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

[HappyChappy439]

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!







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:


And here's Fitzgerald with all the Kern so far:


Hopefully they've turned out ok! I'm hoping I'll be able to spend some more time advancing the project going forward!

[Atheling]

Cracking brushwork amigo 

[Charlie_]

Nice, the simple conversion for Fitzgerald is very effective.

Multi-basing is the way to go for sure!

[HappyChappy439]

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! 

[OB]

Very well done indeed.

[HappyChappy439]

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.




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


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


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


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!

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!)


And finally, a couple of pictures of the command base on a grassy field




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!

[MaleGriffin]

OMG! Brilliant! Absolutely Fantastic! Masterful brushwork! Astonishing characterization! I love the poses!

[Charlie_]

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.

[painterman]

Lovely work on those - great command base!

[commissarmoody]

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?

[HappyChappy439]

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!

[commissarmoody]

Good eye. I will have to pick that set up.

[Stuart]

Excellent work on these, you can really see the thought and composition you’ve put into it.

Looking forward to seeing more 😊

[Captain Blood]

Very nicely done 

[Metternich]

Marvelous painting.  My one quibble is that I don't think a lord would wear his own livery.