Of Guns and Gendarmes

I was going to title this post 'What I did on my Holidays' but I've a feeling I'll want to refer to it at a later date so this makes it easier.

The 16 August was the 505th Anniversary of the Battle of the Spurs, a key reference for all of my efforts on this blog. Perhaps more significant in my life was the 23 August 2018, my 10th wedding anniversary which saw Mr & Mrs M get a rare chance for a week away while the in laws looked after our daughter. Paris awaited, here's my historical highlights.

We were to take the train from London so I thought this a great opportunity to pay a visit to Hampton Court, something long overdue for me. For me the highlight of that day was to get a closer look at 2 paintings depicting the Battle of the Spurs;

The Battle of the spurs, Flemish School 1513

The meeting of Henry VIII and Maximilian, Flemish School 1513

Both of these pieces have served as inspiration for my painting of English and French men at arms and it was a real pleasure to get a closer look to study the decorative horse armour in particular. The first gave an interesting insight to the French armour which I've drawn quite a lot from for my Gendarmes. The light wasn't great but hopefully you get the idea.

This Gendarme was based upon an amalgamation of the Gendarmes depicted in this painting

In the background of this painting are the walls of Therouanne, this and a number of other sources served as inspiration for my commission to have a section created in miniature.

Here are two slightly similar sections of the walls which faced Bomy where the Battle took Place. Of particular note are the bastions as well as the integrated houses both of which feature upon a number of paintings and drawings after this date.

It was rather cool to have the feeling that the commission was pretty much spot on

These are modular pieces which together form a wall of about 6ft or so, it's a great backdrop for both gaming and photography.

The second painting is of particular interest for a contemporary depiction of the English knights.

The caparison horse armour was of particular interest to me both for the mixture of decorative and armoured sections. Also the prominence of St. George crosses on the armour of the horses and the breastplates of the riders, these are undoubtedly the Kings Spears and you can also see a few dismounted Yeomen of the Guard in armour.

Horse armour of this period comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes. There are examples of steel caparison armour over which decorative cloth was added or some which was left polished, Maximilian harness comes to mind in the last instance. Another less expensive and slightly lighter type is that which features in the paintings above, the second especially and that's boiled leather for which I was to get a close look at when I visited the Army Museum in Paris.

I'd often wondered whether the leather was a base for which cloth was added as various sources depict it as decorative but I'd never considered that the leather was painted, this was a real eye opener for me. It was a real pleasure to get a close look at this piece, the saddle and the split skirt on the rider were noted for future sculpting and painting. For the saddle I knew the front was armoured to protect the rider but I did not appreciate that this was in some instances also the case for the rear.

On to the artillery for which there were some fine examples from Louis XII's arsenal. I spent a long time ogling these beauties !

These got me thinking about doing a fleur de lys press mould so that otherwise plain artillery pieces could be personalised.

Also on display was this impressive 12 barrel organ gun.

This was a great week away. 10 years of blogging, painting and marriage - Mrs M's a patient girl !

Bye for now

Stuart

Renaissance Rampant rule adaptations

The Lion Rampant adaptation that Oli and I use for our wargames will be published in the June issue of Wargames Illustrated, WI 368.

We still continue to make tweaks to these as we play, generally to the army listings but the principle remains along the format that I write about in the article.

The article is accompanied by some photographs of my collection along with some from the Perry's as well as Wargames Foundry. The images were taken from my blog and help the narrative, I would of course have liked more but I can't complain at 8 pages ! I'm pleased with the way it turned out and hope it offers some inspiration for you to amend the rules for your own games or indeed use ours.

My desk is looking somewhat chaotic against my usual focus as I have 5 projects on the go so it'll be as much of a surprise to me as to which will be completed first. Suffice it to say that there are some particularly cool conversions coming up.

This year marks 10 years since I started painting again and working on the armies of 1513, at times it feels a bit idiosyncratic but there's no sign of any let up and to do what I'd like to do (at my pace) there's easily another decade in it, lots more units, scenarios and excellent terrain and building projects, it almost feels like an illness at times !

