Sunday 29 April 2018

The Three Musketeers - Mesdemoiselles

Finally...a Change to  medieval themes.
These three Mesdemoiselles come from two Ultima Ratio sets, the Musketeers of the King of France (Constance Bonacieux and Queen Anne of Austria) and The Guards of Cardinal Richelieu (MiLady de Winter) and were sent to me by Phil (Philotep´s 1/72 Minis Kingdom)

There´s a Little bit of Flash to deal with but seeing as they are made using hardish plastic it isn´t too much of a Problem.
Each one as named by PSR
MiLady de Winter
Queen Anne
Constance Bonacieux (or possibly Kitty..servant to MiLady)
Constance and MiLady could take a place in the Bodstonian Landscape..but Queen Anne..?

Now Ultima Ratio will have to make a set of characters from ther late 60´s TV series The Flashing Blade   (Le Chevalier Tempête)

Monday 23 April 2018

More Crossbowmen for Bannockburn

Another stand of Crossbowmen using bods from ;
Russian army of Alexander Nevsky
Army of Joan d´Arc
Medieval Crossbowmen
Scottish Army of Robert Bruce

It may well be historically innacurate, I couldn´t find any definate evidence of them being used by english crossbowmen at the time , but I´ve decided to give them Pavise. 
I was going to use the Pavise from either the  MiniArt French Knights with assault ladders  or the French foot soldiers with rams sets but  decided to go old School and scratchbuild my own. Similar to how I´ve made them before (HERE) but, seeing as the Pavise shape is different and I had to make 20,  I simplified the method by using thin strips of coffee stirrer for the central strut.
Most of the bods have had head swops but I got a bit more adventurous with one of them.
He is obviously from the Strelets Medieval Crossbowmen set but his head comes from the Strelets Army of Henry V set..the bod 6th row from top, far left.
Not only did the new stand get Pavise added but so did the first stand

Wednesday 18 April 2018

Medieval Welsh Spearmen

Another stand of bods for the Bannockburn Project.
The Standard. It bears the coat-of-arms of Andrew Harclay, 1st Earl of Carlisle.
Usually, the Cadency mark, the Martlet in the first quarter, signifies a 4th son but apparently he was the 1st son..so would have had a Label as a cadency mark ??
Maybe I´ve missed something ?

I can´t find any mention of him  taking part on the campaign or being at Bannockburn,   he was probably busy with the defences of Carlisle at the time  but I reckon he would at least have sent a contingent of Soldiers for the Invasion.

Wether he did or didn´t send troops or was in fact present on the campaign, the addition of  his banner adds a bit more colour.
To make up the numbers conversions were necessary...mostly headswops



Tuesday 10 April 2018

Medieval Looting Party 1

The original titel is Beutezug...one of those words that doesn´t neatly translate. Raiding Party would be equally as good as Looting Party.
From Valdemar, "Der Beutezug 1" VA187.  
Beutezug 1...another set on the way?
The set has 6 bods, 3 animals and the cart. The cart has a choice of either wheels or runners so it can be made into a sledge. All metal apart from the wheels which are resin.
Fitting the Body of the cart together is a bit fiddly but basically, any heavy duty glue can be used to fit the side Panels to the base. Then, to solid up the Panels,  a thick layer of glue can be added inside the cart as  the baggage Comes as a preformed slab and  when fitted, leaves a space of about 0.5cm between the bottom of the Baggage slab and Floor of the cart.

I advise prefitting the bods before painting. I didn´t and ended up having to use a rounded file inbetween the legs of the bod sitting on the chest as he didn´t quite fit. The one Thing that doesn´t come with the set...weapons. The sheathed swords came from my bit´s box.
The guide poles provided were a wee bit difficult to attach so I used wire, bent into a "U" shape which gave a better area to attach to the bottom of the cart. Reins are made from very thinly cut writing paper. To attach the guide poles I used a strap (made from writing paper) added over the Pad/saddle.
The poor captives. The male I´ve attached to the cart. The female has a rope around her neck but seeing as her Hands are tied behind her back, it didn´t seem necessary to attach her as well.
The cattle (One cow and one bull) weren´t added to the base for two reasons. One, space. The stand would have ended a lot longer and two, they are very nice sculpts and based on thier own, they can be added to other Scenarios.
On a hunt around the web I decided on the yellowy Brown which seems to be popular in 13-14th Cent paintings
The herd is growing


