Je Lay Emprins

Swiss conversions

2012-01-25T12:00:00.001-08:00

Whilst I'm awaiting the next Perrys WR range metal releases so I can complete a couple of bases, I've been reviewing plans for my Swiss Confederation army. I have one pike bloc nearly completed, using the Foundry figures and I'm going to rebase these to match my 180mm Impetus frontage. I need a few extra figures, particularly for command and flagbearers.

I've therefore been fiddling about and have created a few new ones utilising the Perry Swiss heads pack. They've been attached to Citadel 'Alcatanti Pikemen', from their Dogs of War box set (which were designed a few years ago, but are still available). These figures wear late fifteenth century attire in the main, plate armour on body and arms (or mail sleeves), with some rather fanciful barbutes and are designed by one or both of the Perry brothers, so the size and style appears to compliment nicely with the current Perry WR and EA ranges, once the slotta tag is replaced with a plasticard base to match the height of the figures. A quick beheading with hacksaw and drilling of a hole to accept the replacement metal head, plus removal of the cast-on pike for the flagbearers or the addition of a halbard head, and hey presto, we have some new poses for the Swiss. They can equally be used for Burgundians with the application of heads from the Mercenaries plastics box - and probably will be.

That's all for now...

Burgundian Bombard on the march - WIP

2012-01-23T07:59:00.000-08:00

I have an image of a bombard on the march, alongside Swiss troops, taken from the Tschachtlan edition of the Bern illustrated chronicle of circa 1470 - shown here. When the Perrys released their wagon packs recently, the opportunity arose to try and re-create one of these for my Burgundian army. This is a WIP posting about the model.

It appears that non-wheeled larger artillery pieces were loaded onto large carts for transportation. The wooden frames that the barrels rested on were either broken down into parts or even rebuilt completely as circumstances required at the point of use. I'm using the open sided wagon and swopping horses for oxen, as the bombard barrel is relatively large and was therefore likely to have needed the extra pulling power of two pairs of oxen (plus I like the models!). According to Smith and DeVries book on the Burgundian artillery, a gross bombard barrel recorded in 1445 at Namur for instance, weighed 8,200 livres (which I estimate at about 4,000 kilograms).

The work in progress picture shows the oxen attached to the base; I've used a small chain to link the two pairs of yokes. The wagon itself will have to be attached last, when all the basework is fully completed. The bombard is a Foundry one, to which I've added small wedges of wood for the transportation. The box and barrel will also be loaded on to the wagon. I'm aiming to reproduce the wooden cover by cutting down and adapting a Kingmaker Hussite wagon side I have left over. The Perry drover will be added, as will one of the labourers currently on the 'greens workbench' on the Perry website. I'm expecting these to be released at the end of this month, so until then this model will go on the to-be-completed shelf (with some others). I'll post final pictures when it's all done.

Ordonnance Pike - front rankers

2012-01-17T04:27:00.000-08:00

I've added a row of bases of front rankers for my Burgundian Ordonnance pike unit.

These are all Perry metals and will be used as an option to extend the size of the pike bloc. I may add targes at a later date, so that they can be used with my other planned pike bloc, who I intend to model carrying targes & bucklers (as required by the Ordinances set out for Charles' army). I may also use them alongside archers - as it appears that Charles trained units of pikes and longbows to work together, with the pikes providing close protection from cavalry attacks for the archers. Some kneeling open-handed figures from the Perrys in the WR/EA ranges would be really useful for these (...here's hoping).

Burgundian Ordonnance - handgunners (II)

2012-01-12T03:12:00.000-08:00

My productive painting spell continues - largely as a consequence of being between work contracts since Christmas.

I have completed the second handgunner unit that I started working on about a month ago. Not much to add to the December 2011 post which showed some of the plastic handgun arms from the Mercenaries box that I've added to selected Perry metals to achieve a bit more variation in poses. The remaining figures are straight-from-the-box plastics.

This now almost completes the 'shot' units, with the exception of another crossbow unit that I will do, using the pavises from the mercenaries box along with the wonderful Little Big Man Studios transfers (why paint St Andrews crosses when someones already done it so well for you?).

Artillery limber

2012-01-07T07:37:00.000-08:00

The completed limber,with accompanying crew, discussing the best route towards their new destination. As previously blogged in the WIP on this, I've taken a slightly anachronistic approach to creating a late fifteenth century limber for a typical field piece - a crappaudeau or veuglaire as contemporary Burgundian accounts refer to them as.

The horse team are from the new Perry Wars of the Roses baggage wagon packs and the limber is a converted ECW piece with box and barrel added for storage. The crew are Perrys with slight alterations. It ended up being put on a slightly wider base than planned, to accommodate the figure of the man at arms issuing instructions, so theres a bit of hedgrow added to fill in the spaces. The roadside cross is from a set made for model railways.

I'm happy with the final composition. I also managed to re-use the chamber that I'd removed from the gunner's hand, it's hanging from the elevating mechanism (which I had to replace with a plasticard one as the casting is too fine and broke) as I'd seen done by the Company of St George re-enactors last summer. After all this work I've put in, no doubt the Perrys will probably bring out their own casting next month!

I'm now considering doing a larger bombard in transit using one of the Perry wagons, attempting to re-create an image in one of the Bern illustrated chronicles that I've found.

Burgundian Ordonnance - first array of arms

2012-01-05T00:45:00.000-08:00

I've had a couple of requests to show my progress to date with this army. As 5 January is the anniversary of the death of Charles the Bold at the battle of Nancy, it seems as appropriate a date as any other to line them up for the camera.

So here's the current state of play - excluding any that are not fully complete, i.e. painted but not yet based, and the siege bombard. Lined up like this it doesn't seem very substantial. I would estimate that, ignoring any baggage and markers, I'm about one third of the way through what I plan to do. I've adjusted the composition and the overall size of the army since my initial plan, due to each unit being comprised of three bases of figures. The largest element of whats to come are the mounted men at arms, for which the Perry plastics box will provide most of the figures. Until they're released I'll press on with as many foot troops as possible in the first quarter of this year.

Artillery limber - WIP

2011-12-31T04:35:00.000-08:00

I've started work on a base for a limbered Burgundian artillery piece, utilising the new draught horses from the Perry baggage packs. It will depict a field piece about to set off for a campaign or siege. This is a work in progress post.

There is not much specific information on how late medieval artillery was moved and exactly when separate limbers were widely used. The barrels of larger bombards appear to have been loaded onto wagons and their wooden frames possibly rebuilt on site, by travelling carpenters, specific to the requirements of their location. There are some later fifteenth century illustrations of limbers, a couple shown here, and so I've taken the liberty to try and reflect this type.

I've used an old Foundry ECW limber casting I've had for ages as the basis. To this I added the frame for the traces from a Perry baggage wagon and a central shaft from balsa. The artillery piece is a Perry one, with a small mantlet added. These are shown on contemporary illustrations, presumably attached with hinges at one end. When erected they afforded the gunners some protection and when lowered covered the barrel against the elements for travel. This has been constructed from standing shields in Perry AWI artillery packs, re-cut to size and attached together at a 45 degree angle - the shields will have a civic coat of arms to denote their origin. The two gunners have had some simple changes; one has had the breech he's holding replaced (and saved for usage elsewhere) by a bucket and a headswop for a soft hat. The other is a Perry WR halbardier who's now carrying the powder scoop and ramrod.

Should post the completed model soon, awaiting a larger mdf base from Warbases to arrive.

Handgunner variants

2011-12-12T13:40:00.000-08:00

I've created a few different poses for my next unit of Ordonnance handgunners. These use some selected Perry metal halbardiers. These have had arms carefully removed with a hacksaw and plastic ones added from the Mercenaries box. A bit of filling was required using ProCreate to cover small gaps and also to add some powder bags for those who've not one them on the original casting. The remaining figures, they'll be nine in all like the previous 'skirmish' unit, will be assembled from the plastic spures in the Mercenaries box.

Halbardiers - more WIP

2011-12-07T14:54:00.000-08:00

I've painted the figures that I currently plan to use as an attacking Burgundian Ordonnance halbardier unit. The pics are taken quickly on my painting desk, so aren't the best quality. I've decided to hold off fixing them and completing the basework, just in case new figures that lend themselves to these get released. I'll probably come back to them in a couple of months and see how the land lies.

The additional bases are both metal and plastic Perrys, to which I added a couple of scarves to helmets. I'm pleased with the overall composition which I was seeking to achieve. It's nice to do a unit in fighting poses rather than the usual two ranks deep and bases such as these attracted me to Impetus and so I'm now sketching out what others I could do in future.

Halbardiers WIP

2011-11-21T14:35:00.000-08:00

These are figures intended for the command stand for my first unit of Burgundian Ordonnance halbardiers, of two that are planned. They will have a stand added to either side to form the completed contingent. The figures are on my usual 60mm square bases and are a mix of Perry plastics and metals. The figure at the rear in the green coat will carry a banner. The mounted conducteur has had some surgery; he's a WR range 'scurror' with a plastic head from the Mercenaries box added as well as his open hand for lance replaced with a plastic sword holding hand.

The new metal halbardiers are very useful detailed sculpts, but yet again they are let down in the mouldmaking or casting process and details on the hands in particular are either distorted or lost altogther. This is very disappointing when you see the lovely greens on the web and then get to paint the castings.

I now am confronted with the dilemma, when I finish the planned figures for this unit, of to base or not to base? I'm hopeful that the EA range will be added to, specifically with foot command figures for Franco-Burgundians (as well as Swiss) and casualty figures. Any of these would potentially fit well into this type of unit and so I'm tempted to hold off gluing and basing these and await future releases. Therefore it maybe some time until these are finished. No doubt - new figures or not - I'll fiddle around with the final composition a bit more. I'll post the other accompanying figures when done.

Burgundian Ordonnance pikes

2011-11-16T03:27:00.001-08:00

I have finally completed the first of two Ordonnance pike blocs; these have taken longer than planned, partly as I've not been working on them exclusively and as work commitments have been heavy and so not much painting has been achieved over the last 2 months (hopefully this will be rectified before the end of the year).

Most of the figures are Perry plastics, straight from the Mercenaries box with minimal modifications, with a few of the recent metal marching billmen added. I've not spent so long on detailing each figure as they are somewhat lost within a larger unit. According to the Burgundian Ordinances pikemen should have carried a buckler too, however I've left them off these and will add them to the other pike unit, to create a subtle visual distinction. I have aspirations to add another front rank of bases for them, using some of the advancing metal figures and a company captain, although I'm happy with the overall size of the unit as pike units can appear to lack the required bulk and depth sometimes (my Swiss ones will probably be at least twice the size of these).

Most wargame army lists for the period cite Charles the Bold's pikemen as Flemish or Lowland, presumably based on the use of pikes by such armies in the Burgundian territories earlier in the fifteenth century. It is not clear to me how the recruiting of each of the Ordonnance Companies related to geographic or regional boundaries. We do know that the duke contracted with mercenary leaders for specific numbers of troops to form Companies and that others would have been raised directly from lands within the dukedom, such as Flanders. Equally we know that companies comprised of different arms, such as pikes, crossbows, handguns etc and that certain territories were more likely to provide certain specific arms, notably England for longbowmen. Therefore it seems to me that on the battlefield company organisation would need to be sufficiently flexible to re-arrange the differing arms within the companies into larger fighting blocs of similiar types, i.e. pike blocs and handgun units and so a mix of nationalities could compose a fighting unit?

