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Author Topic: Charlie's 15th century - Some long-overdue Burgundians! (Feb 28)  (Read 152690 times)

Offline HappyChappy439

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Re: Charlie's 15th century - new unit of francs-archers (Jan 31)
« Reply #390 on: February 02, 2021, 01:14:40 AM »
(usefully in this period nobles often didn't wear heraldry on their person anymore, which suits me fine)

Huh! Didn't know that! I thought it was slightly later into the 1490s before heraldry was swapped out en-masse. Do you know when and/or why the trend started? (Though I feel like the English were slower on the trend and kept the battlefield heraldry a bit longer from what I've seen)

Offline Charlie_

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Re: Charlie's 15th century - new unit of francs-archers (Jan 31)
« Reply #391 on: February 02, 2021, 07:11:55 PM »
Huh! Didn't know that! I thought it was slightly later into the 1490s before heraldry was swapped out en-masse. Do you know when and/or why the trend started? (Though I feel like the English were slower on the trend and kept the battlefield heraldry a bit longer from what I've seen)

Well I really mean just how in general over the 15th century it became more common for the nobility to wear uncovered 'white harness' rather than wearing heraldic garments over the top. Compared to earlier centuries anyway.
You can happily paint some high-ranking noble in uncovered armour and not have to freehand paint his heraldry. Whereas in the 13th and 14th century i think painting heraldry must be unavoidable!

Offline Breazer

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Re: Charlie's 15th century - new unit of francs-archers (Jan 31)
« Reply #392 on: March 02, 2021, 10:28:31 AM »
These archers look fantastic! also if i can give a tip on how i paint white is always t feint it (hope i wrote it right) go with a slightly greyer colour or something a bit more muted than pure white so you can use the pure white or even a mix of the two colours to highlight with. it will still look like white in everyones eyes.

Offline Atheling

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Re: Charlie's 15th century - new unit of francs-archers (Jan 31)
« Reply #393 on: March 02, 2021, 02:12:37 PM »
These archers look fantastic! also if i can give a tip on how i paint white is always t feint it (hope i wrote it right) go with a slightly greyer colour or something a bit more muted than pure white so you can use the pure white or even a mix of the two colours to highlight with. it will still look like white in everyones eyes.

That's pretty much my method too though I tend to start darker with the grey in miniatures with a lot of contours. The Byzantine mini below was painted up from Vallejo Medium Grey with Vallejo Off white added with a final highlight of Vallejo White:

Offline Codsticker

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Re: Charlie's 15th century - new unit of francs-archers (Jan 31)
« Reply #394 on: March 03, 2021, 06:17:44 AM »
That's pretty much my method too ...
I just discovered that this year... after 20+ years.😖

Offline Charlie_

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Re: Charlie's 15th century - bits and bobs on the workbench (April 19)
« Reply #395 on: April 19, 2021, 09:19:44 PM »
Ok, today's post is just a sort of update of what I'm working on - no new units, but some things you might find interesting.

Painting is progressing but at a glacial pace now. A busy time at work, and an imminent house move, means the units aren't getting finished very quickly. I'm currently working on a second unit of French ordonnance archers, and I have lots of other things planned, which will take up all this year and probably much of 2022 as well! This is the list of my to-do list, some constructed, others still in the planning stage....

1 - A second unit of 20 French ordonnance archers.
2 - A second unit of 20 French francs-archers.
3 - A unit of 40 French infantry with polearms.
4 - A unit of French dismounted men-at-arms.
5 - A unit of Burgundian archers.
6 - Another unit of 50 German / Swiss pikemen.
7 - Various units of mounted crossbowmen.
8 - Various commander stands.
9 - An assortment of other cavalry.

Yes, that does look like a lot now that I've written it out....

So I'm currently painting the second French ordonnance archer unit - here is a picture of it assembled before I started painting it. I'm past the halfway point, but it won't be done for another few weeks yet.



It's more heavily converted than the first thing, let me show you a few details....

I've got a chap who does green stuff sculpting conversions for me - I've used him before to sculpt padded jacks onto some metal pikemen, and some riding boots for a few figures in the earlier archer unit. I got more of the boots sculpted for this unit, as they are supposed to be dismounted 'mounted' infantry. I also had the bright idea that some of them could have some mail added, so that they are wearing sleeveless livery jackets over mail shirts, making sure to pair them with arms wearing mail. I'm very pleased with how these came out.



Three of the models in this unit are also Wargames Foundry conversions  - the Foundry WOTR range was sculpted by the Perry twins way back in the 80s. It is a very mixed bag, some goofy looking sculpts, and others are fantastic. I wish they could be mixed in with their modern WOTR range, but they are unfortunately much smaller. I wanted to have a try at giving them new legs to make them taller - I've done this before with some Old Glory pikemen quite successfully. Fortunately I found a seller on ebay who sells them individually - I bookmarked various ones that I thought  looked good and the conversion would work on. Here are three of them. You need to make a clean cut somewhere below the waist, so it's much easier on those wearing coats or livery jackets. It won't work (or is beyond my skill) on most of the ones with full uncovered plate armour. I'm going to resculpt the hems of their coats to cover the joins and bring them a bit lower. The proportions might look a little odd from some angles - small arms perhaps? - but I will position them carefully in the unit so it's not glaringly obvious. On the two with polearms, I removed and drilled out their original weapons and gave them some better ones.



