Wagons for Verneuil

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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.