Hundred Years War: French (15)

Fifteen French Men at Arms, hot on the tail of the batch of English Men at Arms. I painted these at the same time and I paint four figures at a time, using a limited palette on that group of four, so you'll see similar schemes on the figures in my units.

All the models are made from the components in the four Agincourt to Orleans sets produced by Perry Miniatures, and you can really get a lot of variety by mixing and matching the parts.

Several people have asked how I do the blackened armour. It's a base-coat mix of Vallejo Gunmetal Grey and Black washed with AP Strong Tone. Once the Strong Tome is dried I do a glaze of Gunmetal Grey then a couple more highlights adding more Silver to the Gunmetal Grey.

By differing the amount of subsequent glazes, you can get the armour brighter for some of the figures.

Bases, as with the rest of the collection are standard Renedra 20mm, then figures grouped in sixes on custom trays from Warbases.

The banner bearer carries the standard of the Ordre l’Estoile from Battle Flag. I really like the rich burgundy colour you can get from Vallejo Black Red as seen in the third figure. The heraldry on the first chap is supposed to be four Martlets, don't think I made too good a job on that.

The weapon on the figure on the right is a right bugger, a casting problem with the English Men at Arms frame mean most of these break when being cut from the frame, or shortly afterwards, in this case just as I finished painting it, so the head was replaced by a war-hammer cut off of a spare hand, it looks a bit wobbly in this picture so I'll have to re-glue.

Another broken war-hammer on the right, re-glued and hopefully surviving a few games. I do like the dynamic poses available from these sets.

My final three men at arms, the plumes on the figure on the right are from the Mounted Knights set and add a nice touch if used sparingly.

I'm now going to work on another unit of Pavisiers then some command stands and shall see if the fancy takes me to paint more.