Scottish archers (Bannockburn)

There weren´t many, most accounts reckon on about 500 archers on the scottish side, recruited from the Ettrick Forest so a Group of 10 (at the Ratio of 50:1) covers them.
Sets used;
The Scottish Army of Wallace
Army of Henry V
Norman Archers


As apparently they didn´t Play a big role at the battle they´re Based as skirmishers

All the short bows have been replaced with longbows made from Florists wire.

This bod, from the Scottish army of Wallace set has had an arrow made from a bit of copper wire

 

Head swop using a head from the spares box (originally from the Red box Hussite Artillery set),bow replaced and bowstring removed (he was originally stringing the bow)  ,

Using the Body from the Linear-b priest in the Tudors set and the head from the airfix Robin Hood set (he Needs to have a beard) this will represent  Abbot Bernard of Arbroath.  I´ll have to make a small Version of the Breccbennach (or Monymusk Relquary), which held the relics of St Columba and Bernard carried at the battle. It´ll have to be small,  it only measures W 112mm x D 51mm x H 89mm. 

Looking about on the web I´ve found an excellent site, Medieval cookery. It´s got a huge collection of recipes and  links to original medieval cookery books from all around the world, dating from the 13th century, in most cases with translations.
The oddities section is interesting..how to cook cats, hedgehogs and just in case you ever have to, advice on determining the Age of rabbits...

Roma Victor!!!

Or, grammatically correct, "Roma Victrix!" but Roma Victor does Sound better.
The command bods from Strelets Imperial Roman Legion 1 which suggests there will be an Imperial Roman Legion 2..
There´s a complete Review of all the sets you get in the box at PSR, a total of 168 bods and 6 nags, this lot are just the command bods, 18 foot and 6 mounted

Mounted bods. I´ve given "Julius" a slightly chunkier nag from another set

Officers on foot

The Junior officers....

"Signo sequute!"
Imaginifer to the left and an aquilifer to the right

The centurion on the left looks like he´s saying "go on my son!"

"Percute!!"

The bod on the right carries a Hastile (stick carried by an optio) but so does the bod on the left whose helmet is that of a Centurions(?) I´ve painted the knobs one metal the other White as I found both variations.

 

Medieval Bombard (working scale model)

I had the Zvezda bombard set but the Barrel I´d sent to Simon ( Je Lay Emprins). His blog is full of Medieval  Burgundian loveliness...well worth a browse.
I was only interested in the bods anyway but then I thought "would it be possible to make a working bombard?"
It was and here it is finished and in situ.

From the bottom Picture it can be seen I´ve test fired it again to see if it held to the base(the touch hole Shows burn marks )

The bods have got more sense..they´ve all run off and hidden.

The Barrel is made from a length of brass tubing, covered in paper and then card rings added to give the shape of a bombard. All glued on with PVA.
It´s been test fired already, I didn´t want to add it to the base and have the thing explode.

And here it is in action after being added to the base :-D  Sometimes it takes a second or two for the vid to play and the microphone didn´t pick up the noise too well but it did make quite an impressive bang (evident by the "peep" of suprise my wife makes near the end, I didn´t tell her it was about to be fired)  Great fun :-D

Ancient Christians (Strelets)

24 pieces which make 27 bods (there´s two sets of pairs) which for the Money makes it one very worth while set. The sculpting is very good and there´s very little flash to be dealt with. The ones with bases still attached are to join the inhabitants of Styrow-on-the-Foam, the rest will join the inhabitants of Scalpere Aedificare.

All the poses in the usual Family photo

Priests and baptism (?) The one Holding the bowl. The bod Comes with the bowl Held sidewasy due to the casting process but with a bit of dipping in hot water (use tweezers ) the wrist can be twisted so the bowl lays flat.

Jacob had, as usual misunderstood. He thought that they were having a whip round for him and now he´s feeling more than a Little cross.

Scribe and rich couple. The scribe actually has an ink pot, Stylus (a pen made from bronze, bone or iron) and Vellum. The vellum would be rolled onto a wooden roller with knobs at both ends  called an umbilicus which  appears to be missing.

Prostitute, Client and pimp with his Price list. Not really, I just set them up like this.

The "pimp" is Holding a codex, pages  stitched together  at the spine and bound between wooden boards.  

A stoning or a street robbery?

Shock and Horror and  Hiding away from the sometimes brutal ancient Roman life

 

The set has some wonderfully sculpted faces

My two favourites from the set.

They really are that small :-D

Age of Tudors (Linear-b)

Before I start I´ve been asked to make one Thing clear...Linear-b and Strelets are different manufacturers. It appears as if a lot of people seem to think they are somehow joined at the hip...they aren´t :-D

Now that´s over...the latest set from Linear-b and what a lovely set it is. Tudor civilians. In my opinion there´s never enough civvies in any scale or period. Not only are they great for dios but also camp scenes and little vignettes on the gaming table.
In the set there´s  14 pieces that give  a total of 16 bods (the piggyback and Mother / child Count as two apiece) times 4 sprues....56 pieces or 64 bods depending on the method  of counting.
Very little flash that Needs removing and with the amount of bods in the set it´ll give me some scope for experimenting with different colours.....and maybe a bit of conversions.

" the one that looks like she could be Anne Boleyn..now what if I was to remove her head and......... " .:-D

PARTY!!!! The only slight problem with the poses.....the way the bod is holding his companion...it would hurt like hell, if not be near impossible, to hold her the way he is....

The ladies. Gable Hoods and gowns for the rich, Coif and front-laced bodice with dress for the poor.

