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Author Topic: Curis' Normans and Medievals (Unreleased Citadel General, added 27th Sep)  (Read 11956 times)

Offline Andym

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Re: Curis' Normans and Medievals (Friar Tuck added 23 Nov)
« Reply #15 on: November 23, 2017, 01:43:51 PM »
Nice! I do love your painting style!  8)

Offline Anselm van Helsing

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Re: Curis' Normans and Medievals (Friar Tuck added 23 Nov)
« Reply #16 on: November 24, 2017, 10:17:32 AM »
You. Paint. Very. Very. Very. Well.

Offline Curis

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Re: Curis' Normans and Medievals (Dark Ages Church added 12 Dec)
« Reply #17 on: December 12, 2017, 09:24:13 PM »
Thanks Andy!  Thanks Anselm!

Saint Augustine arrived in Britian AD 597 to revitalise Christianity.  For the next four hundred years, crudely constructed churches like this one appear across the island.


A humble friar takes a stroll around the Saxon minster at sunset.

“But Curis,” I hear you cry, “Friars didn’t exist until centuries after the Dark Ages ended.  Your inclusion of Friar Tuck in the photograph above is highly anachronistic.”  Well, look carefully and you’ll see Doctor Who is also in the photo to sweep your anachronism away.  It’s a unique concept for a Doctor Who episode – transporting a medieval friar back a few centuries and committing all sorts of theological faux pas in the Dark Age monastic communities.  And by “unique” I mean “rubbish”.


Obscure early Warhammer druid shown for scale, and perhaps further anachronisms.

This church was a Salute 2017 purchase from 1st Corps.  It’s five hunks of resin that combine to form a solid-looking and (deliberately) wonky building.  There’s a lot of mdf terrain on the market, but resin’s ease of assembly and feel of structural heft can’t be beaten.  I particularly like the roof being half tiles and half thatch – suggesting the builders couldn’t loot enough tiles from derelict Roman structures.  Another nice touch is the plaster crumbling from the exterior to reveal the non-ashlar masonry typical of churches built before the Norman Conquest.


As a special birthday treat AJ took me to Butt Road – the site of a similarly laid out church built AD 320–340.  You can see the curved apse in the left of the photo below and the (modern) blocks of oak marking the position of the church’s internal posts.


Also enjoying the Late Roman church – a local Essexman passed out drunk on cans of cider.

My model church has those internal wooden posts as part of the interior detail too.  You might remember seeing them already on this blog as I’ve been cheeky and used the half-painted interior as backdrops for Chaos Thugs and Friar Tuck.


As a pleasing touch, you can take the two portici off the side of the church and combine them into a thatched cottage.  This will come in useful for that inevitable point when my regular opponents despair at me trotting out the church for its seventeenth game in a row.


"Fussake Curis, we’re playing a 6mm science fiction and this cottage is no better than that bloody church."

Disappointingly, both doors on the kit are have entirely smooth and detail-free planks, which I had to paint the wooden texture onto.  It seems at odds with the love and care the sculptor put into the tiles and thatch to skimp on the doors.  A minor flaw.

Such a big piece of terrain is a pain to photograph.  In the end I couldn’t resist sticking some goggly eyes on it.


Too late, the true meaning of Pope Benedict’s final statement becomes clear.  “The church is alive.”

I want to push the modelling on the church further with:

    Adjacent burial ground with Renedra’s plastic gravestones
    Interior detailing, such as an altar, and benches for the clergy
    A base for the piece, to get rid of the awkward grassy lip
    A selection of Dark Age civilians and monks.

But the piece is finished enough for Dark Age and Early Medieval gaming.

Offline aircav

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Re: Curis' Normans and Medievals (Dark Ages Chruch added 12 Dec)
« Reply #18 on: December 13, 2017, 10:00:22 AM »
Brilliant stuff Curis  8) 8)

Hamakt, very interesting about the grave stones, cheers  :D

Offline Curis

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Re: Curis' Normans and Medievals (Dark Ages Chruch added 12 Dec)
« Reply #19 on: December 13, 2017, 10:02:43 AM »
Thanks for the insight!  I was looking into Saxon burials and made the assumption that because they practiced inhumation that there were gravestones.  I'll take your suggestion of the fieldstones marking the perimeter instead.

Online Dr. Zombie

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Re: Curis' Normans and Medievals (Dark Ages Chruch added 12 Dec)
« Reply #20 on: December 13, 2017, 10:14:22 AM »
That church has been on my must have list for quite some time. It looks really good and you have made a great job of it.

Offline Nord

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Re: Curis' Normans and Medievals (Dark Ages Chruch added 12 Dec)
« Reply #21 on: December 13, 2017, 10:18:02 AM »
Lovely stuff all round, only just found this thread, so please excuse the tardiness of my "wow, love that gnoll". Church is looking good too. I used to live in Snottingham, good to see Robin has his arrow back - it goes missing on a regular basis apparently.

Offline Totleben

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Re: Curis' Normans and Medievals (Dark Ages Church added 12 Dec)
« Reply #22 on: December 13, 2017, 11:25:29 AM »
Such a big piece of terrain is a pain to photograph.  In the end I couldn’t resist sticking some goggly eyes on it.




