut from some embossed plastic sheets that I had in the 'bits box', which were originally from a model railway water tower I think, but I can't recall the manufacturer. I tried to create an uneven finish to the line of foundation stones, which should contrast with the rendered upper sections of the walls. I made a mould for the door and took a casting from ProCreate putty; it sits a little bit too proud but I hope it'll blend in when painted. I filled in some of the missing stones at the corners by both cutting out individual stones and gluing on and by filling any remaining gaps with modelling putty. I also found an excuse to use Games Workshop's Liquid Green Stuff for the first time to smooth over cracks and it seems to work pretty well.

Next step will be to construct the roof.

Medieval Chapel build

2011-12-08T03:38:00.000-08:00

The next few postings will relate my attempt to build a small medieval chapel, the type that would have been a typical site along roadsides before the Reformation and which I can use with any of my medieval armies. I'm taking a modest step out of my comfort zone of figure painting into converting a plastic kit.

The idea has been taken from one that John Boadle has already completed for his own collection and which looks absolutely great - mine will use the same approach - but won't match the quality of his. The framework is a Faller HO railway kit (which comes with numerous very useful shrines as you can see on the box lid).

First step is to raise the height to make it more compatible with 28mm figures. I've cut extra strips of plasticard and added to the foot of the walls. Those of you with keen eyesight will note how my inability to cut a straight section of plasticard attempts to recreate the odd angles seen in medieval structures(!!). I've blocked up the original doorway and window, as I'll add the larger door - one of John's castings that he very kindly given me to use on this model. The inside has been braced with some balsa struts as it has a degree of fragility as I'm not securing it to the original base that comes with the kit.

So far, so good. Next will be cladding the lower walls with stonework to disguise the lower walls.

French Crecy knights

2011-11-25T05:05:00.000-08:00

I've recently purchased a new PC and when searching through my files, I found these pics that I'd taken some years ago. I thought I'd stretch the time period for this blog and little and post them up. Afraid they are older pics and I think if you click on them they'll be Ok to view?

They are French knights, from the earlier part of the Hundreds Years War, from a army that I started and completed these knights and a crossbow unit, but then never finished. They are Games Workshop Bretonnian figures from the 1990s; possibly still available second-hand now, Perry brothers sculpts I believe and one of the earlier renditions of plastic horses - which look a bit bulky by today's standards but which created nice flat surfaces for applying heraldry.

All are handpainted- 'twas a time before Steve Hales brought us all relief through pre-printed shield transfers etc. I think I added the crown to the helm of the French king figure too - probably the most complex bit of sculpting work I've done with green stuff (not sure how!). Perhaps one day I'll return to do the foot figures...but not sure if the eye sight can manage it these days!!

Wargames Illustrated Special

2011-11-18T11:45:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post to say that WI magazine has published it's first 'special', entitled Great Wargames. This is essentially a glossy, full of pics of games that they've photographed over the last couple of years, probably since the current ownership.

There are two for the medieval period - the Verneuil 1424 game at this years Salute and Tewkesbury 1471 from last years show, which Michael Perry put on (and to which I modestly contributed some figures & encampment and played in the game).

Lots of eye candy here for other games, over a broad range of periods - WI were kind enough to send me a sample copy several weeks ago - good reference material and inspiration for future projects perhaps. Not sure if this is going to be available in WH Smiths or only by mail order?

I will gradually continue to add to this blog and my HYW armies, but work commitments and focus on my Burgundians (over on the other blog) are taking up my spare time at the moment.

Cheers for now.

Verneuil at Partizan II next week

2011-08-28T11:22:00.001-07:00

Darrell Hindley, myself and others from the Lance & Longbow Society will be putting on the Verneuil 1424 game again, at the Partizan show in Newark, next Sunday 4th September. The Lance and longbow Society and the Society of Ancients have kindly collaborated to 'pool' their table space for the game. We should therefore be able to use all my terrain tiles and have a slightly wider table - "ooh feel the width!"

I have nearly finished some extra bits for the table, in addition to the casualties and vignettes already posted. Pictured here are a town market (a nice Total Battle Miniatures resin casting), some additional men at arms and heralds (painted by Jim Bowen and based by me) and a few individual figures plus baggage bits are at the varnish/basing stage, which will be in the English camp or the town. These have been a bit of a struggle for me to finish, as my focus is now firmly switching to my 1470s Burgundian Wars armies.

From my past experience the Partizan shows are always a very sociable affair; with participants and traders willing to take time out to chat and there are some nice looking games and collections on show. So if you're planning to be there please do come along and say 'hi', as it'll be great to put faces & names to avatars!

Hope to see you there.

Wargames Illustrated 286

2011-07-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update to tell you that there is an article in the August Wargames Illustrated magazine on the battle of Verneuil. It runs to ten pages and includes lots of pictures of the Salute game, including some from this blog and close-ups of Darrell's fine casualty markers. Nigel Cook, one of the players at Salute, has written a historical setting for the battle and I've penned some words on how Darrell and I put on the game and how the re-fight went on the day.

Hope you enjoy reading it, if you're a consumer of WI mag.

Darrell and I are hoping to reprise the game at Partizan II in September and if so I'll try and get a few more figures done.

Haut Koenigsbourg - III

2011-06-23T13:01:00.000-07:00

Last set of pics from the first leg of the castle trip weekend.

There is a small collection of arms and armour in one of the rooms, mostly from the sixteenth century. I have no knowledge if they have any connection with the castle or were purchased to decorate the rooms post the 1908 renovation. Most of them are racks of various styles of halbards and polearms, with a couple of incomplete half armour. There are some crossbows with windlasses on the wall and an interesting wooden saddle, which could be earlier sixteenth century, all of which are not open to close inspection due to where they currently are hung on the walls.

In the artillery tower is...erm..artillery. Some small iron cast barrels on wooden carriages that clearly are not their original ones and a large cannon from the late 18th century, I would estimate it as a 24 pounder (but I stand ready to be corrected as this is not my area of expertise).

Overall the castle lived upto expectations and I'd recommend a visit. Clearly the rebuild and restoration was done with the immense resources of the Kaiser and you cannot imagine such a feat being undertaken these days. It has been done sympathetically and for the time when it was done, used all the available information to make it as authentic as possible.

I should post the next castle visit here if anyone's interested, hopefully by tomorrow...

Haut Koenigsbourg - II

2011-06-22T12:44:00.001-07:00

Some images from inside the outer walls of the castle. It comprises of a series of buildings that were developed over time during the middle ages, built on from the original tower keep. The inner defences include several small drawbridges which seal off sections of the buildings and numerous loopholes and firing points for gunpowder weapons. Most of the walls have covered wooden parapets built on the inside.

The inner rooms that are open to walk around include a hall, bedrooms, chapel and kitchen. The romantic notions of the middle ages are reflected in the decor, including scenes of military actions and medieval figures bearing coats of arms of past noble families from the region in both carved form and in the stained glass. A prominent coat of arms is that of the Von Thierstein family, shown here over a doorway, whose ancestor Oswald fought for the Lorrainers at the battle of Nancy in 1477 against Charles the Bold. The carving of the knight is one of the few original decorative pieces that remain from the castle and was replaced in situ at the foot of the inner staircase.

A few more pics to come...

Haut Koenigsbourg

2011-06-20T09:59:00.000-07:00

I took a couple of days off work to create a long weekend and accompanied by my youngest daughter, visited two castles that were on my 'to see' list. First was Haut Koenigsbourg in Alsace, France.

This is an impressive castle by any measure. You get a brief view of it on the ascent and it perches on the peak of the Vosges mountains overlooking the flat plain across to the Rhine and the German border. It was founded in the twelfth century, but fell into disrepair and was abandoned after the Thirty Years War. In 1899 it was given to Kaiser Wilhelm II who invested heavily and rebuilt it, as a prestigous symbol of German power and nationalism, recreating a semi-mythical past of Haspburg dominance. All the work was completed in only 8 years from 1900, including impressive feats of engineering which included the construction of two bespoke electric-powered cranes on site, one inside the main tower. The current castle is therefore both substantial and complete, but at the same time a composite of other elements of castle design, both real and imaginary.

Germanic emblems and symbolism abound in the carvings, woodwork and paintings. Strangely you get a feeling for both actual medieval castle life and a period of romanticised nationalism on the eve of the Great War at the same time as you walk round and discover the castle. Here's a flavour of the castle's external walls. I'll post more pics of the internal views soon.

Vignettes et al

2011-05-22T13:56:00.000-07:00

I've been using up some of the remaining castings I have, to create a couple of vignettes and another marker.

The first is a man at arms uttering a prayer for his own salvation at a wayside shrine; perhaps citing 'Charlemagne's Prayer' which was a popular one with noblemen and soldiers for their personal safety during the fifteenth century. The shrine is a model railway item from a Faller HO scale chapel kit. The marker portrays the earl of Salisbury, one of the English contingent leaders at Verneuil; the flag is by GMB Flags.

The other vignette is a mounted man at arms with retainers surveying the field of battle. Two of the foot soldiers are older Citadel figures from the Bretonnian bombard set, which was proably released originally in the 1990s, with the ramrod hand drilled out to carry a seperate flag - so that I can therefore adapt for either side (as pictured) whilst the other has been positioned holding the reins of his lord's horse. Again their attire is out of date, but they're nice figures that seem to fit well together as a small group

Plan is now to move onto to add some non-combatant/civilian types for the town and elsewhere.

More casualties

2011-05-15T07:55:00.001-07:00

The rest of the casualty/disorder markers have been done.

Again a mix of figures from different ranges; the horse is a Perry AO range with the base cut off and the saddle added from plastic card - I realised after painting it that I'd failed to add a stirrup - too late now.

I've been rummaging through the rest of my unpainted HYW castings and have come up with a couple of vignettes that I'm happy with, to use up some of the spare figures and I'll do a few individually based ones too.

Casualties of War

2011-05-08T06:10:00.000-07:00

For the Salute game I had intended to paint up some casualty figures, to denote unit disorder for the Impetus rules. Regretably I ran out of time and it was a shame as we ran short of markers, only having the very nice pieces that Darrell brought along - for which see here. So I've managed to add an initial ten casulaty bases and have a few more to do (when I get some more circular MDF bases from Warbases).