Mrs Miggins (right) is obviously not amused about something.
The really good thing about them is that they are smaller (shorter) than the males.

The Monk is getting a telling off about his level of  liquid consumption

The "dudes" Slashed doublets, hose and codpieces.

An old soldier gets alms from a rich bod. The Walking stick is missing the bottom half in a lot of the sprues but it´s easy enough to remedy. Just cut away the top half of the stick and push a pin up through the base  and into the bod.  

Duck for tea ?.

Size wise they fit well to most other manufacturers. Just as a representitive example using unbased bods, from left to right, Italeri, Linear-b and Nikolai.

A bit blurry but still, it can be seen,  the bods in the set have, alongside some really good detail,  they´ve got  very good faces.

A wee bit on the end of the medieval range and a couple of them could be usefull for the Elizabethan era but in Styrow-on-the-Foam all medievals are welcome.
I certainly hope there will be a second set of tudors from Linear-b and with more clothing styles, like the French Hood and puffed sleeves for the females, Pluderhosen for the males and some more working folk.

Norman Train (strelets)

Nope, not the "choo choo" Train but the bagage one.
I´ve not put together or painted the wagons...I prefer to build my own and anyway, the 4 wheeled "Ladder" wagon in the set apparently didn´t really come into existance until the early 15th century so it wouldn´t fit into a norman set anyway. (Source - The Art, Science, and Technology of Medieval Travel by David H.Kennett 2008)
The 2 mules are also not to be seen, they´ve wandered off due to the Psaltery musik.

All the bods from the set having a rest. What could be better, a nice rest whilst having a Story with Musical accompliment.

The bod stting on the box. It Looks like he´s playing a Psaltery,  that or it´s an Abacus.

The wagon Drivers. What the bod on the lfet has got in his left Hand I don´t really know but it could be some type  of lute

The female characters

 The crazy old sheep hurder, Spike of Milligan  and "no further sir!" the norman Train guard.



The dray horses. This pair are very nice sculpts...probably among the best nags produced by Strelets.The question is, would htey have used such horses to pull wagons?
The origin of the Shire Horse dates back to a cold blooded heavy horse first mentioned in around 1066 probably brought into England after the Norman Conquest. From this developed the "English Great Horse" of the Middle Ages often spoken of by Medieval writers.
These are not for the lowly task of pulling wagons, this was only really started in the 16th century.

 They were more likely to have been used as war horses  and not drays.

Shaab with crusader crew (Strelets)

As part of thier arms range, Strelets have brought out two sets of catapults, an ancient Roman one and a medieval one.
A couple of noticable things.
1. On the box art it indicated that there are 11 Crew and one device, but the set Comes with 12 bods (ok,I suppose the two ammo carriers could be counted as one Piece) and there are in  two devices, the Shaab and a ballista. The ballista is shown on the back of the box, but not alluded to elswhere, even on the Strelets Webpage. (at time of writing)
2. What is a Shaab? The device is without a doubt a Petraria Arcatinus , a combination of an Onager and a bow. All attempts to create a working Versions with wooden throwing arms have so far failed so the device with wooden throwing arms is, as far as anyone knows, unrealistic.

Anyway...one more Crewman is always welcome and the extra device certainly is!!


The "shaab" 14 Glueable Hard plastic parts, the kit fits together easily and takes paint well. I removed and replaced the hook at the back of the "spoon" and added a couple of bits like wheel rims, and some metal straps. The ropes are also extras.

I made the small mistake of adding the ropes at the bottom of the arm. This would only be added if the bow wasn´t being used as the power supply, and is obviously only intended for the Ancient roman catapult.

The 12 bods. Nice selection of poses, very little flash.

With this lot I´ve gone for a "uniformed" look, which I´ll slowly extend to the rest of the siege and artillery Crews.

"You can´t have scruffy unorganised sieges and the introduction of a colour scheme is one step on the way to avoiding that". (King John at the siege of Rochester)

Ammo for the "Shaab" The arms on the stretcher were a bit too short and had to be replaced. Also, a favourite mistake with two bods carrying anything as a pair....they are out of step!!!!!! This probably is the reason for the slightly offcentre pose taken by the bod at the back. A Stone is provided with the set but it´s way to small for the "shaab" as is the one being carried by the bod on the left, but he will find employment on another device so no waste there.

Commander and "gunner". The commander could, with head swop (or as he is) be used as a commander of archers and the "gunner" could have his hammer replaced with an axe.

"Shaab" crewmen pulling ropes or using Levers on the winding gear. The bod on the far left is interesting..the greedy bod has two helmets! He´s wearing a pot helmet and has a classic norman helmet hanging from his belt. The two hauling on ropes could be added to a ships Crew or have pikes added. Mr Two Helmets would make a good Standard bearer.



Crew in "attendance"

The "extra" device...the ballista.


20 hard plastic parts and a bit fiddly to construct, one or two of the parts don´t fit exactly,  Tension ropes for the throwing arms for example. The locating Pins don´t fit in the holes provided so I removed them. Still, it builds into a nice Little device.

The rope, wheel rims  and Trigger I added.

The ballista Crew. The one winding up the device would fit if his base is removed. The one with the flaming torch is, I suppose lighting fire arrows but..................... 

..............he could be following  his hobby as an arsonist . Remove the brand and replace with a sword he´d make a great command figure.

All in all an excellent addition to the medieval 1/72nd ranges. The devices are nice solid objects and the crew has a wide range of possible other roles as they are and they have a lot of scope for conversions. IMHO, a great little set and hopefully Strelets will add even more to the range.