However, for this unit I've reverted to assuming that these are Flemish sourced troops and hence they display arms of Ghent, a flag of the stonemasons Guild for the city and the Burgundian arms. Painting and posting should speed up a bit now, as I have more free time, and will be starting on a halbard unit.

Archers encore plus Bourguignon

2011-10-20T11:38:00.000-07:00

The fourth and last unit of Burgundian Ordonnance longbowmen. These are the balance of the figures painted so well by Rafa of Archiduke Painting; one of the figures painted by me is tucked in at the back of one of the stands. The flag is a temporary one for the purposes of the photo, until I decide which Company these will represent.

The remainder of the Ordonnance companies will comprise of either pike, handgun, crossbow or halbards (the latter is at an early stage of prep). However I do plan to complete a unit of Ducal Guards, which will be represented by longbowmen, either exclusively or in a mixed unit with halbards. These will wear the Charles personal livery and be well equipped - I'm going to see what other metals get released in the Perry WR range before deciding which models to use for these.

Two Burgundian Conducteurs

2011-10-14T02:17:00.000-07:00

These are the first of my vignettes for the leading captains for the Burgundian Ordonnance army. Each Company of the Ordonnance were led by Conducteurs, personally appointed by the duke. Records of these men are known for most of the companies in Charles the Bold's reign, either from extant appointment records or other documents forwarding them ducal instructions.

First captain is Josse le Lalaing, a Flemish nobleman, who was appointed as conducteur of the 14th Company of the Ordonnance in 1473 when the company was established. The company is known to have taken part at the siege of Neuss in 1475 and was at the battles of Grandson in 1476 and of Nancy in 1477. The figures are all Perry. Lalaing is a wars of the roses personality figure with a plastic sallet and plume added. The fist-pumping halbardier is a plastic from the Mercenaries box and the banner bearer a metal.

The other conducteur depicts Giacopo Galeotto, who was one of the many Italian condottiere mercenaries that Charles employed within the army. Galeotto was from Naples and appears to have been appointed to lead the 11th Company in 1475, where he was recorded as being the conducteur at the siege of Neuss. One can assume that his appointment would also have been linked to him providing a number of fighting troops for the company as well. He led the company at the battles of Grandson and Morat, and at Nancy where he was killed. Again the figure I've used is another WR personality figure. I've added a mazzochio with some modelling putty - this is an Italian style of chaperon, which can be seen in the Rout of San Ro mano paintings worn by condottiere. His plumed barbute, ready to be donned should combat arise, hangs from his saddle. The banner bearer is a Perry scurror figures, again with a plastic barbute headswap, to given him a more Italian flavour.

Both have flags downloaded from the web, which I plan to upgrade to printed ones in the future.

Ordonnance Longbowmen (III)

2011-09-23T02:19:00.000-07:00

I've based up the figures that Archiduke painted for me to complete my third Ordonnance company of longbowmen. The large arrow bag, based on ones shown in the Berne Chronicles, was made from ProCreate putty. The company flag is a download and is reflects a common layout for Burgundian Ordonnance flags used by Charles the Bold's army, encompassing saint, Burgundian flint device and Charles' personal motto. The saint illustrated is St Bartholomew, but the specific company that carried this flag is unknown. As the flint device is pierced by arrows (or possibly quarrels?) I'm happy to use it with longbow troops
Sorry that pictures aren't too good - unexpectidly sunny day here! I have the other figures painted and to be based for another longbow unit, which will complete the Ordonnance ones. These will be done very soon.

Good things will come to those who wait...

2011-09-12T12:01:00.000-07:00

As you're very probably aware, the new Perry Miniatures website has added more images of the 3-ups for the forthcoming plastic box of mounted men at arms for 1450-1500 period. The sculpting of these figures is quite outstanding - the rendering of the armour plates, helmets and weapons (as well as the destriers they ride on) is beautifully done.
As it now appears that we'll have to wait longer than hoped for the release of these figures (possibly Salute 2012) I thought I'd look at the images released so far (via TMP & Perry Mins site) to try and build a picture of what the box will contain and try to scope some of the permetations for assembling different figures (putting to one side the opportunities there will be to mix with the exsiting plastic sprues).

So what we do know for certain from information provided by Michael Perry, is that each box will contain 12 mounted figures, comprising of four different body armour styles - Italian, Italian with coat, German and English/Flemish - which broadly covers the main styles of armour manufactured in the later fifteenth century Western Europe. Each figure will have 3 different weapon arms. The critical design feature is that the fingers will be cast attached to the various weapon shafts - this appears to allow any weapon to be used with any arm (although the couched arm position will really only take a lance). In the 3-ups the seperation of fingers and wrists appears to be just discernible. So far the weapons shown are lance (which presumbaly they'll be plenty of), hammer, axe, mace and sword. Most arms should also be interchangeable with the bodies, with the exception of the German fluted armour.

We have already been shown a good number of the new heads - usable with other plastic and metal figures. I've identified eight so far (bascinet, barbute, sallet with raised visor, sallet with raised visor and pennant (for Burgundian conductors), chaperon, bare headed, deep sallet without visor and an armet with plumes - taken straight from Uccello's Rout of San Romano painting). Hopefully the number of heads on the sprues will exceed twelve and alos include some sallets with plumes too.

The horses are composed of three parts - two halves and a head/neck - which I believe follows those in other Perry plastic cavalry boxes. So far there are 2 left and 2 right halves and a total of six heads - one with chamfron and two armoured, one with plate and one with mail neck protection. The 'coup de grace' with these figures for me are the additional bardings, to apply as options on the horses - one German style (based on the Wallace Collection armour of c 1480 and the other Italian barding of c1450 from the armoury in Vienna. Perhaps we'll have to wait for the Burgundian armour on some future metals?

The sculpting is simply wonderful and for me they are the best of Michael's designs for plastics to date - all the figures are very convincingly portrayed and as they'll form the backbone of my Burgundian army, the release date can't come soon enough...

Ordonnance Pikes - WIP

2011-09-09T07:10:00.000-07:00

These are pictures of work in progress for the first of two Burgundian Ordonnance pike units. These are figures for the rear three bases, at a painted but not yet varnished and based stage. They are all Perry plastic figures from the Mercenaries box, with just a couple of metal Tudor & Swiss heads added. As these are rear-rankers they've been done as speedily as I can and so do not have the usual final highlight stage painted on. Also for padded jacks I've brushed on Army Painter dip onto a light buff colour and let the dip do the shading work. I plan another set of three bases as front-rankers, which will be a mix of more plastics and some metal Perry figures. Burgundian and Flemish flags will probably be located in the middle rear rank base.

You may notice some wobbly looking pikes - although the castings are fairly sturdy and flexible too, I packed some to take away on holiday in an old GW carrying case lined with foam etc, but despite the extra care taken some still came home with non-straight pikes. A lesson learned. More soon...toodle pip.

What I bought on my holiday...

2011-08-24T09:35:00.000-07:00

...were these.

I had originally intended to keep this blog to be related purely to 'things medieval'. However I will break this self-imposed rule, as I want to share some images of these military-related items that I purchased on a market stall in France when recently on holiday.

They are glass slides for an antique light protector, showing various figures from French armies of the Seven Years War and Napoleonic periods. They are about a foot long by 3 and 1/2 inches high and are fairly fragile things. There are six of them, which were sold in a thin wooden case. There's spare room in the case, to suggest that originally there may have been ten or a dozen different slides. The quality and fineness of the painted images done directly on to the glass, are really excellent and each has a description for example 'fusilier' and some have a date for the figure too. I've only done a little digging on the internet and would love to know more on these and to try and date them etc. My guess is that they are late ninteenth century, when such lightboxes were around, either for private use or for public viewings before the advent of cinema. The box has a label on it for Au Nain Bleu, which is a toyshop in Paris, opened in 1837 and still in business, which could be the provenance for them.

If anyone has any more background info, I really love to know more?

What I did on my holidays...

2011-08-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

well...not a lot of painting of wargame figures unfortunately. A combination of very warm weather (which I find dries the paints too fast when working 'al fresco') and the distractions of good food, a swimming pool, my books and local attractions meant that much less than planned was done.
On the latter here are some pictures of a visit to Castlenaud which was nearby and is perched on the Dordogne river. Since my first visit to the castle about 15 years ago, the exhibits of arms and armour inside the castle have increased significantly in both quantity and quality. I have no idea where all these items have been acquired from, but if they are genuine, they are most impressive and make the trip there more than just a walk around an old stone building.

You'll hopefully be able to see that the open sallet has the distinctive manufacturing marks of the Missiligia armourers workshop and the collection of crossbows, which are often rare items, is excellent. Another intersting item is the archer's brace, which I assume is a decorative one - as it's beautifully carved from bone - rather than for practical use. Outside are a variety of reconstrcuted trebuchets, which are demonstrated each day in the summer, as well as a bombard and mantlets. The castle itself has been partially restored from semi-derelction since the 1960s, and it has a nice example of one bastion having been 'updated' in the sixteenth century to accommodate bigger artillery. It's strategic position is clear, whcih great vistas up and down the river and guarding a crossing. Consequently in the Hundred Years War it's occupancy changes hands amny times between the English and French.

I'll be back very soon with some figures - to ensure that this blog doesn't become 'castle visits' only content - no more planned for this year!

Longbowmen preview

2011-07-21T14:27:00.001-07:00

Here's some longbowmen, including a couple of banner bearers, that have just been painted for me by Rafa at Archiduke Painting Services, who provided me with the photos. They are the Perry metal and plastic castings that I fiddled around with to create some different poses on a previous blog posting. Rafa's done a quite brilliant painting job on them; the detail and the tones look fantastic. I will soon have enough to base and complete two more longbowmen contingents, which I'm planning to be able to do next month - I'll post them up (of course).

"A Chalons! A Bourgoyne!"

2011-07-15T07:15:00.000-07:00

A contingent representing Louis Lord Chalons, seigneur of Chateau Guyon, leading his enthusiastic household and retinue of Burgundian dismounted men at arms. Chalons was from the Franche-Comte region and was made a knight of the Golden Fleece in 1468. He commanded the left wing at the battle of Grandson in February 1476, where he was killed. According to an account he was leading an attack to capture the banner of Schwyz canton, but it may have been that he died in the rout of Charles's army at the battle.

The format for the unit has been inspired by Dave Andrews beautiful command stand of Edward IV at the Perrys Tewkesbury game at the Salute show of 2010. It comprises of three bases, all 60mm frontage, but with the middle one for the mounted figures having an 80mm depth to enable it to be used with mounted units when these are done. The mounted figures are Perry WotR range, whist the 'wings' are a mix of Perry plastics and metals from the WotR & EA ranges. Some figures have been slightly enhanced; with the addition of plumes, scarves, a couple of weapon changes and re-positioning of arms, to create a coherent group focussed on their lord as they advance towards the enemy. The flags are all free downloads.