Well on that note, cheerio for now.

Stuart

Stuart

Tudor Dollies move to Steel Fist Miniatures

The Tudor Dollies are now available direct from Steel Fist Miniatures;

https://www.steelfistminiatures.com/product/wfd-10.-tudor-dollies/

I have long wanted to contribute to Steel Fist Miniatures as both Oliver and Simon have given me great support and encouragement over the years - not to mention figures too ! The figures were created from basic dollies sent to me by Oliver some time ago and this really gave great impetus and confidence to my sculpting and an insight into the commercial process. 

I've had fun selling them but they're much better set up for the admin and I've wanted to give something back for a while so I took the decision to transfer the moulds to Steel Fist by way of thanks for their support.

They're in good hands and I hope they continue to do well. Who knows, I may even do some more at some point.

The dollies were designed to fit with the Perry WOTR and Mercenaries plastic sets thus they come without arms or heads and require further assembly and sculpting if you want sleeves for the coats.

I detail how to sculpt the sleeves in this step by step guide.

All the best

Stuart

2017 a Year in Review

Here's a round up of the highlights of my gaming and painting year. I'd say it's perhaps been my busiest and most enjoyable yet with easily the most output by a wide margin. In no particular order;

French cavalry

In this project I worked to double my quota of French cavalry which required Gendarmes, Men at arms and Mounted Archers. The work required ranged from very laboured and intricately painted Gendarmes to converted / sculpted Men at arms and Mounted Archers.

This was a real labour of love which took several months and towards the end as I wanted the figures to be ready for a particular game I really felt the pressure to get them done.

It was certainly worth it as they are perhaps the unit that I am most proud of and they're very imposing on the battlefield. Moreover though it may seem somewhat idiosyncratic I'm especially pleased with the attention to detail and proportions of troop type, they have a historic rather than generic feel to them.  

Landsknechts in French Service

Staying with the French I was keen to have a unit of Landsknechts in French service. I seem to have to be in the Landsknecht zone to get them done but when I'm there I just don't notice the time pass. Again I've paid particular attention to detail and used historic sources. A year doesn't seem right without a Landsknecht project and you can never have too many ! 

Tudor Infantry

Slowly replacing my existing units with those in base coats as well as creating new units has been to my mind a necessity for the Tudor army.

The year began in a fairly laboured manner of converting every figure which took quite a while. However the kind support and encouragement from Oliver James of Steel Fist miniatures led this in a new direction with the creation of the Tudor Dollies which easily halved the time it took to create the figures. This then led to a brief foray into casting and making the figures available for sale. I've been really surprised with how well these have been received and where I've sent packages to.

Carts & Artillery

This was a fun project with multiple diversions. It began as the creation of a converted Tudor heavy bombard which then required a bespoke cart for which I ended up with 3 interchangeable loads. To round it off I then created a scene for a Wargame of pioneers and soldiers working to lift a mired gun from a river.

Wargames

What a year it has been for gaming. Where do I start, well the main focus this year along with Oliver Green has been to playtest and develop our amendments to Lion Rampant which has involved a lot of correspondence and some really fun gaming weekends throughout the year. I've also inflicted this upon Simon Chick both in Home and Away games which was great fun.

Most recently I've gone to the effort of getting some bespoke dice made to add to our games which I'm really looking forward to using.

Moving from skirmishes to big battles I was invited by Michael Perry to Nottingham to take part in an excellent Franco Tudor game in the Summer which was an absolute pleasure and a great social occasion -  I think I even managed it without requiring morning after paracetomol this year !

Last but not least I've had lots of games as part of what I have titled the Jeff's shed Wargames Association here in South Wales. True mini games from a variety of periods with a beer and general catch up.

That's just about everything of note, have a look back over the blog posts of the year if you're interested in more of the detail. It's been a blast and I'm looking forward to where 2018 will take me.

If you're interested in some dice or dollies drop me an email;

stum_23@hotmail.com