A Doomed Pretenders Project - (03/01, Finished Irish Cavalry Unit)

[OB]

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.

[HappyChappy439]

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



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  )

[Little Odo]

They look splendid.

[OB]

No bother at all and nice to see your latest.  All good stuff.

[glenning]

Looking great - very inspiring since I'm working on an Irish force myself ATM! Can't wait to see more.

[HappyChappy439]

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:





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:




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)



Hopefully they've turned out ok!

[Little Odo]

Great looking unit

[MaleGriffin]

Bravo! Nicely done!

[Ceeteegee]

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.

[HappyChappy439]

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!  ) 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






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:



Hopefully they've turned out ok!

[Charlie_]

Excellent! The mix of yellows works really well.

[OB]

Very nice indeed.

[Stuart]

Excellent work on those 😃

[glenning]

Great work, as always!

[Knight-Captain Tyr]

I somehow missed this project. What a job you've done!  Really outstanding work, love the gallowglass in particular. Will be following this one keenly.