Lancastrian French mercenaries

After a lengthy hiatus I have managed to finish two more small companies of French mercenaries.

A company of eight crossbow armed men and another of eight hand gunners will join the two French cannon, part of the Lancastrian mercenary contingent.

I have added a few pavises with different sized fleur-de-lis.
I also revisited the Yorkist mercenaries, adding a few more pavises for the Burgundians and the Flemish here, and ground foliage.

The fleur-de-lis and heraldic wolf waterslide transfers are from The Mighty Brush. These are very crisply defined and come in a range of very useful sizes. Everything else is hand painted.

I’ve also made some progress with the long spear (pike) armed companies and command figures. I want to finish these, the Lancastrian ‘butterfly’ limber and cannon vignette, then move on to the first of Clifford’s Flower of Craven.

The Mighty Brush waterslide transfer sheets.

The French company of handguners, a mix of Perry Miniatures and Steel Fist Miniatures figures.

The French crossbow armed company, more Perry Miniatures and Steel Fist Miniatures figures.

French hand culverins – lovely Mark Copplestone miniatures.

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.

More mercenary crossbow men and first application of paint

I’ve made a bit of progress with the new project this week, while keeping an eye on the Sudan adventure.

I have assembled a few more mercenary crossbow men, although most still need helmets and some will get swords. I need to consider the style of helmet, since this should aline with these fellows’ regional origins.

I also got around to applying the first coat of flesh to the figures that I assembled over the past few weeks.

More mercenary crossbow men, utilising Perry Miniatures plastic parts and Steel Fist Miniatures dollies.

The first application of paint … mercenary hand gunners on the left and artillery crew figures on the right. One of the yellow fellows at the top is destined to become Lord John Clifford … the other is for practicing the tabard, which will be a check pattern of yellow and blue, with a red bar, or Chequy or et azure, a fess gules.

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.