"Fight, gentlemen of England!"

Otherwise the first bases of mounted Knights/MAA to be added to the project! These first two of a planned and purchased eight bases of three figures represent respectively the Households of Henry VI and Edward IV.  They can be used either with other mounted bases to form part of a Ward or added to the Army Command stand, to give it an ever so slightly more substantial fighting appearance on the tabletop battlefield here in GHQ in the case of the Henry VI Command base. The figures are all from Perry Miniatures, the Banners are from Pete's Flags, and the bases from Warbases ~

For the mounted Knights/MAA bases Phil kindly volunteered to paint the horses for me, leaving yours truly to paint the human figures. I have chosen to replace the Standard/Banner shafts and lances provided with the figures by metal spears and pikes, cut down to size, from Pendraken. I came to this decision based on experience with our Italian Wars projects where we found that the lances were a weak point on figures being moved around the tabletop battlefield, being prone to bending and possibly risking them snapping off above the hand grip.

Enlarged Lancastrian Army Command by the addition of the extra base of MAA in front of the main base.

Similarly with the Yorkist Army Command Stand, enlarged by adding the extra base of MAA in the rear of the main base in this instance. The bonus in both cases is more Banners used up!

Hopefully I will have more to add to these bases in the next few days as Phil tells me he is progressing well with the next tranche of horses! In the meantime I've cleaned up and spray undercoated my small Eureka Miniatures order to fill in on the painting desk while I wait. So far I've completed three of four figures for a Retinue command base representing John de la Pole. Next up will be a base of Archers for him to command! In the meantime and despite assurances, still no sighting of my Perry Miniatures order...

"Edward is at hand, and he is ready to fight!"

While I was waiting for my delivery from Eureka Miniatures and Perry Miniatures [more on this later, I promise] rather than sit twiddling my thumbs I set about painting several figures for an Army Command Stand for the Yorkist faction. As they are finished now I rather hoped you'd enjoy seeing what I made of them. There are four mounted figures of which Edward is the central character. He is flanked by two mounted MAA, one carrying his personal Standard and the other an heraldic Banner. The group is completed by a mounted Herald dressed in Edward's livery to the rear ~

The figures are all from Perry Miniatures,  the Standard and Banner from Pete's Flags and the base from, you guessed it, Warbases! Buoyed by a generally positive response to my earlier effort at heraldry I have attempted to suggest two 'Sun in Splendour" badges on the Herald's tabard. Not likely to win any prizes, but there you go!

Anyway, as promised a few words on my recent mail order experiences. I placed two orders via their web shops on the same day, paying by PayPal, one to Eureka Miniatures and one to Perry Miniatures, both for almost identical amounts. Firstly the P&P charges, almost £2.00 more for Perry Miniatures! Then a slight delay in responses but both confirmed completed the same day. Then the seemingly interminable waiting for Royal Mail to deliver! My Eureka Miniatures order was delivered on Monday afternoon this week, a turnaround time of nine days! As I write this no news or sign of the Perry Miniatures order yet. Perhaps someone is bringing it on foot from Nottingham? After chatting with our local postman on Wednesday he confirmed that the delay suggests the issue is with the sender, so I emailed them. I got a very prompt response from Alan to say the order was delayed while awaiting one item. It might have been good customer service if someone had bothered to tell me... Alan assured me the package would be despatched that same day...we shall see.

"A crown, or else a glorious tomb!"

Real life has been somewhat interfering with my hobby time these last several days, so while awaiting a window of opportunity for my schedule to coincide with Phil's schedule and receive the first of the painted horses I decided to tackle the figures for the Lancastrian army command base. The figures are a mixture of Perry Miniatures and Eureka Miniatures  for this base. I got the idea for the composition while browsing another gamer's blog, 'This 28mm Life'. Henry VI's Standard is from Pete's Flags of course and the 80x90mm base from Warbases, my ever reliable supplier. I'm a little embarrassed by the Royal heraldry I've 'suggested' on the mounted Herald and two musicians but it really is the best my eyes and hand could manage, so I hope dear reader that you will cut this 75 year old some slack and not be too scathing in your comments. Steel yourselves now and take a look if you dare ~

I have a different look in mind for the Yorkist Army command base featuring Edward IV and his household, but that is not underway at the moment while I await a small package from Perry Miniatures and Eureka Miniatures, both dependant on the many and various vagaries of Royal Mail in Wolverhampton, not to mention their indifferent mail order services...

BOOOOOM!!!!!

