Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Medieval Adventures => Topic started by: HappyChappy439 on December 16, 2021, 07:45:26 PM
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Hi everyone! (Almost) New Year, New Project!
With 2022 fast approaching, I've decided to embark on something I'd been kind of considering on-and-off for a couple of years that I hadn't ever quite committed to.
I've always been slightly hesitant with starting a directly WotR project (despite the excellent ranges of miniatures and example projects to draw inspiration from), partly because I'm never quite sure where to begin with one! I tend to get a bit indecisive over which factions, liveries and time periods to choose. I kept finding myself gravitating towards the pretenders and rebellions in the early Tudor period instead. The potential narrative tropes that can be applied there, like hidden princes and secret conspiracies which lend themselves really well to alternate-history scenarios and definitely captured the imagination!
So using that idea as a base, I've decided to split this into three different periods (to correspond to three different pretenders):
- Lambert Simnel, as Edward VI, with the Stoke Field rebellion in 1487
- Perkin Warbeck as Richard IV with his assorted attempts on the throne through the 1490s
- Richard de La Pole, also as Richard IV, with his planned invasions of England under Louis XII and Francis I
This would let me have a fairly wide set of options for figures and conversions to cover the early Tudor period, and a range of different factions I could use to represent the actual (or hypothetical in alternate history scenarios) support given to each of the pretenders over the roughly 40 year period until Pavia!
For a start, I decided to refurb the miniature I painted up to represent Perkin Warbeck, the middlest pretender, back in 2019 as part of my Burgundian project. I wasn't too happy with his old head, so I swapped that out for a new one for the new project!
(https://i.imgur.com/hVhQJlN.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/qAKcMeP.jpg)
I've based Perkin Warbeck on this (near) contemporary sketch of him, combined with the portraits we have of Edward IV, Richard III and Henry VII:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Perkin_Warbeck.jpg)
I added little white rose patterns onto his outfit to imply his Yorkist claims, where I thought that if Warbeck was insecure about people believing his claimed identity he would try to compensate by putting Yorkist symbolism all over himself to help convince people.
Another part of starting this project was to have an excuse to paint up some of the Perry WotR Irish range! I really like the figures but didn't really have anywhere to slot them in before, so this seemed like a nice justification! All three pretenders had at least some connection to the Fitzgeralds of either Kildare or Desmond, and even if only Lambert Simnel had any substantial support, it's not too outlandish for either Perkin Warbeck or the de la Pole brothers to field an Irish contingent in an alternate history scenario!
So with that in mind I've painted up a few test Kern as a start:
(https://i.imgur.com/QbHasea.jpg)
Stuart's recent thread (and blog post) were a big inspiration behind making a start on the Kern, and the research there has been a huge help!
https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=133295.0
https://stuartsworkbench.blogspot.com/2021/11/irish-kern.html
Hopefully the figures have turned out ok! I'm hoping to have some more substantial updates soon!
(Eventually I'm planning on setting up a blog to host the posts about the project, so I'll put the link here once I've gotten round to that!)
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I shall follow this with great interest ! There’s also the Cornish rebellion in 1497.
I’ve got a generic non-liveried unit of bow and bill which sees great service as English shire, Scots and rebels so the figures you propose will always be useful for a variety of guises.
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Cracking start - and lots of options for alternate history around these pretenders
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Happy Chappy, great post and idea! If you didn't know Stoke Field is only a few hundred yards from Wargames Foundry's address near Newark. Buy figures and visit the battlefield in an afternoon. I have had a similar idea and actually have some of the Perry Kerns in my unpainted stash for just this battle. It actually seems slightly more interesting than some more "traditional" WoTR battles as you can have the Irish, German pike and arquebus armed mercenaries on the Yorkist side vs a more "standard" Lancastrian army.
You may have inspired me to dig the Kerns out as part of my Christmas painting project.
Thanks.
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A great idea HC, looking forward to watching your progress 8)
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I think you've captured the look of Perkin very well mate :-*
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Thanks everyone!
I shall follow this with great interest ! There’s also the Cornish rebellion in 1497.
I’ve got a generic non-liveried unit of bow and bill which sees great service as English shire, Scots and rebels so the figures you propose will always be useful for a variety of guises.
Ah! Thanks for the heads up! I'd wondered about the Cornish rebellion(s) and how to factor them in, considering the overlap with the Warbeck rebellions. Having some generic bow/bill units is a great idea to cover the entire time period too!
To continue the momentum a little bit, I decided to finish off the unit of Kern with two-handed weapons. Unfortunately there's only six of them in the Perry range (so far), so to avoid duplicates I've given four of them headswaps (and weapon-head swaps) to change things up.
