Robin Hood Swashbuckling - Larger than life (update 19/11)

[Helen]

Very nicely done. Love the deer and fox.

[white knight]

Thank you, gentlemen. I have a few more animals to add, and of course some more characters will also be forthcoming.

[white knight]

Very good, really enjoying this and the three musketeers thread.

I've got a third theme coming that you might like as well then. 

[white knight]

We all know and remember the scene from every good Robin Hood tale where Prince John and the Sheriff concoct a plan to lure Robin in the open by organising an archery tournament and counting on his pride to join in. Well, I picked up this banged up Del Prado Hundred Years War longbow archer for a few euros and while his attire worked for the setting, I didn't quite picture him as one of the merry men or the Sheriff's lackeys, so I decided to make him one of the other hopeful contestants (who, unlike Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham, did not count on facing Robin Hood in the tournament).

Some minor conversions were done to get him ready: the long knife and buckler hanging from his belt were replaced with a leather pouch and a broken arrow point was replaced, but other than that, he was good to go (after stripping what remained of the paint). The original colours made him look too much like a soldier and not enough like a commoner trying his luck, so I had to change it. For a suitable colour scheme I rewatched the scene from the Errol Flynn movie and tried to get something with the same feel. A few details were copied from the Merry Men figures, like the bow colour and arrow fletching.

A comparison of the original figure (mine was a cheap loose copy, with chipped paint), next to the repaint.

Del Prado Crécy archer: original and repainted version


As long as Robin Hood doesn't show his face, that golden arrow will be mine!

The Del Prado figures fit very well with the King & Country figures size and stylewise


Do you have a minute to talk about our Lord and Saviour Robin?

[white knight]

An archery contest wouldn't be the same without a Robin competing in a clever disguise, that's ultimately pointless as he intends to win and go up close to the Prince and Sheriff to accept his reward. Aside from the Sherwood Robin with bow and the "final duel" Robin with sword, King & Country also makes a Robin in disguise, and once again echos of Errol Flynn's Robin Hood abound. Another great model.


Noone will recognise me with this hat tilted in a dashing way.


Now where have we seen this man before...?

The finalists line up for another volley. The chap with the cloak seems to be doing very well indeed.


Can't they move those targets to a distance fit for a proper man to shoot at?

[Captain Blood]

Flipping brilliant, the whole thing. Such a good idea and so beautifully executed. I am envious!

[DintheDin]

So sweet memories 
So beautiful pic!
Well done! Well done!

[Malamute]

Love the latest addditions.

[Eric the Shed]

gorgeous - great idea...interested to know which rules you are using

[white knight]

Not sure. For my related Three Musketeers project in this scale, I intend to use the simple "...And all for one" rules, but for these, I will have to see. I do have the "En Garde" rules as well wich might be suitable.

[white knight]

I had a few more woodland animals to finish from those Lemax sets I showed earlier. A set of wild rabbits for the Merry Men to hunt and a couple squirrels (which I suppose could also go in a forest stew at a pinch). Nothing too exciting, but a nice bit of background scenery to add to a board or setup. These aren't my best paintjobs by far, but then they were pretty rough casts and not very inspiring to work on. I think they look the part though.

The rabbit stew, au naturel:


Did you hear something?


Err... what's up, Doc?

And the squirrels. They may be slightly big for the scale, practically the size of the rabbits, but I'm sure it will work out fine.


Aww... nuts!


My God, giant squirrels!

[DintheDin]

The rabbits and the squirrels! So cute 
They add life to your already gorgeous set! Cheers!

[white knight]

While Robin's main intrest is the archery competition, it wouldn't be a proper tournament without a bout of jousting. So here we have the yellow and blue knight doing what knights do on these occasions. These were a bit of an impulse buy, as the set was on clear-out due to the models being retired. But they can be made to fit into this project without too much forcing and they are oh-so-lovely. Just a reminder, the figures come painted to that standard and I had to do nothing to the set.


The Sheriff and Sir Guy watch the tournament with an appreciative eye...


You could poke out someone's eye with that thing!

Some close-ups of the knights and their gorgeous heraldry. First the yellow knight:





Followed by the blue knight, look at that barding:





The jousting barrier isn't bad either. Six different shields adorn the sides:

[white knight]

Now to dig out that 20 year old White Dwarf I have that included a set of jousting rules. 

With the majority of the Merry Men being armed with bows and most of the Sheriff's men being armed with handweapons and shields, I wondered what could be done to make the forces more balanced. Then I remembered the end of the Adventures of Robin Hood movie, when Richard returns in disguise with a few fellow crusaders.

As King & Country already has an extensive Crusaders range (as wella s a few variants of King Richard), I would add a third faction, that could be combined with the Merry Men. I will aim to collect only the models with matching livery, to maintain a semblance of uniformity. This is the first of those. The fact that it incorporates green is a nice bonus as a tie-in with the Merry Men.


Look at the size of my pointy stick, it's huge!

As usual, loads of character and lovely detail from K&C:


I thought when I got home, the fighting would be over...

[Vanvlak]

Loads of more stuff - splendid show. 
I like the jousting angle to the Nottingham Tournament and Archery Contest, and the returning Crusader is a good idea.
Is that WD really 20 years old? Good grief