The Marshall of Burgundy and a great bascinet

This is a straightforward conversion to create a new figure, who'll represent Antonie de Toulongeon, Marshall of Burgundy (1385 -1431) for my HYW collection. The Marshall commanded the Burgundian forces which combined with the English at the battle of Cravant (31 July 1423). Toulongeon was a key man at the Burgundian court of Philip the Good, being appointed ambassador to England, before becoming Constable of Burgundy and being one of the first Knights of the Golden Fleece. His appointment to be Marshall to the duke may have followed the victory at Cravant (I still need to check this out).

The figure is based on the Perrys 'Bastard of Orleans' personality from the AO range. I have removed the hat-wearing head and replaced with the great bascinet from the Perrys new Late Medieval plastic mounted men at arms box. This bascinet is actually a tad late for this period, as it appears to be based on an existing example in Churburg, which is dated to about 1440. However the bascinet was a common style of helm in the first half of the fifteenth century, developing over the decades with minor variations of styling and shape. I've replaced the sword with a plastic axe from the same Perrys box. All the cast-on heraldry has been removed with knife and files and I've smoothed the deep folds in the surcoat a little with GW Green Stuff, to aid the painting stage. The long-legged horse is a metal Perry Wars of the Roses one, again to add some variation.

The Marshall will be the command vignette for a small Burgundian force. My plan is to extend my 1420s collection in order to be able to refight the battle of Cravant, which is another interesting French defeat that on first reading appears that it shouldn't have been so. I'm doing some more reading on this, not well documented, battle - which I'\ll share on this blog. Hopefully I'll be able to assemble the required additional figures and some specific terrain pieces by by the first quarter of 2013...well that's the current plan...

Claymore Castings - sample figures

Dave Imrie very kindly sent me a couple of samples of the Claymore Castings figures, covering the Anglo-Scottish wars at the end of the fourteenth century, the first releases of which are imminently going to be on sale. I painted these last week, but a BT fault on telephone line here meant that I've had no internet connection for a few days and so couldn't post as planned.

The pictures are taken under a desk lamp and some of the details of my paintwork has been lost (..you'll have to take my word for it...!). They are great sculpts (by Paul Hicks); highly detailed, wonderfully animated and very clean castings. I'm going to employ them as an additional Scots spear bloc for my HYW, although the attire will be slightly out-of-date for the 1420s. They are easy figures to paint up and I'm thinking about doing a couple of simple head swaps to 'age' them a little to fit with the rest of my army. Height wise they'll look Ok next to the Perry figures, although the sculpting style is somewhat different of course.

New Scots figures

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.

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

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.

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.

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.