(https://i.imgur.com/pKAuU25.jpg)
The inspiration there, including many of the headswaps, came from Stuart's recent blog post here, which has an excellent writeup of the historical context and terminology around the clothing: https://stuartsworkbench.blogspot.com/2021/11/irish-kern.html
I've also used the idea of mixing different shades of yellow from the blog post to indicate different levels of quality of dye (and to avoid having everyone be wearing the same shade of yellow). So roughly half the unit have the brighter, bolder yellow, and a lot of the rear rank, and most of the duplicates, have a more faded mustard/ochre colour being used
(https://i.imgur.com/fPS909Z.jpg)
The ionar (jackets) were a pretty fun opportunity to include some additional colours in the unit, on top of the yellow. I've taken some inspiration from this site (which sells reproduction clothing) in terms of the colours and patterning: http://www.gaelicattire.com/ionar.htm
(https://i.imgur.com/blca0h3.jpg)
Let me know how they've turned out!
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Really super painting!
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A great looking unit, really colourful and I like the tonal variety. Excellent link re the ionar too, that’s a great source !
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Nice idea, and I like the look of your Perkin - oooer ;)
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Really nice, I love the look of those Kern as a finished unit.
I'm not very knowledgeable (at all) on Irish warfare - do we know if Kern equipped with melee like this would have fought separately from those with missile weapons, or would they all have fought together as mixed light infantry? Or would these guys have been supporting the gallowglass?
And what is the definition of a 'bonnaught'?
I'd really like to have a go at these Perry Irish myself someday, but don't really have an appropriate setting for them - perhaps some day in the far future I could do a small skirmish project set in Ireland.... Handy that these guys could be used for quite a wide range of periods. I have often wondered about how I'd group them together into units....
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Nice idea, and I like the look of your Perkin - oooer ;)
Ooerr lol
Really nice, I love the look of those Kern as a finished unit.
I'm not very knowledgeable (at all) on Irish warfare - do we know if Kern equipped with melee like this would have fought separately from those with missile weapons, or would they all have fought together as mixed light infantry? Or would these guys have been supporting the gallowglass?
Thanks! I'm going into this one definitely a bit of a novice, so it's been pretty fun reading up on something I didn't really have any information on before!
I've not been able to find much written down (or in illustrations) specifically about how melee-armed Kern would've been deployed, the closest I've found was them being described as being hired alongside the Gallowglass, but I'm not sure if that would mean they fought in a similar way (i.e deployed to the rear, while the dart/bow armed Kern were deployed up front and at the flanks), or if they would be mixed with the other Kern.
And what is the definition of a 'bonnaught'?
From what I can tell 'Bonnaught' is the Anglicization of the Irish buannacht/buannadha, and looks like it refers to a professional 'billeted soldier' (according to what I could Google), as opposed to an ad-hoc mustered clan levy. My understanding is that they were mercenaries, but specifically Irish ones (to differentiate from Gallowglass who were generally foreign). The Household Kern or "ceithearn tigh" seem to be a similar situation where they were professional soldiers, but closer to feudal retainers rather than mercenaries.
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Lovely unit.
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That's a very nice looking unit.
Buannacht are just the professional paid soldiers of a Lordship. Horsemen, Gallowglass and Kern could all be buannacht.
Kern were mostly all purpose soldiers capable of skirmish and melee tactics depending upon circumstances. We do get the occasional reference to a company of archers who as you'd expect fought as archers.
A company of Gallowglass came with its own Kern, two for every armoured man.
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That's a very nice looking unit.
Buannacht are just the professional paid soldiers of a Lordship. Horsemen, Gallowglass and Kern could all be buannacht.
Kern were mostly all purpose soldiers capable of skirmish and melee tactics depending upon circumstances. We do get the occasional reference to a company of archers who as you'd expect fought as archers.
A company of Gallowglass came with its own Kern, two for every armoured man.
Thanks for clarifying! That helps a lot!
Rookie question but would the two Kern accompanying each Gallowglass be the 'Horseboys' I've seen mentioned in other places?
Thanks again, really appreciate it!
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Glad you found it useful.
No, the Horse Boys are something else and had a shocking reputation for pillage. They were at the bottom of the military pyramid, basically servants who had armed themselves.
I've read that they were often youths orphaned in the wars or rootless young men not from the military classes. They were not the lighter armed horse that supported the mailed Irish cavalry.
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Hi again, and thanks for all the help!
Another quick update this time. I've been slowly painting up a unit of Gallowglass/Galloglass/Gallóglaigh to form the anchor point of the Fitzgerald component of the project
(https://i.imgur.com/4lHTvEN.jpg)
I've mixed the Perry metals with the Antediluvian sculpts here, and they scale together pretty nicely! The Antediluvian figures are more for the early-15th century (for Harlaw in 1411 for example), so the bascinets are slightly more dated, but they still manage to not look out of place ranked up with the later-15th century War of the Roses figures!
(Incidentally getting the lighting in photos to cooperate with the colour yellow is a bit of a nightmare! I promise there are highlights and shading on there lol )
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They look splendid.
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No bother at all and nice to see your latest. All good stuff.
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Looking great - very inspiring since I'm working on an Irish force myself ATM! Can't wait to see more.
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Hi again!
Another Gallowglass update! This time with the completed block of 24! Like in the previous post, the goal is to have the Gallowglass act as the anchor point of the Irish contingent of the force, where the skirmishing kern can gravitate around them:
(https://i.imgur.com/4GRmT7I.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Z8y0ng8.jpg)
The Gallowglass are a mix of Perry and Antediluvian figures, with roughly half split between each of the two manufacturers in the unit. I've found the Antediluvian figures mix really well and are great for keeping some variety going!
