Scottish command - Bannockburn

The "big" man himself, Robert de Bruce along with  Alexander Scrymgeour plus trumpeter.

Alexander Scrymgeour, the Royal banner bearer to Robert de Bruce

Un-named trumpeter. He´s been given the Annandale coat - of - arms  on his nag. Or a saltire and chief Gules .

 

The man himself.  I don´t want to ever again paint his  coat-of-arms, the royal Standard, Or a lion rampant within a double tressure flory counter-flory .....or  an easier description - Gules (Red) lion rampant with Azure (blue) claws and tongue, within a red double border having a motif of alternating heraldic lilies, on a Or (yellow) field.

Roman Baths /Thermae

I was going to post a Roman building  how to but Blogger is playing up and I can´t upload the last two pics..so it´s a Roman bath house for now.
Without going over the top with Detail and accuracy,  a representation of part of the Roman Baths in Weißenburg, Germany. I left off the buildings at the back,(Parts of the Atrium)  replacing them with a building for servicing the heating System.   Also, I built only one Laconicum (the curved section to the right)
HERE is a link to an interactive site about the Baths at Weißenburg, showing what the southwest of the baths looked like with the complete Atrium, excercise yard and additional Laconicum

As it grew,  I realised that it would get a bit big. The total length of the Atrium,  Apodyterium, Frigidarium and the Tepidarium is 55cm´s and storage would be a Problem, so it´s built in two sections. The curved Roof for the Laconicum is made from a 1/4 section of  a plastic ball.



The Atrium.

The bath section with the Apodyterium, Frigidarium,  Tepidarium and  Laconicum.
I´ve added extra Service rooms to the southwest wall to break up what would otherwise be a boring expanse of White wall.

The whole town so far, I´ll have to make some paving for the streets and get hold of a decent Background.  Arena still under re-construction. Planned is still the Lupinaruim a insula or two and A section of town wall with a gate house etc might be  a good idea ....or ? :-D

Roman Taverna - MKII

The original tavern (the one in the Basement) Tabernus Cellarium, had to move to the new town and take up residence in a new building.and a new name Tabernus  festivus.

Quickly the old clientele get used to their new surroundings.

The "bar" is made from high density polystyrene, covered with a printed mosiak pattern. The holes for the wine pots are made from the eyelets from shoes.

Roman housing for "plebeians"

Before the town gets filled with big communal buildings and  becomes "unbalanced" a few more living quarter type houses need adding. No point in having lots of  big Flash looking civic buildings and nowhere for the plebeians, to live

A merchants house ?

A couple of old previously built houses upgraded with new roofs and some steps added.

English cavalry - Bannockburn (complete)

All the english Knights with Squires/Sergeant-at-arms required to cover the numbers needed, a grand  total of 50. If they were represented  1:1,  they would cover (based as they are) an area of 2.80 meters by 1 meter.

Some Scottish Knights who fought for the english are planned, Umfraville, Brechin and Comyn etc

A couple of the new kniggits; from left to right, John Maltravers, Robert Boynton, Sir William Pennington and William de Ridre.

Strelets Sets used (along with a lot of conversions and alterations)
Army of Henry V
English Cavalry of Edward I

Medieval Britain

Army of Joan d'Arc

Russian Medieval Horsemen

Military Order Sergeants

Crusader Transport 1

Norman KnightsScottish Army of Robert Bruce

The Scottish Army of Wallace
Mamelukes  (for the horses)

Knights  represented, alphabetically by Sirname.  (Edward II not included)

1. Sir Giles de Argentine  (Royal Bodyguard)
2. Sir Robert Boynton
3. Rodger de Clifford - 1st Baron de Clifford
4. Thomas de Berkeley - 1st Baron Berkeley 
5. Gilbert de Clare - 8th Earl of Glouchester
6. John Grey - 2nd Baron Grey (Lord Ordainer)
7. Hugh Despenser -  1st and last Earl of Winchester, Chief Advisor to King Edward II
8. John de Engaigne  -  Sheriff of Essex and of Hertford
9. Sir Thomas Ercedekne   - 
10. Robert Fitzwalter  -  1st Baron Fitzwalter
11. Thomas  de Furnival  -  Lord Furnival
12. William Latimer - 2nd Lord Latimer of Corby
13. John Maltravers -   1st Baron Maltravers
14. Edmund de Mauley - Lord of Ascot
15. William Marshall -  1st Baron Marshall
16. Rodger Mortimer - Baron of Chirk.  Marcher Lord, (Royal Bodyguard)
17. Sir Roger Northburgh - kings shield bearer and keeper of the Privy seal
18. Sir William Pennington
19. Sir William De Ridre
20. Pain de Tiptoft - 1st Baron de Tibetot (Royal Bodyguard)
21. Marmeduke de Tweng - 1st Baron Tweng
22. Amer de Valence - 2nd Earl of Pembroke
23. William de Vescy of Kildare - Retainer   to Aymer de Valence
24. Robert de Vere   -   6th Earl of Oxford
25. Aymer de la Zouch

Not included in the list, because he will be based alone, Sir Henry de Bohun. His uncle, Humphrey de Bohun 4th earl of Hereford will be represented at some Point as well,  in Charge of the archers and foot.Wether he´ll be mounted, time will tell.  With Henry de Bohun  and Thomas de Ufford (English camp post) that makes so far 27 kniggits. A couple of the Knights etc,  may or may not have been at the Battle but checking through all the ancestoral lists, then rechecking sources, then finding reliable sources for the coats of arms,  has caused some major headaches and taking up hours of time, which might have been better invested elswhere.

