Further buildings for the collection

Something of a detour from the norm in this post, some real estate for the collection.

This was inspired by a few things really, a recent family holiday to Normandy where I took particular interest in the architecture of the various places on my travels. Secondly, I recently moved house and as a result discovered a few hobby boxes i'd forgotten I had, in particular a huge box of scratch build bits and pieces it felt like finding an old friend. The heatwaves of the summer also made it uncomfortable to sit and paint with the optivisor on, so I opted to make best use of my time, in particular building upon my last venture of creating a modular collection of buildings.

I really enjoyed that project and had much use out of it in many different settings and combinations over the years, adding more could only make it better so not wanting to disturb the creative flow I set about creating a loose plan.

I began with the idea of building a small priory for gaming in Northern France in the years around 1500–1525. I was initially drawn to religious buildings because many abbeys and priories still survive in some form and as most are protected sites the footprint is somewhat maintained. Priories in particular being more modest set ups offer such rich architectural inspiration for a gaming setting, whether as a backdrop or as a key objective to the narrative in a scenario.

Features such as gatehouses, walls, cloisters, barns, dovecotes and service buildings all come together to create a strong sense of place. As with the previous project I wanted to ensure these were all modular so that they could be set up in multiple configurations.

At first, I worked on the notion of a more obviously monastic complex, but as I began to create the pieces the more I looked at the surviving evidence and what I had made, the more I realised that the most useful place to begin was not with the religious buildings but with the service yard. This being the area around the gatehouse which included all the buildings essential to the upkeep of the Priory and the monks who lived there.

That gradually shifted the whole direction of the project. Rather than committing myself straight away to a fixed priory layout, I decided to focus first on building a versatile, multi-piece service yard that could function as the outer court of a priory but also work just as well alongside my existing buildings as the yard of a manor house, grange, or larger farm. 

It would also keep the whole project open-ended, if I wanted to add some explicitly monastic buildings later, such as a cloister corner, or monks dormitories, I could do so, and the yard would already provide a believable outer court to expand from. 

As I was creating the pieces I realised the footprint was increasing and to do all of a Priory complex in one go would take rather a lot of my time and it would consume a lot of gaming space. In honesty, whilst I did want to create some religious buildings I knew i'd need some more practice and moreover a bit of help with some laser cut pieces for maximum impact.

Given the relevant buildings and/or their footprint are still present I’ve tried to draw on a combination of surviving monastic buildings in Northern France, archaeological evidence for priory layouts, and the wider agricultural architecture of the period. 

What I've taken from that is a layout that feels practical, historically grounded and very much French in character. I’m striving to capture the look and feel of a northern French priory/farm/manor service yard around 1500–1525 which is still unmistakably medieval in character, but very much a living, working place. 

I started with the gatehouse and some perimeter walls. For the Gatehouse I constructed the outer shell from plastic card, joining them with a hot melt glue gun. When dry I added windows and then a 2mm layer of DAS modelling clay was laid over this, it needs a thin layer of PVA to aid adhesion, the clay is left to cure for 10 minutes or so then the fun bit; the stone texture is achieved with the aid of texture rollers. In the last project I scored the brickwork onto the dried clay and it took hours ! this was done in minutes. It takes a bit of practice, the roller has to be absolutely straight and rolled quite slowly with just the right amount of pressure - too much and the PVA underneath will ooze out, too little and you won't get a good impression. I did a wall at a time with drying in between, with it being so hot over the summer 20 minutes outside was enough so it was a pretty fast process. The final part was to add the roof tiles, I use PECO OO gauge 'Wills' tile sheet, these come in packs of 4 130x75mm sheets and there are a variety of tiles available, they're sturdy and look right.

Here's the finished piece. I wanted it to look rendered with white limewash but a bit weather beaten so some of the stonework underneath is showing through. On the entrance a statue of the virgin and child is on the wall and on the inside the windows of an upper floor look out over the yard.

Next up was the Dovecote which presented a bit of a challenge, I found a variety of sources from across northern France and for the period they were almost exclusively round structures.

Dovecote / 'Pigeonairre' Comte

Pigeonairre, Oise

It was a matter of finding the right bit of card really, as I sat on the sofa I glanced at my daughter tucking in to some Pringles......these were quickly decanted and the mini Pringles tube was the answer !