I'm pleased with the overall layout, given the extra time that I've had to put in. On to a more mundane Ordonnance pike bloc next - 36 figures planned so I'll need to speed up the painting process somewhat! Hopefully will get the rear-rankers done in the next few weeks.

Ordonnance Crossbowmen

2011-07-06T12:25:00.001-07:00

Either side of my castles sojourn, I started and completed my first Burgundian crossbow unit. My initial plan of a pavise bearing contingent has been put on hold, as I want to see if any future metals could be utilised to create a few more different poses. These are plastics and metals fom Perry range, with some conversions which have been posted earlier. It is likely that the Burgundians did not spilt out troops armed with crossbows and handguns into distinct units and they were most probably mixed on the battlefield as 'sleeves' of shot. However wargame rules have a different approach and so I've fallen into line to be able to use Impetus rules (and others). However I could easily swop in a handgun base for better visual appeal.

More Burgundians in progress on the painting table...

Gruyeres - IV

2011-07-01T03:13:00.001-07:00

A final post from my trip. These are images of the medieval castle and walls of the hilltop town. The walls are not complete and do not now encircle the whole town, but there are substantial pieces intact, which include gateways. All the walls are rendered and have protected, covered walkways. All the walls are rendered and the roofs are wooden shingles in the main, which I assume replicates the methods used in the medieval period.

Also, within the castle are a few pieces of armour, from sixteenth century and a couple of vestments, worn by clergy, and dating from the 1470s as part of the booty captured from Charles the Bold. The intricate sewing of Burgundian herladic imagery is impressive and the state of preservation is remarkable given their age. Now how do I paint that on a 28mm figure?!!

Normal service and miniature figures will resume soon...!

Gruyeres - III

2011-06-28T12:15:00.000-07:00

A few more pics of the day and here are some showing the artillery piece, the crafts being undertaken and some of the non-combatants. I now have lots of reference materials (from the 250+ pictures that I took) that should come in handy in the future when building up my models.

I'll put up a final posting with some images of the impressive castle and town walls.

Gruyeres - II

2011-06-26T02:27:00.000-07:00

Both the town & castle and the Company of St George did not disappoint, as the weather did. The qulaity of the clothing, arms & armour, equipment and personal items that populated the castle were very impressive. Numerous boxes, lamps, weapons, tools, bedding, cloth, foodstuffs and pavises were distributed throughout the courtyard, the two open walkways and in the internal rooms to recreate a convincing scene that these folk had been inhabiting the place for many weeks or months, not merely from the day before. The only incongruous thing was a display of modern sculpture that was in the castle at the ssame time and which I tried to avoid interloping into my photographs where I could.
Medieval crafts were bieng undertaken; I recall seeing a wooden lathe for turning bowls, pin making, carpentry, sewing, leatherwork, bookbinding, distilliation (for medicines I think) and painting - both figurative and reconstructing Burgundian Ordonnance pennons on silk (which after a long conversation with the artist I then forgot to take any pics!).

So here are some pics of armour and personal items.

More to come...

Company of St George at Gruyeres

2011-06-24T00:35:00.000-07:00

The second leg of castle visits with my youngest daughter, took us from Alsace to Gruyeres in Switzerland.
I had wanted to see the small walled town and castle for many years and it was combined with a first opportunity to see it embellished by the precence of the Company of St George re-enactment group, who were situated in the castle and part of the town for the weekend.

Sadly, having made the trip, the weather intervened and it poured with heavy rain from Friday afternoon to Sunday moring, when we left. We managed to time the only real sunny spell with our decision to visit a nearby chocolate factory! Whilst the rain did restrict the Company from displaying cannon and handgun fire, as authentcially it would have done 550 years ago, it didn't stop other activities as much is located under cover within the castle walls.

I would estimate over 150 re-enactors were present in the castle, with some encamped in the walled churchyard. Other affiliated groups were there too and those we spoke to had travelled in from France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Czech Republic.

Here are some of the military related pictures showing the high standard of clothing, armour and weapons. I'll be posting more on personal items, the artillery pieces and non-combatants, as well as the medieval buildings.

Burgundian Artillery Command

2011-06-09T12:56:00.000-07:00

This command vignette is to complement the artillery bases that I've done to date. It depicts an inspection of the artillery park by a senior Burgundian nobleman, carrying a directive from the duke himself, accompanied by a retainer and flagbearer.

The Burgundian artillery was substantial; duke Charles inherited a sizeable train, ranging from large bombards to more portable serpentines and crapaudeau field pieces, all of which were housed in strongholds or towns across the dukedom. The duke took a personal, active involvement in the development of his artillery and no doubt saw his wealth and prestige reflected in the commissioning of the latest military technology. He also put his artillery at the core of his bellicous plans. However, with the possible exception of Montlhery in 1465 when the Burgundians appear to have 'out gunned' the French opposition, his artillery failed to make any impacts in his battles and sieges. The amount of artillery at his disposal is quite staggering; over 4,500 different pieces have been identified that were owned by the Burgundian dukes in the fifteenth century.

The Master of Artillery depicted here is Gauvin de Bailleul. It appears that the duke employed several men with this title concurrently during his reign. I've yet to identify if any nobleman was appointed by the duke to control the artillery, in the way that conductors were for each of the Ordonnance Companies. It is possible that Charles retained direct control over this prestigous arm. De Bailleul is known from extant letters of March 1476 from the duke instructing him to assemble guns stored at Thornville. I've denoted his identity by applying his coat of arms to a wooden box and a powder sack.

The vignette are all Perry figs, with some minor conversion work, which I did a few months ago but have just managed to paint and base. The master of artillery is one of the WotR metal gunners with a plastic headswop and an open hand replacing the linstock. The burgundian nobleman is the Henry VI figure, with a chaperon built up from putty and my very best attempt at adding a hung fleece badge to his collar to denote his seniority as a member of the Order of the Golden Fleece. the others are out of the box metal and plastic, with the flag as a free download. The baggage items are mix of Foundry, Front Rank and TAG and pavise transfers are LBMS.

Finally, my apologies for those of you with your own blogs that I follow. Due to a PC glitch, which I hope will be sorted, I've been unable to add any comments recently - instead being caught up in an infinite google blog account validation loop! So I'll comment retrospectively when it's all sorted.

Burgundian crossbow conversions

2011-06-04T04:24:00.000-07:00

The next contingent for my Burgundian Ordonnance will be crossbows, probably including some pavises so I can use the finely detailed LBMS transfers.

To add some variety of poses and to have a couple of figures in coats rather than all wearing livery jackets, I've made some relatively straightforward conversions. I've removed the arms of selected metal castings from the Perry WotR and EA ranges with a fine hacksaw and added the plastic crossbow arms. I've tried to judge before making the amputations if the plastic arms would fit well onto the bodies and also create a viable pose. This is a bit tricky, but one of the advantages of plastic is that there is a little 'give' and so any gaps can be fixed by drilling & pining the new arms and adding a little filler.

Here are six I've done to date, ready for undercoating. A couple of them are spare WotR artillerymen (one now with handgun) and others are fom the recent polearm packs. In the end the joints were all pretty good and required filling was minimal - I think the poses look OK too and that they'll be worth the extra time spent on them when they're painted up.

The Bear of Berne

2011-05-30T09:48:00.000-07:00

I really should be getting on with the 'rank and file' of my Burgundian armies, but I've had this vignette in mind for some time now and so wanted to get it 'out my system' and to restart the blog with a more substantial piece.

The city of Berne has been associated with bears from the middle ages. The name Berne itself derives from the german for bear and it appears that the city's arms have carried a bear on them since around 1224. Bears have been kept in the city from 1441; the famous bear pits were built in 1513 and only closed as recently as 2009.

My scene imagines the Bernese contingent taking one of their bears on campaign. I have no historical reference for this occuring and it's probably highly unlikely as it would have been a very risky endeavour, both to the troops, local inhabitants and to the bear itself. The Swiss Chronicles of Berne show several illustrations of bears but all are mostly hunting scenes, as the european brown bear was still native to the Alpine slopes in the fifteenth century. One of my favourite illustrations from the chronicles is the anthropomorphism of the Berne city guard (shown below) preparing for duty, with the bears sporting ostrich plumed turbans and armed with halbards and handguns.

So here we have our very reluctant large bear, being cajouled and encouraged to move by his handlers from the temporary part-enclosure. The bear is a very old Citadel one from the 'Dwarf King's Court' boxset of the 1980s vintage, which has probably now had his third repaint. The handlers are all Perry European Armies range; the handler is a plastic with metal Swiss head - his sword cut down to a wooden stick. The musician and dog handler are metals, the former with the plastic arms holding the tambor from the 'Mercenaries' box added. The dogs should really be hounds, according to medieval illustrations, but have had to be irish wolfhound types, as I couldn't find any to fit in. The woman looking on and holding her apprehensive children is a Foundry model.

Perhaps Michael Perry will give us his own version of a Berne command group at some point (with or without a bear)?

Metals, plastics and some putty

2011-04-25T06:49:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update, as it's been a while.

The original intention was to get back to my Burgundians as soon as a certain London show was done and dusted. However, I've decided to complete my HYW armies, so it'll be slow progress here for a few more weeks.

I've decided to follow duke Charles lead and employ some extra resources from foreign parts - namely Archiduke's excellent painting services. I can really recommend Rafa's work, he has a neat and very detailed style and great use of the colour pallette. Pictured above are some longbowmen he has already completed for me and some metals that I've converted prior to being sent off for his brushwork. For added variety, I've utilised some of the Perry Swiss and EA range metals, to have some different poses as well as a couple wearing coats instead of livery jackets. I've simply removed their left hands and heads with a hacksaw and replaced with some from the Perry plastic boxes. With my limited sculpting skills have then added some scarves and an arrow bag with putty. The figure in the middle originates from the Perry HYW range, and although his kit is a little out-dated for the 1470s, he does have a contemporary visored sallet.

These will give me two more Ordonnance longbow units and I'll post them up when painted and based.

Pavises

2011-02-10T13:32:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post, to show the really lovely Burgundian pavise transfers from Little Big Men Studios, which I recieved this week and who's products I'm always really impressed with. I was aware that Stephen Hales was working on these , to use with the plastic pavises in the Perry 'Mercenaries' box. He's produced four versions with the same St Andrews cross, steel and sparks emblem of Charles the Bold. One from each sheet are pictured here. Swiss versions are to follow I understand.

The quality of the transfers is excellent and each one is slightly different in terms of the distress and dirt on them. They need careful cutting with a scalpel or scissors. The transfer design for the smooth pavise has a cut-out to align it with the proud metal spike at the base; the only marginal issue is that it really needs to be about2mm larger to cover the plastic pavise - consequently some careful painting is needed to match in the edges. Perhaps this will be remedied with the next sheets? The transfer for the pavise with the proud spine fits much better, once carefully eased over and firmy pressed down.

I will now be arming my crossbowmen with them, as I need an excuse to show them off. Some medieval books state that pavise use was on the wain by the 1470s, which maybe the case. However the Schilling Bern Chronicle illustrations show them in use by the Burgundians, in both seige and battle scenes.

