WIP - Bombard

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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...