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.

On Parade

I am pleased to report that the English portion of the army is "finished."

Obligatory Flag Shot

Billmen

Men-at-arms

Archers

Looking ahead, I might (read: will) add some scurrers and a few more skirmishers, but speaking broadly one third of the army is finished.  Now to polish off the Germans (only a few more to go) and then tackle the Irish, most of whom will have to wait until the Perrys release the plastic French set.

A Lincoln! A Lincoln!

At long last, I've finished the commander of the English Yorkists and lead instigator of the rebellion against Henry VII, John de la Pole, earl of Lincoln.  Most of these miniatures were sitting on my desk fully painted, but I just couldn't get myself to finish the flag until yesterday.

Here he is, receiving word of the Royalist advance from Lord Scrope of Masham.  With him are his banner-bearer and a retainer carrying his helm.

It's likely, though not certain, that Lincoln had designs on the throne himself and would have done away with the boy Simnel after a time.  How loyal he would have been to the alleged "rightful King" we'll never know, since he died on the field at Stoke.

You may notice that the heraldry on the surcoat does not quite match the heraldry on the flag.  I'm afraid this is a case of laziness on my part.  I'd already begun painting the banner when I noticed there are some small differences, and I couldn't get myself to start anew.  Sorry!

Bolts from the Blue

Managed to finish the crossbow bases.  These might be my favorite troops yet, probably because of the pavises.

And some close-ups on the pavises.

The image of St. George is taken from a South German/Austrian example.

On the left is a pavise of my own design, inspired by several shields and pavises with crown-of-thorns imagery.

And a few "skirmishers" finished:

More to follow soon, I hope.

Readepting

Like Henry VI, I have suddenly returned after a prolonged absence.

It's been a long time since I've posted anything, or indeed done any work on this project.  The summer heat hasn't been conducive to painting, and I've been tied up with various other obligations, but the real reason is simply that I'd run out of enthusiasm.  Well, last night I had trouble getting to sleep, and somehow I found myself staring at a pile of half-emptied Perry sprues and thinking, what am earth am I going to do with these?  Before I realized it, I'd knocked together twenty or so new men.  Needless to say, some of the poses were 2AM discoveries - ideas that don't seem nearly as good the next morning after a bit of shut-eye.  But those who survived this morning's purge are being fine-tuned a bit for your viewing pleasure.  Most of these are 'skirmishers,' who don't have any in-game function and mainly serve as decoration.

Some English men-at-arms.  The one with the buckler is inspired by a Clifford retainer in Graham Turner's painting of the skirmish at Ferrybridge.

Some Germans.

More Germans, who will hover around the pike block. The two swordsmen are using the  Pflug (plow) and Ochs (ox) guards from the Thalhoffer manual.

Between these and the standard-bearers I've got in the PIP section of my table, I'm just about finished with all the non-Irish units in the army list.  The recently released photos of the upcoming Perry French plastic set have gotten the mental cogs turning, and I think they should serve well as Irish bills and Galloglass, supplemented by a few sets from Claymore.

Fun in the Sun

Been rather busy outdoors recently but have managed to finish some miniatures despite the call of the garden.  I also broke the rules and started to deviate from my original army list by starting a base of crossbowmen  (primarily an excuse to paint pavises :) ).

Skirmishers: handgunner, Lovell billman, Scrope archer, and a German officer (tried to sculpt one of the deep German sallets - not sure it's all that great).

     Some crossbowmen.  The drummer is from the AO range.

     The left pavise is inspired by a beautiful example from Bohemia (see here) depicting David's duel with Goliath. On the right is a more speculative representation of the city of Augsburg (similar to the Regensburg pavise surmounted with the Augsburg arms and in Schwartz's colors).

Edit: two more I forgot to add.  Another German standard, converted from one of the Perry Swiss, and the galloglass from a while back.

Still Here

I have been steadily plucking away at my Yorkists, and here the results.

Men-at-arms, still missing a Lovell banner-bearer.

Archers, complete.