I've tried to avoid keeping the figures looking too uniform here, so I've included a few different variations on colour-scheme for the gambesons/aketons, and mixed up the colours of the leggings. On the most part the equipment is done in fairly 'neutral' colours, except every so often where I've included some yellow cloth to tie the gallowglass in with the kern visually
About half of the Perry figures in the group have had headswaps, to mix things up a little, they were fairly easy conversions to do in most cases, and definitely goes a long way to avoiding the block looking too uniform:
(https://i.imgur.com/mcpTkYb.jpg)
I've also made the flags detachable, so that the banner can be swapped out depending on the scenario. So in this case, the ability to swap between the Fitzgeralds of Desmond, or the Fitzgeralds of Kildare (but with the room for pretty much any of the Irish or Anglo-Irish lords in the 15th and 16th centuries)
(https://i.imgur.com/w9M2tcP.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/K67vczK.jpg)
Hopefully they've turned out ok!
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Great looking unit
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Bravo! Nicely done!
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A fascinating period in our history and some very nice work by your good self.
PS I've been watching David Starkey's YT channel of late and he's put out some very interesting talks on the Wars of the Roses and the Tudor monarchs since being declared persona non grata.
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Hi again!
A bit of a quick update this time! Not had a huge amount of painting time the last several weeks (Elden Ring being released certainly didn't help! lol) but I've been (slowly) chipping away at this project with a few more Irish units, this time with a couple of blocks of skirmishing kern with javelins!
The figures are the usual mix of Perry and Antediluvian sculpts, with a few TAG targes added
(https://i.imgur.com/cyeZzM5.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/kggw196.jpg)
I've used three main shades for the léine, a more drab mustard-yellow, a mid-tone ochre, and a more vibrant warmer yellow just to keep things mixed up a bit in the unit, and to avoid things looking too uniform:
(https://i.imgur.com/2FW8D8U.jpg)
Hopefully they've turned out ok!
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Excellent! The mix of yellows works really well.
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Very nice indeed.
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Excellent work on those 😃
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Great work, as always!
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I somehow missed this project. What a job you've done! :o Really outstanding work, love the gallowglass in particular. Will be following this one keenly.
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Hi! It's uh...been a while!
Things have been pretty hectic offline, which hasn't left a huge amount of time to spend on the projects, but with things clearing up a little I've had a bit more opportunity to get some work done here!
This time, it's a continuation of the Irish force I've already started, the figures are a lot of fun to paint, so it was a good way to get back into the swing of things! As sort of a first foray into multi-basing figures, as opposed to individually basing them, I wanted to put together a command base (thanks for the advice there, Stuart!).
The commander here is intended to be Sir Thomas Fitzgerald, who fought (and died) at Stoke Field in 1487, fighting on the Yorkist side there in command of the Irish contingent. I've left the figures themselves without any liveries, and the banner is interchangable, so he could just as easily stand in for Silken Thomas in his rebellion against Henry VIII, or really any other Irish knight or lord in the late 15th or early 16th centuries!
(https://i.imgur.com/E4nt7ct.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/UNSvTNS.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/XvIalu7.jpg)
Most of the figures on the base are straight from the Perry Irish command (although the one with the sword has a head-swap!), whiel the Gallowglass lurking behind Fitzgerald is from the Antediluvian Miniatures Dürer Galloglass set.
Fitzgerald himself is based on a Perry WotR standard bearer, with a plume added to his helmet, and a two-handed sword in place of a polearm, to fit more thematically with the rest of the Irish force. As a knight (or lord, depending on which Fitzgerald) with ties to England and the Pale, I wanted to set Fitzgerald apart from the other figures, so I decided to use an armoured figure as the base, but at the same time to show that he's still very much Irish (or Anglo-Irish, at least), he's wearing his yellow léine tucked under the armour.
I've also given Fitzgerald a beard, as part of making him a more 'generic' Irish commander. The beard itself is partly based on this portrait of Silken Thomas from the 16th century:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Thomas_FitzGerald%2C_10th_Earl_of_Kildare.jpg)
And here's Fitzgerald with all the Kern so far:
(https://i.imgur.com/3cjgmwS.jpg)
Hopefully they've turned out ok! I'm hoping I'll be able to spend some more time advancing the project going forward!
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Cracking brushwork amigo :-*
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Nice, the simple conversion for Fitzgerald is very effective.
Multi-basing is the way to go for sure!
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Thanks both!
Multi-basing is the way to go for sure!
Definitely agree here! Aesthetically I really like how the multi-basing turns out! Maybe eventually I'll wean myself off the Warhammer-style individual bases! lol
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Very well done indeed.
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Hi again! Managed to have an update put together rather a lot sooner than I expected after Fitzgerald!
This time, I've opted to go for the upper-bound time-wise of this project (before things get too Renaissance-y), with a command base to represent Richard de la Pole, or Richard IV, titular Duke of Suffolk and the last serious military contender for the House of York, before his death in the Battle of Pavia in 1525.
