"That Most Martial Man"

Here is the commander of Margaret's mercenaries, the veteran captain Martin Schwartz.  He had done service both in the Burgundian and Imperial armies and was known as a capable and experienced soldier.

This is actually Schwartz's third incarnation, the first two having been repurposed.  I think he looks very German and very imposing.  To add some variety to what is a basically black figure I painted a band of 'text' on his sallet - we see this in some contemporary artwork and also in the equipment of modern re-enactors. I have to confess that the 'text' is just a collection of black lines, since I didn't trust myself to paint real letters tidily.

More to follow soon.

It is Green

It is...it is green.

Not too much painting recently - been on a green-stuff binge instead.

Here is the lord's gallowglass for the Irish command base.  He is based off an illustration in Osprey's Gallowglass book, a useful if not outstanding text and a good source of contemporary imagery and photographs of equipment.  Being a 'kept man,' he's outfitted quite well and can afford a (by Irish standards) rather flashy and ornate helmet.

He was a lot of work, some of it less than perfect.  The idea is that he's leaning on his sparth, though I'm not sure I've captured the pose.

Also finished are two individually based handgunners; I plan to have two 'free' miniatures for each large base, to act as skirmishers and to give me a chance to convert a bit more.

On the left is a German, wearing the popular fringes on his aketon.  The one on the right is Burgundian; note the rather silly-looking but probably quite useful brais d'acier (or, as I think of them, steel boxers) which we see in some contemporary illustrations.

And two more men from the Pale.

Sir Thomas

Here he is, Sir Thomas Fitzgerald of Laccagh, with his loyal banner-bearer.  

The banner was a pleasant change from the ones I've had to paint recently.  Almost felt like cheating.

And here is WIP number two of the mystery man from the last post.  I imagine it was pretty obvious even in the earlier stages that it would be a gallowglass - what in later English sources might be called a "lord's gallowglass," a bodyguard and way-clearer for anyone who could afford to keep him in beef and drink.  Certain septs, however, were closely bound to certain of the noble families of Ireland, as was the case with the Earls of Kildare and the MacDonnells.  The 8th Earl quartered a large number of Irish soldiers, including a battle of MacDonnells, in the Pale, so I think it is not beyond the realm of possibility that one of them might have served as bodyguard to the Earl's brother.

The mail looks better in this picture than I thought it did when I sculpted it.  It really brings out my weak points with GS: edges and regular or uniform textures.  Fortunately I think the paint will hide the goof-ups pretty well.