A Song of Ice and Fire in 25mm

[gibby64]

What a great project. Well done.

[Dilettante Gamer]

Sukhe back with a tour de force!!!

Man, oh man! You are the wind beneath my GoT project wings. 

What I particularly appreciate is your inclusion of the many banners for each major house.

BRA-VO <slow clap>

[Coenus Scaldingus]

A most glorious sight!

[Captain Blood]

An amazing spread to see them all together like that. What a great project 

[sukhe_bator]

Thanks one and all, and my inspiration came from the likes of you and your ongoing projects. I'm only sorry I can't show better photos since I'm not tech savvy. I have some more detailed and some pics of more scenics I've worked on but the file sizes are too large for the attachment thingy.
My main problem has been my desire to represent the major Houses using proxy figures from an era where surcoats and shields were rarer. I'm hoping the crossbowman pavises I'm planning will give me a canvas to fully express my inner herald for at least some of them.
The other decision is to stick to ASOIAF book descriptions only and avoid non-canon references where possible, many of which contain inaccuracies - chevrons the wrong way up etc. The sigil for House Charlton is depicted as 3 sprigs of holly when it is clearly stated as "Lord Charlton's 3 sprigs of mistletoe" (AFFC, p.644). This decision can present organisational as well as representational issues. The sigil for House Vance is nowhere described in the books yet he is a major leader for the Riverlands faction.
Many of the sigils for other Houses are referred to by their sigil only with no colours given. The badger of Lydden, the Heron of Erenford, the rooster of Swyft (I went with an obscure yellow chicken reference). Others have a colour reference for the sigil but still no field colour. I've put these on white field colours as a default. When the units are combined into units they look very medieval.

[Captain Blood]

Totally agree with that SB, as discussed oft before. Far too much Westerosi heraldry bandied about is pure invention by GoT fanboys and girls, and not canon. Despite the fact that some of these spin-off compendia are allegedly ‘authorized’ by the great man himself.
But given that GRRM’s approach to heraldry is pretty fanciful in the first place, this froth of third party creativity compounds the weirdness of some of the ‘sigils’ and tinctures. On top of which we also have Messrs Weiss and Benioff’s highly stylised interpretations accepted as canon by many. Which is understandable, because they look great. But they are often quite different from what is described in the novels.

Like you, I’ve stuck to what’s described in the novels. Pretty easy in my case, since I’ve only modelled the big main houses in my modest collection, and not the myriad of little ones. But I salute your rigour in sticking to the genuine source material across so many different houses!

[sukhe_bator]

It’s not just the scale of the project - 500 odd figures - but the range of different Houses that makes it so impressive.

It started off modestly enough, but after a box of this and a box of that it soon adds up, particularly if you stash away the results into metal tins out of sight in the interrim. I simply wanted to recreate the wonderfully colourful medieval look of ASOIAF. A collection of disparate factions which could be combined in a variety of ways and upscaled from skirmish to big battles really appealed. I also liked the infighting backstories in the books like the feuding between Bracken and Blackwood. My Middle Earth collections by contrast are predominantly black and white, blue and white, green grey and brown, black and red, or red, with no actual differencing or complex heraldry. This recent photoshoot has been one of the few opportunities to get everything out to have a troop review. I'm shocked by the amount as well. No wonder the project is taking ages - and I haven't really got to grips with the cavalry yet!

[sukhe_bator]

An attempt to resize an image of my scratchbuilt 25mm homestead. The two dark age style huts are made from foamcore, balsa and matchsticks with milliput thatch and stonework. The log cabin is from a Pegasus 1:72 Russian peasant house kit, with milliput thatch and stone chimney. The scandinavian palisade is from kebab sticks and cocktail sticks while the stakes are retasked from the Perry English Army box

[sukhe_bator]

And my largest build of last year, and largest ever timber framed wooden construct, 'The Three Crowns' inn with an ambitious decorated triple jetty, with wooden gallery and covered staircase connecting to a row of first storey rooms and attic rooms above. The footprint of the gallery is shown on the white foamcore template. Once I have figured out how to effect a junction with the shingle roof levels I'll fix the L shape permanently together and begin work on the gallery. There will be a separate cobbled yard and stable block. Inspiration for the gallery is taken at least in small part from the Lord Leycester Hospital in Warwick https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Leycester_Hospital.

[sukhe_bator]

The Northern houses in a tad more detail, Umber, Hornwood, Glover and Stark

[HappyChappy439]

Oh! Thanks for the closeups of the Northern Houses! I'm never quite sure how to actually *do* the Umber sigil so always good to see other peoples' interpretations!

Silly question, but where are the bodies with leather cowls(?) and bald heads from? Like the Hornwood archer closest to the camera

Definitely interested to see more of your heraldry too! Some of the smaller houses are pretty lacking with the descriptions so trying to find a nice compromise between medieval authenticity and canon-compliance is pretty difficult!

Keep up the great work! 

[AKULA]

Some of the smaller houses are pretty lacking with the descriptions so trying to find a nice compromise between medieval authenticity and canon-compliance is pretty difficult!

Couldn’t agree more with this sentiment.

Thank you again for such an inspiring thread.

[Dilettante Gamer]

Day-yum! Those structure builds are delightful! Loving this stuff.

[sukhe_bator]

Oh! Thanks for the closeups of the Northern Houses! I'm never quite sure how to actually *do* the Umber sigil so always good to see other peoples' interpretations! Silly question, but where are the bodies with leather cowls(?) and bald heads from? Like the Hornwood archer closest to the camera

The A Wiki Of Ice And Fire Umber giant in chains looks more King Kong like. My version is based more closely on the book descriptions of the giants. Martin paints them as more yeti-like which informed my own giant conversion from a GW LoTR Troll.
As you can see from the attachment (in this case a selection of figure mash ups that became House Frey, most of the cowls, fur collars and fur capes are simple greenstuff additions which as well as adding character can cover joins and flaws. In the case of the Hornwood archer - he has a Perry Ansar head on a WOTR archer figure.
I got a lot of inspiration from this seminal book -https://www.amazon.co.uk/Medieval-Soldier-Campaign-Recreated-Photographs/dp/1859150365 Both well respected authors draw from their extensive knowledge and experience and there is no better way to understand armour than to wear it. There are some fabulous figure studies with a wealth of costume and equipment detail that translates really well into a Westerosi setting.

[AKULA]

Some good putty work there, the folds in the cloaks look great