Figures are mix of Perry, Foundry and Citadel; some with anachronistic armour styles and some with rather old fashioned dress for the 1420s, but at the end of the day these guys are the dead and dieing! I fixed most to their bases and added the stones and sand before painting.

Should post the others soon.

Bosworth - the alternative to the royal wedding

2011-05-06T03:52:00.000-07:00

In 1981 I'd avoided the TV coverage of the royal wedding and taken myself off somewhere. So to keep up my traditional response to such events, I spent last Friday at the new Bosworth Battlefield Centre. I say new, as it was actually upgraded and re-opened a couple of years ago and although it's less than an hours travel from my front door I'd not visited yet.

As I expected it wasn't busy (!). Little from the original exhibitions appears to have been retained - although for those of you who have been before those excellent 'Action Man' size figures dressed in finely made armour are still there (but I'm afraid I forgot to take photos of them). The centre is now more 'hands on' and interactive, as is the approach these days. Information is provided in many different formats; one being short films of charcters, some actual some fictional, played by actors in contemporary dress who, at the touch of a button, share their feelings and thoughts about the events before and after the battle.

The political events of the Wars of the Roses are briefly covered, as they relate to the lead up to Bosworth battle. Medieval life and warfare are also portrayed; plenty of reproduction weapons, artifacts and armour are on display. Theres also extensive use of the excellent colour illustrations from related Osprey books, those by Gerry Embleton and Graham Turner. These are displayed overized and it's amazing how impressive they still look at a much bigger size. There's replica armour to try on and an interactive task of arming a knight, even using the option of French terminolgy for the pieces. The battle has an audio commentary, supported by film of re-enactors and an animated display of the main movements of the forces of Henry, Richard and the Stanleys. There is then a considerable amount of space given over to the Tudors (all of them), which I suppose is probably as this is the main point of referecence for most visitors and particularly school children who study them.

The highlight for me were the rooms which covered the archeological project undertaken in the last few years on the battlefield site, which has resulted in the finds and the likely relocation of the battlefield site towards Dadlington, rather than Ambion Hill where the Centre is. This is covered in some depth and all the finds appear to be on display there, including the artillery shot, the boar badge and other metal items.

Outside the centre there is an established walk, which is currenly being upgraded and which is due to complete in 'Spring 2011' - anytime now really. The walk covers the old traditional site on Ambion Hill (possibly still where the royal army encamped on the night before the battle) but it takes you away from the revised site somewhat, through Ambion Wood and past 'Richard's well'. A new sundial and viewing point is under construction, which will give a vista across towards Dadlington and the revised battle site, but as this is about 2 miles away you only get a slight sense of the battlefield layout.

Overall it's a high quality museum and succeeds in giving a very accessible understanding of the battle and wars, indeed it's won a recent award as best small museum. I spent a very enjoyable couple of hours there and my only disappointment was that the shop didn't stock boxes of Perry plastics, so I couldn't use my Battlefield Trust discount to increase my stockpile - Nick at North Star should take note of a sales opportunity!

Two Captains

2011-04-30T03:00:00.000-07:00

The captains from the last blog entry are painted and done; both represent leaders of small retinues, employed by their lords who themselves would have been indentured by their own greater lord or even by the king.

I've added a couple of items to the bases for interest. I've been trying to come up with things that can be put on to vignette bases. In wars of the next century drums and damaged artillery pieces look good, but for the medieval period I'm a little more restricted, so it looks like all the ideas I've used here with be seen in different forms on other bases in the future. The wayside shrine is a Noch model railway item, the dog is from Warlord Games Celtic range and the fencing is homemade (cocktail sticks, wire and thin plastic strips).

Glad to have got these done, as they've been knocking around for some time - probably about 15 years!

New Plans

2011-04-23T01:19:00.000-07:00

My original plan for after the Salute game was to return to my Burgundians. However bouyed by the great feedback etc, I'm now going to get the remaining castings I have for my 1420s HYW armies completed - whilst restricting myself to not buying any new castings - so I can draw a line under them. Hopefully this will be all done in the next couple of months.

This essentially amounts to painting some odds and ends, including some vignettes, a few more longbowmen (based as skirmishers), a contingent of brigands/armed locals (who I can use on either side) and casualty markers - the latter which I failed to get done for Salute and which we were in need of during the game on the day.

So first up, I've been fiddling with old Citadel castings to create a couple of men at arms en route. Like many others I'm a great hoarder of figures and these have been knocking around for years on the basis that "they'll come in handy one day", and so to justify my magpie-tendencies their day has arrived. These are inspired by Sire Godfrey's figures on a similiar theme. They are composites; old Citadel medieval figures (whose attire is of an earlier HYW period but never mind) on Perry horses with weapons and personal baggage items culled from other figures and a bit of sculpting putty added to assist them sitting better on the mounts. The barrel on the back of the left-hand mounted figure has since been replaced by a small plastic chest that I found I have. The chap on the right will be repainted (except or the horse).

I'll post them up when painted.

Verneuil at Salute

2011-04-18T12:23:00.000-07:00

Well, we managed to put the Verneuil game on at Salute on Saturday.

Despite the facts that: Darrell Hindley and I had liaised by email and phone but never met until an hour before the show opened; the terrain and figures had never been laid out beforehand as a dry-run; that I had miscalculated my metric to imperial conversions and so we couldn't fit the fourth terrain tiles across the width of the table and had to live with a narrower terrain layout; that all the players from the Lance & Longbow Society hadn't previously met and that everyone forgot to bring any dice with them! Despite all of this, we chatted...we played..we chatted some more....and amazingly...we won "best demonstration game at Salute 2011"!!!

The win was a real surprise to all of us and topped off a great day. It was a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding experience, although an immensely tiring one. The specific logistical procedures at ExCel means that the set-up and take-away times are very protracted. This meant a Friday afternoon arrival to set-up and an overnight stop for me with all the terrain and many of the figures. The evening stay was compensated for however by the generous invitation to join the folks from Perrys, Rendera and Immortal Minis for dinner.

I did manage to see the proverbial tip of the iceberg of the other very attractive games. At the trade stands I only spent some 'loose change', which was a positive and the plastic was only called for to pay for a subscription to the forthcoming 'Medieval Warfare' magazine, which I'm looking forward to receiving next month.

There appeared to be a steady flow of interest in the game during the day; lots of questions (particularly on how the town walls had been constructed) and many kind, complimentary words passed on the game. It was good to briefly catch up with familiar faces and to be able to put new faces to names from this blog and other gaming forums.

For the game, we set up the alternative scenario, as outlined in Michael Jones' academic article, with the Lombardy mounted men at arms in the centre (rather than on the wings), with their charge being anticipated as the key tactical moment for the battle. Darrell led the French foot, George Moriatis the Lombardians and Nick Palmer took the Scots, while Nigel Cook and I were Bedford and Salisbury respectively. We used basic Impetus rules, which seemed to work well with Darrell, George and Nick's guidance re the finer points (as I'd not played them before). Nigel also acted as our very own 'Jean du Waurin' and kept a chronicle of key events (in his little black book) as the game progressed. Briefly the English decided to stay put in their strong defensive position and take on the force of the cavalry charge. The Lombards initially inflicted casualties, but with some judicous dice rolls the English line held as the charge lost it's impetus (sorry for the pun). The French and Scottish wings of foot, screened by crossbows, gradually advanced. As with the actual battle Narbonne's contingent got ahead of Aumale; although we discovered this was primarily due to everyone overlooking to move the unit whilst Darrell was otherwise engaged around the show! The English longbows failed to make much impression on the advancing Franco-Scots and the game was nicely poised with both sets of the men at arms ready to come to grips, when we ran out of time. I suspect that the greater numbers may have told in favour of the French in the long run?

I hope that the game creates some good publicity for the Lance and Longbow Society and my thanks go to Dave Landchester for allowing us to put the game on, to Darrell for helping with the organisation, his extra figures and the motivation, and to the guys on the day - perhaps we can reprise it again in 2011 at another show?

My personal highlight from Saturday (of the little I saw) were the two '3-up' mounted men at arms by Michael Perry - they look fantastic and here's hoping they make it to the finished stage for the end of this year, as it'll make my wife's life much easier for the Christmas pressie buying . I'm now motivated to try and finish off all the outstanding figures to get my HYW armies completed, before moving on with my Burgundians.

...and finally

2011-04-12T10:01:00.000-07:00

I've thankfully completed all the items I have time to do for the Verneuil Salute game. On one hand I've been enthused by having a target to reach and so get my HYW armies to a state of oh-so-near completion, which may not have happened with agreeing to do the game with Darrell Hindley. On the other hand, what's been done has used up all my spare time (and some more) and there's been many moments of self doubt over getting things completed on time. I did fail to paint some planned casualty figures and I'd like to have had the town populated with some figures and vignettes.

These are just a hotch-potch of some that haven't fitted into any of the previous postings. The French man at arms about to be despatched is inspired by a Sasha Herm vignette. I added the chamfron with Magi Sculpt putty to the horse which is a Foundry casting and the billman started life as the Perry figure wielding a hammer from the 'Archers Preparing' pack, now with a headswop of a plastic sallet and the hammer replaced with a polearm. The heraldry on the horse barding is Baron d'Avrech, an Armagnac captain of the 1420's.

The knight arming is another Foundry group who's attire is most definetly earlier HYW, but he'll be tucked away in the camp somewhere - forever preparing and never getting the honour of fighting. The two larger tents are Baueda resins.

Two buildings have been blocked and dipped for speed. One is a Grand Manner medieval house and the other is a composite I put togther - using a lower storey from Grand Manner and the upper is the Hudson and Allen casting that's now provided with the fortified farm complex. The gothic corbels that support the (rather large) overhang are exquisite metal castings available from Antenociti (ex Freebooter).

Finally another base of armoured men at arms to get the Lombardy contingent upto a reasonable size.