(https://i.imgur.com/o4IiCqE.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/99ofEFN.jpg)
De La Pole (and his brothers) presented a fairly serious threat to the early Tudor regime, having a stronger claim to the throne than Henry VII. While the eldest brother died in 1487 at Stoke Field, and Richard's other elder brothers arrested and/or executed by the Tudors, Richard was able to flee to Europe, where he ended up being notably charismatic, winning over a number of highly influential figures in France, the Holy Roman Empire and Hungary to support his claim. Plans were made under both Louis XII and Francis I to support an invasion of England with Scottish support, and with rumblings of Yorkist sympathisers in England itself and the earls of Desmond and Kildare in Ireland happening as well, it's no surprise that the Tudors saw the pretender as a problem. Adding to their concerns, Richard de la Pole had become a seasoned battlefield commander during the start of the 16th century, leading forces of Landsknecht on behalf of France in Italy and Navarre, giving him vital experience that the earlier Yorkist pretenders definitely lacked!
First up on the base are a pair of retainers with halberds, to act as bodyguards for de la Pole. Desmond Seward in The Last White Rose mentions that during Richard's stay in Metz in the 1510s he retained a group of musicians and bodyguards in blue and grey livery, so I've used that as the basis for the colours on the livery jackets. I thought it was a bit unusual that unlike every other de la Pole Richard decided to opt for grey instead of yellow in his livery, but my guess is that it may be a deliberate call-back to his grandfather Richard Duke of York's blue and white livery during the War of the Roses. With that in mind, I've added a white rose to the chest of the livery jackets, to tie-in de la Pole to York, and as a pastiche of Henry Tudor's own retainers. Both retainers are based on Steel Fist standing dollies, with Perry Early-Tudor heads and medieval arms
(https://i.imgur.com/ixp80fS.jpg)
Next up are the two standard bearers on the base (one for Richard de la Pole's personal arms, and the other for his livery banner). One standard bearer is an unmodified War of the Roses figure in older armour, while the other is a liveried retainer built using the same method as the two others
(https://i.imgur.com/xJlRp8k.jpg)
Also on the base is a knight, pointing out something on the horizon to Richard. I'm using him to represent an attaché from France or Foix to provide battlefield support for Richard, or alternatively an English exile, adventurer or opportunist who decided to throw in with de la Pole. The figure is one of the excellent Steel Fist Miniatures Italian Wars foot knights without any modifications
(https://i.imgur.com/9K9oojX.jpg)
And finally, the pretender himself, Richard de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk. Like the other knight, Richard is a Steel Fist Miniatures Italian Wars foot knight. I love the pose for this figure in particular for a commander, and Richard de la Pole seemed like an excellent excuse to use the figure!
(https://i.imgur.com/LrxEt3k.jpg)
I've painted de la Pole's jacket in his livery colours of blue and grey, and like with his retainers, I've given him a white rose livery badge (only larger!). I've not found any decisive evidence for any livery badges used by Richard, compared to his father, or older brother John, but I made the assumption that seeing as just about everyone among his contemporaries refers to him as the White Rose, that he must have some effective 'branding' and actively cultivated that association.
I decided the beardy head quite nicely captures the look of the portrait that shows up on Google when you search for Richard de la Pole (although, I think it may be actually of Charles III, Duke of Bourbon instead from what I've found!)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0b/Charles_de_Bourbon%2C_conn%C3%A9table_de_France.jpg/800px-Charles_de_Bourbon%2C_conn%C3%A9table_de_France.jpg)
And finally, a couple of pictures of the command base on a grassy field
(https://i.imgur.com/1SSUQ0j.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/LncxBkJ.jpg)
Hopefully they've turned out ok! The base was a lot of fun to put together and paint! Special thanks to Stuart for the advice with this one as well!
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OMG! Brilliant! Absolutely Fantastic! Masterful brushwork! Astonishing characterization! I love the poses!
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Superb! I really like this one... great use of the Steel Fist commanders, and the blue and grey coats look very smart.
Thanks for the detailed info on the White Rose too.
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Lovely work on those - great command base!
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Wow rediscovered this page. Love the De la Pole, fig and base. And I really like what you did with the Irish Lord's, I have been trying to figure out a decent way to make an Anglo-Irish Lord. With continental/English armour.
Are his arms from a set or did you add putty to bulk out the sleeves?
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Thanks for the kind words everyone!
Wow rediscovered this page. Love the De la Pole, fig and base. And I really like what you did with the Irish Lord's, I have been trying to figure out a decent way to make an Anglo-Irish Lord. With continental/English armour.
Are his arms from a set or did you add putty to bulk out the sleeves?
For Fitzgerald, the figure's sleeves are part of the original Perry metal standard bearer, without needing any extra putty thankfully! He's based on the third figure from the right in this set: https://www.perry-miniatures.com/product/wr-37-standard-bearers/
I really like the look of that sculpt in particular out of that set, where the partial armour gives him a more 'elite' look, without being in full harness like other foot knights or men-at-arms
Originally I was going to paint him in White/Red Fitzgerald livery, before I realised that the giant sleeves could pass for a léine quite nicely!
