Captain Blood's Fireforge medieval thread. P33. Enter the Victrix Knights

[Captain Blood]

Well, real life has got in the way of my concerted effort on my Wars of The Roses Mounted Men At Arms project over the last few weeks, and is unlikely to let up until September. So I've decided to wait until I can concentrate properly on that again in the autumn. Meanwhile, I've found a little time here and there to dabble with my box of Fireforge feudal era knights (the Templar box). Thought I'd share the work in progress as it develops...

Firstly I have to say that these aren't a patch on the Perry plastics. Nowhere near. Some of the detail is soft, some of the anatomy is suspect, and most of the weapons are ludicrously outsized: Warhammer-style. There are many less options and parts in the box, and the parts which are included offer less flexibility.

All that said, they're are a lot better than some of the other plastics I'm seeing out there, and - as I suspected - they take the paint very well.

The horses are well underway, but first of all, here are three of the finished riders.

First up, Sir Guy de Mordant... He's a straight build from the box.







Next, Sir Renaud de Brassey, who looks like he might once have had something to do with some military order or other. Perhaps he's a defrocked priest, hence the indenture in his livery... By the way, please nobody feel the need to offer a lecture on the laws of heraldry. This is all purely fanciful and I don't give a monkeys if they didn't have this colour or that colour, or that combination of stripes and spots.
I'm just going for the decorative effect







This is Sir Bouchant de la Moule. I have given him a mace hand from the Perrys MMAA box. The Fireforge swords appear to be more or less proportionate. The other hand weapons are massively outsized. You wouldn't be able to lift them. The lances (as you can see from Sir Renaud) are like telegraph poles, but I'm going to live with them since this is only a diverting side project, and I don't suppose I'll ever make up more than one box of these...







Now here's the next figure in progress... Sir Robert Montfichet, chatelain of Starborough Castle and an old warhorse. Again, I've replaced the bonkers axe in the Fireforge box with a more proportionate Perry hand axe. The head is a GW Empire spare part. A fair bit of filling and titivating with green stuff on Sir Robert, to add a mail coif to his neck (it will be textured), and make sense of his helm slung from his belt...







More to follow...

BY THE WAY, IF ANYONE HAS A FEW OF THE FIREFORGE TEUTONIC KNIGHT HEADS WEARING GREAT HELMS SURPLUS TO REQUIREMENTS, PLEASE PM ME.
THANKS 

[Gibby]

Lovely paint jobs! Your painting style fits Medievals perfectly. I see what you mean about the figures; soft details in place and slightly awkward anatomy, but they paint up perfectly.

[einarolafson]

Fantastic painting job on them. I like them a lot.

[tomek917]

The lances (as you can see from Sir Renaud) are like telegraph poles, but I'm going to live with them since this is only a diverting side project, and I don't suppose I'll ever make up more than one box of these...

  Exactly what I was thinking! But you make them look good, looking forward to a few more!

[Mick_in_Switzerland]

Well done!  They look great.

What make is the bright silver metallic colour?  It looks very good.

I also have a pack of these Templars but have only used two of the barded horses for my medieval Swiss project.
I have built and painted the Teutonics set.  I understand the comments about the oversize weapons.
I will wait to see how this thread develops - I still  have a lot of work to do on my 1476 project.
(I also have some Victrix Athenians in the queue...)


Mick

[CyberAlien312]

Amazing! You always get such great results!

[Yankeepedlar01]

You've made a good job of those, Captain B, but they're still Plastic...

[Dawnbringer]

I've tried to point out to the manufacturer that their other hand weapons are too large on their facebook page, but they brushed it aside saying they were the correct size. I was too lazy to take a couple photos and prove them wrong as I figured they wouldn't listen anyhow.

I figure the mace can be saved by cutting the part of the shaft inbetween the top of the hand and the bottom of the head, and then reattaching them, it won't look like he's swinging it, but hopefully will be ok. I'm saving the axes for when their foot troops come out, as I might be able to use it as a 2-handed axe. The flail is just useless though.

I've also cut about an inch off the length of the lances as they were as long as my metal Perry pikes. I don't mind the thickness quite so much as that should stop them from breaking as I've had issues with plastic lances on GW knight of gondor and with the plastic Perry pikes.

[Malamute]

Wicked cool

I shall look forward to putting these to the sword in the fullness of time.

[Alfrik]

Nice heraldic work there 

[Captain Blood]

Wicked cool

I shall look forward to putting these to the sword in the fullness of time.

Heh heh... They are an army built for a single purpose... To destroy your peasant scum... 

You've made a good job of those, Captain B, but they're still Plastic...

Alas David, they are. But although these are certainly not the best plastic figures out there, I don't think they are any less convincing than most metal figures I've seen for this period... 

[War In 15MM]

Beautiful work!  Richard

[Dr Mathias]

Very nice! Thanks for posting this 'side project'- which I'm sure will fill many of us with envy.

[aggro84]

The paintjobs are amazing Captain!

[Hubbynz]

For weakley scuplted minis they sure paint up pretty damn well, excellent work. Although they are historical minis I am sure that they were designed for potential crossover in the fantasy arena.