I put a dowel through the centre and added beams using matchsticks, on top of these I added card and then I needed to figure out how to do the tiles as I couldn't use the tile sheets for a cone shaped surface. I found that Sarissa Precision did some tile sheets in card but those available were too large, however they were happy to reduce the scale for me and create some bespoke sheets. These were then added in small rows and had several coats of watered PVA over the top to aid strength. I'm still not completely happy with the result as it's more octagonal than rounded, and I have since found you can get some decent 3D prints of dovecotes but this is staying in the collection nonetheless.

The top decoration is based on an example from Wariville Priory. As with the gatehouse I wanted to represent faded lime render showing through the underlying stonework.

At this point I had three sides of the yard and it needed a large tithe barn, the windows are essentially just slits in the brickwork. To create these I cut pieces of card and glued them in place with PVA. The clay was then added and texture rolled as described above and using tweezers the card pieces were removed leaving the gaps. 

On this build I used a different texture roller 'rough stonework' which I feel works better to represent an older more utilitarian building. In the painting I again wanted to represent fading limewash but added darker washes at ground level. the barn is open to facilitate hiding a unit in there.

The project should have ended there but I was very much in creative flow. Whilst I set out not wanting to do more buildings I was already researching various window types to create. In the last project Warbases did some bespoke pieces for me and I was keen to get some more done. In tandem with this I was also thinking how to go about creating a covered cloister, multiple arches seemed to be quite difficult to do in plastic card and I was concerned they'd be quite brittle, then I landed on the idea of a row of laser cut MDF arches from which I could trim down to however many arches I wanted.

Warbases were excellent, they created a series of windows and doors for me based upon some drawings I sent and with a bit of correspondence they were also able to design the arch sheets I had thought about; here's how they looked;

Whilst these are not available on the Warbases site they are happy to re-print the order or parts thereof, just quote Invoice 5684 dated 29/07/26 for Stuart Mulligan.

The details are as follows

All hollow windows include surround and doors are solid MDF with surround:

10 Postern Door 33mm x 22mm plus wall surround @ £0.80 = £8.00
20 Small square / Oculus, 10mm x 10mm 4 pane window plus wall surround @ £0.40 = £8.00
20 Hoarding slot 10mmH x 8mm 4 pane window plus wall surround @ £0.40 = £8.00
10 Transom window, 16mmH x 14mm 4 pan windows plus wall surround @ £0.50 = £5.00
10 (Cloister) square window with mullion (cross form), 18mmH x 14mm plus wall surround @ £0.60 = £6.00
10 Twin arched windows and couped trefoil window, 18mmH x 14mm plus wall surround @ £0.60 = £6.00
A4 Sprue Cloister Pointed Archway (i) 45mm x 27mm, 6mm pier width (2mm) = £6.00
A4 Sprue Cloister Pointed Archway (iI) 45mm x 23mm, 6mm pier width (2mm) = £6.00
A4 Sprue Cloister Segmented Archway (i) 45mm x 30mm, 6mm pier width (2mm) = £6.00
A4 Sprue Cloister Segmented Archway (ii) 45mm x 24mm, 6mm pier width (2mm) = £6.00

The arrival of these in the post coincided with me needing to book off some accrued leave from the day-job, with a whole week at my disposal I was then truly lost to the build.

The arch sheets had to be tried first so I created a walkway to add-on to the rear of the barn, a fantastic idea, with this add on the building could be barn on one side and/or monastic on the other. I then made this an L shape by adding on a walkway to a building already in the collection, then created a third side by making a dormitory building with a walkway on the ground floor before finally adding a garden in the middle, here's some WIP photos.

I added dormer windows to complete the look, the problem was there was then a bit of a gap in one of the corners so I set about creating a high status tower, the rear of which I wanted to show as being repaired with brickwork. For the roof, to blend with some of my existing collection I painted the tiles in the Burgundian style.

This can then work really well with the existing buildings in the collection to create a high status manor like this;

Here it is in the Priory complex, I also added some foliage to the garden made from a cut up scouring pad.

At this point I ran out of tile sheets but I still had clay to use and a final day off so I thought why not make a semi-ruined tower with damaged top floor, that way there's no roof needed. I set to work building it then remembered I had some laser cut fireplaces from the Sarissa Precision Peel Tower set which made for some excellent detail on the ruined upper floor.

During the build I was mindful to understand how the new pieces I was making would fit with those already in the collection so over the days as each new piece was built I laid it out in context with what was already there, at the end it made for quite an impressive sight when it was all set out together.

Despite my initial feeling that I would just make a service yard I ended up going all out.