Billmen, complete.

Close-up of the flags.  The one on the right is a heraldic banner for Lincoln featuring the cadet form of his father's lion badge.  Both Lincoln's father and brother were known to have used such an emblem, so I think it's quite likely that he did as well.  The nearer flag is a more speculative adaptation of one of Richard III's banners, 'updated' for Lincoln.  It also carries the de la Pole lion (I believe it was inherited through the Chaucer line), as well as the de la Pole panther heads, the White Rose of York, and one of Richard's mottos.  In both, the lions have a forked tail. Lions were believed to beat their tails against the ground when enraged, and the "queue fourchE" represents the tail whipping back and forth in anger.

 I am very pleased with the face of the drummer, which comes out a bit clearer here.

Retinues, continued

A few more English troops.

Lord Scrope of Masham; Scrope retainer and drummer; archer and banner in the retinue of Robert Percy of Scotton; and an archer in the service of Phillip Constable of Flamborough.

Close-up of the Percy banner. I think this is my favorite banner so far, so it saddens me to confess I designed it on the computer before painting it.

Next up, the retinues of Broughton and of de la Pole himself, at which point I'll more or less be done with the English third of the army.

**Edit: I forgot to mention that the Percy arms are quartered the wrong way, but I stuck with the error rather than repaint Percy's surcoat.

Grunts

Some more retinue men to ring in the new year.  Not much painting of late - couldn't really get in the mood.  I've also been repainting already-finished faces with an extra layer, which ate into my time.

From the left: a Skelton billman (in Yorkist livery, since I couldn't find any information on Skelton); Sir Henry Bodrugan (who as a Cornishman was somewhat of an oddity amongst all of Lincoln's northerners); a Bodrugan archer (head supplied from the Perry Russian set); and Ashton, Pilkington, and Appleby billmen (the Appleby colors are invented, but green and yellow seem fitting for an Appleby).

Next up, Scropes, Percys, and Broughtons,

Lovell our Dogge

Francis Lovell, 1st Viscount Lovell was one of the last great Yorkist magnates.  A close friend of Richard III (by whom he was knighted), he replaced Sir William Hastings as Lord Chamberlain and accrued a number of other honors.  He fought at Bosworth and was believed to have been killed, but he escaped and almost immediately began to foment armed insurrection.  After the rebellion's immediate suppression and a narrow escape, Lovell made his way to Burgundy and eventually became one of the big wheels in Lincoln's campaign.  After (probably) fleeing the field at Stoke, he seems to have made his way to Scotland and then passed from historical record, though there are some (almost certainly untrue) stories that he was hidden in a secret chamber in one of his houses by a faithful servant.

Lovell's family emblem was a "white" (argent) wolf, which appears on his Garter arms.  This probably derives from the old Latin form of the name Lupellus (little wolf), which eventually morphed into Lovell.  His personal arms were a field vairy gules and or, which figure on the bend worn by one of the archers.

Lovell's standard is conjectural.  The large wolf is taken from his Garter arms, the other wolves are just generic heraldic wolves, and the motto tempus omnia monstrat is attached to the Lovell family at a later point, though I don't know whether it was in use in 1487.

I've decided to paint the various English contingents by retinue, and Lovell's will be one of the biggest.  Next up will be a collection of the smaller gentlemen's retinues.

Nocked Up

Been rather busy of late, and on top of it I haven't felt much like painting.  So instead I assembled more figures for the English bases.

Here are the archers.  Seconds before taking the photo I bumped the table, so some aren't in the right position/orientation.

A couple of command figures for various bases.  The aristocratic fellow in the middle is none other than John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln.  He will of course eventually get one of those circular "command bases," which will permit a kind of vignette.  I picture him stepping forward in alarm as he's given some not very encouraging news by a (still unmade) lieutenant, moments before entering the fray himself to swing the balance of battle in his favor.