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Good eye. I will have to pick that set up.
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Excellent work on these, you can really see the thought and composition you’ve put into it.
Looking forward to seeing more 😊
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Very nicely done 8)
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Marvelous painting. My one quibble is that I don't think a lord would wear his own livery.
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Marvelous painting. My one quibble is that I don't think a lord would wear his own livery.
That's an entirely fair quibble to have, and you're absolutely right there! From what I've seen, it looks like it's more likely that a lord would either wear a non-specific colourful overcoat (I'm not sure on the terminology there!) or his coat of arms, but that's less common by the Pavia-era, leaving the livery to retainers and personal guards. So it's more just a case of artistic license here!
Although, in a pinch the knight with the red and yellow plumes could count as Richard, his pose is commander-y enough to count!
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Hi again!
Another update, back to Ireland this time!
This time I wanted to do a bit of experimenting, with both multi-basing figures, and with some different ways of painting the léine, so I decided to use a possibly slightly anachronistic unit of handgunners as test subjects!
Historically speaking, handguns were adopted fairly quickly and enthusiastically in Ireland, with many earls wasting no time in adopting gunpowder warfare towards the start of the 16th century. Although, despite this, we don't have any record for gunpowder weapons being used by the Irish contingent at Stoke, and not much to go on for Warbeck's insurrection with the earl of Desmond (although Cork was reported as using gunpowder weapons against Warbeck's forces!). For this project, the handgunners represent more of a 'late' (insofar as the first half of the 16th century can be called late!) period force, or a dip into alternate history, where France, Burgundy or the Empire decide to back up their investment in a Yorkist pretender by providing weaponry to the Irish forces as a pretty substantial force multiplier against the more conservatively equipped English. Plus the idea of an early Irish pike-and-shotte formation is a fun project, if nothing else!
Given how much yellow I've been painting with the Irish, I wanted to give the new yellow GW Contrast paints a spin, to see how those worked! They were very easy to apply, but I would say in this particular case I did need to use a few washes to bring down the yellow a bit, where it was approaching a very bright banana yellow rather than the warm saffron I was going for!
I also wanted to try and experiment a bit with conversions of the kern figures themselves. Seeing as the unit is fairly small I wanted to avoid obvious doubles, so I've included a few kern from other sets with weapon and hand swaps to diversify the bunch
This base is entirely unmodified Perry Irish handgunners
(https://i.imgur.com/keAZ2UN.jpg)
This base on the other hand is entirely weapon-swaps and conversions from the other Perry and Antediluvian kern sets
(https://i.imgur.com/S8xtA3g.jpg)
And the other two bases are a mix of the two
(https://i.imgur.com/l63xujc.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/xwIGHxD.jpg)
And here's a couple of pictures of the full band of skirmishers together
(https://i.imgur.com/9ZHLRaI.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/f8YHCa6.jpg)
I'm quite happy with how they've turned out! Although, I'll probably be a little more sparing with the Contrast paints in future, just where there's so much pigment that some of the kern here ended up almost too yellow!
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Lovely colouring.
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Looking good.
I know what you mean about the contrast yellows - the one i have - Iyrdran Sun or something is a very dark orange / yellow colour. I suppose it makes a change toning down yellows rather than having to put on loads of coats to get coverage!
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Pretty cool. Which GW yellow did you use.
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Lovely work on the saffron colored leine. 8)
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Thanks everyone!
Pretty cool. Which GW yellow did you use.
In terms of the yellows, I did the figures in batches of three:
3 of them used Iyanden Yellow, 3 of them used Bad Moon Yellow, 3 used Imperial Fist and 3 used Ironjawz Yellow.
Each of the figures for each yellow was primed using a different one of the GW base primers (so one White Scar, one Wraithbone and one Grey Seer) to see how that turned out. Then once that had all dried I gave all the yellow a wash of Cassandora yellow, then a second wash of Seraphim Sepia, then finally a glaze of Averland Sunset and highlights of Yriel Yellow to make it a little less glossy (except on four of the figures which instead got Phalanx Yellow highlights)
Based on what I found, Iyanden Yellow was definitely the warmest of the bunch, while Bad Moon Yellow was probably too bright for what I was using it for, the other two were a good compromise once the washes had been applied. I'd say the Wraithbone base works best here as well if that helps!
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I agree- great colour choices and very well executed. Your head swaps turned out perfect- they look very natural.
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Great addition - the conversions work perfectly, and the multi-basing is definitely the way to go!
Where did you get the spare handguns from?
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Great addition - the conversions work perfectly, and the multi-basing is definitely the way to go!
Where did you get the spare handguns from?
Thanks! The spare handguns were from The Assault Group, I'd originally got them for my Borgias and Burgundians and had a few spare!
https://theassaultgroup.co.uk/product/arquebus-straight-x-10/
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A fine looking unit with much attention to detail. Down to the belts, very impressive. They look just right.
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Looking great as always, I really like the handgunners, especially the subtle conversions here and there.
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These are very nice what are you working on now?
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Thanks again everyone!
These are very nice what are you working on now?