Also pictured is a recent conversion, using plastic torso and arms from the Mercenaries box, attached to the metal legs of the kneeling gunner from one of the Perry WotR artillery sets. I needed someone to be using the pavises as intended; sheltering whilst spanning his crossbow. Some putty has been used to add a bag and lengthen the scarf at the back of the sallet. Hope this remains an 'original' and that Michael doesn't bring out some metal crossbowmen!

Last post on here I anticipate for a few weeks, as HYW stuff needs attention for the Salute Verneuil game - so keep a watch on 'Harness and Array' blog....

Basing basics

2011-02-03T14:28:00.000-08:00

A few people have asked how I do my basing, so here's a pictorial demonstration.

It's the same way that I've approach it, on a number of armies of different periods (the exception being Biblicals) for at least the last 25 years. It's a process I've just got accustomed to using and there are really no 'dark arts' that are going to be exposed in showing this step-thru. So, if you're happy with your own approach, you may want to stop reading right now! What I'm sure about is that are probably quicker and better methods out there, but this one works for me and as I need all my figures to blend with my terrain and 'hang together' as a coherent group, it'll be the technique I carry on with for now.

So first up the figures are attached to the base. This is always with Superglue gel. For this basing I've used plasticard, which I've cut to required size, as in this case. Recently I've switched to thin mdf pre-cuts. The main thing is that the material is warp-free and I've not experienced any issues with my basing method. The plasticard is scored lightly, with an nail file, to give the glue something to grip to. The figure bases are then blended and landscaped. Here I've used pre-mixed tile grout with about 10% PVA woodglue added for adhesion. I've also used Polyfilla mix or similiar. Where I know that painting the base will be difficult to access, for instance on more crowded base, I have added the paint that I use to shade the base to pre-colour the grout mix, as this helps at a later stage.

When dry, I add a mix of stones and gravel in the areas that'll not be grassed over. Firstly a few larger stones are glued with mix of 4 parts PVA and 1 part water, then a sprinkling of smaller ones and finally sand. This is Games Workshop sand, but from a tub I purchased a year or so ago. I purchased a new one only last week and they've changed supplier and the new mix is too much fine in my opinion; it sinks into the glue and loses definition, which means highlighting it later is ineffective. So I've got some Hornby model railway fine gravel to try out instead.

Again, when fully dried and fixed, it's all painted in a base colour. This is GW 'Graveyard Earth', which I've recently switched to, only on the basis that I can get it locally. For years I'd used Humbrol 'Dark Earth' in either enamel or acrylic - the former being a little more hard wearing. Both are a very similiar colour, which when the base is finished you'd be hard pushed to tell apart.

Now a fun stage - drybrushing the base - when it seems to 'come alive' a bit more. I build up three layers of highlights, using Pelikan Plaka 'Yellow Brown' and any acrylic white; initially in a 80:20 ratio, then a 50:50 one and finally, just trying to pick out the larger and more prominent stones in a 20:80 mix. The base is now ready for adding vegetation.

Static grass is glued where needed with a 50:50 mix of PVA and water. When dry I then drybrush it, to lighten the colour. I use Plaka 'Yellow Ochre', which is a tip I got from Kev Dallimore is one of his first published painting articles and which seems odd at the time, as it's quite a bright tone to add to the grass, but for me it works and gives a summer-tone to the bases (if it is a wintery feel you need, I'd probaly skip this step and leave the grass as is).

Final step, to add some foliage. These days the easiest and most effective are pre-made Silfor tufts (here the 6mm high ones) which come in differing shades - and the flowering plants are recommended too. I superglue these on. Gone are the previous solutions of sisal string coloured with green fabric dyes or cutting and glueing bunches of Woodland Scenic rushes. I also add small cut down pieces from a K&M tree for variety.

I'll post pictures of the finished base soon, as I have boxes and other artillery-related items to add on, as well as a small artillery command base to compliment it.

Ordonnance Handgunners (I)

2011-01-21T13:42:00.000-08:00

First unit of hangunners completed, relatively quick to do as only nine figures. All are Perry plastics from the new 'Mercenaries' box, with one exception of a metal figure - an artillery assistant who's had the chamber removed that he was holding and a plastic handgun added, I thought he'd fit in well as he has a powder horn slung over his shoulder. I'm sure they'll be more of these straightforward conversons that can be done, using parts from the plastic boxes, as more metals get released.

No flag on this unit as they are skirmishers. Not much else to add; other than the new plastics are a delight to assemble and are really excellent figures. A couple of the new heads on the command sprue are attached at the chin, rather than the neck plug, which means you need to be careful with the scalpel when removing, but I'm guessing this maybe to lessen any mould lines? But hey, with this quality of late medieval figures, I'm not complaining - I'm celebrating!

Next I need to decide on either starting a bigger pike unit or completing the artillery? Where's that coin....?

Burgundian Flags

2011-01-14T12:35:00.001-08:00

There is a considerable amount of information on Burgundian flags compared to other contemporary fiifteenth century armies.

I've decided on my approach for using flags based on my researches, however I appreciate that it's probably applying a structure thats too rigid in relation to a practice that was probably not univerally applied to Charles' army. However the use of flags does help identify unit types on the wargames table.

In essence, it's possible to summarise Charles the Bold's flags into 5 broad categories:

Burgundian arms - the complex and visually attractive arms adopted by Charles as duke of Burgundy (2 on the above picture). These will be used with my command figures, as well as in vignettes, camps and as a general sprinkling among larger units.

Ordonnance flags - these are the flags assigned to each of the 27 Ordonnance companies, which Charles first established at the Ordinances of St Maxim de Treves in 1473. Most of the flags follow a similiar design; the image of the saint adopted by the company, Charles personal motto 'Je Lay Emprins', and the images he used of a steel flint and sparks, all embroidered on a single or two colour background (see 3 & 4 above). From surviving records there appear to be two types - a 'guidon' which tapered to a single or double points ( numbered 7 & 8 above) and a 'cornet' which was oblong (number 3 & 4 in the illustration). It appears that each company would have had both guidons and cornets. Indeed some of them are marked with roman numerals to indicate the squadron they were attached to - so each company of ordonnance would have had a quite a plethora of flags flying. However wargaming necessities simplification when miniaturising everthing and so my application will simply be:

- a guidon for each mounted Ordonnance company,

- a cornet for each foot Ordonnance company.

These will be placed on the middle base of the three that will make up all my units, alongside the command figures and occassional musician.

Personal flags - of the leaders and conductors of the Ordonnance Companies, who had the right to bear arms as a consequence of their social status. Many of these are known and a great reference is Freezywater's publication 'The Burgundian Army of Charles the Bold' by McGill, Pacou & Riddell, which includes the arms of most leaders as well as other flags. My approach is to add one to each mounted Ordonnance unit, alongside the Company Guidon.

Other Infantry and regional flags - according to the Swiss records of burgundian flags, other types were used, which don't seem to conform to the Ordonnance pattern. These include images above numbered 6, regional flags (such as the Flemish urban arms) and flags which combined the St Andrews cross with a mix of colours and patterns. These flag types I'll use either on vignettes, as markers or in larger units (such as Flemish pikemen).

Bannerols - these were small pennons attached to the helms of Conductors and Chief de Chambre; men who led the squadrons within each Company. Evidence suggests that these included a numbering system for each squadron (see picture 1) and the 'Master WA' drawings of Burgundian troops shows them being quite plentiful among foot and mounted formations. The Perry Mercenaries box contains two heads with bannerols and it's not too tricky with pin and foil to add some to metal figures, to mix into each Company base. In addition smaller flags denoting the squadrons also appeared (illustration number 5) but it's too micro level to include these.

Currently the best quality flags for Burgunidan Ordonnance in my personal opinion, are the free ones from Kriggspil site, http://www.krigsspil.dk/download/download_2.html

I'm hopeful that the new Perry figures will spur other flag producers into covering.

The illustration is copyright Osprey Publishing, from 'Armies of Medieval Burgundy' and used without permission.

Burgundian Ordonnance longbowmen (II)

2011-01-07T07:52:00.001-08:00

Ok, so back on track with some pics of completed work - more Burgundian longbowmen (a year on from the first longbows, I'm a tad embarrased to say). Apologies that the images are a little 'bluish' as the daylight today is a bit dull & wintry.

These are Perry plastics, which I've been waiting to finish off, so I could use some of the new heads from the 'Mercenaries' pack for variety. I've also added a couple of arrow bags (from putty) and included one of my two-finger gesture modifications too. The flag is from Krigsspil site (free downloads ) which are really high quality for the Burgundy range. It shows a flag with an image of Saint Jude, but it's not known which Ordonnance Company this flag was associated with, so they'll remain anonymous for the time being. There is an embarassment of riches with Burgundian flags and banners, largely due to the Swiss keeping and then recording most of those they captured at Grandson, Morat and Nancy. I've been looking at how I utilise them with my planned army and I'll post more on that soon (...when I've settled on a system).

The figures are based on three 60mm square bases, effectively a 'central' base which will include commanders, flags etc and two 'wings', to form a gaming unit. This appraoch will be replicated across all the units - foot and mounted - intended to support Impetus rules, but should be flexible enough for other rule systems and could allow me to create more units by simply using only 2 bases together.

Over the holiday period I've had a modest spike in new followers, not sure why this was in a period of no posts, but it's very pleasing all the same and so welcome to you all; I hope that they'll be something of interest coming along in 2011. The Perry WotR range that I'm using for these armies, has had some great new recent releases, including Swiss metals heads, so I'm very enthused re this collection at the moment. Currently I have a first unit of Burgundian Ordonnance handgunners are at the construction/prep stage.

Betwixt days

2010-12-28T12:24:00.000-08:00

This is just a quick post betwixt Christmas and the New Year. I thought that this period must have a name, but it appears not. So I thought that the 28th of December would have a medieval Saint's day that I could use for the title of this blog entry, but suprisingly it's one of the few that doesn't. So lets just say it's a betwixt day - one to look forward and back on (a little Janus-like).

So, looking back - a good Christmas Day for family and friends. Personally I was delighted to unwrap some books that were on my Santa list. These included the catalogue from the 'Splendour of Burgundy' exhibition of 2009-10, which despite being in three cities over many months , I'd (regretably) failed to get to. The catalogue is excellent and indeed more than just a list of the items nicely reproduced in colour, as it includes some short essays on the Burgundian politics, court and art, as well as many items that I've not seen before.

Second up, the Calais Garrison, which seems (until now) to be a suprisingly neglected topic, but I think this book will fix that. Was lucky enough to make use of a 40% off one-day deal at the publishers when getting this one, as academic books are almost priced by the page and so out of reach for a casual purchase.

Finally, a visual treat and very useful reference for north european dress and armour in the last quarter of fifteenth century, the Beauchamp Pageant.

Looking forward, I now have opened the first boxes of Perry 'Mercenaries' and they do not disappoint; the castings on the crossbows, handguns, new heads and especially the two new captain figures are truly fantastic.

New heads are now being added to longbowmen from the previous box, to add variety. These are now my WIP on the painting table. Planned for the short term are Burgundian Ordonance longbows and handgunners. Also a group of dismounted men at arms; I keep picking up the sprues each time to consider different options that could be obtained with a swift cut of the scalpel, filler and glue - am sure others will find better ideas that I will.

Here's to a peaceful, healthy and prosperous 2011 to everyone.