Please say "hi" to Darrell and me at Salute if you're going and have time and/or sufficient orientation skills (!) to find the Lance and Longbow Society stand at GE06. I'll post some pics of the game next week.

Armagnacs (quatre)

2011-04-09T06:38:00.000-07:00

The very last Armagnac French completed for Verneuil game, I'm pleased to say as I thought at one stage that I'd not get these completed in time. Four more bases of men at arms and three couplings of a man at arms with flagbearer, to potentially be use as 'Impetus' markers for the game or to just linger near the back.

Men at arms are usual mix of Perry and older Citadel figures, some of the former painted by James Oliver. The markers are the flags for the Duke of Nevers, 'sun in flames' (a popular image on manuscript illustrations of the period) and French royal arms.

Verneuil town walls

2011-04-05T00:20:00.001-07:00

The gate and walls of Verneuil are based on castings from Hudson and Allen, which have been expertly modified and painted for me by John Boadle. These are an attempt to reflect how a typical fifteenth century town or castle walls would have appeared, based on contemporary illustrations. They consist of four pieces from H&A's castle set; the gate and three wall sections (one of which is breached and not shown here), all of which have undergone major rebuild or substantial modifications by John. All the walls have been rendered over the cast stonework, to represent a limewash covering.

The gate has undergone most significant changes. The tower has been raised in height with an enclosed roof added, as wll as a breteche, loopholes and shutters and on the interanl-facing side two high gothic windows. A wooden boulevard (as a seperate piece) reinforces the gate, as would have been common practice when a siege or attack was threatened. To the rear of the gateway the original stone stable building has been removed and replaced with a half-timbered guardhouse. The wooden pallisades, along the tops of the walls all have removeable roofs to place in figures.

The intact wall section has a wider parapet, where a gun loop has been added between the pallisaded sections. I've added a gun from the Kingmaker Hussite wagon with a gunner and spotter ("I don't know where the English are, but I do have a hunch!").

The other wall section has full pallisading and a damaged tower, which John has embellished with additional fallen masonry and wood. I'm not using the breached setcion at Salute as it appears that verneuil walls were intact on 17 August 1424; the castle has been retaken by the French using stealth, apparently a result of Scottish troops convincing the garrison they were English and so being let in (!!).

My contribution has been limited to painting the two tower roofs (to which are added spare poles from some 'Baueda' tents) and trying to match John's painting. I'm thrilled by the quality of John's work on these pieces; he's also added many small improvments (such as windows etc) which all add to making these both highly detailed and very convincing and has turned my scratchy drawings and aspirations into reality. They will see much use as town walls in many scenarios to come (as illustrated by the Burgundian garrison circa 1475, assembled on the walls).

For the Salute game, I'm hoping to quickly paint a couple of buildings to go inside, if time permits.

Three Armagnac Captains

2011-04-01T13:35:00.000-07:00

Just completed some command stands for Verneuil game, and for future use in other engagements. Featured are a French high command group, the duke of Alencon and the earl of Douglas.

The French command group with royal banner are all figures painted by Oliver James (the left and right hand ones being one of his conversions I believe), with the exception of the musician and the hound that I've painted up. They stand on some high ground to view the Anglo-Norman forces before battle begins. The wayside shrine is an old, out-of-production casting from the Cry Havoc range (I think) that I've held onto for years.

The duke of Alencon was one of the Armagnac commanders at Verneuil, who was the young son of the duke who'd been killed at Agincourt. He was wounded and captured and freed in 1429, after payment of a substantial ransom, only to continue fighting the English as one of the commanders alongside Jean of Arc. For those of you who know their heraldry, don't look too closely at the figure I've used as his tabard and shield don't bear Alencon arms... but it's just between me and you... the others won't know! Did a quickie headswop on the musician, replacing it with one of those nice hats from the first Perry plastics box. Flag is Little Big Men designs.

Archibald, the 4th earl of Douglas was one of the captains of the large Scottish battle and lost his life on the day in among the high number of Scottish casualties that were suffered in the final route. I've made a slight amend to the figure by exchanging his poleaxe for a more 'typically Scottish' axe, and the bagpiper is a tad more ready for the fray from the wearing of a helmet (a plastic sallet from the Perry WotR box), rather than the soft hat he was cast with (which is tucked away for a future conversion). Flag from GMB Designs

More Verneuil stuff coming up...

"..Send three and four pence"

2011-03-25T13:29:00.000-07:00

Or in other words, some reinforcements - for the Anglo-Norman army that is.

I've used this week to get a couple more bases of troops done. These were not the planned output and indeed are not so critical as those I'd hoped to get done. However my best-laid plans had to be changed, as I'm still awaiting a Perry Miniatures order of a few weeks ago, partly as the new later medieval castings were delayed and as they were short on stock of the AO codes I need to finish both French men at arms bases and Scots & French command bases.

Pictured here are a couple more men at arms and some longbowmen skirmishing, the latter intended to cover the extremes of the English battles. Men at Arms are mix of Perry and Oliver James designed and home-cast figures, and are meant to represent some of the many Norman noblemen who fought within Bedford's army at Verneuil. The longbowmen are last of Oliver's collection based up, alongside Perry and Foundry figures, with a couple of plastic bows from the WotR box set replacing the cast-on weapons.

I've mounted the bases on clear plastic trays that I have - very nice pieces available from the Oshiro website - which I'm planning to put all the figures on for the Salute game, to create 100mmm frontages for them to be used with Impetus rules.

Hopefully the arrival of my order is imminent...

The English baggage is defended!

2011-03-19T08:30:00.001-07:00

I've finished some figures to defend the baggage encampment for the Verneuil game.

These are a hot-potch of leftovers; Foundry, Perry and Citadel figures, all of which have been dipped for expediency of time and a few longbowmen from Oliver's collection (which are nicely handpainted). Just about enough figures for the game I hope.

The encampment will also surround tents, some non-combatants and the like.

Scots for Verneuil

2011-03-16T15:31:00.000-07:00

Pictures of the last spearmen for the Scots contingent based up and ready; these were painted for me by Jim Bowen and are mostly Perry Miniatures (with plastic bucklers and targes added from the Perry Mercenaries box) with some older Citadel figures in the command group.

As previously posted, Scottish mercenaries were supplied under an agreement made in 1419 by the uncrowned Charles VII. They provided large numbers for the Armagnac forces at Verneuil and suffered heavy losses in the defeat according to the chroniclers.
Flags are by GMB (Douglas) and free download (French arms).

More figs on the way very soon...

Armagnacs (part trois)

2011-03-04T14:46:00.000-08:00

Ok, so my blog entries are going to be coming along in dribs and drabs, as I gradually get things finished off for the Salute game. Not an auspicous entry for my 50th on this blog, which I'd had plans to do something a little special, but never mind.

I've completed the basing up of four more Armagnac men at arms. Most of these had been painted many months ago and had been confined to a box, awaiting the release of relevant commercially produced flags to use. As this hasn't happened yet, I've had to press into service whatever flags I have and have added a couple of freshly painted figures I've managed to do this week.

The leading knights bearing heraldry are (from the left) Jean de Gamaches, Poton d'Xaintrailles and Ambroise de Lore, all of whom were Armagnac captains in the 1420s but who are known to have fought in engagements later then Verneuil, mainly in the campaigns of Jean d'Arc.

A final four bases of French men at arms are nearly completed and will be posted soon.

Wagons for Verneuil

2011-02-27T11:09:00.000-08:00

I've completed a few mixed wagons for the English defended encampment at Verneuil.

I suspect that it was common practice to defend encampments before battle this way, as shown in the contemporary drawing from slightly later in the fifteenth century and therefore probably not noteworthy by chroniclers and writers. It was critical however at Verneuil, as the Armagnac Lombardy mounted men at arms broke through the English line and headed for the camp, presumably for some plunder assuming that the battle would be won. They were then forced back from a contingent of English archers either left in reserve of within the camp - a turning point of the battle. The use of wagons as important English defences is also noted at Rouvray (also termed 'the Herrings') in 1429.

The wagons are from Front Rank, Kingmaker (the Hussite modesl without the extra defensive sides) and an independent manufacturer I purchased on the web. They've been dipped and matt varnished for speed and I managed to do them in a week, which is pretty fast for me. The defensive inserts are just pavises, stakes and odds I had to hand.

I have one more to complete, to try and cover three sides of the camp; I'll photo them again soon, when I also finish off some English archers to add to the wagons.

Count of Narbonne

2011-02-21T06:28:00.000-08:00

Am now trying to focus all my time on completing the outstanding items for the Salute Verneuil game that Darrell Hindley and I are putting on, for the Lance and Longbow society.

So first up is a vignette base for Guillaume de Lara, Count of Narbonne, who was one of the senior commanders of the Armagnacs. It appears that Narbonne's contingent may have got ahead of the other French units in the fighting and reached the English line first, which had the effect of lessening the impact and effectiveness of the advance on the English position. Narbonne's fate was to be killed at the battle, after which his body was strung up and quartered by the English following a mock trial.

The figures are all Perry HYW range and the flag is a free download. The mounted figure of the count has had a conversion on the right arm; the cast-on arm to hold an upright lance has been replaced with a plastic sword-branding one from the Perrys 'Mercenaries' plastics to give him a 'leadership' pose. The right arm pauldron was then remodelled with putty. The foot knight is the Epringham figure with his moulded heraldry removed to enable a repaint.

Photos taken indoors in some haste. Now working my way through assembling various wagons for use with the English encampment.

Restoration - part 1

2011-01-09T11:31:00.000-08:00

This topic could really be posted on either of my blogs, so I thought I'd place it here as it'll keep H&A ticking over. This will probably be a mid-term project to get to completion, as I'll do bits on it when I can.

The Hudson and Allen fortified farm has been a favourite terrain piece of mine for many years, but it's only recently that Ben at Vatican Enterprises has got the moulds back into production - so I was keen to purchase one last year (along with some of the castle walls which have gone for serious 'upgrades' - a subject for future posts). The service at Vatican is first-class by the way, for anyone thinking of ordering from the US; all items arrived safely and speedily. The original model has been changed in the making of the new moulds. Basically the farmhouse building is now larger and has a tiled roof rather than thatch (see pic above taken from Vatican's website). For me this fundamentally changed the building to be more early-modern, perhaps most suitable for ECW or TYW rather than medieval, so I've undertaken a modest 'restoration'.

