Normans - a slow project

[Keith]

Very nice indeed, Sir

[rumacara]

Lovely painting.
We want more.

[marrony]

Superb

[Cubs]

I managed to squeeze three more lovely old Citadel Normans onto the work desk and they're finally done! I deliberately went for round shields for two of these guys, just to shake things up a bit. Since Norman knights weren't happy about dismounting to fight for the most part, I figured these guys are on campaign and are feeling the pinch a bit, having to make do in less than ideal circumstances - hence they've lost their first (or second) choice shields. Or they just like their round shields, or whatever. The rest of the unit with all have the standard teardrop shaped ones and a little variety never hurt anyone!

First up the standard bearer - he was a spearman in a great pose for holding a flag, so I clipped off his spear, drilled out his hands and put in a wire pike, clipped down to size. The flag is homemade from paper and the design loosely based on a De Hauteville heraldry, but perhaps a cadet branch or cousin of one of the big boys, since it's blue and white check with red, instead of red and white check with blue. The shield is from a plastic sprue and the design a Battle Flags transfer, with added grime and battle damage.





This guy likes his coat of arms enough to go full-on coordinated with painted shield, helmet and matching clothing. The shield is hand-painted.





Finally, a duplicate of the earlier thrusting spearman, but this guy had lost his spear, so I drilled out his hand and replaced it with a plastic one from a Viking sprue. I thought about giving him a sword for variety, but kept it as a spear in the end. His crappy round shield is obviously pretty elderly and not his first choice, having been scrounged or looted from somewhere when things got desperate.

[rumacara]

Great miniatures.
That wooden shield is something.

[Swordisdrawn]

Oh my that painting is brilliant. The shields are superb!

[Captain Blood]

Boootiful Cubs 

[Olsson]

Brilliant painting as seen above! I see what you mean with the expressive faces, they all look quite dynamic and different. I especially love how muted colours you have on the wood, bring bright without being super stark. How do you paint the shields to get that muted appearance?

[Cubs]

How do you paint the shields to get that muted appearance?

I keep the colours pretty plain - only a base coat and then a midtone, no highlighting or anything. Then I mess about with washes and inks to stain it all, dull the colours and basically dirty it up - making sure a bit more of the dark washes stay lower down. Then it gets a very very light drybrush with a pale beige colour to look like dust or the leather backing showing through - a bit more of this on the top part of the shield.

With the wood grain shields, it's a dark brown base, then I paint the shield colours on the surface, then it all gets progressively lighter drybrushing and more washes and inks at the end to add shade. It's a bit heart-breaking to see the shield design slowly being obscured (especially if it's taken you ages to do!) but it gets that tatty old decaying look I like. 

[Tonhel]

I love your painting style . Very well done!

[Atheling]

Nice work! 

There are some real gems in the old Citadel/Wargames Foundry range and not just for Normans, there are some great Norse too 

[tancrede]

Slow but beautiful project, sir !
I love your painting style, and on those old minis it really does the job very well. 

[Harry Faversham]

When I look at those, it makes me realise mine are painted miniatures, but Cubs's look like real miniature people!

[Breazer]

you really make these minis gain a lot of character with your paint job! Well done!

[Belisarius]

I love the way you’ve recycled these older figures and brought them back to the table . They look like they’ve rolled in the mud when their horse has fallen , discarded the cumbersome teardrop and picked up a handier shield . Figures are always interesting when they look like they have a backstory. I’m enjoying this ongoing thread . ✔️