Thomas, the church lol

Great stuff alltogether

Offline Neunfinger

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Re: Curis' Normans and Medievals (Dark Ages Chruch added 12 Dec)
« Reply #23 on: December 13, 2017, 05:53:32 PM »
Your painting style is terrific, very clean and vibrant. The chapel looks very cool, even especially with googly eyes :D

Offline tin shed gamer

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Re: Curis' Normans and Medievals (Dark Ages Chruch added 12 Dec)
« Reply #24 on: December 13, 2017, 09:04:49 PM »
Doubly wounded by another thread on here.
First lovely subtle painting. Then it's another sculpt I've not put paint to.(in fact I haven't even a copy of it )
Your observations are spot on . There's a fair bit of back room know how hidden in plain sight. The doors did have a very subtle grain on them. Disappointingly it became lost in translation.
The apse is separate to increase the versatility of the kit.If you lift the roof off there's a lip on the inside to allow you to add a removable floor.

The idea being you get a lot more bang for your buck. It's able to double as, an isle barn, cart store/stable ,warehouse . Etc. then the isles are designed to be used on their own as open fronted work shops or as you've done as a single building.

I'd recommend the farm stead As I'd had a lot more time to invest in it(the Church was built in a day.) Several of the buildings in that set can be pushed to the 18th century ,and different locations. The bee hives can still be seen in use in the 20thc.(same with the carts in the range.)

The 👀's though are timeless.

Mark.


Offline Codsticker

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Re: Curis' Normans and Medievals (Dark Ages Church added 12 Dec)
« Reply #25 on: December 14, 2017, 04:41:19 PM »
In the end I couldn’t resist sticking some goggly eyes on it.
Paint the thatch red and it would look like one of Beaker's ancient cousins.

Offline Hu Rhu

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Re: Curis' Normans and Medievals (Dark Ages Chruch added 12 Dec)
« Reply #26 on: December 14, 2017, 04:44:44 PM »
That is a lovely piece of beautifully painted terrain.  I was going to scratchbuild an early church for my forthcoming Dux Britannium project but I might re-think now I have seen yours.

Offline Sitric Caech

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Re: Curis' Normans and Medievals (Dark Ages Chruch added 12 Dec)
« Reply #27 on: December 15, 2017, 01:09:10 AM »
Love this thread.  ;D

Offline Curis

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Re: Curis' Normans and Medievals (Dark Ages Chruch added 12 Dec)
« Reply #28 on: April 24, 2018, 11:32:31 AM »
@tin shed gamer – You're the sculptor of the church?!  It's a lovely kit.  I have had the farm on my to-buy list for a while now, I just need a few more peasants minis painted to justify it first.

Thanks all for the comments!

Arch-rivals from opposing sides of the Hundred Years’ War.  Each of them a talented medieval commander, but with a great respect for the other’s skills and abilities.  Presenting two classic Citadel Miniatures  – Sir John Chandos and Bertrand du Guesclin.


English commander Sir John Chandos and French commander Bertrand du Guesclin.

I like how different the miniatures are to each other.  Chandos is depicted as a classic knight in shining armour, with his “sharp pile gules” (a medieval way of saying “upside down red triangle”) heraldry sculpted onto both his tabard and shield.  His chainmail coif and fine moustache mark him out as a gentleman.  In contrast, du Guesclin with his black Breton eagle is a scruffy bugger with his bare head and loose-fitting straps.  Du Guesclin was a low-born brawler who started his career as a marauder, ambushing people in the forests of Brittany.  His equipment was reputedly in such poor condition he was sometimes mistaken for a common brigrand rather than a knight.  When the pair first met, Chandos lent du Guesclin his own armour and horse, as du Guesclin’s own kit wasn’t nice enough to be seen duelling in.


Bertand du Guesclin and his retainers surprising men-at-arms of Sir High Calverly on the road to Montmuran, Brittany, 1354.

The two men clashed on opposing sides of the Battle of Auray in 1364.  The French were defeated, and du Guesclin taken prisoner by Chandos.  France quickly paid his 40,000 florins ransom as they were keen for him to command an expedition to assist in the Castilian Civil War.  Guesclin invited Chandos along with him to Castile, a sign the two men had grown into friends, though Chandos declined.


Sir John Chandos is harassed by Moorish genitors in the army of Henry Castile at the battle of Nájera, northern Spain, 1367.

The pair also fought on opposing sides at the Battle of Nájera in 1367.  Again the French were defeated and again du Guesclin was taken prisoner by Chandos.  Again France were eager to have him back and paid a massive 100,000 francs.


Chandos and du Guesclin in the crumbling Burgundian ruins of Grenoble.

The walls of Grenoble in the picture above are from an upcoming Kickstarter from Fogou Models.  I’ve been gifted a set to paint ahead of the campaign, and they’ve been an absolute joy to drybrush and weather up.  Expect to see a lot more photographs of them in the future.


Left to right: Biscuit Dude, Alan Horseman, Bertand du Guesclin and Sir John Chandos.

That’s one third of the Blandford Warriors painted now!  I’m hoping to get all twelve finished for Bring out Your Lead in August – they were last year’s reissue and want to buy this year’s without any lead-guilt.  Next up,  we’ll be going in to the Hussite Wars.

Offline tin shed gamer

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I am indeed,and one or two other things to boot ;)

Your chucking out some seriously nice figures in this thread.

Mark.

 

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