John Tuchet, 8th Baron Audley 1483 - 1557

This figure represents John Tuchet, a captain of the 1513 campaign. He will lead a unit of archers but I'd like to give him some individual focus as he's probably one of my most difficult conversions to date.

I have wanted to do this sort of conversion for a while now but I thought I would get to grips with green stuff and sculpting in the variety of minor conversions I have done so far.

I considered this figure perfect for the addition of a skirt, typical of knights in the early reign of Henry VIII. Early Tudor armies were relatively unique for the number of knights fighting on foot in the old fashion, and I suppose that in itself is a reason as to why there aren't really any figures.

The first step was to apply an initial thin layer of green stuff, I tried sculpting folds at this point but they were interrupted by the armour below so it led me to do this initial base layer.

I left this overnight to harden and then filed it further into the base shape that I wanted, the image on the left was taken at that point.

I then applied a second thin layer and sculpted the folds, front first, then the back after the front had dried. I also added a moustache - a late movember entry on my part !

After that, I painted the figure in Audely's livery colours of red and yellow as above.

I chose to have Audley in the ranks of the army purely on his unusual standard, you'll have to wait for that but it is worth it!

He served in the rearward during the 1513 campaign and led a retinue of 126 men which is relatively typical of the lesser captains in the army. When complete my army will feature every captain with a retinue of 200 or more so he's an exception at present - I might take things to the next level and add every captain with a retinue of 100 or more at some point - it has been quite addictive so far.

Other than that I'm afraid there's nothing as to any personal feats or escapades during the campaign. I've also not really been able to find much about him at all.

His father on the other hand, was quite an interesting chap; James Tuchet was the only noble of the Cornish rebellion of 1497 and though he may have had sympathies to join the rebels on their march to London and commanding them in the field at the Battle of Blackheath it seems that his main motive was to escape his creditors (he had got into debt accompanying Henry VII on an expedition to France in 1492). This decision ultimately cost him his life, he was executed shortly after the battle.

As things often happen when browsing I then read up on the Cornish rebellion of 1549 and found this great article; http://www.cornwallinformation.co.uk/news/?p=2552

On to the archers and a little bit more sculpting for the next post, I'll hopefully manage to finish it over the Christmas holidays unless I just decide to stuff my face instead. 

To finish, here's a photograph that I forgot to put into the last post, you can almost feel the thunder of hooves.

Bye for now.

Stuart.