Sir Thomas, Part II

     Here's Fitzgerald of Laccagh done and based with his attendants.  Another base that'd been sitting on my shelf for years without being completed.  I originally planned the base to look quite different, with more "wild Irish," but in the end I settled for a more civilized grouping that probably better represents an Irish magnate's retinue, a mix of current, old-fashioned, and distinctly Irish dress and armor.

Some of you may notice that the banner bearer has been switched for another, who I think fits the Irish look at this time a bit better.  The trumpet comes from the Agincourt archers sprue.

Beyond the Pale

     For the next base, I've been working on various kern - a daunting and time-consuming task that tests my GS abilities sorely.  Overall I'm very pleased, but when I look at the photos, imperfections become obvious.  Some of these have been painted already.  More to follow.

A typical kern with the kind of glaive one often sees in illustrations.

Gallowglass

A "dartman" in a simpler costume (just the leine) and a more important man.  The variety of clothing, arms, and appearances is much greater than one might expect - contemporary illustrations show many different designs, colors, etc.

Within the Pale

I've finished the contingent of Pale-men for Fitzgerald's third of the army.  These were in progress for a long time, since it took a while before I had an idea of what I wanted them to look like.

From right to left, they are: Fitzgerald men with the red saltire; two Dubliners, two soldiers of the Archbishop of Dublin's household; three retainers of Rowland Fitzeustace, Baron Portlester (one of Kildare's leading supporters), and James D'Arcy of Platten, a huge man who carried Simnel through the streets of Dublin on his shoulders.

The figures are a mix of WotR and HYW plastics from the Perrys.  I mixed in some of the (relatively) recent French infantry set to include the long aketons popular in Ireland and Scotland.

The flags are Portlester's (I tried to mount it on a more complicated pole and am not happy with the results) and a speculative one for the City of Dublin: white roses, St. Laurence O'Toole, and the three-towered castle under siege from which Dublin's current arms of three fiery castles is derived.  There is an old city seal from the 14th century showing the three-towered castle with an archer shooting from tower, and over time the archers were replaced with flames and the castle split into three.

I've never been entirely happy with the basing for this army, and since these photos were taken, some new basing material has arrived, so I'm also in the process of tinkering with the whole army's bases.

Now on to the next phase: kern and gallowglass.

A Return

It's been more than a year since I posted the last time.  That's not to say, however, that I've been totally idle.

The "command" stand of the army, at least in name: the so-called Earl of Warwick (not pictured), with his standard, a Burgundian retainer, and a piper to keep him amused.

A German man-at-arms, with a pavise inspired by this example.  I'm not certain how common it was for men-at-arms to use pavises in combat, but hey-ho.

A de la Pole banner and an archer with a less common Yorkist badge.  These will likely go on the main Irish base, to represent the bows-and-bills character of troops raised in the Pale and show the ties between Dublin (and Ireland generally) and the House of York.

Waiting now for more miniatures, for the Irish and also for Simnel.

Shameless Plug

Time for a bit of self-promotion!

My work on this project is winding down temporarily as I sort out plans for the Irish contingent, and I've started another, more general blog for my other projects, which pertain primarily to the American Civil War, to Middle-earth, and to some local history.  I'd be flattered if you took a look at it.  (If you want to follow it, I'm afraid that, as with this blog, you'll have to add the url manually to your list;  Google won't let me set up the Follow widget unless I use my real name on the blog, which I'm not very eager to do.)

Thanks!

A Year Later...

Well, it's been about a year and about 1,000 views since I started the blog, so as a fitting offering for this "anniversary post" I present the finished German contingent, along with a few shots of the whole army as it stands now.

Compared to what other painters can do in a year, it's not much, but I am very pleased all the same.

WIP

Just a WIP shot of some pikemen.  I tried to push my meager GS skills a bit further and copy some of the helmets and clothing from a few contemporary illustrations.  I have come to find the original Perry mercenary set a bit too generic for my purposes, and I hope these additions will 'Germanize' the look a bit.

Also, finished another crossbowman.  This was of course mainly an excuse to paint another pavise :)

This pavise is inspired by a Bohemian design featuring Venus.   

More to follow soon, I hope.