Impetus markers

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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!!