A bit of momentum, at last!

I have finally finished the two long spear (pike) armed companies, which join the French mercenary contingent.

I’m working on a representation of Pierre de Brézé, first cousin of Margaret of Anjou, to command the mercenaries. Margaret of Anjou’s command group is coming along, and Baron John Wenlock’s command group is ready for undercoating. I’m trying to decide whether the man at arms is imploring Wenlock to don his helmet.

I’ve also prepared two companies of bill men and one of archers for painting. One company of bill men and one of archers will comprise Wenlock’s retinue. I’ll get on with painting these while assembling more figures.

Two companies of French mercenaries armed with long spears.

Baron John Wenlock considers donning his helmet.

A small host of figures ready for painting, along with Margaret of Anjou, Edward Prince of Wales, Baron John Clifford, and Edmund Earl of Rutland. Since taking the photo I have blocked-in the flesh.

French long spear armed mercenaries

Happy New Year to my readers, wherever you are in the world.

I had planned more progress with painting over the Christmas period, but influenza had other ideas. I am recovering, and now well enough to do a bit painting.

I have almost finished painting the first two ranks of the long spear (pike) armed French, with just a bit of detailing to do.

I have received another delivery from Steel Fist Miniatures, one of the figures – a flag bearer – is destined for Clifford’s company of dismounted archers. I am looking forward to starting these.

Slow but steady progress with the French mercenaries, a satisfying mix of Perry Miniatures and Steel Fist Miniatures.

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.

Yorkist cannon and limber based, and French mercenaries armed with long spears

I was making progress with cannon and crews for both sides, and the Yorkist cannon and limber, when I got distracted by the prolific Saxon Dog’s contingent of French mercenaries armed with long spears, recruited by Margaret of Anjou around the time of Tewkesbury, 4 May 1471.

I had enough figures and ‘pikes’ for 12 marching figures, but thought to add a bit of purposefulness with a further 12 in an offensive or a defensive posture. These are a combination of Steel Fist Miniatures’ L13 Late Medieval Front-Ranker dollies and Perry Miniatures’ Wars of the Roses Infantry, European Infantry, and Foot Knights sets.

I will present these as French to complement the small contingents of French hand gunners and Breton crossbow men.

Meanwhile, the 1459 Papal mission in the shape of Francesco Coppini and a standard bearer are ready for basing, about 20 artillery crew figures nearly ready for varnishing, eight hand gunners and eight crossbow men are in quite an advanced state of painting, with another eight hand gunners and eight crossbow men undercoated.

Yorkist cannon and limber, and two contingents of French mercenaries armed with long spears.

Happy New Year

As 2025 begins I am reading Desmond Seward’s The Wars of the Roses, which documents the lives of five people who lived – and in one case died – at the time: William Hastings, John De Vere, Margaret Beaufort, and Jane Shore.

As I finish my screw gun battery transport mules for a later era, I have restarted my attempt to ‘get my eye in’, continuing to paint anything other than an English retinue and its leader. Francesco Coppini, Papal legate to England and Scotland, and his standard bearer, serve here, then on to finish some mercenaries. I am attempting a different painting style for this project, with less use of Army Painter strong and soft tone shading, and more definite use of paint to define light and shade.

I am beginning to form ideas about which characters and their entourages I wish to represent. As noted in a previous post, John Clifford and the Flower of Craven are intended, with Clifford himself already begun. More of this in due course.

Meanwhile, I hope Santa delivered to you all of the toys you wanted, and that during the coming year all of your dice rolls are sixes!

Amidst mercenary artillery crews, hand gunners, and crossbowmen, Francesco Coppini and his Papal standard bearer, with John Clifford sneaking in to view, top right.

Flemish mercenaries

It’s been a bit too hot to paint so I got on with some more assembly. This took me much longer than I would have thought possible, simply because of the amount of time I spent considering the components for the standard bearer and captain.

Anyhow, my ideas for the organisation of the mercenaries have crystalised; there will be two companies, one Yorkist and one Lancastrian. Each will comprise a captain, standard bearer, and musician, two small contingents armed with hand guns and crossbows (eight figures each), and two hand culverins (two figures each).

Flemish command for the Yorkist mercenaries, and the Flemish hand gunners begin to take shape. All are a mix of Perry Miniatures’ metal and plastic, and Steel Fist Miniatures’ metal dollies.

More paint

Finally, I have got some more paint on. All the flesh has been applied, shaded, and highlighted, and those figures wearing mail have had it painted.

I have also added two figures for my first vignette, Francesco Coppini’s Papal mission of 1459. The fellow holding a staff topped with a cross will become the Papal standard bearer.

Two units of hand gunners, gun crews and, in yellow, John Clifford, a mix of Perry Miniatures metal and plastic, and Steel Fist Miniatures dollies.

Two units of mercenary crossbow men on the left and Francesco Coppini and a Papal standard bearer on the right.

More mercenary crossbow men

I’ve had a bit of time to finish assembling my mercenary crossbow men, and they are beginning to look the part.

Some of these fellows are really quite encumbered with bolt quivers, cranequin or windlass, swords and bucklers.

The joins between arms and torsos required a bit of filling, but they’re now ready for undercoating … then I have to decide on their liveries.

14 more crossbowmen assembled from Perry Miniatures’ plastics and Steel Fist Miniatures’ metal dollies. These will join the two I finished a while ago.

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.

Mercenary hand gunners

I have got around to finishing the assembly of two contingents of mercenary hand gunners. I augmented the Perry Miniatures’ plastic mercenary figures with a set of six Italian hand gunners from their European Armies range.

I liked the kneeling figure who looked as if he might make a captain, and thought he would be a good fit with a kneeling figure based on a Steel Fist Miniatures’ dolly. I selected heads from the plastic frames to compliment the metal figures, and the two fellows with soft hats got helmets hanging from their belts. I also fashioned a couple of pouches for the figures which were without them.

I have a similar number of crossbowmen in various stages of assembly, which will be the subject of a later post.

Two contingents of mercenary hand gunners comprising Perry Miniatures’ metal and plastic figures, and a couple of Steel Fist Miniatures’ dollies.