Wednesday 4 July 2012

WIP; Henry Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Essex





Further to my last post here is the painted result of the barding conversion I attempted on a plastic Perry MAA horse, it's taken a little while and required a few late nights of coffee and radio so I thought I'd share it to get your opinions as to whether it's a worthy effort.

After painting the horse I then chose a Wargames Foundry gendarme figure in a fine suit of maximilian armour to be the rider, the fit wasn't quite snug so I found I had to file down the rear of the saddle and pin the figure for some extra stability and strength.


This figure shall be used as one of the captains of a base of demilancers, hence the effort to have him looking a little more refined than his troop. Still, it is a unit of lighter cavalry so I decided to forgo a full harness for the horse, though I might try this at a later date.

The gentleman I have based this figure upon is Sir Henry Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Essex and a fitting one at that he is; he was made captain of the Kings bodyguard by Henry VIII in 1509 and throughout the 1513 campaign was lieutenant general of the Kings spears, he would most certainly have been one of the few to taste combat  at the battle of the spurs outside Therouanne. He met with a slightly less glorious end in 1539 as a young horse he was riding threw him and broke his neck.

I am presently working on his standard bearer which will be a little while I think. Curiously his standard is yellow and green to which do not appear in his heraldry - I'm no heraldic expert but it did have me check and double check that I'd matched the right standard to the right man, I have tried to reflect both in putting together this figure in the barding and on the scabbard. I did consider showing his heraldry upon the raised bosses of the horse armour but almost exclusively I have only seen English heavy cavalry of the period with a St. George cross depicted, the only exception being the king who displayed his own arms.

The demilancers I am working on will have a wealth of personalities such as this largely due to the fact that I can field more of them than the token gesture of heavy cavalry that feature in early Tudor armies so watch this space for more flags and interesting characters.

That aside, what is the general consensus on this conversion, have I managed to bring this figure from the 15c to 1513?

Stuart

15 comments:

  1. Stunning paintwork !!!

    very impressive 1

    Best regards michael

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  2. Great looking figure, very impressive detail work.

    Regards,
    Matt

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  3. Great figure, and looks spot on for the early 16th century. I love the horse barding

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  4. Lovely brushwork, well done.

    Cheers,

    Helen

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  5. Looks very good to me. Early 16th cent achieved I think.

    Excellent painstaking work on the scabbard.

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  6. Fantastic piece of work, the coffee and radio really paid off!

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    1. I couldn't be without them, the radio is definitely part of my arsenal, red wine or beer occasionally sneaks in there too!

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  7. Fantastic piece of work, the coffee and radio really paid off!

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  8. 8-) stunning.. enough said.

    Jason

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  9. Stuart
    A more-than convincing figure, with truly exceptional paintwork and detailing - that scabbard and the horse bard are fantastic and have caught the period and the man just right.
    More than worth the time and concentration that you must have put in - your collection just goes on getting better with every posting.
    Simon.

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  10. Stuart,
    Worth every cuppa,that sword scabbard is awsome as is the rest of it and has shown the superb top class miniature figure painter and converter you have become.

    Regards Chris

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  11. Holy crap that scabbard is awesome...really no words describe it!

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  12. Definetly a success. The scabbard is almost beyond belief, I would have been gobsmacked by that on a 54mm figure and you go and fit it on to the scabbard of a diminutive 28mm gent. As always I love your barding with its stylised leaves, perfect for the period. Pure brilliance.

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  13. Thanks for all of your comments chaps, encouragement indeed - I shall certainly do another of these conversions, watch this space!

    Stuart

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  14. Fantastic paint job and I look forward to seeing more.

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