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...............

Work on the WOTR continues

Managed another couple of hours last night:

 

The pikemen are now almost finished. I also inked the mounted men-at-arms:

 

 

 

Other news: This morning the postman delivered a mysterious package marked 'Secret Santa'. 

 

 

This turned out not to be my 'official' Secret Santa gift, but an unexpected present from fellow blogger Roy. Like a numpty I totally missed the instructions (Do not open until 25th December) and plunged straight in. What was inside? Stay tuned to find out!

 

 

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



Paint Table Yesterday Continued

Work continues apace on the WOTR retinues for Lion Rampant. Unlike Wargaming Girl I welcomed the wet weather as it gifted me a day indoors at the painting table, so I made the most of it! These are the Burgundian Pikemen I chose to warm up on, before tackling the core units of each retinue.
They are obviously based on the excellent painted examples on Saxon Dog's Blog.

 

 

They have been shaded, so it's time to start building up the colours again towards the final finish. I also painted the lances on the mounted troops. I went for bold colours, and they look quite striking.

 

 

Hopefully I'll get some more work done in the evenings this coming week.

 

 

Until next time........

 

 

PTS (without the paint...) and more Perry Plastics

Paint Table Saturday came and went without the paints coming out of storage due to a combination of work commitments and ill-health. Nonetheless I managed to get the rest of the 'extras' for Lion Rampant ready:

Six mounted men-at-arms and twelve mercenary pikemen. These are ready for undercoating (if the weather ever improves) although the mounted leader's horse needs rebuilding as I'm unhappy with how I've configured the horse's armour - Scanning the web it appears it's not just me who's had trouble. It's an issue of marrying up the front plates with each other and having the moulded strap supports finish in the right place.

I also completed a small piece of scenery - the Perry open wagon for the same period:

 

 

The corks in the background will enable me to paint the knights once they've had pins inserted somewhere in their anatomy. Of all the plastics I've cleaned up ready for painting, the pikemen have proved the easiest, and I like the look of the completed figures:

 

 

 

 

 Gods willing I'll be able to get the paints out this coming week - I now have a considerable backlog to apply the brushes to, and Naval November is also ticking away....

 

 

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

Paint Table Saturday

Just a (relatively) short post as it's a hectic Saturday at Pendragon Towers, not least because we are off to see Julia Fordham tonight on her Porcelain 25 Tour. I am most excited, being a long-time fan who has yet to see the songstress live. Her intimate small-venue gig will be preceded by good curry and followed with good company and merlot. Roll on!

On the Paint Table today - My prepped retinues for Lion Rampant. These Perrys seem to have taken an age to prepare, and have been augmented with a handful of Crusader Miniature archers, as I was starting to suffer from Plastic Paralysis..... I know people offer painting services, does anyone do preparation services?!

Still to do the additionals (mercenary crossbows, mounted knights, pikemen, etc) but this is enough to get me started, not least because our guest lodger (daughter's continental boyfriend) has departed which means I have the dining room table back - the paints come out of storage tomorrow! Hurrah!

In the centre of these Wars of the Roses troops stands the incongruous Mariel Twinspar. She is a female pirate by Reaper Miniatures, and I plan for her to be my contribution to Roy Williamson's Naval November themed paint-up. She has a resin timber-effect base I had lying around which seemed appropriate. There may be another item for Naval November later this month, it just depends on workload:

 

I have completed both my Secret Santa and Santa Clause obligations, so am ahead there at least. I have also completed Bernard Cornwell's The Empty Throne:

I view the Uhtred novels in the same way I do beers - There're no bad ones, just some better than others! This one is a splendid romp that slows about midway, but then picks up again and delivers a very wargameable (is that a word? Google+ doesn't think so.....) action toward the end, albeit at large skirmish level and requiring a bit of scenery! Recommended, as are all Cornwell's Saxon Stories series.

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......