Luckily the original upper storey casting was based on one of the village buildings thats available, so I purchased this also. Although it lacks the chimney of the original, it fits exactly and the only task was to remove and fill in the cast-on door with dawb walling using modelling putty. This leaves a dormer shape in the roof, but I can live with that.

Secondly I re-cut the walls and reformed them to the original size, bracing the joint with plasticard and some pins embedded in the walling. The cutting is easy as the castings are made from a lighweight expanded foam material, that sets hard and retains a high level of surface detail (one of the things that I really like about these buidlings). I then filled the small gaps and carved out stonework to hide the joints.

Lastly I've made some wooden gates, as none are provided. These are cut from plasticard; scored and brushed with a hard wirebrush to create a pseudo-woodgrain (thats not showing up in the pics, but should do when paint is applied). I'm planning to fix them via a pair of small brass hinges, which need to be embedded in the gateposts. The joint of the hinge will inevitably show, but hopefully not too noticeably.

Next step is a black undercoat and then to build up the tones for the building - lots of deatils in this piece, so I'm expecting it'll take me some time. I feel the need to invest in a new flat brush for all that dry-brushing...

French Coustillers

2010-12-17T04:38:00.000-08:00

A few more gaps filled with the French army. These are 'coustillers', sergeants' or mounted retainers carrying their lords flags and banners, which I'll be using either as a second rank supporting the mounted men at arms, or as a seperate unit for lighter cavalry tactics.

They have been painted by Jim Bowen and based and flagged by me - all GMB Design flags, except the French arms banner which is a free download from the excellent Kriggspill site. These now complete my planned mounted French troops, unless there is the need to ad a few more for the Salute game next year?

This will probably be the last posting on this blog for this year. It's been a pretty good year as far as progress is concerned, taking into acount the amount of time I've had, although I didn't get to the planned finishing post with these HYW armies. However that post does seem to be coming into view and the Salute venture will be sufficient to motivate me to finish early next year.

I'm now busy assembling plastics for my next Burgundian figures and ready for the new figures and useful pieces in the Perrys 'Mercenaries' box.

Toodle pip....

Armagnacs (Part Deux)

2010-11-26T03:20:00.000-08:00

Well, any of you who may just have been patiently awaiting the follow up to the last Armagnac blog entry ( December 2009) I can tell you that your perseverance has finally been rewarded!

Here are another group of eight bases of French Armagnacs, representing noblemen, men at arms and their retainers advancing on the English formations. Pictures are a bit dark, due to the lack of natural light here today. These are all Perry figures and were either painted by me (some months ago now) or Oliver James. The delay was not a planned anniversary blog entry from the last one or down to my usual lethargy, but primarily due to an absence of suitable flags and happily I've purchased some of the recent GMB Designs and used them here.

I did a little work on the mounted figure of the Bastard of Orleans; the casting wears a soft hat, and as as I wanted him to be more dynamically leading I simply exchanged this for a visored helm (a Mirliton casting I think, which is lacking a little in crisp detail however the overall effect seems to work OK). I also changed the GMB French coat of arms flag by painting on a label argent and a bend sable for the Bastard's arms, which are very finely sculpted on the casting.

I have a final number of almost completed French to finish off; hopefully amounting to six or eight more bases - once again they'll have to await a supply of related flags.

Henry - Triumphant

2010-11-12T02:56:00.000-08:00

This is my after-the-battle vignette for Henry V.

The mounted Henry and Sir Thomas Erpingham are actually the first figures from the Perrys AO range that I painted up, probably over 3 years ago, when I purchased them just with the intention only of "it'll be nice to paint and base up that lovely command set" whilst I'm doing something else. Here I am many months later finally finishing them off, with the bulk of an English army and part-completed French one behind me... ho hum!

The only interloper here among the Perrys is another Citadel Bretonnian, who seems to play a regular role as the enthusiastic banner bearer, this time holding the Holy Trinity banner that Henry had at Agincourt. This and the English Royal arms are from the LBMS HYW flag sheet.

Henry - Belligerent

2010-11-05T08:52:00.000-07:00

This is the command stand for my English army when used for the Agincourt period, showing Henry V in battle. The royal figure is the Perry mounted one, cut at the waist and re-attached to legs from man at arms figure; the shield was carefully liberated from the page from the same personality pack using a fine hacksaw blade.

Other figures are Perrys, except for the trumpeter who's an older Citadel Brettonian. Flags are from GMB Design (arms of England and France) and LBMS (Henry's personal banner).

This is one of two Henry V figures I've worked on - other one to be posted imminently.

St Crispins Day

2010-10-25T03:11:00.000-07:00

The 595th anniversary of the battle of Agincourt would seem to be sufficient excuse to post some pictures of my English army in it's current near-completed state. The photos were taken in a bit of a rush and had to be done indoors, so never as good with flash as with natural light.

As readers of previous posts will know, nearly all the figures are Perrys AO range, with some Citadel older Brettonian range sneeked in for added variety of poses. When I've lined the figures up like this on my table, for the first time, they don't seem to be as numerous as I'd thought (although I'm more than happy with the quality). If I manage to create a little more spare time, I'm minded to add a couple more men-at-arms bases, using up odd figures that I still have, probably as generic ones that I can use as Norman-raised troops (ie unspecific to any English nobleman). I'm also planning to add some archers on skirmish-type bases, as well as command vignettes, baggage and casualties before this army will be deemed as in a state of completion.

I've just received some of the newly released GMB flags for my French, so this should allow me to start basing up some more already painted troops.

Bombard

2010-10-08T08:20:00.000-07:00

A bombard for use with either the English or French armies. Although it's probable that bombards of these huge proportions were not produced until the mid fifteenth century, much of the campaigns for Normandy in the secound quarter of the century were characterised by castles, strongholds and towns falling to either the actual, or the percieved, threat from besiegers who arrived accompanied with a siege train of artillery pieces. I have another smaller bombard casting, the old Citadel one, which I'll paint up and which will be more appropriate for this period.

This is the Perry WotR castings with three of the crew on 'sabot' bases (5 pence coins), so that it can be used by my Burgundians too. Crew are an old Citadel Brettonian, Perry handgunner and the master gunner from the sadly defunct Empire Miniatures of Australia - I've been saving him for an appropriate opportunity and I think this is it, as he fits well into this semi-vignette. The equipment items are from various manufacturers, inc Bicorne, Front rank and Architects of War. The wooden pallisades are Kingmaker Hussite wagons sides, with wooden framework added. The colour tone for the new-cut wood is Foundry Canvas Shade (8A), highligthed with a drybrush and then dipped with Army Paint strong tone, then finished with a matt Dullcote varnish. Thanks to phil Hendry for suggesting this colour - I'll be using it again.

If you want to see the Burgundian version, with mantlet, it's here on my other blog http://je-lay-emprins.blogspot.com/

So -there you have it... two bombard bangs for your buck!!

Impetus markers

2010-09-29T12:09:00.001-07:00

More of Oliver's figures, rebased as 'opportunity' markers for Impetus rules or to use as seperate vignettes. As with his other figures, all the heraldry on tabards and flags is handpainted. Figures are (from left), Michael de la Pole earl of Suffolk, John Talbot earl of Shrewsbury and Sir William Glasdale. They are mounted on large 'penny' washers, which have a relatively thin profile and add stability with their weight.

I will be doing more of these markers for both English and French, as well as some casualty markers too.

French Crossbows (III)

2010-09-17T08:38:00.001-07:00

The last contingent of French crossbowmen, supplemented by some handgunners, are completed.

These are nearly all Oliver's paintwork, I've just added two casualty figures of my own to make them upto four bases, the same as the others I've already done. These can be used as they are or in conjunction with urban pavisers. The close-ups are as detailed as I can get with my camera, but I've tried to show Oliver's fine paintwork on these figures (as with all the others).

Now considering how to create some opportunity and casualty markers for use with Impetus rules, having just received a copy for their new army lists for the fifteenth century.

Two commanders for Verneuil

2010-09-17T02:23:00.000-07:00

These are vignettes of leaders for the battle of Verneuil 1424; John, duke of Bedford for the Anglo-Normans and Jean d'Harcourt, count of Aumale for the Armagnac French.

I have already completed a fighting base that includes the duke of Bedford, wearing his combined English and French livery coat, however the acquisition of Oliver's figures meant I have another exquisite model that I couldn't leave sidelined. The figures on the Bedford base are Olivers, including the handpainted flag and some conversion work on one of his own castings. My only contribution has been to paint the musician and re-base them.

The count of Aumale was one of the senior commanders of the French in their campaign of 1424 to regain territory in Normandy. He had led a French victory at La Gravelle in 1423 against the English,which included French cavalry leading the attack (the tactics that were continued at Verneuil). His figure is one from the Perry AO range French command pack with the cast-on heraldry carefully removed with knife and needle file, so he can be repainted. The crossbowman is an old Citadel Brettonian figure, the flag a free web download and pavise transfer if LBMS.

I plan to do a few other vignettes for Verneuil, to hang around behind the battle lines.

Lombardy men at arms

2010-09-06T14:45:00.003-07:00

As part of completing my French forces, I've added two more bases of men at arms mounted on armoured horses, who can be used as Lombards for the battle of Vernuil.

For the 1424 campaign, Charles VII had raised a large contingent of Lombard mercenaries, contracted to a Milanese captain called 'Le Borgne Caqueran'. The rationale for the armoured horsemen was to counter and break the English defensive positions and longbows, as they had apparently achieved in 1423 against a Burgundian force at La Buissiere.

At Vernuil the French may have had at least 500 and possibly upto 2,000 such mounted troops. Although there is debate about whether they were positioned on the wings or in the centre of the French army, their initial charge successfully broke the English line (although not win the day). More figures may therefore be needed for any refight of the battle; but I do have more castings and already have some similar ones completed.