Thanks! I've definitely been won over to the multi-basing approach, so I've been working on transferring some of my older figures to the multi-based layout, starting with the twelve Bonnachts (Bonnaughts?) from almost a year ago! https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=134615.msg1709583#msg1709583
As part of the rebasing I also wanted to bulk up the bonnachts from twelve to twenty-four figures, and also redo the painting on some of the older léine that I weren't quite happy with with a year's worth of hindsight to them (and also having picked up a wet-palette in the meantime too!).
To keep things as varied as possible, I've tried to include as many head and weapon swaps as possible, including four with swords and shields to stretch out the number of close-combat figures available!
(https://i.imgur.com/HiAheHZ.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/YKBem6Q.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/upc6w1d.jpg)
And also as part of the units I've added some to be a command base, with a piper and a standard bearer. The flag is interchangable, so the unit can be fielded with the flags of any Irish lords (although here I've used the flag for the Fitzgeralds of Kildare)
(https://i.imgur.com/3674yxs.jpg)
With the bases, the aim is to field the Bonnachts as either two blocks of 12, or a combined group of 24 (as a mirror to formations of bills in Never Mind the Billhooks)
(https://i.imgur.com/oCKb4wn.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/cyHiiNR.jpg)
And finally a 'scenic' shot of the whole bunch charging in a line
(https://i.imgur.com/GNCvNYf.jpg)
I hope they've turned out ok! Focusing on the brighter, warmer yellows for the léine is definitely growing on me, with fewer of the drab ones in the mix!
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You did a great job with the conversions.
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Fab work again mate :-*
Thanks again everyone!
Thanks! I've definitely been won over to the multi-basing approach
It's so much easier to create a story within the basing, a dynamic if you like. To allow the miniatures to interact and "talk" to one another.
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Fab work again mate :-*
It's so much easier to create a story within the basing, a dynamic if you like. To allow the miniatures to interact and "talk" to one another.
Thanks!
And absolutely! That's definitely my big draw to the layout, it makes it much easier to have a 'narrative' going with each base which is a lot of fun!
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Excellent work.
I've often wondered myself how I would group and base the Perry Irish if I ever had a reason to do them.... Formed units, open order, mixed weapons or not, etc... I think this is exactly how I'd do it, a core formed unit of bonnachts with mixed weapons like this, with some open order bases of Kern with javelins and a few bows to go with them.
Nicely done!
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Thanks again everyone!
I've got another update and once again, we know 'em, we love 'em, it's more Kern! lol
This time I've put together block of skirmishers with bows to act in support of the gallowglass and bonnachts, or independently to harass opponents in hit-and-run attacks!
The kern themselves are the usual mix of Perry and Antediluvian figures. I've included a few more drab léine compared to the bonnachts, given that these would be poorer soldiers, and unlikely to afford the fanciest saffron dye all the time
(https://i.imgur.com/qaVsI8L.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/0rKEcEP.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/b2WDamN.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/sFFDqpq.jpg)
And here's the whole bunch together
(https://i.imgur.com/wcth02q.jpg)
And here's the block of skirmishers screening an advance for the charging Bonnachts
(https://i.imgur.com/ks3xfLu.jpg)
I hope they've come out ok! For a while I was debating whether to have them blocked in a more dense formation, to mirror the bows-and-bills of the other WotR forces, but eventually decided against it!
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They look great :)
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That is on great looking battle. :D
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A splendid sight :-*
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I can't remember, are you going to build Irish horse as well?
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Thanks everyone!
I can't remember, are you going to build Irish horse as well?
I'm definitely tempted to! I'm torn on whether to wait for the rumoured Perry sets or if I should bite the bullet and convert up some figures. Currently my blockers are finding figures to use as a base, and seeing if there are any visual sources aside from "The Image of Irelande" (from the tail-end of the 16th century) to use as a reference
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That is news to me about the Perrys looking at doing some Irish horse. Hopefully sooner then later. :D
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Hi again!
I've finally decided to set up a blog for this project (and my other ones, to keep it all in once place!), so I've been putting together posts over there, including this one, if you wanted to take a look there!
https://happy-chappy-miniatures.blogspot.com/2022/11/mounted-irish-command.html (https://happy-chappy-miniatures.blogspot.com/2022/11/mounted-irish-command.html)
So with that said, another Irish update! This time I wanted to attempt some figures to represent some Irish commanders on horseback, particularly with Never Mind the Billhooks' Deluxe edition giving rules for Irish cavalry!
(https://i.imgur.com/cJpkNTV.jpg)
Unfortunately finding miniatures to represent late-medieval/renaissance Irish cavalry and having them scale properly with the Perry Irish range is pretty difficult! Which meant going in to this would need some thought about converting existing figures to look the part of an Irish Earl and a mailed standard bearer to accompany him
Choosing figures as bases to start the conversions was a bit of a task! I'm not hugely confident in my sculpting abilities, so I wanted to try to focus on a few key points to have the figures at least be visually recognisable without necessarily needing me to sculpt on large areas of mail or detailed clothes.
