"Look on my forces with a gracious eye!" ~ Richmond's prayer before Bosworth

Well now, the Bard's suitable quotations are not yet quite exhausted, so another to hang the latest post on, featuring the Retinue of Lord Zouche of Harringworth {in Northamptonshire}. Another personality, chosen from the list of Pete's Flags on Ebay UK, who can legitimately turn out for either the Red Rose or the White. The figures are a mixture of Athena Miniatures, Perry Miniatures and Eureka Miniatures,  melding together to give, to my eye at least, a suitable medieval appearance. Waffling aside, here they are mustered for your inspection ~

When I started collecting the figures for the Wars of the Roses project I had in my mind the look of the units I hoped to field, so I spent a considerable time searching the net for inspiration. I'd painted a good few Foundry and Front Rank figures for our Italian Wars armies, so I wanted to search out different ranges. The result so far is a mixture of Eureka Miniatures, Perry Miniatures - both metals and, may I be forgiven, plaaaaastics,  Athena Miniatures, Crusader Miniatures with some Foundry figures waiting their turn in the Lead Pimple! 

When you handle the bare metal castings differences in size, heft, sculpting style, animation and level of detail are all too readily apparent.  Strangely though you might think but once painted and based up in my preferred style the differences seem to melt away. At 'gaming distance' on the tabletop battlefield in GHQ I doubt anyone would notice. Painting units of mixed manufacturer in the same batch though is a bit of a challenge I've discovered, involving constantly adjusting how you approach the sequence and application of colours to achieve the desired look. Of course the uniform basing style also plays a major role in deceiving the eye! 

Currently I'm coming towards completing another Retinue, that of William Neville,  Lord Fauconberg, with just a few Billmen and MAA to complete the job. More on them as and when. Meantime here in GHQ attention must switch from the Wars of the Roses to preparing for next week's Crimean War game. It's all go, but it keeps me young...well, youngish perhaps!