Sunday 8 April 2018

Medieval Lords and Ladies

Recently, due to renovation,  I´ve had to move my Workspace and my Collection. Whilst I was doing this, I looked through the numerous storage boxes  and realised I´ve painted quite a few bods, particually medieval ones and amongst them, quite a few medieval personalities, 140 in total. 
Some are are based in "myth/legend" but set in the medieval period such as Robin Hood or the Arthurian bods. 
Some of them I may have painted twice, ie; William Marshall as a participant at Bannockburn and as a Magna Carter Baron and  there´s probably a few who are missing as it takes a while to hunt through the Posts. For the same reason, I haven´t been able to link them all. 
Horribly, there are only eight Females, two of which are more or less based in Folklore. Terrible state of affairs seeing as there were so many influential and important female personalities in the period. I could blame the manufacturers for not producing any suitable bodettes but TBH, I could be a bit more inventive myself.
Anyway, here, for fun, an alphabetical (or as near as possible) list of the "named", with links back to thier tiny painted Repros.

Scottish wars
Bannockburn 
English 
Aymer de Valance
Andrew Harclay
Aymer de la Zouch
Edmund de Mauley
Edward II
Giles de Argentine
Gilbert de Clare
Henry de Bohun
Hugh Despenser
Humphrey de Bohun
John de Engaigne 
John Grey
John Maltravers
Marmeduke de Tweng
Mortimer de Chirk
Pain de Tiptoft
Robert Boynton
Robert de Vere 
Robert Fitzwalter
Rodger de Clifford
Roger Northburgh
Rodger Mortimer de Chirk
Thomas de Berkeley
Thomas  de Furnival 
Thomas de Ufford
Thomas Ercedekne
William Latimer
William Marshall 
William Pennington
William De Ridre
William de Vescy 

Scottish 

Alexander de Seton
Alexander de Fraser
Alexander Scrymeour
Bernard of Arbroath
Edward de Bruce
Gilbert de la Hay
James Douglas
John de Cameron
Robert II Kieth
Robert the Bruce
Maurice Abbot of Inchaffrey
Niel Campbell
Thomas Randolph
Walter Stewart
William de erth of Airth

Falkirk 

English
Amenieu de la Brette
Anthony Bek
Guy de Beauchamp
Henry de Pinkeny
John Ap-Adam III
John de Clavering
John de Moels
John de Wake
Piers de Chauvent
Ralph de Grendon
Richard Siward
Robert de Hilton
Simon Fraser
Thebaud de Verdoun
Thomas de Moulton
William FitzWilliam
William le Vavasour
Scottish
Andrew Moray
John Stewart of Bonkyl
William Wallace


Magna Carter Barons 
Americ de Sancto Mauro
Eustace de Vescy
Geoffrey Fitzgeoffrey de Mandeville
Geoffrey de Saye
Hugh Bigod
John de Lacey 
John Fitzrobert
John Maltravers
Ranulph de Blundeville 
Richard de Percy
Rodger Bigod
Robert de Montfitchet
Robert de Vere
Saer de Quincy
Simon Langton
Stephen langton
William Hardell
William de Huntingfield
William de Lanvellei III
William Mallet

Crecy 

French
Friedrich von Befort.
Jean IV Compte de Harcourt 
Johann von Bolchen.
Robert VI de Harcourt
English
John de Botetour
Thomas de Hatfield

Arthurian
Arthur Pendragon
Bedivere
Brunor le Noir
Bors de Ganis
Degore
Galahad
Gawain 
Guinevere
Hector de Maris
Kay de Seneschal
Lancelot du Lac
Merlin
Percival de Galis
Tristram de Lyons


Various
Allan III of Rohan
Alan V of Rohan
Balian of Ibelin
Boniface de Montferrat
Christine de Pizan
Erard de Valery
Gilbert de Gant
Louis II de Male
Luther von Braunschweig
Jan Hus
Jan Zizka 
Jeanne d´Àrc la Pucelle  (second Version as Standard bearer)
John of Glogow
John duns Scotus
Jossellin of Rohan
Lady Godiva
Maid Marion
Peiter de Connick
Peter The Hermit
Prokop the Great 
Randulphos Brito
Richard the Lionheart (Mounted) Richard the Lionheart(Foot)
Robin Hood
Thomas de Burgh
William of Moerbeke
Wenceslaus I
William of Ockham
Witelo


Dark Ages
Hervor
Lagertha
Odo of Bayeux
Rusla
Weiborg
William I
William FitzOsbern


I´ll add to this list as and when another personality gets represented and, now that the Collection is more sorted in it´s new space, I´ll have to carry out an Audit to see more or less how many bods, bodettes and assorted paraphenalia I´ve actually got.