For the Earl, I visually based his appearance on the "Irish Chieftain" depicted in a few of the woodcuts in The Image of Irelande. It is worth pointing out that the book is very much a piece of Tudor English propaganda, intending to demonise the Irish and promote the English forces in Ireland, so it should be taken with a grain of salt! But in the absence of many other sources, it made for a good start
(https://i.imgur.com/9UNGEaF.png)
In the woodcuts, the noble ( has an interesting segmented helmet (with a plume), so that was something I definitely wanted to include. He's also wearing an interesting outfit, initially I thought it was some sort of brigandine or studded jack, but it seems to be more consistent with civilian doublets in other 16th century portraits rather than any kind of armour. Finally, as shown in the first image, the chief has a very impressive cloak (or brat), with a thick fur-like fringe, which was another definite requirement for me to include!
For the Brat, the Gaelic Attire Website (http://gaelicattire.com/brat.htm) provides a very useful explanation of its construction, and some great reproductions (which have made great reference images!). The fringes themselves appear to have been made of wool (occasionally styled to look like fur), and for the wealthy this would have been dyed in a variety of colours
With that in mind as a design direction, I decided to use one of the Perry Sudanese commanders as a base figure, given his pose, and his excellent cloak to make a base for the brat:
(https://i.imgur.com/KNAUUvw.png)
And from there, I gave him a head-swap for one of the Gallowglass figures to try and match the interesting helmet shown in the woodcuts, and added a plume to it. Then, with some filing down of the body and legs, I sculpted on a Tudor doublet and boots, and then added a fringe to the cloak to convert it into an Irish Brat
(https://i.imgur.com/AVYl8WY.jpg)
In terms of colours, I went with a copy of the Brat in Dürer's depiction of Gallowglass in the early 16th century, with the cloak itself being a deep red/maroon/pink, and the fringe being a bright yellow
The standard bearer was a bit of a simpler conversion, seeing as my design philosophy for him was more straightforward. I wanted him to essentially look like a mounted Gallowglass, so the rider was based on a Victrix Norman, with his head swapped for one of the Perry Gallowglass, and a The Assault Group targe added in place of the Norman shield.
The horse was a little more involved, seeing as the Irish cavalry of the 16th century notably did not use stirrups or saddles, instead opting for what appears to be more of a cushion strapped to the horse. Given that information, I trimmed the saddle off of the horse, and used green stuff to sculpt on the quilted cushion (which helped mask the width difference between the Victrix legs and the Perry horse too!)
(https://i.imgur.com/KxtzxqR.jpg)
And finally to round off the whole base, I added an Irish wolfhound from Footsore Miniatures
(https://i.imgur.com/mWfa2N0.jpg)
Currently I only have flags for Kildare and Desmond put together, but the standard bearer's flags are detachable, so they can be easily swapped out for any other Gaelic or Anglo-Irish lords (once I get the flags made!)
And here's the Earl of Kildare riding alongside a band of kern
(https://i.imgur.com/h8Xk4xo.jpg)
Hopefully they've turned out ok! The plan is to work on some cavalry to accompany the Earl on the field next!
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Most excellent job on that Irish lord. I would have never guessed the base model, was from the Sudan range. Seems I also have to fallow your blog as well. :D
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Most excellent job on that Irish lord. I would have never guessed the base model, was from the Sudan range. Seems I also have to fallow your blog as well. :D
Much obliged! :D
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The Irish "chief" is a really great piece of putty work mate :-* :-* :-* :-* :-*
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Super conversion and very nice painting 8)
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A great unit!
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Great conversion and fantastic looking troops!
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Thanks for the kind words everyone! I'm glad they've turned out ok!
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Very inspiring!
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They turned out more than ok! That really is an impressive pair of conversions, very effective.
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Excellent conversion work there, an ambitious build which has really worked well. A fitting piece for a commander.
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Just stumbled on this thread as I've been painting my own Irish /Scots.
That command figure is a real work of art and the other pics are inspirational.
Thanks for sharing these!
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The earl looks fantastic very nice conversion and that gaelic attire website is very interesting.
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Looking great - love the mounted conversions!
I'm at the same crossroads to be honest - wait for the since 2018 rumoured Perry ones or convert some of my own. Atm I'm planning to use Footsore's Dark Ages cavalry as a base but I'm not sure. I guess some of the Perry mounted crusaders could be use as a base for more 'heavy' cavalry with some Galloglass headswaps, of course.
Anyway, very inspiring stuff!
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Hi again, and Happy New Year!
Looking great - love the mounted conversions!
I'm at the same crossroads to be honest - wait for the since 2018 rumoured Perry ones or convert some of my own. Atm I'm planning to use Footsore's Dark Ages cavalry as a base but I'm not sure. I guess some of the Perry mounted crusaders could be use as a base for more 'heavy' cavalry with some Galloglass headswaps, of course.
Anyway, very inspiring stuff!
Thanks, and funny you should mention that with the Perry crusaders! lol
I've finally got round to putting together a full unit of Irish cavalry and put a post about it on the blog! https://happy-chappy-miniatures.blogspot.com/2023/01/late-medievalrenaissance-irish-cavalry.html (https://happy-chappy-miniatures.blogspot.com/2023/01/late-medievalrenaissance-irish-cavalry.html)
(https://i.imgur.com/3gFpOro.jpg)
As with the command base, unfortunately it's pretty difficult to find figures to actually represent the Irish cavalry of the 15th and 16th centuries, so that meant it was time to go to the conversion table to put some together!
