Lancastrian artillery: cannon and limber

The French cannon and limber in Lancastrian service is finally ready for basing.

The limber is from Perry Miniatures’ American War of Independence range (AW117), while the cannon is by Mark Copplestone.

The figures are Perry Miniatures with one by Mark Copplestone holding the horse.

French artillery on the move, and ready for basing.

My first finished figures

It seems to have taken me ages to get to this stage, while I thought about what I was going to model and represent, let alone which personalities and their retinues. I seem to have spent much of the period since my first post reading new books and re-reading books I bought when I first considered a foray into the late medieval period in the early 1990s.

I have finished the bulk of the artillery, with a ‘butterfly’ style limber planned for the Lancastrians at some point in the future. I’ll add some more gabions too.

I am really pleased with the limber for the Front Rank cannon, the first vignette that I finished, where I worked out how I wanted to detail the bases too.

Although Never Mind the Billhooks suggests six miniatures for ‘skirmishers’ (a misnomer, really) like hand gunners and crossbow men, I thought this looked a bit ‘light’, so added two figures. I also elected to base them in pairs.

Finally the Papal mission: Francesco Coppini and a Papal standard bearer. He may get a small Vatican retinue at some point.

As I mentioned in my last post, ready for painting I have two units of mercenary French armed with long spears (pikes), with hand gunners and crossbow men in support, all for the Lancastrian army. Margaret of Anjou, her son Edward Prince of Wales, and Edmund Earl of Rutland, all with standard bearers.

While I am painting these I’ll assemble figures for Clifford’s Flower of Craven.

The Yorkist artillery: Front Rank cannons with a mix of Perry Miniatures and Mark Copplestone figures.

Yorkist cannon emplaced with Empress Miniatures’ Builder’s Yard gabions, and a bit of scratch building.

The gabions are based separately to fit neatly around the front of the cannon’s base.

Yorkist cannon and limber, with some figures in Edward IV’s azure and murrey livery.

Yorkist Burgundian hand culverins; more Copplestone miniatures, with a slight fantasy vibe.

Yorkist Burgundian mercenary crossbow men, a mixture of Perry Miniatures and Steel Fist Miniatures figures.

Yorkist Flemish mercenary hand gunners, also a mixture of Perry Miniatures and Steel Fist Miniatures figures.

Lancastrian cannon with French mercenary crews, a mixture of Perry Miniatures, Mark Copplestone, and Steel Fist Miniatures figures.

Francesco Coppini and Papal standard bearer.

Mercenary cannon crews

I’ve been making a few more crew figures for my four cannons, with a view to having three or four figures per gun, and a handful of extras.

It’s a slow process (for me, at any rate) … looking at references, thinking about poses, attire, head choices, additional tools such as mallets – carved off the Perry Miniatures’ archers stakes (AO7), looking for arms and hands to combine for the right attitude.

They are beginning to come together, and although I have basing arrangements in mind, I do need to arrange them around the cannon next to see how they will interact with one another in situ.

A few crew figures for the cannon, comprising Perry Miniatures’ metal and plastic figures and three Steel Fist Miniatures’ dollies, and mallets carved off archers stakes.

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.