The final piece could equally be a monastic or manor site and of course the potential for many different layouts of varying sizes and themes is now much increased.

Over the following weeks I then set about painting all of the new pieces, it was incredibly satisfying to see the whole thing laid out in terrain with some supporting farm buildings, a meadow, stream and wide river / coast line.

Here it is as a backdrop following a raid.

Quite a consuming avenue but well worth it for the result, who knows when i'll make buildings again, perhaps a chapel is next on the list, some fishponds also. I know I will get a lot of use out of this in full or partial form and indeed in many guises. Back to the miniatures next, there's a few projects on the go, some Landsknechts, French cavalry and some English infantry are all half finished so I shall see which one takes my fancy.

I hope this was an enjoyable read.

All the best

Stuart

Richard de la Pole, the White Rose

I find myself saying this a lot but ......this is long overdue ! I very happily present the command of Richard de la Pole, the last White Rose, pretender to the English crown.

Richard de la Pole (born about 1480, died 24 February 1525) was a pretender to the English crown. Commonly nicknamed "White Rose", he was the last Yorkist claimant to actively and openly seek the crown of England. He was the youngest of seven sons of John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk and his wife Elizabeth of York. 

His eldest brother, John de la Pole was the leader of the first major Yorkist rising against Henry VII . After initially accepting the Tudor victory in 1485, Lincoln slipped into opposition and backed the scheme to use Lambert Simnel, presented as the imprisoned Earl of Warwick as a figurehead for a Yorkist restoration. Lincoln secured funding and mercenaries from his aunt, Margaret of Burgundy, gathered further support in Ireland, and invaded England in 1487. The campaign ended at the Battle of Stoke Field, where Henry VII’s forces swiftly crushed the Yorkist army. Lincoln was killed in the fighting, his supporters were destroyed, and he was posthumously attainted. His death removed the most credible Yorkist heir of his generation, but the wider de la Pole claim persisted through his brothers.

Richard de la Pole lived in exile from 1501, becoming allied with Louis XII of France in the War of the League of Cambrai. Louis saw him as a more favourable ally and prospect for an English king than Henry VIII.

For my interest the most intriguing aspect of his ascendency are in the years 1510-1514 (anti)-climaxing with the preparations for the Invasion of England under the sponsorship of the French King Louis XII, something that was not lost at all on the young Henry VIII who would expend a lot of anxiety over the course of de la Pole's life.

Here's some more detail on these years;

In December 1510, Maximilian wrote to his daughter, Margaret of Savoy, asking her to send a secretary to Henry to seek pardon “for the young Duke of Suffolk who is here.” This did not come and Richard de la Pole chose discretion. 

In 1511, Henry took a deliberately provocative stance toward France. That March, he sent 1,000 archers under Edward Poynings to Venlo to help Margaret of Savoy suppress the Duke of Guelders, whose ally, later French chronicler Robert de la Marck, sieur de Flouranges, was backed by Louis. By November, Henry had signed a treaty with his father-in-law, Ferdinand of Aragon, committing him to attack Louis by spring 1512. Meanwhile, Louis, focused on Italy, adopted a more conciliatory tone, even as his spies confirmed ships gathering in English ports.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, in early 1512 we next find Richard at the court of Louis XII. In early June of that year news arrived that Louis had “exalted” the nephew of Richard III and intended to make him King of England.

Louis saw Richard de la Pole as a valuable pawn, recognizing him as the rightful King of England and rewarding him with a generous pension and a command in his army. By December 1512, Henry had discovered that “Rychard de la Pole, calling himself among them Duke of Southfolke,” had led the Almains (German Landsknecht mercenaries) in Navarre, where they suffered the heaviest losses.

From this campaign, Richard came away with both the credit and the friendship of Pierre Terrail, le chevalier Bayard, with whom he had endured great hardships. It’s remarkable that Richard, with no known military experience, was entrusted with leading the often unruly Landsknechts - and that campaign featured some particularly unpleasant behaviour by the mercenaries. 

In 1513, as Henry VIII prepared to invade France he was careful to extinguish a Yorkist claimant in his realm in ordering the execution of Richard de la Pole’s brother, Edmund. Though the offence was simply being alive, the official charge was treason, that Edmund had been corresponding with his brother Richard about the prospect of a rising in England. Around this time a small group of English rebels did in fact join Richard in exile, suggesting that Yorkist discontent still flickered.

