Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Medieval Adventures => Topic started by: Shirer on 08 April 2015, 12:39:43 PM
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Hi everyone,
I've started an army for Lion Rampant based around an Irish raiding party from the 15th/16th century, featuring a mixture of Gallowglass and Kern. Although I've collected models for a few years, this is the first time I've started painting and assembling a useable army - looking forward to testing it on the field of battle!
The army was inspired by the Osprey Warrior: Gallowglass book, as well as the fact that Ireland retained a number of unique troop types and tactics throughout most of the medieval period - I'm hoping to make a Tudor invading force to face them eventually.
(http://s10.postimg.org/avuhil87d/Durer.jpg)
The Gallowglass are Claymore Castings, from their 1388 range - only have one painted so far.
(http://s21.postimg.org/arrw6p7x3/279.jpg)
For the Kern, I've decided to use Victrix's Peltasts and Slingers from their Ancient Greek plastics. Admittedly, they're slightly less covered than most of the pictures of Kern that I've seen have been - but I like the models. For the fierce foot Kern, I'll be crafting some jackets as seen in red here.
(http://s23.postimg.org/6odfr3qor/warriors.jpg)
(http://s24.postimg.org/kfy4me8cl/280.jpg)
(http://s10.postimg.org/g6vly2q4p/281.jpg)
(http://s2.postimg.org/qjk7f20nd/283.jpg)
The 24-point force I'm aiming for is:
2 x Foot Men-at-Arms (Gallowglass)
1 x Fierce Foot (Kerns)
4 x Bidowers (Kerns)
Thanks for reading!
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Thanks for posting!
Unfortunately, the picture links don't seem to be working :(
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They work for me. And they are really nice.
My only nag would be that the javelinmen are perhaps a bit to uniformed.
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They look great :D
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Very interesting subject, and near to my heart since I'm currently working on something similar for my Stoke Field project. The kern look very nice, but as Dr Zombie said they look a bit uniform. Perhaps sculpting the glib on some of them might make them a bit more Irish?
I'd also be interested to hear your opinion on the Claymore miniatures.
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Thanks for the replies, everyone. Comments about the uniformity of the Kern are very fair - I was going for the traditional Irish leine (Saffron shirt) look, which was ubiquitous for Irish soldiers of most ranks through the medieval period. The individuality on the battlefield would come from the decorated (and very colourful) jackets, or from the thick cloaks worn prior to battle - neither of which the minis I've used have, so I think there's a definite case for adding some Green Stuff detail and then overpainting it - which I'll have a go at once I've built my confidence up!
(http://s17.postimg.org/wyj9svcxr/front1.gif)
(http://s28.postimg.org/cixkvkjhp/saffronkilt2.jpg)
Very interesting subject, and near to my heart since I'm currently working on something similar for my Stoke Field project. The kern look very nice, but as Dr Zombie said they look a bit uniform. Perhaps sculpting the glib on some of them might make them a bit more Irish?
I'd also be interested to hear your opinion on the Claymore miniatures.
I like the Claymore Gallowglass - I had a look at a few other options, including Sgt Major Minis, but these seemed better proportioned, and also better suited for the period I'm after. I wanted these helmets more than the Morion-style ones adopted through the 16th century. I also tried to think of ways of converting plastics, but there was only one body on the Conquest Norman infantry sprue that I thought properly suited the look - so I decided not to go down that route!
(http://s29.postimg.org/6vdp19iqv/IMG_1581.jpg)
(http://s8.postimg.org/67eg5s89h/IMG_1582.jpg)
Comparison with a Perry WotR plastic - the Claymore mini is slightly smaller.
(http://s24.postimg.org/5zcsucfnp/IMG_1583.jpg)
And finally, here's the second completed Gallowglass. I'm really enjoying painting these so far - my next step is going to involve finding some cheap 28mm cattle for use as objective markers, so any suggestions welcome!
(http://s30.postimg.org/mjn4330xd/IMG_1578.jpg)
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Irregular Miniatures for the cattle.
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Very nice, the only other decent kern I have seen so far are the single pack in the crusader miniatures range
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Thanks for the info on the Claymore miniatures. They always seemed like very characterful sculpts, though I'm sorry to hear they're a bit smaller than Perrys - ironic for men selected for size and strength.
Altogether a very nice project. Keep 'em coming.
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As for the cattle, I've found that the Pegasus 1/48 farm animals work pretty well with 28mm, as do "O" scale railroad farm animals.
I've got some of both, if you'd like I can take a comparison shot.
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These were the pack of kern I mentionedhttp://www.crusaderminiatures.com/prod.php?prod=189&cat=5&sub=15&page=1
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Thanks for the replies, everyone. Comments about the uniformity of the Kern are very fair - I was going for the traditional Irish leine (Saffron shirt) look, which was ubiquitous for Irish soldiers of most ranks through the medieval period.
Ohh I did not know that. In that case just ignore my criticism.
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Thanks for the cattle tips - I've ordered some so I'll see how well the scales match. I do like the look of the Crusader Miniatures Kerns too, something to consider when I expand the force!