The man at arms on the grey horse is a part-painted figure from Oliver James, which I've finished off and the others are done by me - all Perrys AO range.

La Journee

2010-08-30T09:35:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to promote Darrell Hindley's new blog.
http://lajourney-bedford.blogspot.com/

Darrell and I are planning to put on a demo game in 2011, for the battle of Verneuil, Bedford's victory of 1424 using some of the figures that I've been posting here and Darrell's started a blog covering both the historical side as well as showing his great figures that he's painting for the game.
The title of the blog relates to the arranged battle site and date that was agreed between Bedford's Anglo-Norman forces and Alencon's Armagnacs. I'm sure he'll explain more on that in subsequent posts.

It promises to be great blog to follow.

New Contingents

2010-08-27T03:51:00.000-07:00

And Lo, in the month of July, in the year of our Lord 2010, royal warrants were issued to the Count of Wymborn to raise goodly men of war, both spears and bows, to assist our noble king Henry in his rightous claim to the crown and lands of France....

...or to put it in other words, I was extremely fortunate earlier this summer to have the opportunity of purchasing the HYW collection of Oliver James. Oliver has posted many of his excellent figures on Steve Dean's Painting Forum; they include many conversions, handpainted flags and his own designed and cast figures, all painted to the highest standard of detail. His plans are now to extend his designing work and move into a WotR collection, so I'm now in the position of intergrating these and complete my English and French armies using Oliver's figures, supplemented by my own.

Shown above are the remainder of the core English bases, 3 men at arms and 6 longbowmen. All are Oliver's figures and flags with the exception of the musician and six of the bowmen (the conversions that I did in July); a flag is to be added to the bowmen - I'm awaiting 'Battle Flag' to make some later HYW sheets very soon. Oliver had based his figures individually on mdf, which I've carefully managed to cut at about half of the depth with a small hacksaw, retaining his basework and then landscaped into my usual basing approach - grout & pva mix, sand and stones - for my 50mm square basing.

I will therefore be 'pulling stumps' on the English comprising of 10 men at arms and 28 longbowmen bases. I'll still be adding some vignettes, baggage, casualty markers and other extras.

Carcassonne

2010-08-17T12:05:00.000-07:00

I always try to combine my hols with some historical or military sightseeing, if there is any opportunity. So this year we left our holiday venue early one morning to drive the 90 minutes west to Carcassonne in the Languedoc region.

Carcassonne is a rare example of what would have been a common sight in the medieval world, a fortified town, complete with inner fortress and outer barbican in this case. It's military promimence came to the fore in the crusades against the heretical cathars of the region in 13th century, at one point being administered by Simon de Montford. It's position then was effectively to control the borders of medieval France and Spain. It consists of complete double-walled fortifications with 53 towers in all.

However all is not what it appears. After the fortication fell into disuse, it was extensively restored in the 19th century by Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, who infamously restored other French medieval buildings. Consequently much of the upper ramparts and walls are not original, but it is the overall impression of the place that is impressive and the closest representation of a walled town you may witness (without using CGI technology).

What struck me most were the walls where the wooden pallisading has been restored - this IMHO truly reflects what 15th century walled defenses would have been like, rather than the raw stone walls that we see on most castles - be they actual or on a wargames table - and reminds me that I must add them to mine, when the time comes for a HYW castle.

I also managed to paint a dozen more figures, although the finished quality was poorer than expected - a very warm climate for your holiday is what you wish for of course, but it plays havoc with painting al fresco when your acrylics are literally drying on the brush!!

Scots (II)

2010-07-26T12:09:00.000-07:00

The remainder of the Scots, that I began posting in December last year ; these being archers and men at arms. As previously notes it appears that larger numbers of bowmen were deliberately hired among the Scottish levies recruited in the 1420s to counter the English successes.

The figures are a mix of Perrys and Citadel Brettonians, which go together quite well (as they are from the same designers). The Citadel figures are based on the armour and attire of an earlier phase of the HYW, however I've used them on an assumption (completely unfounded in any records) that the Scottish captains raised troops for the wars in France, from among the less-affluent tiers of society, who could not afford the latest in arms and armour (..works for me anyway!). Also I've purposely used a high proportion of figures weilding axes and two-handed swords for the men at arms, based on the entirely anachronistic visual reference to Celtic Gallowglass and highlanders.

Figures are painted by Jim Bowen, Oliver James and myself, flags from Freezywater. The heraldry, either on flags or surcoats, includes Thomas Blair, Edward Lennox, William Stewart and the earl of Angus.

A holiday-induced hiatus will now follow...

...oops, have realised that couple of pics are a tad blurry - sorry (will re-shoot after hols)

WIPs - a little variety

2010-07-14T03:10:00.000-07:00

After a hiatus, I'm now resolved to get my English and French armies to a position whereby I have all the key arms needed, in sufficient numbers, to have a small scale game. This will not prevent further longer term additions, such as Burgundian allies, but also mean that I can put them aside 'completed' with a clear mind, for when the next Perry WotR plastics arrive.

To get to this stage it looks like I need to do the following. For the English; a couple more longbow and dismounted men-at-arms bases, some command vignettes (inc Henry V), baggage & waggons and plenty more stakes.

For the French I have some completed Scots archers and men-at-arms to base up, several more men-at-arms bases, command groups and I want to have mounted coustillers as a second-rank to support the mounted French men-at-arms. If time permits some armed peasants/brigands would be useful, perhaps using a mix of designers (as the Perry ones appear to be permanently stuck on the workbench!).

So plenty to do.

Picture above is the starting point to fill in these gaps. Thought I'd see if I could get a little more variety by utilising plastic spares from the WotR's box. This range does not seem to lend itself to easy conversions, (the type that I can achieve!) but I'll keep thinking if there are others to do. The advancing longbowman pose came from a conversion that Oliver James has done on one of his figures, so credit goes to him.

These will be primed and then painted next month when I'm away on hols.

Lifesize inspiration

2010-04-12T14:15:00.000-07:00

About time that this blog was kicked back into life and as I'm busy on t'other blog recently, thought I'd show some pics taken at Warwick Castle event at Easter weekend.

It's only an hour away from my home, so my daughter and I dodged the rain storms to mingle with some acquaitances from the duke of Buckingham's retinue living history group and visited the excellent 'Kingmaker' display. The pics are some of the life-size figures in the castle, displaying the earl's retinue making preparations for the ill-fated Barnet campaign of 1471. All the clothing and equipment is spot-on for the period and taken from reliable contemporary pictorial evidence. I'm also planning some encampments, so also took some pics of camp life for future reference too.

If you've not been before, I recommend the castle and the quality of the Kingmaker galleries is (almost) worth the steep entry price alone.

More HYW figures (probably the remaining Scots) will be coming here soonish...

Armagnacs (part une)

2009-12-30T16:06:00.000-08:00

In attempting to get close to a point of partial completion with my HYW armies at the end of this year (which I have failed to do) I realised that I'd overlooked the fact that earlier in the year I'd finished about fifty-odd French figures, a mix of men at arms and retainers, which I found carefully tucked away in a box. So these are the first group of six bases. Until now I'd hesitated basing them, as I want to use as many pre-printed flags as possible, due to their high quality, and to align flagbearers to respective knights where I've painted specific heraldry on surcoats. So these figures are those who have generic French flags (from Adolfos Ramos, LBMS, et moi). Future basing now appears to be held hostage to a future date when new HYW flags are available - so anyone who can influence Grahame Black or Steve Hales to release some more, will have my eternal gratitude! Figures are Perrys with a couple of Citadel Miniatures interlopers, all brushwork is mine.

This will probably be the last blog on here for a short while, as I switch my attention to my Burgundians and things plastic on t'other blog. However I have made a 2010 resolution to complete these armies.

Scots

2009-12-04T05:32:00.000-08:00

Between 1418 and 1436, the Armagnac faction of the Dauphin Charles, sought to renew ‘the auld alliance’ and recruit Scots to bolster the fighting against the English and Burgundians. This was despite the fact that James I of Scotland was still captive in England, as he had been since 1406. Around 5,000 Scots were involved in campaigns, contributing to the French success at Bauge, but suffering heavy casualties at Cravant in 1423 and Verneuil the following year, after which their numbers and importance don’t appear to have recovered.
This first contingent are spearmen, continuing the tradition of the Scots ‘schiltron’. However in the first quarter of the fifteenth century they had a mix of arms. It appears that higher numbers of archers were recruited, presumably to deliberately counter the English longbows.
These Perrys have been painted by Jim Bowen (with 3 added by me, as I realised when basing up that I’d miscalculated how many I needed!), many of them bear the Scottish ‘saltire’ badge, although I decided to have them fighting under a French flag.
Scots archers and men at arms to follow.

Sustenance

2009-11-14T11:04:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post, with a vignette that I did a few weeks ago. A man at arms, usable for any army, taking on fluids (probably wine not water) after the battle. The camp follower is a Foundry figure from their Swiss wars range. The useful wayside cross in the background is Bicorne from their ECW range (I think). More anon.

Speedos

2009-11-07T06:12:00.000-08:00

Four bases of English 'scurrors' painted allegro, using the Army Painter dip. Having read avidly Dave Imrie's Saxon Dog blog over the last few weeks and having been impressed by the quantity and quality he's acheived by brushing on the dip, I thought I'd succumb and give it a go in the hope of increasing production levels, without compromising too much on detail. Also these figures are not 'core' to the English army and may see action on the table only on rare occassions, so I felt I had little to lose.
I'm pretty pleased with the results. I undercoated the figures with a light grey enamel and then just blocked in the colours, using much paler tones that I would normally use - all those Foundry highlight shades look like they may get used after all. This approach felt very odd and distinctly uncomfortable having painted figures with a shade and highlight style for more than 30 years. However just when I was thinking it may have been a bad idea, came the 'eureka' moment when the dip is applied (by brush) and all the figure's details are picked out and some decent shading applied. When dry I then picked out some highlights, with the same colour as the base, on some cloths and on the faces. I chose the 'Dark Tone' dip, on the basis that it would have greater impact on the plate and mail armour. The dip finish is gloss, so figures were matted down with a spray of 'Coat d'arms' matt varnish.
Horses were traditionally done but I will test dip on some soon.
Overall results are a 7/10 for quality (but only if you study the figures close up) and a 11/10 on time saved - doing these 'nomally' would have taken me probably 3 times longer.
Figures are Perry and pennon from LBMS banner sheet. Basework to be completed and photo'd in artifical light - not great pics I'm afraid.

