Selborne Church - Templar Tombs

Greetings Gentle Readers,

In the last few days I had the opportunity to visit Selborne Church in Hampshire, As well as being the resting place of the 18th century naturalist Gilbert White, the church also contains two extremely old stone coffins, which can be found at the rear of the church. Each has inscribed on them a longsword, with elaborate pommels and quillons, a sign that they probably once housed the bodies of Templars.

Templar tombs are quite rare, so I was surprised that these were tucked away, and not on display in some museum somewhere. Whilst in poor condition, the sword carvings can be made out if viewed from the right angle, or with the aid of a torch held at an acute angle to the surface.

I had to move some stacks of chairs to reveal the slab above, whilst the sarcophagus below was hidden away in a far corner of the church.

I enjoy visiting churches, mostly from an historical point of view - pilgrims marks, medieval artwork and civil war damage etc., and thankfully in this part of the world we have many fine examples. Unfortunately Selborne Church, whilst extremely scenic from the outside, was very cluttered within, and these two tombs were really the saving grace of the visit. It's a shame they aren't more widely-known, and indeed better displayed, I am sure they would attract more visitors if they were.

Until next time..........

Lion Rampant Ongoing Progress

Just in case you thought I had abandoned my Lion Rampant plans, I managed to complete the unit of mounted men-at-arms for my Wars of the Roses force. Not my best work by a long shot, but suitable for the tabletop. These plastic Perry Miniatures are very nice figures and complement the metal range of miniatures.

They aren't varnished yet, which should stop them looking quite so garish. My normal routine is a coating of purity seal, then a light spray of army painter's anti-shine. I may have to then 'brighten up' the armour elements with gloss varnish (or possibly satin). All advice welcome!

I will decorate the bases of all the troops once they're completed, I normally do a lot of figures in one go as I find it easier. Usual sequence is mixed sand/rocks, painted Burnt Umber, drybrushed gradually with Desert Yellow and Skeleton Bone. I then add some static grass, plus grass clumps and tufts from various manufacturers.



Until next time...............

PTS, Therapy and Bargains

It's Paint Table Saturday and normally by now I would have squeezed in a Sunday or mid-week post for those of you with nothing better to do but read this nonsense (no offence...). However, the first full week back to work has been ridiculously busy, and somewhat intense in nature. Nevertheless I managed to carry on with some more dungeon scenery from the collection of unpainted stuff in the Shed of Delights. After a tough day at work I find these little items extremely therapeutic - I can make up colour schemes, even invent little tales around each piece as I paint them. No pressure to get the uniform correct or churn out masses of troops, so they have proved ideal for my current circumstances - I may never use them, but I have enjoyed painting them, and they've helped me switch off.

 

 

Once again most of the items are from Scotia Grendel. I also found time to knock up a dungeon adventurer or possibly a dungeon hireling from a Fireforge plastic Foot Sergeant:

 

 

 

 

 



I shall have to improve his base at some point - perhaps one of those fancy cast-resin items with sculpted flagstones. 

I also picked up some great bargains in North Star's January Sale, although I fear these are now sold out. £4.90 per pack of 8 figures - now that's a bargain!

 

 

 

These are all Crusader Miniatures - I love their chunky no-nonsense look. Despite the Christmas rush, and North Star being extremely busy I had these within days - Excellent work Nick. I haven't always been a fan of North Star's customer service - they botched up the first three orders I ever made to them! Now, however the service is always good, and they do a huge range of great figures. They are also now importing Bob Murch's delightful Pulp figures. Whilst they (and Pulp gaming in general) is a temptation, I shall try and abstain. I just wish they'd been around when I used to run my Call of Cthulhu games - they would have been fantastic on the tabletop!

 

Anyway, January continues apace. I am very much looking forward to participating in Roy Williamson's Play-by-Blog western gunfight: I am The Ysabel Kid, and I am one mean 'ornery SOB!

 

 



 

 

Until next time............................

 

 



Showcase - Part 3 of an occasional series

Once again to reiterate - My showcase series is not to say 'Look how clever I am' - I am well aware that there are much better painters and modellers than me out there! I just use this series to share items in my collection that I am particularly happy with and that others may appreciate or enjoy.

Enough - This time it's the Perry Medieval Cottage. A lovely kit to build, and one that lends itself to looking good on the tabletop with the minimum of work:

 

 

It comes with a small animal shelter/wood store, which I think would benefit from some sawn logs (i.e. cut-up twigs) to finish off - Note to self.

 

 

I tried to keep the colours fairly muted, and not overdo the groundwork. I could have added beehives (from Grand Manner) and perhaps a tree or two, but I think the finished item benefits from its simplicity. It's too easy sometimes to overpower a piece with accessories. Plus it leaves room for figures, something I often overlook!

 

 

 

The base is a cake board (the silver type) with mixed grade sand glued on. Ground colours were charred brown, desert yellow then skeleton bone. I used only two types of flock; coarse turf and fine static grass. I topped this off with a rubberised horsehair bush and some Army Painter summer clumps of grass. The bench is from Midlam Miniatures who make all sorts of interesting items.

 

 

Army Painter anti-shine spray finished off the piece. The Current Wife has pointed out that I photographed it on the most worn piece of hall carpet there is in the house and I should be ashamed! New carpet time in January methinks!

 

 

 

Until next time...............

