War of the Spanish Succession French(7)

The Hundred Years War project has stalled at the moment due to a lack of unpainted figures so this week the War of the Spanish Succession project gets some love with both a couple of pieces of terrain and French horse and foot being painted.

First up is a church and graveyard that I'm rather happy with how it turned out. The church model is from Leven Miniatures and is a very nice model, well cast in resin. The walls are also from the same manufacturer.

The gravestones and statuary are from Perfect Six Scenics, again lovely castings and a useful range of accessories in this small scale. I think this will be a great addition to our battlefields.

Next is a small farm comprising a couple of buildings again from the Leven Miniatures range. The well is from Perfect Six Scenics and adds a little character to the set.

I have enough other pieces from these two manufactures to knock out another four bases of terrain and you should see the results over the next few weeks.

On to the figures, firstly a regiment of French French Chevau-légers bringing me up to 20 bases of horse for the French, you can never have enough cavalry in grey coats with red cuffs and turn-backs, super generic as just about all French Chevau-légers looked the same in this period.

 I wanted to do the whole regiment on black horses, with just greys for the musicians, I do like how they look 'in real life' but think they came out very dark in these photos.

I also completed another infantry battalion for the French, this one represents Regt. Normandie, grey coats with black cuffs and turn-backs and white waistcoats and hose. I must have been having a black period this week.

Again they look rather darker in these shots than they do in the flesh.

I'll never get to play with them though, Drew always bags the French for our games, I must paint some more allies for the Anglo-Dutch, maybe a Danish regiment.....

Hundred Years War: French (16)

Another unit for the Hundred Years War collection, this time a break from men at arms that have featured so much of late and out with a unit of pavisiers and crossbow.

All the figures are from Perry Miniatures Agincourt to Orleans plastic sets with the majority coming from the AO 50 Agincourt French Infantry 1415-29 set but many components from the others

The shield transfers are from LBMS, but as I found when I painted the last lot of Pavisers these transfers are not for the plastic figures so you'll notice where I painted in around the edges.

The design represents troops from the city of Soissons although after what the French did to the city after recapturing it from the Burgundian's in 1414 I doubt that the citizens would be overly committed to the Valois cause.

 I wanted the unit in fairly drab colours and no consistent livery so you'll note a lot of mustard, russet, drab green and grey used in the palette for these. This was another batch of figures that suffered from some grainy primer and it shows up a little in some of the shots.

The figures are mounted on 20mm Renedra rounds and then magnetised into a custom tray ordered from Warbases.

These are the last of the Perry Miniatures that I had in my backlog and now standing at 30 units completed (25 foot and 5 mounted) along with spare figures, commanders, civilians and casualty markers all painted the project may be considered complete, but I am enjoying these a lot and cannot stop, so purchased some metal commanders to get painted up for both factions.

The French rather outnumber the English too 17 units to 13 units and although there should be a disparity I think that I likely should add at least a few more units of bowmen to the collection.

 Hope to get these figures out again and playing in the next week or so.

Hundred Years War: English (14)

Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'

A small update to the English Contingent today. I was painting a few of the Perry Miniatures plastic infantry on Tuesday and as it was St. Georges day a great opportunity to add an enthusiastic Englishman waving the cross of St. George to the mix.

The figure is from the AO 50 Agincourt French Infantry 1415-29 set while the banner is hand painted on hotel note paper.

I'm playing Spanish Civil war and American Civil War at Little Wars this weekend, but, once that is over it shall be "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;" for the Hundred Years War gaming.

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.

American Civil War: Confederates (18)

Quite some time ago chum Seth very kindly gifted me a Confederate six horse limber at full gallop from Perry Miniatures. I've been pontificating about getting it painted for ages and had it cleaned up and primed ready to start in this years Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.

I think though that it was just so big a model and I was daunted by all the different components to work on so I kept putting off making a start on it and instead kept cracking on with the Hundred Years War stuff.

However, towards the end of the challenge I ran out of Hundred Years War figures and managed to get the horses painted and also did the base coats on the gun and limber.  

Another order of Hundred Years War stuff arrived from the UK and this was again put back into my backlog.

Thursday evening chum Drew came round for a painting session and as he was working on his own ACW stuff I got this out of the backlog, the gun and limber had their highlights done and I got to base coating the riders.

 Over the weekend I was able to finish off the basing and do the highlights on the crew to get it to a final state, and I rather like how it turned out.

The limber and team are based on a 200mm x 60mm base while the gun is on a 60x30mm so that I can swap out for a caisson if the fancy takes me. Both were a custom order from the great folks at Warbases. 

I'm running a Sharp Practice American Civil War game at Little Wars later this month, hopefully, I can find some way to get this included in the organisations.

Now it's time to get back to painting the Hundred Years War collection again.

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.