Burgundian Ordonnance longbowmen

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.