This post by Oli has been an absolute lifesaver in terms of the research involved and for design ideas, so I highly recommend checking it out! http://camisado1500s.blogspot.com/2018/02/irish-chieftan-and-noble-cavalry.html (http://camisado1500s.blogspot.com/2018/02/irish-chieftan-and-noble-cavalry.html)
Based on Oli's post, I decided to use two main visual references when planning out the figures, The Image of Irelande and the Book of the Burkes. In particular, plate 9 of The Image of Irelande shows a fight between Irish cavalry and their English counterparts:
(https://i.imgur.com/UPMMZvE.png)
This image has a few interesting features, where some of the Irish cavalry have some unusual segmented helmets, and almost all of them have large round shields, but they're being worn either on their chests or tied to their backs. The English cavalry in the same illustration also have their shields tied to their chests, so this might just be artistic license by the artist though
In the Book of the Burkes, there's also a helpful illustration of an Anglo-Irish cavalryman (which Oli also cites). This one is slightly different to the ones in The Image of Irelande where the cavalryman has a long shirt which extends past his mail, and a pointed bascinet-style helmet
(https://i.imgur.com/PKJaUAB.jpg)
According to Seán Ó Domhnaill in Warfare in Sixteenth-Century Ireland, the Irish horse "were armed with headpeaces, shirtes of mayle or jackes, a sword, a skayne (a short-sword) and a speare." Ó Domhnaill also confirms that the Irish cavalry did not use stirrups, used a unique type of saddle, and held their spears overarm to thrust. This supports the illustrations in the other sources, so I thought that gave a solid foundation to go from!
So with that in mind, I needed to find figures which:
- (Mostly) had period-appropriate mail shirts
- Had overarm poses for their spears
- Could scale visually with the Perry War of the Roses range
In the end I settled on the Perry Norman sculpts, to make sure they scaled correctly, and thankfully they had a pack of overarm spear users too! Once that was settled, I trimmed down their mail shirts to be much shorter, in line with other 15th/16th century designs, and swapped their heads for Perry Irish ones
(https://i.imgur.com/4ziBD30.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/x4X3LlN.jpg)
This base had a figure I based explicitly on the illustration in The Book of the Burkes, with the long white shirt, red leggings and pointed bascinet
(https://i.imgur.com/8FliTcU.jpg)
And finally I wanted to have a go sculpting one of those odd segmented helmets on one of the figures, so I added one to the final base here
(https://i.imgur.com/fa4I1Su.jpg)
And finally here's a few pictures of the whole bunch together
(https://i.imgur.com/6YG5Whm.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/zP4m9si.jpg)
Hopefully they've turned out ok! I got a lightbox for Christmas so I've been trying that out for the photos! lol
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They look great altogether. The best I have ever seen in fact. I think you have set the standard!
The lad from the Book of the Burkes shows a Cotun/Aketon/Gambeson under his mail rather than a shirt. They were sometimes decorated as shown.
As far as I know wearing shields on the chest/back was a real practice rather than an artistic convention.
The "skayne" was a long knife rather than a short sword. Unusually for Ireland it emphasised the point rather than the edge. It was popular with all Irish military men. I'd say it was designed to cope with plate armour at very close quarters. Later in the period Irish pike men threw them at the conclusion of a successful engagement.
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They look great altogether. The best I have ever seen in fact. I think you have set the standard!
The lad from the Book of the Burkes shows a Cotun/Aketon/Gambeson under his mail rather than a shirt. They were sometimes decorated as shown.
As far as I know wearing shields on the chest/back was a real practice rather than an artistic convention.
The "skayne" was a long knife rather than a short sword. Unusually for Ireland it emphasised the point rather than the edge. It was popular with all Irish military men. I'd say it was designed to cope with plate armour at very close quarters. Later in the period Irish pike men threw them at the conclusion of a successful engagement.
Thanks for the kind words! And that's some really interesting information too! Thanks for the clarification!
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Fab stuff Happy. Great idea to do the head swaps! :-*
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Lots of useful information and great looking figs/conversion. :D
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When you say Norman's, I taken it you are referring to the crusader range correct?
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When you say Norman's, I taken it you are referring to the crusader range correct?
Yup! Exactly, I used a mix of the Lance Overarm, and Attacking-With-Swords kits
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Groovy
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These conversions are so cool
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Oh, they look really good!! :o
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What a marvelous project. And your Irish could easily confront Essex and his army a few years later!
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Oh btw, where did you get all the round studded shields?
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Thanks for the kind words everyone!
Oh btw, where did you get all the round studded shields?
The round shields are a mix of The Assault Group shields:
https://theassaultgroup.co.uk/product/target-shield/
https://theassaultgroup.co.uk/product/borderers-targe/
And Dixon miniatures' Flodden shields
https://www.dixon-minis.com/shop/flodden-1513/HSS1/
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Nicely done :)