Two fingers (and some more)...

2010-11-30T08:49:00.000-08:00

I'm about to re-start my Burgundians and in anticipation of the release of the new Perry 'Mercenaries' plastic box, which will provide the bulk of the Ordonnance troops, I've been starting to prepare some more longbowmen.

It maybe that the Perrys are planning to design some metal longbowmen (I'm certainly hoping so) which may include one or two giving the 'two fingered' gesture, but I thought I'd have a go myself anyway. Now it may just be a historical urban-myth that the origin of this abusive gesture came from English & Welsh bowmen, demonstarting that they still retained their bow-pulling fingers. However, whatever the actual origination is, there appears to be a Schilling Chronicle illustration showing it occuring at a siege - pictured above - and that's good enough excuse for me.

So I've turned the clock back to my younger years of chopping up Airfix and Historex plastics and done a simple repositioning of arms, with a bit of filling with ProCreate putty, to produce some English bowmen in Burgundian service. Another bowmen's arm has simply been drilled to hold the company flag. I've also changed an artillery gunner into a bowman and re-employ another gunner as a handgunner, when I see the actual 'Mercenary' sprues. The chronicle picture also shows distinctive large arrow bags used and so perhaps I'll have a bash with the putty to make some of these too?

The longer I sit looking at these figures the more conversion options and seem to arise.

Swiss banners

2010-11-30T07:07:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to share a really excellent flag sheet, that i've just purchased on ebay. They are good quality prints on a cloth-type A4 paper and are print-outs of handpainted orginals, which cover many of the key cantons for the Swiss Confederacy for the Burgundian (and Swabian) wars. This is the picture from the ebay item.

The seller on ebay is sasha_4sale. He also has several sheets for the early 16th century, including Spanish, French and Venetians if I remember correctly and appears to be extending the range. Sheets can be purchased sized for 15mm figures too. This one cost me £12.50 inc postage for 10 flags - seems a good deal to me and I'd recommend having a look on e-bay.

Figures for sale

2010-10-31T09:47:00.000-07:00

I've decided that I'm going to sell nearly all of the Wars of the Roses figures that I did for the Northampton & Tewkesbury demo games of this year.

Main reason is that it'll fund the puchase of some terrain pieces and I have no current plans to complete any WotR armies.

Therefore I'll have for sale:

The command bases, all on 100mm x 50mm thin plywood. All have two mounted figures (Perry metal WotR), one leader and one flagbearer and six plastic Perry billmen/men at arms. Command stands for

Warwick

Buckingham

Shrewsbury

Fauconberg

Retinues:

Edward earl of March - 2 billmen/men at arms and 4 longbow stands (50mm square), total 30 figures.

Lord Grey - 1 comand stand (inc 2 mounted figures), 2 bill/men at arms and 2 archer stands, total 24 figures.

Earl of Devon - 2 billmen/men at arms and 4 longbow stands, total 31 figures.

Pictures of all of these are on previous blog entries here and most were painted with a dip & highlight method.

Note that the Edward of Mrach command stand won't be on offer.

I'll probably put them up on e-bay soon and I'll notify via this blog when I do.

'Medieval Warfare' magazine.

2010-10-14T13:05:00.000-07:00

Just been made aware of this, which maybe of interest to some of you.

It's from the publishers of the high quality 'Ancient Warfare' , so the omens look good for original research and top-notch illustrations. Initial publication date is April 2011. I'll keep tracking progress - theres a newsletter you can suubscribe to.

Also, that lovely cover illustration looks like a representation of Burgundian Ordonnance men at arms fighting in the snow covered fields at Nancy in 1477 to me?

http://www.medieval-warfare.com/landingpage/index.html

'Dulle Griet'

2010-10-08T07:01:00.000-07:00

The latest Perry metal WotR pack, painted as the Burgundian bombard 'Dulle Griet', or 'Mad Meg' in English. This enormous bombard was commissioned by Phillip the Good around 1450, his arms are displayed on the original, and remained part of Charles the Bold's substantial artillery train, although it's not known if it took part in the sieges of Neuss or Morat. The barrel was made up of 32 long iron staves, bound by 43 iron hoops, and it blasted out 64cm diameter stone shot. Dulle Griet is still viewable today in the centre of Ghent.

As previously blogged when in WIP, I've used the mantlet seperately and put three crew on 'sabot' bases, to increase it's utilisation with other armies. I've swopped in a plastic WotR gunner. The equipment pieces are from a variety of sources, inc Front Rank, Bicorne and Architects of War. I hope that it doesn't look too crowded, but as the gun would have been in-situ for several weeks or even months, then I'm imagining that all sorts of items built up around it over time. The wooden pallisade to protect the besiegers from any foraying attacks are Kingmaker Minis spare protective sides from their Hussite wagons with bass wood framework attached.

I'm pleased with the tone for the freshly-sut wood, on the pallisade and the bombard's bracings; my thanks to Phil Hendry for his suggestions which I've taken up - Foundry Canvas shade (8A), drybrushed with a lighter 8B and then brushed on with dip (Army Painter strong), before a final Dullcote matt varnish

The HYW version can be seen here http://harness-and-array.blogspot.com/

So there you have it - a co-ordinated synergised double-blog, surely a notable first for wargamers? (!!)

I'm now settling on the composition of my Burgundian army, designed for Impetus but which will be based with sufficent flexibility to be usable with other rules. I'll post up the draft army list sometime.

WIP - Bombard

2010-09-24T06:21:00.001-07:00

Whilst I should be concentrating all my efforts and limited time to my HYW project, I keep reopening the box lid of the last Perry WotR metal pack, the bombard, and thinking about how I can use it. Spurred on by Phil Hendry's lovely rendition too, http://web.me.com/philhendry/Phil_Wargaming_Website/my_blog/bombard.html I've decided on how I'll base it up to make it usable for both my Burgundian Ordonnance (at Morat for example) and with my HYW.

The pic shows current state of play, having cleaned off all the flash etc. I've decided on the mantlet being based seperately, so it can be an optional piece. I've added some wooden pallisade to both sides to fill any gaps, so that it can be aligned with other parts of planned wooden siege lines.

The gun crew will have 3 'sabot' bases, to allow me to switch key personnel for folk in earlier fifteenth century garb (shown here to one side), all based on 5 pence coins. For the Burgundian version I've replaced the guy holding his hand to his ear provided in the pack (who looks most useful as an injured figure who's taken a blow to the head, to me) for a Perry plastic shouting instructions.

I've also left out one of the wooden bracings, partly to reduce the overall length and to save it to do the same job with another bombard casting I have. There'll also be other sige equipment - bucket, barrel, boxes, ramrod, spare cut wood, swords, etc - placed on the finished base.

Burgundianising

2010-09-07T06:22:00.000-07:00

Well, 'to burgundianise' is not a proper verb of course, but I feel that it maybe a regularly appearing one on this blog.

Although I should be finishing off my HYW armies (and am indeed making some progress, as you can see over at my other blog) I couldn't resist having a small dabble at the recent Perry WotR metal men at arms. It feels a little sacreligious to tamper with these excellent castings and I know that this task will be much easier when the next Perry plastic box is released, which will have similiar style head options to reflect the european origins of these troops, but hey ho...

So I've made some minor alterations to attempt to make them more Burgundian in appearance - basically by simply adding pennons, plumes and scarves to helmets and St Andrews crosses on a brigandine and breastplate. The pennons and crosses are just cut from thin foil (an old tomato puree paste which just happens to be red one side) and the plumes are metal castings drilled and pinned. The scarves follow an Italian habit, which I felt is appropriate as many of the Ordonnance were raised from Italian mercenaries by Charles the Bold, although contemporary illustrations should it to be widespread - possibly as a recognition sign as mush as for fashionable appeal.

Northampton (9) - Pictures

2010-07-13T12:23:00.000-07:00

Some pics of the static display from the Battlefield Trust 550th anniversary conference of 10 July at Northampton Museum. The layout aims to show the dispositions of the Lancastrian and Yorkist armies at about 2pm, when following lengthy negotiations, the earl of Warwick decided to attack the royal encampment.
I hope the display added something to the day; judging by the comments and conversations that were going on from the delegates, it would appear so. Unfortuneatly the tables provided weren't entriely level, so the pictures have emphasised the joints in the terrain tiles. The conference speakers outlined the potential sites for the engagement; from the established one of the camp being positioned on a bend of the Nene to the more recent revisionist view on a west-east axis along a stream - which my tabletop display tried to show, with the abbey on the Lancastrian right.
The conference certainly raised levels of knowledge for the attendees. Speakers gave some high-quality, well researched presentations, covering the political context, military conventions and some re-enactors equipment to handle during the lunch break. We finished with a tempting insight from Glenn Foarde (who led the recent Bosworth site discoveries)into how a site investigation for Northampton could be conducted - the main stumbling block being funding ineviatably - hopefully an opportunity that the Trust will be able to pursue.
My thanks go to Michael Perry for very generously lending me the bulk of his WotR plastics collection for use on the day and so assisting the Trust. It was also good to briefly catch up with some gamers, who follow these ramblings on my collections and some local gamers who I'd not met before.

Northampton (8) - The Queen and the Archbishop...

2010-07-08T06:14:00.001-07:00

Have you heard the one about the Queen and the Archbishop?

This is the last vignette completed for the game, which will be located on the edge of the table, but which is a notable landmark for locals today and for attempts to accurately locate the site of the medieval battlefield. According to the accounts of Francesco Coppini, the papal legate who was an eyewitness at the battle, he and the archbishop of Canterbury watched the battle from the Queen Eleanor Cross, which is located next to the road south from Northampton to Towcester near Hardingstone village, he is said to have been able to see the puddles of water lying inside the Lancatrian encampment. The position of the cross helps confirm the approach route of the Yorkists and their likley position on the field of battle.

The cross was commissioned from Oshiro Terrain and James has created a really excellent piece, which is simplified and stylised from the original and also reduced in overall height to not be too overpowering. I may add a small cross on the top as the original appears to have had one, but that's now missing. This is a unique item for the game and will really set everything in context. Check out his other very skillful work and resin pieces here: http://www.oshiromodelterrain.co.uk/ More info on the Cross is found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_cross

The archbishop is a Perry figure; Henry VI with a simple head-swop from a Mark Copplestone-designed medieval bishop figure I've had for years, sitting alongside his clerical assistant. These have been painted rather than dipped.

That's it folks - all done for the conference.

After that I think 'normal service will be resumed' with my Burgundians here and some more HYW ready to be based up over on the other blog (much neglected recently).

Northampton (7) - De la Pre abbey

2010-07-02T01:31:00.001-07:00

I've completed the models that will represent the abbey, which was very near to the accepted location of the battlefield - in whichever verison of site interpretations you may have a personal preference for.
De la Pre abbey (now Delapre, giving it's name to a southern part of the town) was a convent that had been on the site since being founded in 1145 by the Cluniac order. Queen Eleanor's body rested here in 1290 on it's jouney back to London and so near to the site a Queen Eleanor cross was erected, that still stands.
The plan was to represent the building, but not to have it imposing on the table, adjacent to the Lancastrian camp. The building is one of the new Grand Manner later medieval buildings, which are really excellent, especially the townhouses. This is the church building, which as it (oddly) has no tower looks sufficiently religious and substantial, but not obviously a parish church. It's been quickly painting and dry-brushed, with some foliage added climbing the walls to make it look more established.
The gatehouse is also GM building and the walls are from Empress (from Spanish Civil war range)and the orchard is by Realistic Modelling Services. Hopefully the whole thing holds together fairly convincingly, as the medieval buildings are now long gone and those on the site appear to be a mix of Georgian and Victorian? Unfortuneatly I'd not realised it was a convent until last week and so the monks that I've got ready to use won't be seen walking the grounds, and any nuns will be well and truly locked inside, out of sight, for their own security!
Picture taken from my dry-run set-up...

