"The Scum of the Earth"

"The French system of conscription brings together a fair sample of all classes; ours is composed of the scum of the earth — the mere scum of the earth. It is only wonderful that we should be able to make so much out of them afterwards."
-Arthur Wellesley, 1813

Starting a new project is always fun. I currently have two new projects on the go, the first of which is 28mm Napoleonics.

I'm starting with the British - specifically the South Essex (latterly the Prince Of Wales' Own Volunteers).

These are a mix of Perry and Warlord plastics to provide some variation in height; I also painted various shades across the two ranges to ensure that there were subtle variations in colours to reflect the fact they've been in the field for a while.

Batch painting has always been my weakness so this was all about finding a system that wasn't too painful. The old lollystick approach and lots of washes and glazes was the main way although I am looking forward to the new Citadel Contrast paints as I reckon these will speed things up enormously.

Next up some

The Fellowship of the Ring

Sans the annoying hobbits. I can't be the only one who skips all Frodo and Sam stuff in both the films and the books, surely?

Anyway, these are the only members of the Fellowship I'm really interested in so I made a concerted effort to get them all finished, given a kick up the backside by the previously mentioned 15th anniversary.

The last one to be done was Boromir:

I'm actually rather proud of these. I treated them like historical miniatures, using picture references and colour matching and I took a little extra time over glazes and layers. I think the extra effort shows - although I must admit to being helped enormously by the quality of the sculpts. As always the Perry Middle Earth stuff is lovely to work with.

And I'm obviously not the only one to think so...

This is definitely the last post before Christmas and the dawn of a new project so I will bid everyone a lovely holiday and I look forward to all the loot posts appearing on my feed.

Merry Christmas everyone!

End of an Era

So here's the good photos of the medieval mounted men at arms to finish off the Wars of the Roses project. These side by sides show the difference with the colour palettes quite effectively; just the standards to add and then they're finito.

Back to painting in the evenings as of tomorrow!

Paint Table Saturday

Crikey, it's been a long road. This is a slight expansion of the original War of the Roses project but I've now finished all the Perry Miniatures that were bought for me as Birthday presents back in January.

Here we have the Neville cavalry, rather neater and better equipped than their Percy counterparts. Again, I chose cooler colours from the blue end of the spectrum to help tie the forces together. 

The coloured lances, incidentally, are a detail I lifted from the ever useful Osprey publications. They were more prevalent than we sometimes think.

This is the one I did the major conversion work on, and I'm rather happy with the dynamic pose:

Like the ever Sainted Mr Awdrey I, too, have now to prepare for the new Academic year, so my painting will probably slow down. I am, however, determined to finish the human Blood Bowl team; so hopefully there will be at least one more completed project post before the new term.

Here comes the Cavalry!

Got the first lot painted up: a group of men at arms allied to the Percys.

The first issue was to decide the colour palette. Livery didn't work like uniforms, of course - after all, each of the Men At Arms was likely to be a landed knight in his own right - but you want to try and tie the various forces together.

So with my Percys being kitted out in quartered red and black, I went with things on the red side of spectrum; red, purple and yellow. Overall I'm quite happy with how they came out. Proper photos will follow when I've finished the Nevilles, hopefully tomorrow.

CHAAAAAARGE!

So last night I popped the rest of the Doctor Who story on the DVD that I was using for reference for the Third Doctor and Brigadier (The Green Death, fact fans) and made a final push on the medieval project.

The Perry mounted men at arms box is just as good as their other WotR sets; a massive amount of options and plenty of bits left over. The variation allows for some very dynamic poses and lots of potential for conversion.

So here we have the first Lion Rampant unit of 6:

And here is the second:

As an example, here is the only major conversion I did with these: 

all that was done was a slight reposition on the base - the posing of the rider, legs and horse-head was done purely with mixing and matching the different bits of the kit to get the desired effect.

The plan is to get these undercoated and done today and tomorrow.

Post 100!

It's been a little over six months since I got back into the painting groove after the birth of my two kids. In that time, I've managed to do something that has eluded me a lot over the years - I managed to finish a project!

So here, for those people who have patiently waited since way back in January, I have actually completed my two Lion Rampant retinues. Annoyingly, they've already had their first road test but they're now ready for action at the school open evening in September.

Here are the Nevilles, resplendent in their neat white and blue livery:

And here are the slightly more rough and ready Percys:

Two fine bodies of Yorkshire men, I'm sure you'll agree.

Up next, another Project to finish off and then the start of some Victoriana.I'd just like to take a moment to thank everyone for their support. It makes it a lot easier to pick up the brush and get cracking if you know there are other people out there who share your enthusiasm.

So thanks, and here's to the next 100!

Light at the End of the Tunnel

Been in Scotland for a week and so trawling around a variety of medieval and Dark Ages sites. Upon my return I've also managed this:

This is the final unit in my two Lion Rampant Wars of the Roses retinues. So 24 figures to paint and the first major project of 2015 is done. 

They'll be getting their first run out this week so expect a battle report. Hopefully there should also be a little X-Wing action at the weekend. 