Bedford at Ivry 1424

2009-10-27T07:45:00.000-07:00

John duke of Bedford was Henry V's oldest surviving brother, following the deaths of the King and the duke of Clarence. In Henry VI's minority Bedford became Regent of France and as such led the war effort and secured the significant victory at Verneuil in 1424.

The chronicler Jehan de Waurin, one of the key sources for the wars, was in attendance with the English army that year and describes Bedford when the English army besiged the town of Ivry in August. He wore a specially made surcoat, bearing the combined red cross of England and the white cross of France, signifying to all in attendance and behind the walls of the town, his legitimacy as Regent of the two countries, now legally combined following the Treaty of Troyes.

I'm assuming that he continued to wear this for the remainder of that year (at least) and so have made some marginal modifications to one of the Perry commanders to re-create Bedford. I decided to put the French cross on blue (although many contemproary illustrations show it on red) to create some contrast. The figure in the middle of the base is a lovely figure sculpted by the 'count of wymborn' on Steve Dean's website; others are Perrys.

Longbowmen (II)

2009-10-26T15:47:00.000-07:00

A small contingent of English longbowmen defend the crossing point of a tributary of the Seine, somewhere in Normandy.

The remainder of the English longbowmen for now; another 9 bases completed here. I'd like to do another three to take the total to 18 and so retain the 3:1 ratio with the men-at-arms. Figures painted by me and Jim Bowen on a roughly 50-50 split. Couple of older Citadels tucked in amongst the ranks including two plastics (before the current plastic 'renaissance'). The commander figure is Sir John Harrington (whose 19th century descendant appears to have invented the water closet!) who I've used as I had the GMB flag! Another St George flag is to be added to these for completeness. The terrain board is made by Keith at Realistic Modelling Services, who has a top-notch product.
Bases with defensive stakes are still to be completed.

literary inspiration?

2009-10-16T11:22:00.000-07:00

Those nice people at Amazon have sent me some reading matter - Conquest - the new book on the conquest and loss of English Normandy, from 1417 to 1453. The last blog-related book I read was Anne Curry's Agincourt which was an academic study, well researched and suggesting new insights into the armies, campaign and battle. I'm expecting Juliet Barker's approach to be much 'lighter', indeed the preface is ended with her stating "I hope that the reader will be entertained as well as informed". It looks like Barker's taken a straight narrative approach, using only secondary sources, but hopefully one that's anchored to the existing historical evidence. I've had a quick look at the section covering the battle of Verneuil, where she's taken the established view of the battle - sadly making no reference to Dr Michael Jones recent published reinterpretation. However the read should keep me sufficiently enthused for the next 6 weeks, to keep my project moving, although time spent reading is not time spent painting! I'll post a brief review of the book when read.

The washing of the longbows*

2009-09-19T13:41:00.001-07:00

Just a short WIP update. With the launch of the Perrys WotR range looming somewhat (circa 12 weeks and counting down), my focus is now to get both armies to a stage of semi-completeness asap. First up are the English longbowmen, which need several more figures adding to get them to a close-to-planned state, ie 20 bases rather than the 24. I'm testing achieving this by a possibly speedier painting process, on a psuedo-production line basis, as the finished figures will get mixed in when based to achieve a non-uniform medieval appearance.
So I've tried is to use washes more than I've ever done previously - not the complete dipping process (which personally creates a finish to my liking) - but Games Workshop washes, as I've read generally positive reviews about.
I stared using them on the padded jacks of these archers. The jacks were painted in Foundry Buff Leather (mid-tone 7B) and then had GW Devlan Mud & Sepia 50:50 mix washed over. This adds deep shadows in the thin creases of the jacks - which is difficult to achieve by hand - as well as dulling the overall colour and creates some contrasts with the raised surface areas. I've then picked out highlights using the Buff 7B straight from the pot.
For hands and faces I've applied the same method. Foundry Flesh mid (5B) with GW Orgyn Flesh wash and then highlights on nose, cheeks, chin and forehead with 5B again. Not much facial details show with these helmeted figures, but I think next time I'll pick out shadows on the eyes, nose and mouth with my usual method (Plaka Red Brown) post wash and before the highights to achieve more depth and contrasts - although this will add to the overall time to finish a figure.
Overall I'm satisfied with the final figures, and which feel like they've been a little quicker to complete (although no stopwatch was set). Am now contemplating using the washes more; on the other clothings at least. They do create neat natural shadows and exploit the fine sculpting of the castings. However the trade-off is that washes do 'dull' the paint they're applied over and I don't want a 'dipped' finish, so adding the highlights as I'd usually do, will still be needed.
I'll post up the next batch and we'll see...

* with apologies to Donald Morris.

The Maid of Orleans

2009-09-07T04:25:00.001-07:00

Here's Joan of Arc vignette base, to inspire the French to kick the English claimants to the throne out of the Loire valley castles and back into Normandy (ie a plus one on all morale tests!). She leads one of her aides, Sire de Kermoysan (k 1450) and her personal contingent of herald and flag-bearer. The flag carrying Charles VII's royal arms is a temporary one and will be replaced by Joan's personal pennon (when GMB produce it, I could bring myself to try and paint it, whenI know that GMB's will surpass my attempts by miles). Kermoysan has had a head-swap so that he's not rudely looking at Joan through a closed visor and the banner-bearer is an ex-Citadel figure with bill replaced to hold flag.

Joan passes by a group of Cistercian monks who have travelled from the local monastery to witness and venerate the holy miracle that they have heard about. These have time-travelled from the Perry's Crusader range.

Am now thinking that things should be balanced up a bit with a Henry V or duke of Bedford vignette- better see what ideas I can muster for their layout.

French Crossbowmen II

2009-09-07T04:05:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the comments on the basing from the last posting. Taking these onboard I've completed the next French crossbow company; adding casulaties and arrows. These are having to advance into range without any pavise protection and taking the resulting casualties. Figures are Perry (with some converted to carry bows) and couple of older Citadel.

I've purchased some transparent perspex movement trays, from James at Oshiro http://www.oshiromodelterrain.co.uk/index.html to enable the figures to be used for Impetus ruleset, this being designed for larger base sizes. I like the clear perspex as they are less intrusive than others I've seen and I don't have to paint them to fit with my basing style. James will make these high-quality trays to order; mine being 100x50mm - a great service I'd really recommend (as well as the lovely handmade buildings and terrain he offers).

Am now re-planning to see how far I can get to a near-finished state of affairs before those pesky Perrys release the 'Wars of the Roses' range - due 'before Christmas' I've been told.

work in progress

2009-08-27T11:57:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update to confirm that there's still life in this here blog and that some painting progress has been made during the family fortnightly vacation to France. However painting al fresco was an interesting and challenging experience, not usually encountered in the UK climate. My main problem was to find sufficient shade and then to cope with the glare of sunlight, plus the problem of paints drying out in the heat - still not something I need to concern myself with now I'm back to the dull and damp British summer!

Pics above are in progress shots - Joan of Arc (nearly complete) and a French knight who'll be part of the same vignette (along with some monks marvelling at the visionary maid!) - the latter has a simple head swop to provide a little variety. The plan is that he'll represent sire de Kermoysan, 'Le Bourgeois' (the Burgess) who has heraldry of 7 white scallops on a red background (wish me luck!). Also the French crossbows completed on aforesaid break.

Looking at these has made me realise how much the final basing really 'finishes' my own figures. I've read many views on when a figure really comes 'to life' and for me the seachange occurs at the basing stage, when everything seems to fall into place. I often feel that i spend too long on basing, in proportion to the figures, but then again it's probably time well spent.

When these are completed, I'll post more pics.

Four Vignettes

2009-07-23T13:53:00.000-07:00

One of the great attractions (and distractions!) to building any army is the creation of the non-standard troops; those command stands, personalities, casualty markers and general hangers-on. These are the first I've completed so far.

So above are; Etienne de Vignolles, nicknames 'la hire' (due to his alleged temper and hatred for the English). La Hire was a captain at the battle of Bauge in 1421 and a prominent leader of the French reassurgence at the seige of Orleans and the battles of Jargeau, Beaugency and Patay in 1429. He died 1443. His flag is very distinctive, bearing bunches of grapes. Its a Freezywater one, which I plan to 'upgrade' to GMB when one's available.

Next, the duke of Alencon command group. The Alencon family were a leading French noble family in the fifteenth century; Jean was killed at Agincourt and his sceond son (also Jean) was a leader in Joan of Arc's armies at Jargeau and Patay. He died 1476. Here he discusses the finer points of the French battle plan with Jean d'Aulon, who was squire to Joan and later a chamberlain to Charles VII of France. He died 1458. The flag bearing his armsis GMB and his personal banner by LBMS.

The bowmen are from the Perry pack of 'longowmen preparing', which i think best captures this period and which I hope will be extended at some point, not too distant. Not really a combative group; as this is definetly a 'before' not during battle activity.

Finally a vignette showing what war for many professional soldiers of the medieval period was all about (besides looting) - the opportunity to capture a high-ranking nobleman in order to share in the potentially lucrative ransom paid by his family for his release. According to Anne Curry in 'Agincourt', despite the high numbers of French prisoners killed on Henry V's orders during the battle, many Englishmen still secured ransoms for captured nobles taken back to England, in the following years.

These are last posts for few weeks as I'll be on summer hols in France - but am hoping to snaffle away some crossbowmen to do between dips in the pool and glasses of local vin.