When I bought the first Perry Miniatures for this project from Dave Thomas at WMMS this year I misread my list (teachers' handwriting second only to Drs'!) As Phil bagged the boxes and blisters for me I never noticed my error at the time. Back from WMMS and gloating over my haul I was somewhat taken aback when the gun and crew I thought I had selected turned out to be the large Bombard set!!! I'd no plan for it obviously so it went into the Lead Pimple to be conveniently forgotten. Fast forward to August and I'd finally run out of any other foot figures to paint, Phil has the horse at present for the Knights/MAA, so I was forced into cleaning and spray undercoating the parts and figures.

I have to say right off that contrary to my previous experiences with Perry Minitures' kits needing assembly it went together really well. I decided to fix the Bombard and mantlet to a Perry base for ease of painting only to discover I had no 3mm base large enough. The solution was to have the business part of the gun and mantlet on the longest base I had and the wooden blocking pieces on a smaller separate base. For my money it seems to have worked out fine.

The set was missing a figure I discovered, but no issue as it was not one of the three necessary action poses. I've added the Eureka Miniatures 'Master Gunner' to give the set a more distinctive appearance. Enough blathering on anyway, see what you make of it ~

Next in line are the few mounted Knights and MAA, for which Phil is painting the horses and yours truly the figures. There are also the two Army Command bases, which I'm still undecided about in terms of figures and composition for the Yorkist faction, though that of Henry VI is decided and already underway.

🎼🎶"Non nobis Domine..."🎵

As many of you will know my son Matthew is a very talented figure sculptor. He's also been a keen wargamer since his early teens and is a member of the Brecon Wargames Club. He's a far, far better painter than me, as you'd surely expect for a professional artist after all. At last year's Partizan he carried off the prize for the outstanding vignette. It's a really inspiring piece, so I thought I'd have a go at one of my own in the Wars of the Roses setting. First, Matt's winning vignette ~

I have zero chance of emulating work of this standard, featuring many figures which have been exquisitely adapted by Matt, but nevertheless it has inspired me to add a vignette of my own ~

My very modest effort makes use of Perry Miniatures in the main, from their European Armies range and the Wars of the Roses casualty pack, supplemented by a medieval Bishop from Grenadier. Two closer pictures now, if you can bear it ~

Followed by two photographs taken from different viewpoints  ~

Well, there you have it, an episcopal blessing before the battle...I can only hope those 'dice gods' were taking more note than of late! Next up for those interested should be the very substantial Bombard set, which I acquired accidentally you might say...

Handgonnes! Big ones too!

While I was searching via Ebay for another Light Artillery piece and crew I came across a number of other period figures or sets which I now know are by Grenadier, sculpted by Mark Copplestone. One set which took my fancy and was added to my purchase were a pair of figures servicing a hand cannon. So I ordered two sets to add to the firepower of one faction or the other. I must admit the size of the handgonnes strikes me as a bit on the fantastical side, but then they are just toys in a game, useful in an anti-infantry role supporting archers or manning field defences. Whatever which way they are a fun addition, a pair of handgonnes ~

I added the pavaise for interest as I had the transfers and pavaise, both metals and plaaaaastic, the latter courtesy of Phil.

Next in the project list should be a vignette, inspired by Matt's winning vignette at Partizan in The Bodkins' 100 Years War game. Of course it will be nowhere near the quality of his work but it will add to the look of the game here in GHQ.  Then it's on to the mounted knights, MAA, and the Army Command Stands and we're done, just like that! Oh, not forgetting the large Bombard and crew...

"But screw your courage to the sticking-place!"*

 As promised in my previous blog posting, here are the two completed bases of mercenary crossbowmen! The pavaise proved more time consuming than I had anticipated which together with waiting on the delivery of the LBMS transfers caused the delay in their completion.  The figures are a mixture of the venerable Citadel/Wargames Foundry late medieval range and the contemporary range from Perry Miniatures. Despite the slight disparity in styles and height I do think that they work OK together. {Of course you are free to differ there!} The bases are from Warbases, who else?

Next to stagger across the painting desk and endure the agony of the brush of doom will be my fantastical friparies if all goes well.

*The "sticking-place" refers to the point where a crossbow's string is pulled to its maximum tension by a wooden screw, ready to fire. From the Bard's Scottish Play.

Boom!