I also converted one of the Foundry light cavalrymen in a similar way - remove his legs, and give him new plastic Perry legs. I sat him on a metal horse, and also gave him a new plastic hand to make him into a mounted crossbowman. It worked very well I think! The Foundry riders fit on Perry horses pretty well, but do have funny stubby little legs.



I wanted to have a go with the heavy cavalry too, to bring some much needed variety to my large men-at-arms units. It seems the Foundry range has just four basic heavy cavalry bodies, with lots of different head variations - one with a livery jacket, one with some sort of fancy coat, and two in uncovered armour. Again, it would be too tricky to do it on the uncovered armours, but the other two work PERFECTLY. This conversion has one of the bodies wearing a coat and a cool kettle hat / bevor combo. I gave him new plastic legs and put him on a plastic horse. I also gave him a new right arm, cut off just below the shoulder, and to make the left arm match better i was actually able to remove his elbow-plate and replace it with a plastic one, which required some extensive carving.



I've got a few more of these i'll do one day - the body with the livery jacket is going to work very well I think.

While on the subject of cavalry, here are the first three mounted crossbowmen I've painted up. They are metals on metal horses - these sculpts are actually supposed to go on the larger plastic horses, but I fought they'd work better on the noticeably smaller metal horses. One of them has had a head swap. I've got a total of 20 mounted crossbowmen on the work bench, many of which are converted more extensively. I'm painting them one at a time when I need a break from infantry, and once I've got 5 done I will base them up.



Next, I just this week got another greenstuff commission delivered. I got a few more of the riding boots and mail combos, which I've used to make these chaps with swords and bucklers. The arms are converted too, made from several pieces to give them short mail sleeves over plated arms. The idea is to represent either less-well-armoured men-at-arms or well-armoured archers fighting in close quarters. Inspired by various Graham Turner paintings. I don't have a job for these guys yet, so it might be a long time before you ever see them in a unit.



And also a preview of whats to come with the French polearm unit.... I needed infantry in advancing polearm/pike poses wearing livery jackets over gambesons and mail shirts. These are variations of earlier pikeman conversions he's done for me. I'm really looking forward to getting this unit together!




Offline Charlie_

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Re: Charlie's 15th century - bits and bobs on the workbench (April 19)
« Reply #396 on: April 19, 2021, 09:26:17 PM »
Oh, and finally... I've started work on a blog / website. This will host all my research on the War of the Burgundian Succession for you to read, the same project log you'll get here, a full gallery of the collection, plus eventually other articles on conversion guides, terrain, battle reports, etc.

I've made a banner, what do you think?


Offline Atheling

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Re: Charlie's 15th century - bits and bobs on the workbench (April 19)
« Reply #397 on: April 19, 2021, 09:35:47 PM »
Quality work Charlie  :-* :-* :-*

Oh, and finally... I've started work on a blog / website. This will host all my research on the War of the Burgundian Succession for you to read, the same project log you'll get here, a full gallery of the collection, plus eventually other articles on conversion guides, terrain, battle reports, etc.

I've made a banner, what do you think?



I'd make it a little bit smaller. That was the advice given to me by the mods on here.

Offline Captain Blood

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Re: Charlie's 15th century - bits and bobs on the workbench (April 19)
« Reply #398 on: April 19, 2021, 09:39:42 PM »
Nice work Charlie, as ever :)
I particularly like those sword and buckler men.


I'd make it a little bit smaller. That was the advice given to me by the mods on here.


Only if you’re going to attach it to the bottom of your LAF posts  :)

I like the design.


Offline Atheling

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Re: Charlie's 15th century - bits and bobs on the workbench (April 19)
« Reply #399 on: April 19, 2021, 09:44:39 PM »
Nice work Charlie, as ever :)
I particularly like those sword and buckler men.

Only if you’re going to attach it to the bottom of your LAF posts  :)

I like the design.

Ah, right, my mistake. If it's for your blog then it's the perfect size and a damn good design  8)

Offline Blackwolf

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Re: Charlie's 15th century - bits and bobs on the workbench (April 19)
« Reply #400 on: April 19, 2021, 09:50:44 PM »
Lovely work :-*
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Offline commissarmoody

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Re: Charlie's 15th century - bits and bobs on the workbench (April 19)
« Reply #401 on: April 19, 2021, 11:09:02 PM »
Cool design, and great sword and buckler men.
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Online Silent Invader

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Re: Charlie's 15th century - bits and bobs on the workbench (April 19)
« Reply #402 on: April 19, 2021, 11:16:56 PM »
That’s an impressively hefty update  8)
My LAF Gallery is HERE
Minis (foot & mounted) finished in 2024 = 0
(2023 = 151; 2022 = 204; 2021 = 123; 2020 = ???)

Offline Muzfish4

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Re: Charlie's 15th century - bits and bobs on the workbench (April 19)
« Reply #403 on: April 19, 2021, 11:24:57 PM »
Terrific stuff.

Your banner design looks great.

Offline Sirolf

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Re: Charlie's 15th century - bits and bobs on the workbench (April 19)
« Reply #404 on: April 20, 2021, 12:56:49 AM »
Great design on your banner and amazing work on the models. Two quick questions:

What's your scheme color for flesh?

Also, where are those heads on the french pikemen/polearm conversions from?

Keep it up!

 

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