First assembly

Thank goodness for the long weekend! At last a chance to spend a few uninterrupted hours getting to grips with the plastic and metal miniatures I have, and begin to assemble them.

I have assembled a handful of crossbow men, hand gunners, and gun crew, all using a mix of Perry Miniatures plastic parts and Steel Fist Miniatures dollies. I have also assembled my first mounted figure, destined to be the vengeful John Clifford. I am thinking he will lead a light cavalry unit – The Flower of Craven. This will be my first  attempt at painting heraldic devices and patterns, so I am keen to see how I get on with it.

Hand gunners, crossbowmen, gun crew, and hand culverins,  with a cannon and limber in the background. The mounted figure will be John Clifford.

Hand culverins and light cannon

A post on the Never Mind the Billhooks Facebook group showing Mark Copplestone’s hand cannon miniatures reminded me how much I had wanted these figures when I first saw them many many years ago.

I discovered that they are available from Forlorn Hope Games on ebay. They also have a light cannon model with two rather animated crew, also by Copplestone … so I bought a couple of sets of each to augment my artillery park.

At the time of writing I am not sure if the hand cannons are historically accurate weapons – they are from the Warhammer Fantasy range. If they are they would probably be termed hand culverins. Anyhow, they look the part.

Mark Copplestone’s hand cannons and crews …

… and light cannons with crews.

The light cannons alongside one of my Front Rank cannons.