These men, and the billmen in the previous post, await extensive greenstuffing, and some of them will probably be altered considerably before I get to painting them.  I have a habit of assembling the contents of a new box in a rush and then being displeased by how unoriginal the poses are, so the next step will be to fiddle with them a bit.  I also hope to get a hold of the new standard bearers and some more musicians, but that will have to wait until I've painted most of these plastics.

Billmen Mock-up

Here's a quick mock-up of the billmen.  I've tried to give a somewhat more static impression with this base, with the front rank 'receiving' the enemy while the men to the back keep piling forward.  Perhaps one or two more men to cram onto the base - not sure yet.  These guys are awaiting GS at the moment, which I should be able to apply within the next day or so.

Last of the True, II

A few more knights take the field:

Left to right: Sir Ralph Ashton,Sir Thomas Broughton (KIA) and Sir Philip Constable of Flamborough.  It's not entirely clear that Ashton fought at Stoke.  Local tradition holds that he died in 1486 (a cause of much celebration), but in fact his death-date, though unknown, is almost certainly after 1490.  He held several high offices under Edward IV and Richard III, including that of lieutenant of the Tower; he was pardoned by Henry in 1486, but such a pardon was not a guarantee of loyalty.  There is no reason to suspect he wasn't at Stoke, in any case.

L-R: Sir Thomas Blandrehasset (whom I've designated as Lovell's standard-bearer), Sir Thomas Pilkington, and Alexander Appleby.

 In the past I've been pretty leery of painting free-hand, so I've used this project as a way to force myself to do more of it.  Not only have I come to find it a delight, but it's infinitely preferable to painting armor, of which I'm fairly sick at the moment.

More or less finished with knights for the time being.  The next item on the list is the billmen.

Last of the True

     Like so many rebellions planned from abroad, Lincoln's campaign depended on widespread popular support, and the exiles at Margaret's court in Mechelen doubtless imagined droves of disaffected noblemen would flock to the Yorkist banner.  As is so often the case, however, things turned out rather differently in the event.  Most of Yorkist England was dead, won over by Henry VII's magnanimity, or simply too tired of war to take to the field.  The Yorkist aristocracy had been severely culled at Bosworth, and those lucky enough to survive (including Lincoln) had gladly accepted Henry's offer of a general pardon to his defeated enemies, only one of whom lost his head after the battle.

     Lincoln and his army landed in Lancashire and immediately began to march across the North, the stronghold of Ricardian sympathy.  But the Yorkist turnout was poor, perhaps about fifteen hundred men.  Of them, only three were of any great standing: Sir Thomas Broughton and two Scropes (perennial enemies of John of Gaunt's line), the lords Masham and Bolton.  The rest were gentlemen, knights, and minor nobles, primarily from the North, who out of old friendship and loyalty turned out to fight for the boy-king.  It's likely that Lincoln hoped to bolster his army with men from the formerly Edwardian Midlands, where his own lands lay, for it was on his march South toward the Midlands that he was intercepted by the Tudor army.

      Henry was still in his 'magnanimous phase' in '87, so most of the English survivors of Stoke got off with attainders or heavy (sometimes crippling) fines.  The records of the legal proceedings against these men offer us a fairly precise list of the Englishmen who turned out for White Rose.

Left to Right: Sir Robert Percy of Scotton, Comptroller of the Household under Richard III; John, Lord Scrope of Bolton (fined and kept under house arrest); and David Thomas, commander of the Calais garrison (killed in battle).

Right to Left: Francis, Viscount Lovell (thought to have starved to death while hiding in his house); Sir Richard Harliston, Governor of Jersey (attainted, fled to Burgundy); and Clement Skelton (attainted).

     The figures are mainly straight out of the Foot Knights box, though I built David Thomas from the Mercenaries box to give him that "professional soldier" feel.  Wherever possible, arms and colors are authentic.  The very Burgundian salet/plume combination may seem out of place for an Englishman, but Lovell fled to Mechelen in 1486, and I imagine the ever-generous Margaret bought him a new armor for his troubles.  In any case, I've always imagined him as a bit of a dandy and wanted him to look a bit more dashing than the rest.