Storm of Arrows Redux

So I've finally got the unit of Neville archers done.


I went with a slightly more uniform look for these. The character that seems to be forming between the two retinues as I paint them is that the Percys are more rough and ready whereas the Nevilles are more organised. Now that I've recognised this, I'll try and carry it through into the respective units of billmen which are the next stop.

Putting the two retinues side by side shows me that the plan of contrasting livery is working again at making them look quite distinct, even though they are made from the same component parts.





The billmen will be constructed from the remains of the Perry Infantry box and the Foot Knights. This will give 24 miniatures that could double as Foot Serjeants or Foot Yeomen as they'll have a mix of armour and normal livery. It also makes a virtue of the fact that the infantry box itself doesn't give me enough to make both units.

Before that, though, I think I've earned a break; a palette cleanser, if you will. I'll post that this week.

The 2015 Pledge so far:

Bought: 189
Painted: 54

A Storm of Arrows

So that's the second Unit for the Percy Retinue done.



These are tabletop standard only, mainly because I could feel my interest and attention flagging. Unit painting really doesn't suit me.



However, taken as a whole, the Percy Retinue so far is looking quite striking:



The other thing is that the Dragonborn cleric is nearly done; the attempt at source lighting really didn't work but the miniature didn't cost me anything so I can feel quite sanguine about it not looking quite right.



On the plus side, the conversion work has helped to balance the oversized head, so I'm happy with that.

I have a few days of half term left (bar a funeral) so if I can get the archers unit for the Nevilles done I will take a well-deserved break from the Wars of the Roses and paint something else before I come back for the billmen and mounted knights.

Now the depressing bit:

The Pledge So far:

Bought: 189
Painted: 42

CRIPES!

Time's Arrow

A busy evening of watching Ripper Street was accompanied by a frenzy of construction:

The headless horde was eventually mustered as the first unit of archers for the Percy/Yorkist retinue. 

Again, the Perry miniatures plastic are a joy to work with. This first lot were built straight off the sprue but I can already begin to picture conversion opportunities that lie therein. 

The sculpts are full of character and produce some interesting poses even without any repositioning:

Another slightly disinterested character in the foreground, perhaps a distaff relation of Sir Stig. 

I'm looking forward to getting these on the painting table but we've had a bereavement today which might cause a little disruption. 

The Nevilles Are Coming

So here's my ersatz Nevilles, first unit thereof:



I still really like Sir Stig.

I'm generally quite happy with them although the photo does show a couple of details that need touching up and shading but I think the white and blue work well together and, more importantly, form a strong contrast with the Percy red and black.





I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who's been looking and commenting; I've never been good at Unit painting as I find it rather boring to do the same sort of things over and over again, so having any kind of support is key in slogging through it.

I imagine that after one unit of 12 I'll need to take a break and do something else. Given that I've been watching a lot of Ripper Street that might well take the form of the IHMN Reid and Drake miniatures.

The Percys have landed

The first unit of my WotR project is completed (bar the basing but I've not decided on the scheme as yet). I need to choose a badge for my chaps but inspiration has yet to strike.





The more historically minded of you will notice that I've quartered the tunics rather than going with the more accurate Percy halved tunic. This was purely because I fancied having black and red in quarters and whim trumps accuracy every time for me. This is probably not an admirable attitude for a history teacher.

The blued armour is quite nice - and historically accurate - but it looks simply too fantastical for the feel I want for this project. I'll give the other side someone in black enameled armour to even up the fashion quota.

Speaking of which, the next step is the first Neville-style unit who are already constructed:

My favourite character from this little bunch is that chap who is quite the most nonchalant Man at Arms in the history of warfare:

I am quite tempted to paint him as The Stig.

WotR WiP

Wottor-whip sounds like a character from a Robert E Howard story.

The Men at Arms are coming along apace. The Perrys are as much fun to paint as I'd thought. The most surprising thing I found in my researches is how blue blued armour could actually be. It's quite hard to pull off without looking over the top.

Here's the first coat before highlights done using vallejo transparent blue over gunmetal basecoat.

As you can see, for the first unit I've gone with a Yorkist Percy Black and Red livery which has the added advantage of making them look quite villainous.

Hopefully I'll have them finished before the weekend so I can produce the matching Neville unit.

Men At Work

It feels like an age since I've posted; the new term has been a nightmare.

There will be two posts today, this one showing what I've been doing with the Massive Birthday Haul and another showcasing a finished group of figures.

I love my job; it means that I'm never short of reference material lying around in cupboards.

So I've started the Lion Rampant project with a Unit of Men At Arms. The Perry plastics are glorious; it's so easy to get animation and character into the poses, straight out of the box. There are also lots of opportunities for conversion inherent in having two different boxes.

Here, then is the first Unit - built straight out of the box. As a good yorkshireman, these will be some variety of either Percy or Neville troops. Hopefully I will be able to start painting this week.

Secondly, I put together my first 4Ground model. The thatch still needs to be PVA'd to finish off but I am incredibly impressed with the overall look. I'll do a comparison with the Tabletop Workshop plastic later in the week.