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.

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.

Belated St Patrick's Day

Should really have tried to have the first Irish ready for St Patrick's, but hey ho.  It's a rainy and misty day, so the pics are a bit dark.

Here is Sir Thomas Fitzgerald of Laccagh, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and his standard-bearer.  Both are built off some "Standing Commanders" from the Perry AO range, with modifications to reflect the rather antiquated appearance and condition that seems to have typified Irish armors.  The pointed coifs, old-fashioned armors, and the ubiquitous baldrics can all be seen on tomb effigies from around 1500.  I was really not keen to grind the sword-belt off Fitzgerald's waist and resculpt the armor, but after some 'encouragement' from the nice folks at the Lead Adventure Forum I went through with it.  I have a hard time getting crisp edges with GS, which means, among other things, that the plate around the waist looks a little clumsy.  All in all, though, I'm pleased, and I think I managed to make them look different from the original miniatures.  For the bannerman, I ground off the rolled-down hose around his calves and reshaped his helmet a bit to bring him more in line with fashions of the day.

Here is the first of the Irish troops from the Pale - hence the basically English appearance.  I know the red hair is a little stereotyped, but I love painting red hair!

Sneak peak of a WIP attendant for Fitzgerald.