Big Bang........theory

The FIREBALL XX1 is ready for the big day.  Now towed out of the top secret hanger...

.............Pre/flight checks are carried out.........

..fuel is loaded, ignition systems checked and rechecked and....

...the Pilot, Major Stephan Ostin, poses proudly for one last publicity shot before....

..the FIREBALL is taxied to the start ramp and the countdown Begins...

The flight (as usual) didn´t go entirely according to plan. A Crash investigation Team has recovered the wreckage and Initial reports assume a total failure of the main drive Systems..possibly due to a fuel leak.

 

Forum Romanum

Roman Forum, the central area of the city around which  life revolved. Here was where commerce, business, prostitution, religion and the administration of justice took place.

A place to  stroll, looking at what latest fashions are being worn..........

...or discuss (sometimes loudly) the politics of the day.

The water well is made with high density insulation foam and the face of a Lioness from the Atlantic Gladiators and Christians set.  The water is made from a Piece of CD casing which is then smeared with Pattex100 gel. The trickle of water is made from Pattex 100 gel

 

 

Recently I got an amazing comment concerning an earlier post, Simon Langton and John FitzRobert, two of the suretees to the Magna carter,  from his descendant Joel langton. He and his Father run a Website about the Langtons called the Lost Langtons. It´s a pretty amazing bit of Research work and well worth a look.

Caparisons - scratch made

No matter how many Strelets medieval cavalry sets I have there´s never enough nags with caparisons to create enough Knights...so....................I´ll create some of my own :-D

Robert de Vere, 6th Earl of Oxford. I haven´t found any evidence that he was  at Bannockburn but he fought on Edward´s campaigns so why wouldn´t he have been there? 

The Coat  - of - arms?  Quarterly or and gules in the first a mullet argent all within a bordure indented sable? . Generally the De Vere Coat - of - arms is ; Quarterly or and gules in the first a mullet argent without the  indented border. The bordered Version  turns up in the  roll temp. Ed II. 

Robert is a conversion from the English Cavalry of Edward I set. (third row , far left the one with the huge axe) Head swop from  the spares box (Zvezda english Knights,) his left arm re-positioned and a mace from Accurate´s   Hundred Years War Knights Of France

How did Robert´s nag get it´s coat? It doesn´t take much, some tissue paper, pair of scissors, craftknife, some PVA and liquid contact glue a pair of scissors and a toothpick.

Simply remove any harness´s, trappings and the Mane. Removing the halter  is fiddly. Cut out three pieces of tissue paper as in the pic. Single ply is best. It´s very thin but with care it won´t tear. The two pieces to the right of the pic go either side of the front of the horse.

Smear any area of the nag that are likely to come into contact with the pieces of tissue paper with watery PVA and attach. This will take a bit of practice but using a toothpick you can move the paper into place. Leave to dry. At this Point don´t try smoothing out any tiny lumps etc. In about half an hour (depending on the thickness of the PVA), it will be possible to do a bit of smoothing but until the glue has set a bit the fibres just tear away.

When the PVA has dried simply drip some liquid plastic cement type glue (I use Revell contacta) onto the tissue..not so that it´s dripping with glue but so that it soaks into all the Areas not covered by the PVA. This may take two coats of glue. When it´s all dried, carefully base paint.

Scottish Cavalry - Bannockburn (re-visited)

The original stands (HERE) were ok, but there was too many light cavalry types so...

The "light" cavalry types mostly removed apart from two and some kniggits added. The Bases, which I didn´t like the look of anyway,  remade, still using the Impetus sizing  guidlines, three small stands side- by - side make one complete frontage. All the possible Scottish Lords etc that were at Bannockburn aren´t represented, I could (theoretically) add a few more, Graham, Gordon, and Boyd for example but the Situation is  way better than before.

Sir Niel Campbell (Niall mac Cailein )
John de Cameron  - Clan Chief VII

Alexander de Seton who was with the english on the 1st day  of the battle but crossed during the night and joined Robert´s Forces.
Alexander  Fraser of touchfraser and cowie, Sheriff of Stirling.

The lack of Strelets nags with a caparison is leading to drastic measures, Cameron, Seton and Fraser all have converted nags. More on that later.


For those interested in medieval art, then  Matthew Ryan´s Site is well worth a visit. Stunningly well detailed drawings of medieval soldiery

House of Batiatus

Well, not really, it´s an as near as possible Repro of  Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Batiatus´s ( Vatia ? ) house from the Spartacus series but the living area  hasn´t got the Atrium impluviatum  style roofing. I was going to add a wall to what would be the Training area but it fits better into the town as it is and can double up as part of a Shopping street.

The railings are made from strips of Card.

The pillars made from dowling pegs and rings of copper wire glued to Card, then the peg glued on top.

The whole town so far. A Forum, a house with  Atrium displuviatum style roofing, Lupinarium planned....an old Arena to upgrade...how big can this get.?

Dark and Light Alliance - Light Warriors of the Dead

The light infantry, 40 bods, 4 sprues at 10 bods each. Very little Flash, in fact the slinger was the only one who had any and that was on the shield which made it easy to remove.
As with the Heavy infantry  they appear more battered and campaign weary  than actually "Undead" looking and again, as far as I´m concerned, a Bonus.
Firstly painted as  circa 12th century marauding Bandit Viking - Norman - Saxon mix type medievals

Giving the kneeling archer a mace is a nice touch

My favourite poses from the set. They wouldn´t look out of place in a Group of vikings

And painted as "Undead"

Both sets together