The next firm glimpse of Richard comes in July 1513, when he appears in command of some 6,000 men, almost certainly Landsknechts, serving with the French relief force positioned near Bomy, a short ride from the English encampment besieging Thérouanne. Richard must have been frustrated that express orders had been given by Louis not to engage the English in open battle and in any case events moved too quickly for him, but his opportunity for vengeance was not to be long delayed. In 1514 Louis entrusted him with a far larger force of 12,000 Landsknechts, intended both for the defence of Normandy and as the nucleus of an invasion army. Their presence proved deeply unpopular in Normandy, and Richard marched them to St Malo to embark for an invasion of England via Scotland, in cooperation with John Stewart, Duke of Albany, Regent of Scotland.

Once again, however, events conspired against him. Louis sought peace with Henry, sealing the agreement with the marriage of Henry’s sister Mary Tudor. Notably absent from the treaty was any provision for handing over the White Rose. Richard remained in French protection, but the invasion plans evaporated, leaving him once more a claimant without an army.

For my interest in February 1515 Richard left Metz at the gallop toward the English held town of Tournai just as the English garrison in considerable arrears of pay were at the point of mutiny. In April Lord Mountjoy (Edward Stanley) wrote to Henry that though he had restored order the mutineers had intended to join de la Pole but were 'too numerous to be punished'.

The next year 4000 landsknechts of the 'Black Band' were to be sent to Liege under the command of de la Pole who it was thought would take them to Tournai, Guelders or Scotland.

For completeness, some further brief biography

Thereafter and right up until 1524, de la Pole is mentioned often with de la Marck (who I must also represent one day) and also with Albany and interestingly Christian II of Denmark scheming potential invasions that ultimately would not materialise.

Richard de la Pole was killed fighting at the Battle of Pavia on 24 February 1525, leading his “black bands”  His body was buried with honour in Pavia by the Duke of Bourbon, who, though an enemy, attended the funeral in mourning. In England, however, the reaction was one of unrestrained celebration: Henry VIII received the “sure word and tidings” of the White Rose’s death with joy, and a lot of wine for the messenger. London’s bells were rung, and Cardinal Wolsey led a great procession of clergy into St Paul’s to sing Te Deum. Henry marked the moment as if it were a national victory, for the fall of his dreaded enemy removed the last living Yorkist claimant with a credible foreign backing.

There is no known portrait of him though this painting which emerged in an auction of 2013 was suggested to be him as the cloth cap features a white hart, an early badge of the Plantagenets.

The theory presented being that he may have adopted the white hart rather than the white boar in order to dissociate himself from a King whom some Yorkists considered a usurper.

In other words, by adopting a stag instead of a boar, Richard de la Pole was implying he belonged to the legitimate line of succession, first disrupted by the Lancastrians when they deposed Richard II, and later by Richard III when he replaced Edward V under somewhat questionable circumstances. Though it is a compelling argument it is conjecture, so as explained below I went for a safer option for a Royal Plantagenet Badge.

On to the figures.

All are from Steelfist Miniatures with the exception of the drummer which is from Warlord Miniatures. All apart from de la Pole are sculpted by the very talented Paul Hicks so this made for a cohesive group of figures.

Flags are from Pete's flags, the banner is conjecture but a very good guess at that and the standard is Yorkist featuring the red and white roses of York and Lancaster along with a crowned Lion on a field of Murrey and Blue, I took the artistic leap that Richard may well have carried something like this to gather the sympathies and allegiance of his proposed English subjects. The finials are ex Front Rank miniatures, I'm not sure where these are available from now.

De la Pole is a Landsknecht commander with Gendarme armet and plumes, all available from Steelfist, this level of variety is what i particularly enjoy for creating unique characters such as this. The drummer is in de la Pole's grey and blue livery.

The full command prior to basing.

Here's a group composition poised to invade over the border or waiting to meet with the Scots, supported by his landsknechts, some rebel archers and French men at arms.

lastly, a casualty marker......i've really fallen behind making these, figure is from Warlord Miniatures and the dial base is from Warbases.

I hope that was an interesting read.

All the best

Stuart

French Men at Arms

This unit began as a continuation of the Bayard conversion in the last post, I wasn't quite finished with the sculpting mojo and whilst I really liked the barding conversion it was laborious and I considered there might be a shortcut. So here's the starting point, the leather bard example in the musee de l'armee, Paris. There are photographs of this from every angle online which really helped the sculpting / conversion process. 

