Hundred Years War: English (19)

At the same time that I did the French posted yesterday I also painted a dozen English Men at Arms.

I have a couple of reasons for doing this, I paint figures in small batches of four at a time and I like to have variety in my units, so if the 12 figures come from three batches of four they can have quite a 'samey' look whereas if I pick 12 from a batch of 36 they are less homogenous.

Another reason for doing all 36 at the same time is that I'm down to only two full cans of Testors Dullcote, so it's less wasteful to spray large batches, I'm not sure when I'll be able to get a restock.

The standard is from Battle Flag and represents John Mowbray, the Earl of Nottingham. I over painted some highlights to make the red a little more vibrant.

Hundred Years War: English (17)

Victoria and I are back from my vacation and I'm taking the opportunity to crack on with the Hundred Years War project with another unit of Men at Arms joining the forces of King Henry V.

The plastic figures are from the Agincourt Foot Knights set with a few components from the Agincourt Mounted Knights set to add some variety to the mix. The metal figures are from the Foot command advancing set.

The banner is from Battleflag and is that of Lord Camoys who commanded the English left wing at Agincourt.

The sabot was a special order from those nice chaps at Warbases.

The colour scheme on these is rather 'samey' as I painted these in batches of four with a common palette for that group, but they will be added to the rest of the force and end up in more mixed units.

Some shots of the individuals in the unit.

 

Hundred Years War: English (16)

This post sees the return of the Hundred Years War project that I spent a lot of time on during the past 18 months.

I've collected more than enough figures to do a good sized re-fight of Agincourt using either To The Strongest! or Hail Caesar, but why stop there, so I've picked up three more boxes of the Perry Miniatures plastics plus half a dozen packs of the metals, so it's off I go again.

These figures represent a contingent of English Men at Arms in the service of Baron Talbot. The banner is from Battleflag

The Men at Arms are all from the Agincourt Foot Knights set while the banner bearer and musician are from the Foot command advancing pack.

 As usual the plastics are a delight to assemble, although that war-hammer snaps every time, and the metals are a bugger to clean up, but all take paint really well.

I did my usual basecoat, wash, three highlights method that gives a result on these that I'm very happy with.

The sabot bases were a custom order from Warbases.

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.

Hundred Years War: English (13)

Almost six months after I started this project - on Agincourt Day no less - I'm coming to the end of the figures I purchased so far. These dozen English Men at Arms are the last of such for now.

As usual all the figures are from the Perry Miniatures plastic Agincourt sets and include components from all of the four box sets.

All flags are from the The Knights of The Black Prince set from Battle Flag so are a little early for the armour that the figures are wearing. I may get around to changing them at some date in the future.

As always, everything is mounted on a 20mm Renedra fro our games of Warhammer Ancient Battles or Lion Rampant, each group of six is mounted on a 80mm x 60mm base from Warbases for our To The Strongest! and Hail Caesar games.

Four English Men at Arms including one carrying the banner of Edward of Woodstock, the banner arm is actually a lance arm from the Mounted Knights set. The chap on the right uses a body and arms from the French set, but is given an orle to complete his Englishness.

This banner is that of Thomas Beauchamp The Earl of Warwick. The second right chap is made with a French body but English arms with his besegaws decorated with the Cross of St. George. The fellow on the right uses body and arms from the French Knights frame and again is proclaimed English by his orle.

The final four, this banner is that of Sir Thomas Holland. Quite a mix of figures here, the one on the left is entirely from the French Knights frame, the body of the second left is actually from the French infantry frame, while the chap on the right is entirely from the French infantry frame apart from his visor.

So, no more English Men at Arms for now, until I succumb to a new purchase.

Hundred Years War: French (14)

Another batch of Men at Arms pledged to the cause of Charles the Mad of France were painted this past week. These are a group of both the plastic and metal figures from the Perry Miniatures Agincourt to Orleans range.

 
This now brings the French up to four units of dismounted Men at Arms, and I'll continue to grow these forces.

The standard is from the BattleFlag The Enemies of The Black Prince sheet and represents King Philip VI, a little anachronistic for these troops in later equipment, but adds a splash of colour to the battles.

Chum Tony kindly sent me five of the six figures from the Dismounted men at arms advancing into an arrow storm set and they make a great addition to the group, although the one falling when hit in the knee with an arrow is to big to fit on a standard 20mm base so shall make a good disorder marker.

These figures make a nice dynamic set together.

The second batch contains another anomaly, as well as the anachronistic standard, the chap on the left in the orle is actually one of my English men at arms, I pain the figures in batches of four, doing both English and French at the same time. Like the fool I am I photographed this one in the wrong batch

No outliers in this last batch. The plume comes in the mounted knights set, and I must say although it looks rather snazzy, it is a fragile bit of kit. Getting this far I broke it and glued back together four times, odds are that the plume shall not survive its first battle.