Monday, 18 June 2012

Joan - converted


A very quick post - taken with a poor picture so my apologies - of the converted 'Joan to a Burgundian man at arms' Perry figure with paint now applied. The highlight tones on the horse have not come out well under the desk lamp (usually I try and take all pics in natural light). However I'm pleased that the idea has turned out well in practice as a nicely posed figure, who should fit well into the next Company (or perhaps the one after that when I make a final decision on basing, we'll see).

The other men at arms are making very slow progress - the horseflesh and trappings seem a bit tedious to paint - at the moment I'm getting more out of assembling and seeking new poses and variations.  So I'm guilty of having diverted into a couple of other vignettes, which I'll post when I have some outstanding items needed to finish them off.

More soon.

Thursday, 7 June 2012

Ordonnance men at arms - variations on a theme



I have to admit to making slower than planned progress with my second Ordonnance Company of mounted men at arms. It does take more time to prep and assemble the excellent Perry plastics, but I've been attempting to make modest enhancements to the figure before painting. This has resulted in me having a go with the ProCreate putty,  and a combination of my rudimentary modelling skills and needing each stage of applied putty to harden before moving on,  has all been rather time consuming.

So this is another interim post, with some pics of some of what I've done so far. I've varied the horse tack again on some of the mounts. 'The Count of Wymborn' suggested that I use putty rather than metal foil and despite my misgivings beforehand, I've cleaned off all the moulded tack on a couple and replaced with different styles of trappings, taken from contemporary illustrations. I'm pleased with the results and will be doing some more on each unit.

I've also pinched ideas from The Lead Adventurers Forum (where several people are doing some really wonderful conversions on the Perry WotR plastics) to cut assembled horses into front and rear halves and reassemble to obtain different and more passive poses. More Procreate work (and time) required to fill and smooth the inevitable gaps when halves are glued back together.




Most of the men at arms have had a cross of St Andrew added - again with putty - and I'm happier with the results compared to my first unit which were done with foil. The last conversion is to use the Perrys Joan of Arc figure from the Agincourt to Orleans range. Although the figure wears harness of approx 40 years earlier, and is of a young woman, I had a spare casting and love the pose. So after a compassionate beheading, I added some slightly larger pauldrons and tassets with putty to try and 'modernise' the armour. I removed the square besagews, as these do reflect a distinctly early fifteenth century style, and glued on plastic 'german' style ones cut from spare plastic arms. A plumed sallet was then added and I think it'll fit in OK when it's part of a unit.

Now, on to the painting...