Northampton (6) - Shrewsbury

2010-06-25T00:43:00.000-07:00

The last of the command bases I'm doing for the game - hurray!! John Talbot, second earl of Shrewsbury leader of the Lancastrian main 'battle'. He had been in the king's government, holding the posts of Lord Chancellor of Ireland and Treasurer to the king and was killed in the fighting on 10 July 1460.

The model for the earl is another quick conversion of a Perry metal - this time the 'duke of York' - who 'sacrificed' his head for a swop on the earl of March base and so has had a plastic one reattached, with a little Procreate putty to fill the gap to his mail collar. The rest of the figures are pretty much out of the box and dipped again. Although I do prefer figures that have been completely handpainted to dipped, I'm tempted to carry on with part-dipping for other medievals I'll be doing after this project; probably restricted just to jacks/padded coats and as shading on faces/hands, where the dip catches the fine sculpting lines and can be highlighted up and then matted down with varnish - we'll see.

Now am moving on to the scenic items I need to visually locate the battle in the right place - all purchased and now in need of undercoat and paint - these will be part of the De La Pre Abbey, a wall and gatehouse for the abbey & an orchard and the Lancastrian field defences.

Northampton (5) - Buckingham

2010-06-21T06:03:00.001-07:00

Thomas Stafford, first duke of Buckingham was a loyal servant to the Lancastrian government of Henry VI. He had been prominent in the French wars of Henry VI's reign, defending the English possessions in Normandy. He had fought for the King at the first battle of St Albans in 1455; trying to mediate before the battle and being wounded as the Yorkist lords broke through the town defences (possibly whilst he was still arming). At Northampton he probably commanded the main battle and was killed in the fighting that ensued once Warwick had been allowed into the royal encampment following Ruthin's treachery.

Buckingham's figure is a slightly altered Perry metal commander - Henry Tudor - with a plastic sallet added and then metal plumes added to that. I have tried to give him a dark burnished harness with gold edging, to befit his status as the Lancastrian leader. The standard bearer on foot is an old Citadel Alcatini 'dogs of War' figure with a plastic helm added - these are useful figures as they're broadly based on late fifteenth centry armour, except for the helms, which can now be easily swopped for plastic Perry spares! You can usually pick them, as I did, on flea-bay.

Livery colours for Buckingham were black and red and his livery badges seem to have included a flaming wheel, white swan and stafford knot and so I have included elements of all of these in the command base, either on flags, standards or livery coats, just for good measure. Flags by Freezywater.

Now to make the short trip west - to complete Shrewsbury...

Northampton (4) - March

2010-06-05T14:48:00.000-07:00

Edward, earl of March leading his household into the fray.

One of the highlights of the Perry's Salute Tewkesbury game were figures that Dave Andrews had done - one being Edward IV, using mainly the plastic men at arms sprue figures with conversions to form a vignette that tells a story and where all the figure seem to interact. As imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and with my lesser abilities for figure conversion, I've used it as a template for this command stand (I really hope you don't mind Dave?) and plan to do a similiar one for one of my Burgundian commands at a future date, perhaps including some of the forthcoming metal command figures.

The figure holding his sallet aloft has had the head from one of the metals added (York, I think) and the rest is achieved with a repositioning of arms, pinned and then any unsightly gaps filled with green stuff.

Figures all dipped and faces have been retouched with highlights. Edward's horse handpainted. Pics snapped outside rather than the indoor 'studio' set. Flags are from the Perry box.

All the Yorkist leaders are now done... on to Buckingham..

Northampton - promo

2010-06-01T11:30:00.000-07:00

As requested, (or if it's not been requested then an indulgent moment of self-promotion!) some info on the Battlefield Trust's 550th Anniversary of Northampton event on 10th July, in case anyone has an interest to come along. Some good speakers lined up and a worthy organisation to support.

I'm told that there's plenty of time after a circa 4pm finish to get home, in case England are in the third place play-off of the World Cup (unlikely, I appreciate)!

Also on the Sunday 11th, I believe some guided walks of the battlefield are being arranged by Mike Ingram, starting off from Delapre Abbey - I can find out more info if you're in need of combining physical exercise with some healthy mental stimulation.

Northampton (3) - Grey of Ruthin

2010-05-29T14:50:00.000-07:00

The first Lancastrian leader and I've taken the liberty of a bit of a shortcut.

For the Salute game I'd managed to get a small unit done for Grey (who by 1471 was earl of Kent and an established Yorkist courtier), see the 9 April blog entry, so I've re-used those men-at-arms with Grey's standard and added the mounted figures on a separate 50mm square base.

Lord Grey of Ruthin's treachoury against Henry VI seems to be the main reason that the battle lasted no more than 30 minutes, as he and his retainers lay down their arms, in a pre-arranged agreement with Warwick according to 'An English Chronicle' (although other accounts say that fighting lasted 3 hours before Grey switched sides).

I've used the Perry's Wenlock figure as Grey, contemplating at what point to turncoat his affinity, whilst his page (bearing his livery badge of a black staff) holds his armet.

Had a bit of a struggle with the matt varnish on these. For some reason the acrylic varnish I've used upto now dried too satin, and then a coat of Humbrol matt varnish (which i think I've had knocking around too long) came out even glossier, and so had to resort to the trusty Matt Cote for the cloths on the mounted figures...hey ho.

Northampton (2) - Fauconberg

2010-05-29T05:20:00.000-07:00

The next Yorkist command stand, William Neville lord Fauconberg, who commanded the right battle. He was nephew of the earl of Warwick and had a colourful political and military career during the wars of the roses. After the battle he was rewarded with the post of lieutenant of Calais, a notorious Neville stronghold and after fighting at Towton he became earl of Kent in 1462. It was Fauconberg who oppossed Ruthin at Northampton and whose troops appear to have been the first to break into the Lancastrian defended encampment follwing Ruthin's change of alliegence.

The figures are Perrys - metal mounted characters and plastic billmen - the latter straight from the box with the exception of the billmen urging men forward on the right side. All done with dip. I've not added the Fauconberg livery badge of the fishhook (as the rest of the contingent won't have it either as they've been pressed into service as Nevilles due to their generic blue and white livery coats). Flag is LBMS.

Off to procure the abbey buildings from Grand Manner at Partizan show tomorrow.

Northampton (1) - Warwick

2010-05-21T06:11:00.000-07:00

Ok this blog is back in business. I had an enforced lay-off following Salute, due to a minor eye op, but all OK now; just needing to do short bursts of painting activity, rather than long sessions working close-up.

Next target is the game to support the Battlefield Trust event in July for the battle of Northampton. I’m focussing first on bases for the main leaders – six 100 x 50mm size – and some bespoke terrain items that are required; the abbey and walling, Eleanor Cross and the Lancastrian field defences and encampment.

First up, Richard Neville earl of Warwick. No mini-biog really required for the so-called ‘kingmaker’. At Northampton he appears to have led the Yorkist vanward battle (on the left of the line). Although the leaders would have undoubtedly fought on foot at the battle, the Perry personality figures are too appealling to ignore and so my plan is to have each leader and flagbearer mounted, acompanied by retainers/household on foot – it’ll also make it easier to show the main protaganists on the table.

All figures have been dipped for speed, except for Warwick’s horse, as I don’t find that dip works on large areas of white, it just comes out looking dirty. Flag is LBMS and the spare flagpole will have Warwick’s standard added (when i purchase one from Freezywater). The man-at-arms on Warwick’s left is the Perry Salute 'freebie' figure, with crown removed from his raised hand; a lovely figure and I’m looking forward to the other forthcoming command packs.

Salute contingent (IV) - tents etc

2010-04-20T13:44:00.000-07:00

The last bits and bobs for the Salute Tewkesbury game, finished just in the nick of time.
Tents and related hangers-on will be lurking at the back somewhere, probably behind the Lancastrian army as they appear to have been encamped nearer the battlefield. The tents are from Steve Barber Models, with guide-ropes added from florist wire, on 'Warbases' circular mdf bases which Martin delivered in very short time (thanks!). The latin religous motto was spotted at recent trip to Warwick Castle on a re-enactor's tent and adapted here in a simpler form. The smaller ridge tent is from Valdermar Miniatures, from Denmark (I think), makers of some very interesting metal and resin medieval figures in 1/72nd scale. So although this is effectively 20mm, it seems to work OK for these figures as a more modest tent; some personal possessions (bedrolls, chest, etc) will be added inside one day.
The figures are Foundry, with exception of the Mark Copplestone-designed man at arms (a 'Wargames Illustrated' subs giveaway of a couple of years ago) and baggage items are a mix, inc Foundry and Front Rank.
Flagbearer is another Perry plastic converted bowman, holding LBMS English royal arms.

Pics taken with new camera, with flash and artificial light, can you tell any difference yet?

Next stop, ExCel....

Salute contingent (III) - Edward IV

2010-04-16T04:38:00.000-07:00

The last contingent for the ‘Salute’ game - bills and bows for Edward IV. The murrey colour has been mixed (equal parts of mid red and mid blue, with some GW Elf Flesh added), dipped and then highlighted again with more flesh added to lighten. As there’s no actual evidence for what colour murrey was, so think I’m on firm ground here... but feel free to comment! Edward’s ‘rose in splendour’ badge was then painted on some livery coats. Figures are all Perry plastics – I'm still trying to find some combinations of poses that don’t repeat any I’ve done before. The flags are from the Perry’s Towton sheet that comes with the boxed plastics.

Now just trying to finish off a couple of tents and related encampment bits for the game...

Salute contingent (II) - Earl of Devon

2010-04-11T09:06:00.000-07:00

Second complete unit; this time full strength (ie 2 50mm square bases of men at arms and 4 of bows) and depicting the earl of Devon, who commanded the Lancastrian left wing. For more info on the earl, see an earlier blog.

Perry plastics using more dip and highlight approach, this time with acrylic matt varnish. Not too bad when viewed en masse and at a discrete distance. Flags from Freezywater sheet.

I had planned to add waterslide decals and had some made up, but regretably the detail at this size becomes very indistinct and the decals are too brittle to apply without some element of damage (or they are with my clumsy fingers anyway), so had to revert to some rapidly handpainted white boar livery badges.

Next up, last Salute contingent for Edward IV.