If you prefer things in tangible format I heartily recommend the Royal Armouries volume, 'leather in warfare, attack, defence, and the unexpected' which features an excellent chapter on leather barding and includes a number of photographs of this example.

So here goes, I began with a Perry Miniatures WOTR horse. The straps are filed off with needle files along with any flash. I then took the Italian horse armour from the Perry heavy cavalry plastics set and cut it into four pieces, removing the middle and filing off the metal detailing. I then reshaped it a bit and glued to the horse.

At the rear I sculpted the central ridge which also hides the join. I then sculpted the join for the panels at each side. At the front I extended the panels and left to dry.

The rear is now filed smooth a bit more and the peytral at the front is shaped into the distinctive shape per the source image. It’s important to have the previous drying phase so there’s something to push against. The round shoulder bosses are added along with the straps. You could stop here.

Final fiddly bits, the leather fastenings are added, this was a ballache I'll be honest !

Here's the finished piece painted and ready to join the men at arms. I'm really happy with how this turned out. I did consider painting per the source image but wanted something a bit more decorative.

The inspiration for the barding features in the background of a 1507 Jean Bourdichon painting of Louis XII leaving Alexandria, part of the series culminating in the (relatively bloodless) conquering of Genoa. I liked the belt motif and 'esperance' motto which i believe is a motto of the house of Bourbon.

Using the plastic barding as a sculpting base saved a lot of time. I particularly like the way the peytral rests on the horse's shoulders and the overall silhouette, this is testament to the quality of the source photographs. I'll definitely do this again.

The figure now needed some companions, these source images from a 1503 French chronicle were of great inspiration and of the same time period of the bard and Bourdichon images.

I particularly like the sallets and cloth great bonnets of the riders along with the earlier armour, these would be perfect as Men at Arms to join my more 1520's contemporary Gendarmes or indeed as early Gendarmes in their own right. Likewise, they could be suitable as heavy cavalry for my early Tudor English.

Lighter cavalry seem to feature here, again perfect as Men at Arms or Ordonnance Archers. 

Whilst i'd had these images for a while I had neglected to note the source which led me on a frustrating tail chasing exercise but in the end reaching out to some friends of the Blog proved worthwhile and in the end, mildly amusing....

Here's the source.

So this is from the Louis XII chronicles, which are a fairly serious tome but a literary side avenue in which the author (Jean d'Auton) goes on a 12 page satirical poem of 'Garrilant' a horse. Or rather a contemporary observation of the virtues, or increasing lack thereof of 'noble' men at arms at the time of writing.

By the time I discovered this source i'd almost finished the unit and was most amused to find i had essentially created the bulk of a unit from a poem about a horse. Art inspiring art I guess. 

The figures are all from the Perry Miniatures Wars of the Roses range. A couple are mounted knights, one is a plastic with a Steelfist Miniatures head and the remaining three are converted command figures.

Some close ups, I really like how these have turned out and are a good match for the source images.

I often get asked about the way I paint armour, the blue non metallic metal effect is inspired by tapestries from the era. Here's a brief summary, all paints are from Wargames Foundry unless otherwise stated.

• Black undercoat
• Metal mid-shade tone (35B)
• Wash with 50/50 mix of black and Citadel Nuln Oil
• Re-apply mid-shade tone 
• Wash with thirds mix British Blue Grey shade (75A), Granite shade (31A) and water
• Re-apply mid-shade tone sparingly
• Highlight with Spearpoint (35C)
• Then do the leatherwork etc.

Sounds a bit laborious bit it's pretty quick once you get going.

Inspired by the illustrations above I added a great bonnet to the figure on the left, this and the figure on the right had their right arms remodelled/replaced.

As ever, all horse inspiration comes from this excellent book, usually available cheaply on Ebay. It's a large format book, packed with double spread images of horses and ponies, an excellent palette resource that I keep returning to.

Here's the whole group prior to basing, in looking at these I realise there's a bit of a red and white theme, they should look great alongside my existing men at arms.

I'm so pleased with that barding, I must do some more.

For completeness I need to do some ordonnance archers to go with these. I have some with bows but I think some with light lances and coustillers among them needs to be done. 

Here they are alongside my existing Men at Arms and led by the recently completed Bayard command. Apologies for the poor light, feels like it's been rather gloomy and wet since Christmas !

These will feature in some forthcoming Bayard themed games, keep an eye on the Facebook Army Royal group for updates.

Cheers

Stuart