Due to waiting on the LBMS/Victrix pavaise transfers being delivered by Royal Mail I've been progressing the Light Artillery piece and crew figures I sourced via Ebay. The base of the figures are marked Grenadier, not a brand I'm familiar with. The sculpting style is bold and clear which, coupled with my new spectacles, has made painting them quite a straightforward process. To the set I've added a spare figure from the Wargames Foundry medieval artillery crew blister pack as it seemed to me that it fitted in nicely with the overall look of the base ~

I should be able to showcase the two bases of mercenary crossbowmen in a day or so once I can process the pavaise to finish up the bases. Keep an eye out for them, if the project still holds any interest for you of course.

"This brawl today...shall send, between the red rose and the white, a thousand souls to death and deadly night."

Since completing the second retinue for Warwick in my Wars of the Roses project my output of completed units has inevitably rather tailed off as I await delivery of some LBMS pavaise transfers from Victrix. So I thought I would set out the whole collection in a scenic setting on the tabletop battlefield here in GHQ in the hope that it may inspire me to set to with paint and brush, showing renewed vigor! As an aside I thought you dear reader might enjoy seeing them too. Firstly, my Yorkist force ~

Followed by my gallant Lancastrians ~

The collection utilises figures from a number of manufacturers: Eureka Miniatures, Perry Miniatures, Wargames Foundry, Steel Fist, Crusader Miniatures,  Athena Miniatures, a Partizan freebie, and Grenadier, via Ebay. The standards and banners are mostly by Pete's Flags, supplemented by Freezywater and one homegrown set! I had hoped to come across one or more of the Perry Plastic box sets' flag sheets, but no luck there. The bases are from Warbases of course.

Still queuing in the old Lead Pimple are two bases of mercenary crossbowmen - see above re pavaise transfers, another Light Artillery gun & crew, not forgetting my fantastical fripary and Vignette bases. That leaves me to tackle six bases of Knights/Mounted MAA, and two Army Command Stands. Phew! Luckily Phil is helping me with the mounted figures by painting the horses for me at "Mate's Rates"!!! So there you have it: not quite the thousand souls yet, but a decent number to be going on with... for now at any rate!

"I was the chief that raised him to the crown, and I’ll be chief to bring him down again."

As I mentioned in an earlier blog entry I had decided that Warwick would be represented by not one but two Retinues of infantry. The first you have already seen but now I have completed the second and can offer them here for your perusal and, hopefully, some feedback. The figures are mostly from Eureka Miniatures, supplemented by a couple of Perry Miniatures and Crusader Miniatures figures ~

This completes the total of eight retinues of Bill, Bow and Command, each of about 24 figures which I had planned at the outset of the project, for about 192 figures. In addition of course I've painted a unit of pike, two of Handgunners and three of Men At Arms, alongside two light artillery pieces and crew figures for about another 54 figures/pieces. Not to mention several clumps of arrows positioned between archers! That's roughly 250-ish figures since I put brush & paint on the first figure back in early June. By my usual standard output of two figures a day that's rather impressive, at least to me if no-one else.

I'm left now with two bases of mercenary crossbowmen, using figures from Wargames Foundry and Perry Miniatures supplemented by a few pavaise from the later - though I needed to order up some LBMS transfers for the latter. I mentioned that I'd received some old Grenadier figures I purchased through Ebay, a light artillery piece and crew, to which I've added a figure from the Foundry artilleryists pack, so they will be next in the queue. There remain then my vignette and a couple of friparies, plus the handful of Mounted figures including the Army Commands! I still hope to finish by the end of September, all being well, for a first game in October. 

"Clifford, I say, come forth and fight with me!"

The latest base/element of figures to pass across my painting desk and endure its time under the brush of doom before mustering into the Wars of the Roses collection in GHQ is a group of Men At Arms, in this instance representing the Household of Thomas, Lord Clifford. They carry his heraldic banner as at the first battle of St Albans courtesy of Freezywater Flags, the first occasion I've used one of their products.As usual their base is from Warbases, textured with the usual Woodlands Scenics ballast mix and dressed with static grass and foliage ~

The figures of course are from Perry Miniatures with the addition of a single Crusader Miniatures figure to act as the banner bearer. As Norm commented on an earlier entry that my basing is quite economical in respect of figures I thought a bird's-eye view might be appropriate to show 8 figures on an 80x60mm base ~

Next up should be the last of the Yorkist retinues, the second one bearing the colours of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. That would have left just two bases of mercenary crossbowmen to complete this part of the project if I had not ordered a handful of figures through Ebay ~ including a Light Artillery piece and crew figures, a Medieval Bishop for a vignette I have planned, and a few...well, its a whimsy so you must wait and see.