Salute contingent (I) - Lord Grey

2010-04-09T09:02:00.000-07:00

This is effectively a half-sized contingent for the Perry’s Salute game, to bulk up a Yorkist 'battle'. Lord Grey was a key Lancastrian protanganist at the battle of Northampton, who’s defection appears to have been the catalyst for the Yorkist victory. At Tewkesbury he was fighting for Edward IV, having been made earl of Kent by the new king. These figures will be increased in size later on, to form one of the wings for my Northampton game.
The figures have been blocked and dipped, with minimal highlighting on these as done at double-quick time. The dip was then matt varnished with Humbrol ‘Matt Cote’ (except for the plate and mail). This varnish has killed the gloss dip, but also has killed nearly all the depth and subtley that the dip creates! So different varnish on the next batch. Ready very soon.
Oh and I forgot to reveal the make of the artillery piece, of a couple of blogs ago... I know you've all been waiting patiently, breath abated! Well Kelly, the designer himself, got it right! It’s a casting from Empire Miniatures of Australia, now sadly OOP it appears.

The End of the House of Lancaster

2010-03-28T06:42:00.000-07:00

...well, almost the end.
Henry VI and Queen Margaret, riding around at the edge of the battlefield, ready to either take flight in defeat or line up the captured Yorkists nobility to be attainted and executed in victory.
Figures are Perrys; the pennon bearer is a plastic figure with adjusted arms to hold a flagpole (though not at an exact 90 degrees ...theres a strong wind blowing you know!). Flag is LBMS taken from their HYW sheet.
Having now painted both plastic and metals from this range I fear that the plastics are now going to either spoil us with the extra crispness of the detail, or result in the casting quality of the metals needing to be raised. We get to see the lovely sculpting by both Perrys when they post WIP pics (on TMP or all too occasionally on their own website), but increasingly this detail seems to be getting lost in the mouldmaking and casting process IMHO. Case in point here is Henry's raised hand - the detail just wasn't there and the fingers had effectively fused together - and I'm pretty certain that Michael would not have designed the original figure so.
I say not quite the end of the Lancastrians, as Edward Prince of Wales and the duke of Somerset are still to come and are due to be released as mounted figures, anytime now. Henry's also due to be accompanied by a dismounted herald, from the plasics box which I'm still doing... but too much small-scale heraldry for one painting session.

Burgundian Artillery

2010-03-19T10:34:00.000-07:00

Charles the Bold was reknowned for the funds he lavished on acquiring a substantial artillery train, both the very latest field and siege guns, employing master gunners from across Europe . Although partly an outward reflection of wealth and status, Charles did employ his artillery in both battles and seiges (such as Neuss and Morat), although without success - by 1477 most of his artillery appears to have been in the hands of various Swiss cantons. Wheeled field guns such as these had a wide range of names used by contemporary accounts; such as coulourine, crappaudeaul, veuglaire and serpentine. Neither their overall size or calibre appear to have borne any relation to any categorisation derived from their naming, although they were all breach loading.

These are the first of what will be a sizeable artillery train for my Burgundians. They are Perry WotR crew, with the addition of a converted plastic figure. Given the narrowness of my basing (60mm) I decided on crews comprising of just a master gunner and two assistants. Equipment is a mix of Front Rank, Bicorne and Foundry. Two of the guns are the Perry pieces, which are very fine castings that require careful cleaning and patient assembly.

The slightly larger gun is another nicely sculpted model which I believe has something of a rarity value as its from a now defunct, incomplete range of late medievals from about ten years ago... so can anyone try and identify the 'mysterie gonne' ?

No prizes, but I'll reveal the answer on my next posting...

Earl of Devon at Tewkesbury

2010-03-13T09:17:00.000-08:00

John Courtenay, 15th Earl of Devon, surveying the field at Tewkesbury on 4th May 1471, the day he would die fighting for the Lancastrian cause. The earl was the younger brother of the earl who'd been attainted and beheaded following the battle of Towton. He was restored to the earldom by Warwick in 1470 when 'the kingmaker' was effectively controlling the Henrician government. He led the Lancastrian left wing at Tewkesbury, opposite Lord Hastings, and died in the fighting.
The figures are Perry WotR; Devon has 'turncoated' from the Yorkist command pack (WR3) and the sculpted soft hat replaced by a visored sallet from the plastics box, to position him as being closer to the front line and ready for the fray - although of course it's most likley that he would have led his men on foot when the battle started. His coat of arms is from one of the new WotR flag sheets from LBMS.
This vignette was done over the last two days and is a welcome diversion from the rank and file I'm doing. Devon will be available for closer inspection at the Perry's Tewkesbury demo game at this year's Salute.

Bosworth Conference

2010-02-23T13:22:00.001-08:00

I'm sure everyone is aware of the recent press coverage that the Bosworth battlefield site has been 'rediscovered', or more accurately relocated, to about 2 kms from the current site near Ambion Hill. I attended last weekend a oneday conference on the battle that followed up on the media coverage of the Battlefield Trust's work to review the battle site. What follows is a brief review of what I found to be the most interesting points made by an excellent line-up of speakers and academics. Read on if you're interested...

Richard Holmes (military historian) - his excitement about the event was the way that a number of disciplnes had all come together to inform on the battlefield - historians, archeologists, re-enactors, geographic analysis etc. Holmes sees this as the way forward now for sites where there is little direct recorded evidence; basically those in UK before the 17th centuty. On Bosworth he still has questions to be answered about why Richard lost a battle he should have won and why he left a good position on Ambion Hill, where he encamped the night before? On the latter he sees the role of Stanley, who Richard expected to join Henry Tudor, as the key as it forced him to act and attack.

Anne Curry (Southampton University) - gave update on work to assess size of armies, using what direct info exists and what can be derived from other accounts, notably 1475 indentures for Edward IV's french campaign. On Richard's army, Curry noted apparent low numbers of commissions of array and few peers at the battle, suggesting a likely dependence on few peers (Norfolk and Northumberland) and the royal household. Lower volume of arrayed troops may have reduced numbers of archers in the royal army? - army list writers take note! A source shows that an order was made to bring serpentines from Calais - which could be the guns that fired the cannonballs found on the site? Henry's army includes more nobility, many collected en route to the battle, and 'Franc Archers' (maybe 1-2,000?), and there was discussion about their potential tactics, as they were Swiss trained, to out-flank or attack the royal artillery. Overall 259 named leaders are known to have been at Bosworth and more work to be done to build up size of contingents.

Matthew Strickland (Glasgow University) - went thru the contmporary materials and possible military tactics, based on those of the 15th century. The typical composition was a strong 'van', which Vergil says at Bosworth was strong with archers for both armies. Apparently there is work underway reviewing whether in English battles of period archers and men-at-arms fought in their 'lance', eg with a couple of archers side-by-side assisting as a tactical unit - rather than being banded together as large bow units - which could challenge our wargame rules and basing! Strickland's summary was that success in WotR battles was likely to go to the army who could get the opposition to attack them and that defensive tactics was the traditional mind-set of most leaders.

Derek Allsop - reported on experimental firing tests, using cannonballs that match those found at Bosworth. When fired, just 1 degree of elevation of a gun barrel added over 100% to the distance that a ball travels before hitting the ground. Whilst the balls hit the ground around 250 metres, when tested they carried on for 1 km, boucing about 8-10 times, before stopping! Deviation side-to-side was minimal. Therefore more work to be done using forensics used on bullets to show what happened to the Bosworth shot, so that the possible position that they were fired from can be decided, ie where was the artillery positioned?

Glenn Foarde (Battlefield Trust lead archeologist) - went thru how historic maps had made assumptions on the battle site and how reference to the marsh has misled historians. The BT survey focussed on placenames and geographic surveys to find where the marsh had been (apparently not a large one at all, so question on what impact it may have had on the troops positioning and not found as drained in 1530!). More work planned to try and find out where the guns were. also the search hasn't looked for arrowheads, to find the main location of the fighting, as has been done at Towton. Full report by Glenn is in this months BBC 'History' magazine.

Finally a plug for the Battlefield Trust, http://www.battlefieldstrust.com/ which I joined a few months ago; it backed this project and does a great job preserving and developing UK sites. Why not join today!

Normal service will be resumed asap, am still applying the acrylics when time allows...

WIP - Wars of the Roses

2010-01-31T07:34:00.000-08:00

I feel obligated to update the blog, so these are only some WIP shots. I've also bought myself a cheap lightbox, so I wanted to try that out too.

These are a few of the Perry plastics that I'm working on for two Wars of the Roses games planned for this year. As both require a large amount of figures to be done (large that is in relation to usual output) the dip-and-highlight approach is being refined. I'm now using both Dark and Strong tones of Army Painter selectively; although I'm a bit concerned that the Dark is too dark and tends to flatted colours after a matt varnish is applied, but it does look very effective on the armour IMHO, so I intend to continue with it. The key appears to be to use very light base colours, pre dip, to compensate. The good news, I keep reminding myself, is the quick pace that the painting conveyer belt is moving along and that basing up with improve the overall effect when they're on the table. These are gaming figures and not ones for close examination in the collector's cabinet.

Above pics are fom Earl of Devon's contingent for a 'Salute' game; the completed unit will be a body of household men at arms and billmen, with two 'sleeve' bases of longbowmen. I've drilled out the hands for flags on metal rods, partly as I do have a slight concern with the plastic ones snapping one day, but mainly as I will 're-cycle' these as alternative units for the Northampton game via a swift change of flag and standard. That said I'm hoping to get some waterslide decals made up with livery badges on, so hope no-one will be too eagle-eyed to spot this! The retainers wearing livery coats are therefore patiently awaiting arrival of the decals before a brush on of dip.

Dippers

2010-01-10T03:54:00.000-08:00

Ho hum, there I was on the straight-and-narrow, making a good start to my Burgundians when I go and get distracted!
These are some test figures for a potential demo game later this year, not yet definetly fixed up, for the 550th anniversary of a Wars of the Roses battle that's near to where I live. I need to see if I can possibly create at least 300 figures to a decent standard, in a few months, for both armies. Given the limited free time I'll have, I've tested a dipping approach - well, to be accurate a brush-on of 'Army Painter' dip.
The figures were white-undercoated and then the main colours blocked in, in shades that are much lighter than I would normally do, using the mid & light shades in the Foundry triads for example and the black clothing was painted as dark grey. I've then brushed on 'Dark tone' dip. The non-armour areas have been matted with Humbrol Matt Cote. This dip tone seems to work really well on the armour, pooling in the right areas such as the helmet rivets and joints in plates and giving a nice worn-steel finish. Where I'm a tad concerned is on darker clothing, which get dulled and there are no highlights post-dip. Also, from previous experience, the dark tone is too strong to go on whites. I may therefore use mid-tone on clothing and dark tone on armour?
Overall, the speedier process may just allow allow me to get these done, with an acceptable level of detail (thats already in the figure castings) brought out by the dip.

More test figures needed me thinks.

Burgundian Ordonnance longbowmen

2010-01-06T05:20:00.000-08:00

Every (snow) cloud has a silver lining!

As I can't commute to work I've completed my first Perry plastics - 3 bases of bowmen, based on 60mm squares, which I'll combine in either twos or threes as fighting contingents on the table. I’m pleased with both the raw figures and the results. As per my previous blog entry, I’ve added wire bowstrings to all and scarves on helmets to some. The flag is a ‘Dansk Flag’ free download; these are particularly fine flags for the Burgundian range, but if I use more of them I’ll have to access a better quality printer to do them justice.