 



Planning Ahead

Whilst I'm having fun with my Wars of the Roses figures, I am also looking ahead to next year - I happen to know I am getting some early medievals for Christmas from the Current Wife, so I thought I would see what I had in the Shed of Delights in order to add to them in order to create a couple of retinues for Lion Rampant from the period 1250 - 1400 approximately - Scottish Wars of Independence, the Barons War, Conquest of Wales etc. - You get the picture.
Problem is I am a bit of a scale Nazi, and like my troops to suit each other on the tabletop if you see what I mean.

So I dug out miniatures from Perry, Ebob, Fireforge and Crusader for a bit of a comparison:

L to R: Ebob, Perry, Fireforge.

L to R: Crusader, Fireforge, Perry.



Whilst I can live with the Fireforge plastic figure being slightly smaller than the others (even with the outsize base - What was I thinking of?!), the Ebob figure unfortunately doesn't cut the mustard.
This is unfortunate on two counts. Firstly Ebob's Rebellion miniatures are some of the nicest ever sculpted, but they only blend well with themselves (and possibly GW's Lord of the Rings range). Secondly I have a fair few of them, but not enough to make two retinues! I may keep the personality figures, but will probably put the rest on ebay in the new year.
Generally Perry, Fireforge and Crusader will live together happily on the tabletop, to my mind. From memory Foundry were a little too small too, although I didn't have any to hand to check.

Eagle-eyed regular readers will have spotted that instead of black undercoat I am experimenting with grey. I am not convinced of its merits yet, but will report back later.

I am about to post out my Santa Clause and Secret Santa gifts, so that's another little job out of the way.


Until next time........

Lion Rampant - Perry Miniatures' Retinues

Thanks to the new combination of Man and Chair in perfect harmony, work continues apace on my Wars of the Roses retinues for Lion Rampant. All the figures are Perry, either plastic or metal.
I completed a surfeit of men at arms, enabling me to pick and choose which I want to use. These chaps caused me some issues:

Basically their polearms are extremely soft an flimsy and throughout the cleaning-up process I was continually re-straightening the damn things. I don't know if this is a common problem of Perry miniatures, but I can see issues once they are painted, especially with excessive handling. The plastic Foot Knights, by comparison, seemed robust and somehow 'beefier'.

I am creating two retinues, so here are the two Leaders, unnamed as yet:

 

And for a bit of variety I have two others so I can ring the changes as required. These need rebasing - I am using plastic lipped bases for the leaders so they stand out, which is a prerequisite of the Lion Rampant rules.

 

 

 

Each retinue will consist of four units:

 

• 1 unit of Men at Arms on foot (including the Leader) - 6 figures
• 2 units of expert archers - 12 figures each
• 1 unit of expert foot sergeants - 12 figures

 

I will be creating some mounted units and also some mercenaries to add even more variety. The bulk of the retinues will be plastic figures. These are a bit of a pain to clean up, but relatively easy to assemble, and can be combined in a variety of ways (especially when mixed with the Perry's European Infantry boxed set) so that each unit has an individual flavour.

 

These are the first unit of expert archers. Like all the non-leader figures, they are based on mdf discs from Warbases:

 

 

So, progress has been made and thanks to my new chair, I seem to be making inroads into this new project.

 

Until next time......





Paint Table Saturday - Lion Rampant

After my adventures in Normandy, and a heavy week at work, I finally got my painting table partially set-up again, and I'm playing around with a couple of retinues for Lion Rampant using Perry Miniatures' Wars of the Roses range in both metal and plastic. There should be enough figures to give me a few different options re troop types.

Firstly I need to check out what I've got for the Foot Men at Arms:

Bases are MDF from Warbases, and back left you can see my newly-reorganised tool box. I am also still using my £5 IKEA painting tray - this is easily the longest I have had the same painting tray for, since I started painting - a real bargain!

I should also mention that the closing date for this year's Secret Santa is October 19th, so nip over to The Blog with No Name to enlist in time for this Christmas' fun!

Until next time.....

Medieval Buildings

Continuing the few bits of 28mm terrain I am knocking up for Lion Rampant, I have got some paint on the Perry medieval cottage - I just need to matt it down, then create the groundwork and add a few details to the base:

I also started the Medieval Chapel from Tabletop Workshop, which is a neat little kit (almost too neat, if you see what I mean). I plan to put this on a small base of plasticard cobbles:

I appreciate that in the medieval period a 'brand new' chapel is quite feasible, but I do like my scenery lived-in and a bit rougher-looking, so will give this one some thought before I proceed.

Next week I am off to the battlefields of Normandy, but I hope to post some further progress on Paint Table Saturday before I go.

Until next time........

Paint Table Saturday - All Change!

I have temporarily side-lined my 15mm AWI in order to get on with another project that has been thrust into my beleaguered brain by the publishing of Lion Rampant. So if you were expecting some AWI here, it will be back, but in the meantime you can blame Dan Mersey!

 

As always I've started arse about face by knocking up some scenery before the figures in order to set the mood as it were (anyone else do this?), in this case the lovely Perry medieval cottage.

 

As for the figures, well a brief walk to The Shed of Delights (where I store my Lead and Plastic mountain) led me to these:

 

 

 

So the medieval period has obviously been a project-in-waiting for me, and the waiting is now over thanks to what appears to be an excellent set of rules. They are very good value for money, and full of lots of inspiring art and photos. I can see these being used for periods other than those it was designed for - the dark ages, for example, and Lord of the Rings also comes to mind. There are now a few AARs online and a couple of reviews. I've read through the book twice and checked out the optional rules on BoardgameGeek, and I'm looking forward to this as an on-going project.

 

Until next time............