I was wondering whether anybody knew of any companies that sell weapon sprues with glaives, like the one in the picture below? I've done a search, but all I've come across are futuristic power-weapon style ones!
(http://s2.postimg.org/v6fu2hoe1/image.jpg)
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Ohh I did not know that. In that case just ignore my criticism.
I still think it's a fair point - even if I just vary the tone of the yellow slightly, which I think I'll test on the next batch.
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Thanks for the cattle tips - I've ordered some so I'll see how well the scales match. I do like the look of the Crusader Miniatures Kerns too, something to consider when I expand the force!
I was wondering whether anybody knew of any companies that sell weapon sprues with glaives, like the one in the picture below? I've done a search, but all I've come across are futuristic power-weapon style ones!
(http://s2.postimg.org/v6fu2hoe1/image.jpg)
Redoubt enterprises
halberds
http://www.redoubtenterprises.com/shop/?page=shop/browse&category_id=eb73981cf64d4b195808a2977a1bfb79
SGMM when vendel used to sell the range
front rank
http://www.frontrank.com/product-category/medieval/medieval-equipment/
Also worth looking for are Lochaber or other pole arms axes in ECW ranges
http://www.theassaultgroup.co.uk/index.php?prod=1000
Always an interesting army, I did one a good few years ago with Vendel miniatures and added in others, I used old glory Kerns but kept them in separate units as they were quite small, some were ok but others had randomly strange poses
I think I have a box of painted ones somewhere when I dropped the box so chipped paint, broken weapons and shields (fallen off) I will dig them out and post here if you are interested. I think amongst them there are the crusader ones that I converted a few too
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Have you seen this thread?
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=70422.0
Not sure when they will be in production.
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Redoubt enterprises
halberds
http://www.redoubtenterprises.com/shop/?page=shop/browse&category_id=eb73981cf64d4b195808a2977a1bfb79
SGMM when vendel used to sell the range
front rank
http://www.frontrank.com/product-category/medieval/medieval-equipment/
Also worth looking for are Lochaber or other pole arms axes in ECW ranges
http://www.theassaultgroup.co.uk/index.php?prod=1000
Always an interesting army, I did one a good few years ago with Vendel miniatures and added in others, I used old glory Kerns but kept them in separate units as they were quite small, some were ok but others had randomly strange poses
I think I have a box of painted ones somewhere when I dropped the box so chipped paint, broken weapons and shields (fallen off) I will dig them out and post here if you are interested. I think amongst them there are the crusader ones that I converted a few too
They're perfect, thanks! Going to get some of those Ottoman glaives ordered. Yeah, it'd be great to see them if you don't mind - always good to get some more inspiration!
Have you seen this thread?
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=70422.0
Not sure when they will be in production.
No, I hadn't seen those - I'd definitely be interested given how good the Galloglass are. From comments they were due to be out early this year, I'll email Claymore and post the reply here.
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A few pictures of the first Gallowglass unit, which is now one model short of being finished.
(http://s7.postimg.org/y8qxaui2j/IMG_1632.jpg)
(http://s17.postimg.org/rfpqh03u7/IMG_1633.jpg)
And, due to a fairly catastrophic misjudgment of scale, I'll be sending these cows back!
(http://s1.postimg.org/40g3utx0f/IMG_1634.jpg)
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(http://s16.postimg.org/jc8q3lo9x/IMG_1641.jpg)
Another unit of Kern - the final one to be used as bidowers. These are a mix of Perry Sudanese Mahdist tribesmen with GB Dark Age Warrior and one Perry WOTR heads. The plan is to craft waistcoat jackets on the four figures to the right - we'll see how that turns out! If that works, I'll mix this unit up amongst the others to vary the look a bit.
I've heard back from David at Claymore Castings - the Kern pictured earlier in the thread are due to be released very soon, and should be up on the website shortly. I'll definitely be getting some of them to mix in with my existing units, and to form the backbone of the fierce foot unit!
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Very cool :) I like the one carrying his sword in the scabbard - very very Irish of him.
Looking forward to the jackets.
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Thanks - I think he's the one I'm most pleased with!
I had an urge to keep building Kern last night - so here are another 6, this time a mixture of Victrix peltast bodies and Gripping Beast Dark Age Warrior heads (there are two models made solely from GB parts).
(http://s8.postimg.org/5x82yon2t/IMG_1648.jpg)
These are also perfect to craft jackets onto - I'm also going to have a go at doing some hair-styling on them in order to recreate the glib mentioned earlier in the thread - described as "A thick mass of matted hair on the forehead and over the eyes." There's a good example on the two warriors to the right in this picture. I also need to trim the scabbards to square them off.
(http://s1.postimg.org/5xri3bo4f/Three_irish_kerns_Albert_Durer_1521_a_001.jpg)
If these conversions work out, I'm going to mix these up with the Kern I posted in the first post - which'll give the retinue much greater variety.
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This is progressing nicely! Interested to see what those Kern will look like once the jackets are sculpted.