I’ve read a couple of reviews of the plastic ‘Bills and Bows’ box which have been a tad mixed in people’s responses to them. Apparently some have experienced prominent mould lines or small depressions in the plastic on the backs of the bodies; I’ve checked all my boxes are they appear fine. It’s impossible of course to avoid mould lines completely and most are easy to remove with the side of a new scalpel, the ones which are noticeable are on the legs and front of the bows. The hardest to clean are those running across some of the helmets, where if you’re not uber careful the fine detail of the rivets, that hold the helmet linings, can be lost – I’ve used a fine needle file here.

What you do get, for only £15 we should remember, are some beautiful, historically accurate and finely detailed figures, and the small amount of extra time required for gluing and preparing, provides you with loads of variants (and there are metals to come). I think for many, perhaps used to painting metals from other designers where undercuts are deep and belts etc sit proud, the detail on these can be too fine and hence trickier to paint. I’m wondering if the best results with this range maybe to use more washes and let the detail do the work for you, particularly on the faces, belts and folds on the jacks (the latter being where I have used a wash followed by a hand painted highlights)?

Another ‘issue’ to deal with is their lack of weight. I’m sure this is 80% a psychological response, as we’ve all been used to metal figures for so long now, and 20% a practical one, as the bases may tend to sit lightly on terrain etc. I did glue all of these onto small washers, to try and add some weight, but frankly you can hardly tell when you pick them up and it creates a deeper base to cover with filler and sand etc. I don’t think I’ll bother again and just accept it – hopefully most future bases will have at least one of the forthcoming metal castings on them anyway.

Next up on the bench are more archers and then some Ordonnance halberdiers.

fiddling about...

2009-12-23T05:30:00.001-08:00

One of the great benefits of plastics is the potential for conversions. I can recall past days of 'Military Modelling' magazine when obscure figures were created from basic Historex or Airfix plastics. Well, whilst not truly conversions, I have been fiddling about to slightly alter some figures to make them a tad more 'continental' in appearance. Using Duro putty I've added some scarves tied on helmets and a 'bend' to one figure, all to be painted in ducal colours. On others, using the excellent Osprey 'English Longbowmen' as my guide, I've added bags to the arrows that hang from the waist belts, some which were opened at both ends to enable easy access to the arrows. Some Burgundian longbowmen (probably English in Charles service), are shown in Schilling's Chronicles, carrying large semi-rigid arrow bags, so I've had a go at a couple of these - whilst they seem over-large they are roughly to size. This is the extent of my current skills with putty, so I'll probably do a few more along similiar lines, if they look Ok when painted up.
I also want to add plumes to the sallets on my Household Guard figures, but I'll wait and see if the Perrys do separate heads such as this, as they have said they plan to do.
Any other ideas to 'Burgundianise' the figures are warmly welcomed.

Plastic WIPs

2009-12-16T06:01:00.000-08:00

A renewal of activity; due to the long awaited, and much anticipated, first release of the late medieval range from Perry Miniatures. I'd not purchased any of the new generation of 28mm plastics until now and I am overwhelmed by both the detail of the sculpting and by the crispness of the moulding on these figures, every rivet on the brigandine is well defined and the figures in full harness are little works of art. Others have already reviewed the contents of the plastic bills and bows box, so I won't repeat that here. To me the figures seem more slender than previous Perry figures; whether this is a consequence of the 3-up sculpting, a result of the fineness which plastic production can give or merely an optical illusion I'm not sure. It will be interesting to stand them alongside the first metals for this range. Overall great value for money and surely they'll be a glut of Wars of the Roses games in 2010 and hopefully others who'll adapt he range for mainland European armies too.

Pictured above are the first ones I've done since they arrived last week, photo'd quickly under the desk lamp, and the start of the upgrade and replacement of my Burgundian Ordonnance army of Duke Charles. The figures wearing jacks have had sewn-on crosses of St Andrew added for recognition and I've attached wire bowstrings. Next step to finih and base up a couple of longbowmen units.

Basing and Planning

2009-10-02T14:55:00.000-07:00

Some progress (at last I hear someone cry!). A brief break from my HYW has allowed me to base up, and part complete, another Swiss pike contingent. These represent Zurich and Lucerne cantons. Both were part of the Confederation of eight core cantons - the Eidgenossen - that with allied cantons (and some neighbouring feudal and civic allies) fought Duke Charles of Burgundy. They provided significant numbers at Grandson and Morat (second only to Berne) and I've banded them together anachronistically on the basis of similiar blue and white cantonal colour schemes. I'm currently organising my Swiss along canton colour lines, so that theres a nice balance of colours to distinguish each of the main units and to give me a painting framework too. However I'm drawn to the idea of representing a central mass of mixed flags, as shown in the Schilling chronicles, soI may also make up a base of these for when all are collated together into a large Vorhut.
These figures are Foundry and were exquisitely painted for me last year by Gareth McCullagh, who is an even more talented sculptor of small figures than he is a fantastic painter. The final Zurich/Lucerne pike bloc will have another 3-deep line of bases added, to form the centre of the bloc with a base of flagbearers and halbard escort on the second row. Alongside the canton flags I plan to add a small flag for each leader; for Zurich this was Hans Waldmann, whose green and yellow flag will provide some contrasts in colour.
This is probably the last basing up I'll get done for the Swiss before the Perrys WofR range is released, as I need to decide whether the new range will be used for my remaining Swiss, or do I use up the Foundry lead pile that's been hanging around for some time?

I've also sketched out the Burgundian Ordonnance army plans, where I will use the new Perry range. The structure and troop ratios are based on Charles' ordinances for his army between 1471 and 1475. Each contingent will be put on large bases, like the Swiss and roughly each represents 300 foot or 125 cavalry.
So, I have the following in mind:
Household troops:
1 x Charles, Duke of Burgundy - commander (mounted men at arms & coustillers)
1 x Antony, Bastard of Burgundy - sub commander (mounted MAAs & coustillers)
1 x Count of Campobasso - sub-commander (mounted MAAs & coustillers)
1 x knights & chamberlains (foot MAAs)
2 x longbowmen

Ordonnance troops:
8 x mounted men at arms & coustillers
6 x longbowmen
2 x crossbowmen
2 x handgunners
4 x halbardiers
5 x artillery pieces

Feudal troops:
2 x mounted knights & coustillers
6 x Picardy/Flemish pikemen

This gives a tabletop force of just over 300 figures, plus some vignettes, casualties & baggage camp, which is probably well over 18 months painting work for me, and is broadly proportionate to the more numerous Swiss force I'm gathering too. I'm sure it'll be amended as time goes on, but for now I'm happy that I have a decent target to aim at. So first plastics out of the box will be done as Ordonnance longbowmen.

Perry Plastics

2009-09-12T14:10:00.000-07:00

Hey, some news and a post!

I'm sure that the majority of the gaming fratenity have seen the latest pics on the first Perry 28mm plastics for their new Late Medieval range, to be released pre Christmas.

These will form the majority of my new Burgundian Ordonnance army, along with the metals that are released too. These have fantastic potential, I'm sure they'll be used for fantasy as well as all the English & European historical options. Loads of variations look possible with the seperate arms and heads.

One of the great things with the new phase of hard plastics is the huge number of variants that can be obtained from a box, be they Perry, Victrix, Warlord, etc . That, plus the low cost relative to metals of the same quality, and the conversion potential, if you're feeling brave enough to get out the scalpel, glue and filler.

Looks to me from these pics that they'll be seperate swords/scabbards plus arrow bundles for the archers on the sprues. I particularly like the arrows pushed into the ground too – hope they'll be lots of them – very useful for seperating and using as arrows shot into the ground for attacking Swiss pike and halbard bases.

Basically, all options well thought out as with other Perry plastics and can't fault them (other than we'd like 'em sooner!).

My plan will be to do an 'out of the box' contingent or two of English archers in Charles' service and then perhaps some Ordonnance halbardiers, with a few modest conversions to add plumes & scarves on some helms and even a sewn-on cross of St Andrew.

Roll on Christmas!

Swiss - the story so far

2009-06-02T13:14:00.001-07:00

Pics of the Swiss that I have done to date; those that are painted and based.

These are Uri and Berne cantons, the latter will be three times this size when completed, to reflect the fact that the Bernese provided the majority of the Swiss army at both Grandson and Morat.

Flags are to be added. Figures are all Foundry. Painted by me and Dave Imrie (who did most of the Uri pikemen and shot).

Basing is on 100 x 50mm bases and 50mm square for the 'sleeves' of shot and halbards (who can be seperated off and conjoined to form halbard blocs).

Catherine's pics

2009-05-17T11:14:00.000-07:00

Some more detailed pics of the same figures. I left the models in my conservatory after the previous posting(where I take my pictures to utilise the natural light) and my youngest daughter used her own camera, with close-up setting, and took some pics. So I thought they shouldn't go to waste. Minor intake of breath from me however, having seen these in mega close-up, as they're not the standard that I strive for now, but I should remember these were done a while back now. Not bad pics though - for a 14 year old with a cheap camera.

Ye old Burgundian Ordonnance

2009-05-01T05:04:00.001-07:00

Some selected pics of my existing Burgundian army.

Figures are Foundry/Citadel castings in the main, painted by me over many years in the early 90s. All my figures are based on large 100x50mm bases, not for any specific rules, but (I have to admit) heavily influenced by Dave Andrews collection, which I rather slavishly followed at the time.

In all there are the following bases; 12 men at arms, 6 pike (as 2 units), 8 longbows, 2 handguns, 4 crossbows, 2 halbards and 6 artillery, plus a couple of command groups. Flags are a mix of handpainted, Freezywater and some scanned images.

One of the main attractions of this army, apart from trying to 're-write' history and attempt to co-ordibnate the various troop types andactually beat the Swiss, is the visual appeal - they are very colourful; with the blue & white livery and St Andrews cross, Burgundian flints and saints adorning flags.

Will post some more soon.

I have undertaken it...

2009-04-03T12:54:00.000-07:00

...what exactly? well to complete my 28mm wargame armies covering the Burgundian Swiss wars of 1474-1477.

First, a little history. The origins of these armies goes back to the late 1980s/early 90's when I completed my existing Burgundian army, mainly using the Citadel late medieval range - a very nice set of figures and top of the range for historical accuracy and variety at the time. These were completed based, then rebased but I was never really happy with the quality of the flags. The Swiss Confederation army had an abortive start several years ago, using the same figure range, supplemented by various other manufacturers. As most of the Swiss carry pikes and the Citadel range didn't, this meant many hours of conversions and so progress ground to a halt. The army was then revivied by the arrival of the Dave Andrew's designed Foundry figures - the first accuarate figures that looked like the contemporary Schilling chronicles. to date I've completed about a quarter of the pike blocs I'm planning and units are yet to be provided with cantonal flags.

Back to the present, or indeed the future. The forthcoming Perry late medieval range of plastics and metals is the impetus to revisit this collection, in a major way. The Burgundians will be completely replaced (with the existing figures probably being sold off). The Swiss will be continued and completed - I have a mound of Swiss Foundry castings and will see if any of the new Perrys can be utilised - I believe that there will be 'continental' troops which will reflect Swiss dress.

So, next up some pics of the existing collection, just for old times sake.