charge your bills!

 Been playing with the miliput, here's what i came up with.

The shafts arn't exacly perfectly straight, but i like them. I was inspired by the metal figrues and wanted a more agressive pose. 

I needed more billmen as in the Wars (and Basic Impetus) the bow diminished in numbers due to loses, at least i think so. Any way, in Basic Impetus armies have almost 1-1 archers and billmen, more bill men if you count the men at arms. These will add a bit of variety to the forces.

Perrys finished

Well, one box at least!

Here are my first 40 Perry miniatures in all their glory. Just one more box to go and the mounted men at arms are out too :)

Click on the images for a bigger picture.



Here you can see my hand painted flag for the Staffords. Not amazing, but it looks right.

Right, i must finish basing my dark age figures but need more grass, and my movement bases could do with a sprinkle of sand. how much time do i have this weekend...?

Box art

Just found the page for a great artist here. He's the man who does the fireforge games art, excellent stuff!

Stepping into RPGs

I've been a bit random on the gaming front at late. I've painted more of the Perry figs, and now waiting for my local store to get some in so i can have some cavalry figures (i have lots of figures, but only about 6 cavalry!)
However, i've been having some fun doing some RPGs, partially inspired by Bard's West kingdom RPG. I surfed the net for some rules and found Platemail, an old rule set i think, but free and i like them :).
Here's my first character i created:
Name: Glayn
Race: human
Class: warrior
Abilities; heqrty, survival, perception
Gifts/curses: liar
Hits: 2
Combat pool: 1
Armour class: 6
Move: 20(16)
Morale: +1
Reaction: 0 (-2 to gentlemen and nobles)
Gear: Leather armour, sword, dagger, 25 silver shillings.
This chap's a Border Lander (I set the story in my fantasy world, Runissia, more in another post...), and at the beginning of the tale he was in the trading city of Orfald, hanging around for some work. He found some, joining a mercenary band who left the city to go fight some Kaliad triebsmen or something.
Alas, his adventure didn't last long, as a band of Kaliad ambushed them and massacred the band, leaving none alive. It's a cruel world.

So, learning some lessons, i created another character, Wyth, and let ly imagination take me. I ended up making three characters; Wyth, his liege lord Ret Jacob (Ret for ritter, a knight in Runissia) and his side-kick Grus, the huge, ugly leper with a mace. Wyth isn't the nicest guy to know, being a blackguard (the term used in the book for someone not very nice and immoral) and after an attqack in an inn, Jacob sent him to be the master at arms of the old Ingaar.
Being like he is, Wyth has so far made enemies with the local dorva (or priest) and Ingaar tries not to see him when possible. Ingaar's standard bearer, Bergon, also attacked him when they were dealing with justice; in a nutshell, neighbouring men burn farm, Wyth goes to arrest them but a small battle evolves, in which Wyth looses two men. Wyth tells his men to burn the hall and village but Bergon stands against him, threatening him with his sword. But, like all bad guys, Wyth is quicker, and all but slices Bergon's left hand off and sends him away. To make it even funnier (or worse, it depends the point of view), the men are starting to like their new masrter at arms!

I love a good story!

Perry Update

The paint brushes have been busy! Here is my latest batch...

Two archers from the retinue of Warwick the kingmaker and a banner bearer who can stand in for anyone. I like warwick's badge, nice and simple to do :) 

My first fully harnessed man at arms. The banner is not glued on so i can swap it for any other. 

Warwick's force so far; 4 archers and the man at arms

 I've also done a couple of men for the retinue of Sommerset, the 'arch enemy' of the yorkists. Luckly, i can also use these for lord falconbourg (brother to the kingmaker) or even richard of york at a pinch.

This pictures to show the banner bearer with a different flag, here the livery badge of Sommerset.

My Dark ages have not been neglected, and i am in the process of basing them, doing about 6 while i wait for the perries to dry. Some pictures soon i hope, and maybe a battle report...

Base update

The time of cardboard bases us over! I decided to get on with some basing and covered my viking bases with sand and painted a couple up and added static grass. Here are the first two.

I also started on on the Perry figures, painted up five and based them this morning. These chaps are from the retinue of Henry Stafford, just need to do the staffordshire knot but a finer brush is needed. The armoured billman can also serve as a french or blue liveried man, and i plan to paint a french retinue, mostly foot men and a handful of peasant archers led by mounted men at arms, just got to wait for their release...

Well, i've still got 75 men to paint before the mounted knights, best get to work.

Kit bashing

The other day I saw that Wargames Factory were organising a competition, and i felt inspired to try something out. My initial idea was to make an Impetus type unit, and i went on the search for men.

I had plenty of Viking bodies still and i planned to use them. Then, i remembered the Perry parts left over from my first box of men...

After a little experimenting, i discovered the Perries work perfectly with the vikings! The arms fit well, and the helmeted heads look great on chain mail bodies. I've decided to use the last of my vikings zith chain mail to put together some men at arms for my WOTR armies, as well as a band of poorly armed militia chaps with spears, bills and bows. Some casualties will also be made, more later.

A perfect fit!



Another body, same head. I wonder what they look like with an armet...

A dry fit with a spear i had lying around. Perfect! Once i had this man together i suddenly had a thought; one halberd has chain mail sleeves...

I love it! This was the figure that made me want to make more men at arms. Time to open up the second box!

 The bad thing is that i've got work to do this afternoon :( So many figures, so little time.