English Longbowmen (I)

2009-06-12T10:38:00.000-07:00

The famed English longbowmen, who have their place in historical posterity for their successes over the French in the key battles of the Hundred Years War. These are the first completed & based figures, Perrys as usual, painted by the talented Jim Bowen (couple of mine sneaked in - they're the ones that don't have the fine flowing paintwork!), who has an amazing skill in his use of the colour palette, as well as creating some beautiful, convincing facial details.

I've based the defensive stakes on 50mm wide bases, to be used seperately on the gaming table. My current plan is for a total of 24 longbow bases, based on a 3:1 ratio with the men at arms; the Normandy conquest being the last period before the 'bows-to-bills' ration started to climb significantly.

French Men at Arms (I)

2009-06-12T10:31:00.001-07:00

The first completed French men at arms, 8 bases. Wanted to try and achieve sense of some movement with these figures as they advance in chaotic manner towards the English, under arrow fire on the verge of making contact for melee.

The figures are a mix of dismounted knights with their retainers, alongside some professional soldiers raised for the campaigns. The heraldry on the knights has been researched as pertinet to the Henrician campaigns in Normandy and northern France following Agincourt and I'll add a note to the underside of each base re the actual figures portrayed. Total of 24 bases planned and next figures for basing-up are underway.

All figures are Perrys - with a couple of older Citadels sneaked in - flags are GMB (have used the smaller version of the 2 per sheet from GMB for the dismounted figures and larger will be for mounted figures or command vignettes) and arrows chez moi.

bows and arrows

2009-05-01T05:19:00.001-07:00

Here are the arrows that i've had cast up - excellent service by the way from the mouldmaker.com.

Pic shows the two types of sprues that I made in their raw casted state; they are intended to be stuck into bases where troops are attacking longbowmen - mainly for HYW but I'll also use for my Swiss army. Second pic shows how they can be used to add some variety on figures by adding them for 'ready to loose' figures - have also added bowstrings with some thin metal thread found in Hobbycraft (in UK).

I have plenty of arrow castings at the moment(!), so if anyone's interested I'd be happy to sell you some for a nominal fee to cover my costs.

Encore Pavisers

2009-04-03T08:34:00.000-07:00

Just managed to miss an April update I'm afraid...but progress has been made.

Oh er, it's ... another French urban paviser unit; this time advancing into English arrows. This unit represents Rouen, the largest town in medieval Normandy, using more of the excellent LBMS pavise transfers.

Although this is the third urban milita (one to go) it was actually the first one I started and has been on and off the workbench for many months now, for some reason I really struggled getting it done and changed the composition many times - the 'rejected' figures are now destined for the last milita.

The arrows are my own castings, nicely made for me by Pete at themouldmaker.com which seems the only way I can to get hold of suffiicient volumes to allow me to place them in most of the French bases (and have some for other future and past Ancient & Medieval projects). The limitations have been my own sculpting abilities, the originals were metal rod with fletchings made from green stuff and Magic Sculpt. The feathers maybe just a tad oversized, but they are good enough for me for what I want to use them for - will post up some sprues of them for closer inspection.

In the interim between militias, I've been gradually adding French Men at Arms and I've just received some pro-painted English longbowmen, ready for basing - more anon.

Salute - new Perrys Plastics

2009-03-28T11:42:00.000-07:00

Well, big surprise at Salute today. New 3-up masters for a plastics range that Michael Perry's making were to be on show and although the 'hot money' was on Crimea, low and behold it's Wars of the Roses. The first plastics box will be mixed bills and bows from the pics above, and then (if I recall correctly), a box for men at arms and another for mounted troops. Michael also said he plans to add metals, as per their formula for ACW and Napoleonics.

Afraid the photos I took are poor - the masters were well protected in a glass cabinet - but the detail is absolutely fantastic. Am sure Perrys will post some proper pics on their website now the proverbial cat's out.

Looks to me like the figures will be useful for any North European armies from 1450-1490s. Am already trying to decide on either a complete replacement of my ageing Burgundians or a new Wars of Roses armies... an embarrasment of riches and conversion potential awaits... approx 6 months to them being available ... can't wait!

Fortified Watchtower

2009-03-26T12:03:00.001-07:00

This is the piece-de-resistance for my medieval collections to date, which has been made to use with both my HYW and Burgundian-Swiss War collections.

The core structure is a Hudson and Allen resin keep, which has been beautifully enhanced by John Boadle of 'Architectual Miniatures'. The brief to John was to 'modernise' and further fortify the casting to represent a structure as it would be in the fifteenth century. So John's exquisite craftmanship has added wooden pallisade around the main tower, breteche over the doorway, extra loopholes for handguns, a wooden boulevard (which is seperate) to protect the rather exposed entrance and the high gothic windowed room at the top of the heightened tower. John also painted the model.

I was frankly stunned when i saw the finished item, after providing him with an outline of what I wanted to achieve; after all the basic H&A casting is a very nice piece as it stands. John's also added on lots of other lovely details. I now have ambitions to enhance the H&A castle gate and walls to the same standard, but that will have to be a 2010 project. More immediately I'm looking forward to making some artillery seigeworks, and perhaps a terrain base with a moat, as well as using the tower as a centrepiece for some gaming scenarios.

French Crossbowmen

2009-03-11T13:58:00.000-07:00

Completed half of the planned crossbows. Four bases armed with pavises, caught trying to advance into effective firing range and coming under fire from English longbows.

The figures are Perry, with a couple of Foundry HYW figures added and some of the Perry have had quivers added to employ them as crossbowmen. Pavises are Kingmaker and Front Rank with LBMS transfers; arrows from the Games Workshop plastic Giant. I now have some homemade arrows being cast up in metal, as I want to have most of my French men-at-arms based up advancing under fire.

Crawler Lane

2009-02-16T11:14:00.000-08:00

To be clear at the start, I am at heart a medievalist when it comes to painting, collecting and (occasionally) gaming. All this stems from a long-held interest in medieval history, which I carried on to degree level, but which failed to turn into a related job. For me, very little matches the aesthetic appeal of a well painted medieval army, with full panoply of heraldry, flags and armour. Although the popular view is that the medieval period lacked colour, it’s probably not the case when you look closely at the evidence. Military matters apart, everyday life was full of colour; parish church walls, rood screens and ceilings were all decorated with brightly painted patterns (some of which survives, such as Pickering in Yorkshire) and, icons and saints although carved of wood or alabaster were painted in life-like colours. Also dyes for clothing was not restricted to dull, earthy browns and greys; just look at Flemish paintings of the time.
However, in wargaming terms the collation of an accurate army comes at a terrible cost – time.
For the poor collector must have the greatest challenge and the longest task ahead of him (or her) of all the periods that can be chosen. The nub is that no two figures are the same.. there is no degree of any uniformity that for instance a collector of armies from the 17th century or even state-organised ancient armies, such as Greeks and Romans, would recognise. Now I’ve collected non-medieval forces too, having both AWI and WW2 collections, and I appreciate that there are at times tedium in painting uniformed figures…another 20 black tricorns or another 40 rifle butt highlights, but at least it’s all relatively quick. It’s only mixing one colour and it allows you to ‘production line’ the process and see a unit build up in front of you, allowing you to add in any personalisation and minor differences at the right stage. For the poor medievalist though, the best you may look forward to as a speedy process maybe limited to a dozen spear shafts or some plate armour.
Now, it’s not all doom and gloom of course, surely this proverbial glass is half full and not half empty? We have benefited, perhaps on a par with Ancient gamers from the ‘great leap forward’ that’s occurred in the last few years - high quality transfers and flag printing. We should offer our deep thanks and open our wallets readily to the likes of LBMS, VVV, GMB and Freezywater (among others) who have transformed the appearance of finished figures. Banished are the days when a medieval (or ancient) army only looked good when viewed through a squint and at ten feet distance. There is no way that I would contemplate the task of painting twenty pavises, bearing the complex arms of late medieval towns, if I had to paint them all - firstly due to time taken, but mainly as the chance of getting any degree of a consistent finish was minimal. At best, heraldry used to end up being simplified from the actual designs, in order to achieve something that prevented you going either blind or half-crazy with frustration of re-painting numerous errors in the fine detail.
However, the essential challenge remains. Medieval soldiers did not stand side-by-side their counterparts and see a mirror-image of themselves in terms of their apparel. In fact, a nobleman would not wish to… differences in armour and dress displayed personal wealth and all-important status. Heraldry too, although starting to be used less on the battlefield for personal attire in the fifteenth century, was by its very nature unique, differentiating one landed family from another. For troops of non-noble birth, from professional soldiers, to retained yeoman, most were attired in their everyday clothing, with whatever addition of defensive garb that was required or could be afforded, from plate or mail armour to padded jackets, gloves, leg protection and various helmets. Although similar troops would be joined together in the field, e.g. crossbowmen, both weapons and clothing were made to last, so styles of dress and equipment were likely to embrace several decades of style and design. Any ‘uniformity’ derived largely from tabards, badges or insignia relevant to either the recruiting lord or captain or the campaign. Even then, if the responsibility lay with an individual to provide, for example, his ‘white cross’ to signify French loyalty, then the size, position and material used was likely to vary from man to man.
So, the only solution in bringing the prospect of this visual feast to fruition on the wargames table is to treat each model as an individual, utilise the full paint palette, knuckle down to your heraldry, exploit the few shortcuts made available and stay in it for the long haul. Don’t expect to dip into the period and quickly produce results beyond a skirmish game.
Its just keep trucking – stuck very firmly in the crawler lane in the motorway of wargaming.

The English (II)

2009-02-15T09:06:00.000-08:00

Brief update on the English; five bases of men at arms now completed. Three more are planned. Figures are Perrys with a couple of older Citadel Brettonians converted as flagbearers. Flags included for John, Duke of Bedford (Henry V's brother, died 1435), Sir Gilbert Umfraville (killed at Bauge 1421), William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk (d 1450) and Edward Mortimer, Earl of March (d1425). These flags by GMB. The standard is from LBMS, and I've failed to date to identify which English nobleman is it - would welcome any thoughts please.

