On the painting blocks

It’s cooled down a bit, so I got on with undercoating the figures I have finished assembling. This prompted me to take stock and make a plan for finishing some command groups.

With 73 figures either undercoated, part-painted, or nearing completion, my polystyrene blocks are full.

I have undercoated half of the Flower of Craven (mounted and unmounted), and I need to finish Margaret of Anjou and the Prince of Wales command groups to make room for the remainder.

This will leave finishing off Hastings’ retinue as the main task.

Left-to-right: nine bill-armed figures as yet unallocated; Clifford’s light cavalry and mounted and dismounted archers; Margaret of Anjou and the Prince of Wales.

Hastings’ retinue comprising three companies of figures in full harness, bill-armed figures, and archers.

Hastings, his standard bearer, and a man-at-arms holding Hastings’ helmet.

A few more of Clifford’s retinue

It’s been way too hot to paint (again) so I got on with some assembly and a couple of conversions.

As I have posted before, I’m planning on a contingent of eight light cavalry, and eight mounted archers with their dismounted equivalents.

I’ve completed the horses and horse holder group, and one mounted and one dismounted archer. Now I have assembled two more archers and the first of the light cavalry.

One is a conversion joining a plastic tabard torso to legs with partial armour. I added mail and riding boots using Green Stuff and spurs using lead to match the mounted figures, and the result is alright.

These conversions take me ages, so I’m not sure if I’ll make matched pairs for all of them. Wait to see …

The front four figures are mounted and dismounted archers, with three mounted light cavalry behind. All these are from Perry Miniatures plastic sets.

Clifford’s Flower of Craven

I stalled with this retinue because I became unhappy with the appearance of the wyverns.

Call me fussy (I’ll be fine with it), but even when I was applying the Little Big Men transfers I had a sense I wouldn’t be happy with the result.

The problem is the thickness of the carrier film: it’s somewhat thicker than a conventional water slide transfer (decal to our American cousins), and doesn’t really respond to Micro Sol.

I’ve used a few for Edward IV’s cannon crews and hand gunners, and the result wasn’t too bad. These were applied to the left hand side of livery jackets or tabards, where there weren’t too many creases.

When applied to the backs of the four archer figures I have painted, the result was very much appliqué … and I came to dislike it every time I looked at them.

More recently I had a look at The Mighty Brush’s web site (I have some of Luther’s transfers, and they are sharp, and delicate, and thin) and I discovered a new sheet of wyverns. Brilliant! Ordered in red. Problem solved.

Then, the tricky part: could I remove the LBM wyverns without making a terrible mess of the figures, since they had been varnished by now, and some were based.

A new #11 blade in my scalpel, a steady hand, a bit of retouching … and the result is not too shabby.

Now I have a bit of emotional energy for the Flower of Craven again.

The Mighty Brush wyvern transfers, with gold fleur-de-lis destined for Margaret of Anjou.

These transfers are so much better. I’ll probably use this size and one smaller size for the remainder of the retinue.

Sir William Hastings’ retinue flags: an extra maunch

I’ve made quite a bit of progress with painting Hasting’s three companies of men-at-arms, bill-armed and bow-armed figures, to the point that I now have an eye on their finishing touches.

Pete’s Flags for this noble include a standard, a Manticore banner, and a maunch banner. With the standard for the command group, the manticore for the men-at-arms, and the maunch for the billmen I had settled on the archers being without a flag of any kind – not ideal.

For some reason I awoke this morning with the idea to draw a second maunch. I really did – sad I know.

Anyhow, I had a good look at the set that I have, got out my light box, and made a trace. Then I set about a bit of colouring-in. So far so encouraging … wait to see how it turns out.

My first attempt at a hand drawn copy of Pete’s Flags Hastings’ maunch – not too shabby.

Some new figures and another cannon emplacement

Two packs from Steel Fist Miniatures arrived today, and lovely figures they are too.

A command set (LM15) and women camp followers (LM32) will have great utility once I figure out a few vignettes around camp, farm, and village life. The messenger will probably have spurs added, and be coupled with one of my Claymore Castings standing horses.

I have been meaning to model a second emplacement for a cannon for ages; since it has been too hot to paint I made a start with this little project.

These lovely women were sculpted by Paul Hicks. The figure on the left can hold a fork or a hand gun.

A very useful set of figures – just need to figure out who will be who.

The new gabion emplacement, and another I made earlier.

Wenlock’s retinue; first of the Flower of Craven; Earl of Rutland

The politically mutable Baron John Wenlock and his companies of bill men and archers are finished, and I’m pleased with the result, which is consistent with the everything I have done so far.

It’s also my first experience of working with Pete’s Flags.

The flags are fabulous. Great care is needed when cutting the fringed edges, but the effort is rewarded by the final appearance.

The flags are delicate, though. I got a small amount of PVA on to one of them, and removing it by gently rolling it off with a fresh cotton bud lifted a small amount of colour.

I remedied this with gentle application of colour using Pentel Arts coloured pencils, which are quite soft and blend easily, so ideal. I also used them for colouring the edges of the flags, blending colour with black to achieve the right tone.

Hasting’s companies are on the painting desk, and a handful of hand gunnners liveried for Edward IV are being based. I’ll begin assembling the remainder of the Clifford’s Flower of Craven next.

Wenlock’s retinue of bill-armed men and archers.

The first of Baron John Clifford’s Flower of Craven – dismounted archer’s horse holders and standard bearer, and Edmund, Earl of Rutland’s command group.

K&M Trees, and standards and banners

I’ve been looking at K&M Trees web site for a while, waiting for an opportunity to actually see their trees up close.

K&M had a stand at the  Legionary Wargames Show in Exeter, so I went along on Saturday to have a look. I can report that these trees really are lovely – the images on their web site don’t really do them justice.

They had run out of bases for the trees, and while ordering these I inevitably succumbed to a few more deciduous trees and some fir trees.

I’m looking forward to modelling these on bases.

I bought a fourth box of Perry Miniatures’ plastic Wars of the Roses Infantry, and on opening I noticed that the booklet had different flags from the others I have.

I now have the following (grouped by leaflet):

Battle of Wakefield1460
– Richard, Duke of York’s standard
– Richard, Duke of York’s livery banner
– Edmund, Earl of Rutland’s banner
– Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury’s banner
– Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland’s standard
– Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland’s livery banner
– Lord Clifford’s banner
– Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter’s banner

Battle of Towton1461
– Edward IV’s standard
– Edward IV’s banner
– Edward IV’s livery banner
– Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick’s banner
– William Neville, Lord Fauconberg’s banner
– Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset’s standard
– Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset’s livery banner
– Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland’s banner

Battle of Bosworth1485
– Richard III’s standard
– Richard III’s banner
– John Howard, Duke of Norfolk’s banner
– Henry Tudor’s standard
– Henry Tudor’s livery banner
– William Stanley of Holt’s banner
– John de Vere, Earl of Oxford’s banner
– Sir John Savage’s banner

I wonder how many different sets there are.

The first K&M Trees … of many, I suspect.