Thursday 5 April 2018

Medieval Sailors

Turning  a bit  Medieval here at the Moment...17th post of the year and it´s looking as if the next couple will also be medieval themed.
Another Little group of bods for the 1329 dio, VA177 "Ship Crew" by Valdemar Minis.
11 bods and one  hound.
The whole Crew and hound. Exactly what the one (leaning on the hound) is doing or meant for, I don´t know. Hauling a rope? A Scene from Shakespeare?
Sitting bods. The kniggit I´ve painted in the Town Guard´s colours. Maybe he´s the captain of the guard off to make a closer inspection of some of the ships.
Which one of the  finalists of "Village idiot of the year" will win the rabbit impersonation contest?
I don´t think Willard Red Cap has really got the idea but, then again...I suppose that makes him more of an idiot than the other three.
The hound´s pose is Forward leaning as it´s meant to be Standing up against the side of the boat.
The set Comes with 4 oars..which I´ve painted but not attached to the bods as  (I assume) they can only be added when the bods are in situ. 


Sunday 1 April 2018

Humphrey de Bohun

Foot command for the english infantry  for the Bannockburn Project.
The mounted bod is Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford. As the constable of England, He was supposed to been in Charge of the army for the 1314 campaign but he´d fallen out of favour with Edward II so the Job was given to Gilbert de Claire, Earl of Glouchester.
Still, at Bannockburn, on day one,  he got to lead the Charge  in which his Cousin, Henry de Bohun,  famously got his head bashed in by Robert Bruce.
On day two, Gilbert de Claire was killed and Humphrey led a large Company of english/welsh Knights and archers. With the battle lost, he and others retreated but they ended up being taken prisoner, later to be ransomed.
8 years after Bannockburn,  Humphrey met a very sticky end at the Battle of Boroughbridge.

Anyways, as there´s no (or as far as I could find out) single Person named as an infantry commander* on the english side,  I´ve decided to give Humphrey the role.
The lions rampant on the nag´s caparison.  If closely inspected, are representitive, ie; they look the part from a distance. I really can´t paint one Lion rampant that small let alone 24!
As Humphrey (in this role, day 2 ? ) is not charging into the fray,  his Standard bearer isn´t mounted. The bod who got the Job is a converted archer, who was in the process of stringing his bow,  from the Army of Henry V set. Bow and string removed, head re-positioned
The flag, of which there are a couple of variants about, comes from the Krigsspil site - English army at Crecy,  second battle - left wing,  number 2.
In that Version, the Cottises (the  lines to the left and right of the band in the middle) are in White. I painted them yellow.
The bugler. Both top and bottom half are also from the Henry V set.
The Herald  is from the Army of Joan d´Arc set. I wouldn´t fancy his Job having to record all english losses over the two days. I´ve kept his Tabard design simple....the St George´s cross is much easier to paint than Edward II´s coat-of-arms.
Humphrey´s nag is either from the Medieval Britian or the Scottish army of Robert the Bruce set**.  Humphrey is from the English cav of Edward I set. The pose, him Holding his Hand up to his head,  looks less like he´s pushing his Visor up and more like he´s saying to himself,  "what the F... is Gilbert doing!!!?"
*Ok, Aymer de Valence is named as being in Charge of a large force of Welsh archers and spearmen and mainly in the context of leading them to safety after the battle but for the commanders of rest of the english foot,  there´s no-one named.
** It was in the spares box so could have come from either set.

Anyway, enough of the Bannockburn Project for a while...it´s back to the 1329 Teutonic order dio.

Witches...who wouldn´t want a set of Medieval witches?
Linear - A have a poll for Crowdfunding 7 new sets, including an 18+ set of witches. Why is the set 18+ ? TBH, at the Moment no-one knows.

The sets up for voting on are;
A.) Eskimos
B.) Napoleonic - French Pontoniers at work
C.) Medieval - Witches (18 years +)
D.) Colonial - Belgian Legion in Mexico
E.) Medieval - Ambassadors 4 Empires (European, Chinese, Arabs, Mongols) - Set 1
F.) Ancients - Hoplites on the march - Set 1
G.) Napoleonic - French Guard Marine-Infantry

The link for Voting, more than one choice is possible,  is HERE,  but TBH, I mean, witches..is there another choice from the list ? :-)...
Ok, the medieval ambassadors would be good as well.