Un village d'Normandie

2009-02-06T07:55:00.001-08:00

I've finished the first real estate; representing rural life in fifteenth century northern France, although am sure they'll be pressed into service on may other occassions. All are Hudson & Allen castings, which I've had stored away for several years. 'm pleased with how they've turned out; the castings have fantastic detail, even down to the wood grain and the exposed wattle. They look convincing and am sure they've been based on actual buildings.

I've based them to match my terrain tiles and they are sufficiently large to fit in any troops needing to defend them. I've alo made a dung heap, shown next to the free-standing barn. I decided to paint the thatch as 'well established', rather than the just-been-thatched straw colour that most gamers appear to want to paint their buildings. One of the fences is home-made, wire uprights with thin plasticard wound through and the other are resin items I purchased via ebay. To the rear of a propoerty, out of shot, I added in a Timecast allotment casting with various veggie growing (made for HO railways I think, but seems to fit well). Poultry by Hovels (I think).

The current hamlet will be extended to a more substantial village - will purchase more H&A items soon (now only available from the States) and plan to add a windmill later this year.

The English Army - cunning plan (part 1)

2009-02-01T10:51:00.000-08:00

The English army plan is starting to be formed, so that packs can be purchased and painting time mapped out.

It's a fairly straightforward army list, which I've collated from other wargame rules and my own reading. Essentially the English army at the start of the fifteenth century was composed of two distinct arms; the men-at-arms and the longbowmen.

All troops for Henry V's campaigns in France were raised via indentures, a legal contract betwen the crown and selected landed nobility to raise specified numbers of armed troops, for a certain period, at an agreed price paid by the King. All contemporary indentures and the related payments made by the crown, specify numbers of men-at-arms and bowmen. Whereas several wargame rules allow 'billmen' as a distinct arm, I've not found any evidence for the period of these armies to show them as a seperate group. I'm therefore going to create men-at-arms which are primarily nobility, from earls to esquires, with full plate armour accompanied by a few retained troops and householders who are less well armed and who maybe the flagbearers. All will be on foot, in 'defensive' poses.

For the longbowmen its more straightforward; all bowmen - well protected by stakes - with a few captains and flagbearers dotted about.

The other point is the ratio between the two arms. All of my reading, notably Prof Anne Curry's work and the website http://www.medievalsoldier.org/ shows consistent 3:1 in relation to numbers of bows to men-at-arms in the English. Only later in the century do the numbers of bowmen appear to rise sharply. Therefore current plan is for 8 men-at-arms and 24 longbow bases, plus some command bases.

To add some variety however, I may need to deviate from the historical evidence - and am planning to add some pavisers from French towns under English control and possibly some Irish skirmishers (and of course any tempting figures that force their way on the table).

This will be an Anglo-Burgundian force and so variety will come from the Burgundian allies, in terms of crossbowmen, handgunners, etc.

Pictured are the first 3 based for the English men-at-arms, painted with basing and flags to be added.

A tale of two heralds

2009-01-21T13:55:00.000-08:00

My Christmas present to myself, as a contribution to this project, was to purchase a really beautifully painted herald. The model is done by Steve Dean, who is a pro-painter, and was obtained via e-bay. I had already painted the same figure, from the Perrys' Henry V command pack, so I've put the two aside each other here. Both will be used, behind the battlelines in respective armies, striding admist the encampmants. Steve has achieved some lovely yellow shades on the herald's houppelande and the horse appears to be done in oils, with the 'paint and wipe' method, whereas I've built up the colours. I will need to rebase him (and complete the basing on mine) to fit in with my stuff, which will need to be a gently-does-it operation.

Pontoise Militia contingent

2009-01-21T13:34:00.000-08:00

My second urban pavise contingent completed for the French; Pontoise with pavise transfers courtesy of LBM. Another 4 base unit, with a supporting second rank of crossbowmen and a handgunner base. Flag is yet to be added. This will be the last passive French unit, the remainder will be advancing - all I need now is a means of making/obtaining a plentiful supply of arrows for them to be wading through.

Still not happy with the sharpness of my photos, although I have the 'close up' setting on, its a tad disappointing to put in the effort with the brushwork and then for it not to show up on the web - ho hum.

Progress is being (slowly) made on a number of fronts - some English men at arms and medieval village buildings and 'backyards'. Must concentrate on completing units before starting others....

Medieval Smithy

2008-12-31T05:05:00.001-08:00

I recently purchased this lovely handmade model of a medivel smithy, from ebay. Its made of largely of balsa, with an open workshop area and attached dwelling under a thatched roof. The seller, from France, makes a number of medieval items which have great detail and look convincing.

I'll purchase an anvil and other items to detail the workshop area further. First completed building for a village - I have collected several Hudson and Allen resins that require painting and basing; more anon.

French Men at Arms

2008-12-31T04:47:00.001-08:00

A contingent of mounted French men at arms, a total of six bases, each with two figures. The French almost exclusively, to my knowledge, fought on foot following the Agincourt defeat, so these figures may not see a lot of action, but they were too tempting to ignore. They will be joined by a second rank of mounted sergeants, who'll be carrying flags relating to each personalised knight. The French arms flag (unclear in the photo) is from the LBM flag sheet. I will do the corresponding figures' heraldry on the foot knights.

For French heraldry in the Jeanne d'Arc period see this excellent site http://pagesperso-orange.fr/jean-claude.colrat/index-angl.htm

Orleans Militia contingent

2008-12-31T04:16:00.000-08:00

I have completed my first contingent - Orleans urban militia; a pavise and spear unit, bearing the city arms and the flag of the Duke of Orleans.

The city retained loyalty to the French Duaphin during the first half of the fifteenth century, being beseiged by the English for many months in 1429, an ambitous undertaking that the English were rather under-prepared for, as it was the second largest city of France and well fortified and supplied during the siege. Famously the sige was lifted by the Jeanne d'Arc and the retreating English defeated at Patay.

The figures have been painted in a red and blue city colours, although not uniformily. Pavises are LBM transfers and flag is GMB. I've added a base of 'shot', on the assumption that rich city like Orleans would have had some numbers of handguns.

I have already broken my 'golden rule', as the figures are passive - rather than the planned advancing poses for the French. I will add another standing militia unit, possibly mixed with crossbows and handguns, and another two attacking milita contingents - have to use up all those lovely LBM pavise designs!

Next up, some Franch mounted men at arms.

Hardware

2008-11-09T12:14:00.000-08:00

The mainstay of my collection will be from the Perrys 'Agincourt to Orleans' range - indeed these are the inspiration for the diversion from other collections that are currently on the back-burner. These figures, like other Perrys, are fantastic - anatomically spot-on and historically accurate.

Although the range is one of the smaller ones, currently at 33 packs, it is a 'live project' for the Perrys and I understand from Alan that he'll shortly be adding peasants, artillery and soldiers with scaling ladders. Most of troop types for the period are covered. Perhaps with the exception of the longbowmen, most figures are universal in attire and arms and so can be painted up as French, English, Burgundian or Scottish.

In addition to the Perrys, other manufactures with figures that can be pressed into service are Kingmaker (now under new ownership with a commitment to extend the range), Front Rank and selectively from the older Citadel/games workshop Bretonnians (from the 1980s and whilst they are for the later fourteenth century I intend to use for the non-noble ranks, where dress would not have been so frequentkly replaced with latest designs, as with arms & armour). I'm hoping that when painted and based, these other figures will merge relatively seamlessly - we'll see.

To denote the main protagonists my intent is to take selective figures from the various packs. For the french figures will largely be in attacking/advancing positions, whilst the English will be static/defensive figures, reflecting the typical English tactic of adopting as stronger defensive position as possible.

On flags, whilst some will need to be painted by hand, to obtain the cost of arms that I need for the gentry and captains of contingents, the period is already supplied with the high quality Little Big Man Studios, who to date have banner sheets and pavise transfers and the peer-less GMB, who do Agincourt commanders' flags for both sides.

Now, must be time for some painting....

Starting off

2008-10-29T13:01:00.000-07:00

So I thought I'd have a go at joining the digital age and give the world the insight into my current wargaming project. I also hope that blogging will provide me with the motivation to maintain some momentum with my painting and collecting, perhaps driven by a feeling of guilt if I fail to post with some regularity. We shall see how this all pans out over the next weeks and months.

So what's the project? Well, to create two modest sized medieval wargame armies , covering the Hundred Years War - specifically the Agincourt to Orleans period of 1415 to 1430. The scale will be 28mm and the prime motivation for this, as I'm sure it is for many of us, is a range of model figures - the Perry Miniatures 'Agincourt to Orleans' range designed by Alan Perry. Another appeal are the beautiful flags and pavise transfers from Little Big Man and GMB. Also the medieval period is a favourite of mine, particularly the fifteenth century; having a Burgundian Ordonnance and a part-completed Swiss Confederation armies. They always have high visual appeal with the heraldry, but this comes with the challenge on time and painting skills to deliver convincing looking rampant lions, Fleur de Lys, etc.

I intend to narrow the armies historic context to the 1420s-30s period; the post-Henry V period, when the English, led by the dead King's brothers attempted to sustain the military and political momentum achieved by the Agincourt victory to extend English dominance in northern France against the weak French, exploiting an alliance with the Duke of Burgundy. This period includes the battles of Bauge, Cravant, Rouvray (the Herrings) and Patay, as well as numerous sieges of walled towns and castles, culminating at Orleans and French resurgence of morale following the rise of Jean of Arc. As I say, armies will be modest in size - partly reflecting the small size of the historic armies and because I need to be realistic on how much painting and modelling spare time I have (plus this is not the only wargaming project I have on the go - more on that anon perhaps).

So, there will be an Anglo-Burgundian army and a (larger) French army, with Scots allies.

My current plan is to create figures on bases that will be 'rules agnostic'. At this stage I have no preference on what rule I will one day use. As my prime interest is in the painting and collecting - rather than the gaming - I intend to base all figures on 50mm square bases, already purchased from Litko, and to work up relevant groups of figures, using badges, flags and heraldry to denote the various armies. I'd rather work up interesting bases of figures, that broadly reflect the type of fighting man, than be constrained by specific numbers of figures on specific base sizes.

As a taster to initiate the blog, here are some WIP pics.