Euron Grejoy and a Braavosi bravo

Just a quick post to drop pictures of a couple figures I have semi-finished (i.e. basing time has not come around yet: I usually wait until I have a significant number of figures needing bases done before pulling out all the gear). These two both need varnishing as well, but in order to keep the posts rocking, I thought I would throw them up here.

Here is a figure I have converted to be Euron 'Crow's Eye' Grejoy. I know, I know, the patch is over the wrong eye, but we make due with what we have.

The body and upper legs are from the Perry WotRs figures, as well as the arms. The boots are from a Perry plastic dismounted Napoleonic dragoon. The cloak is from the Fireforge Teutonic infantry set, and, lastly, the head is from a Warlord plastic Imperial Roman sprue. I though he turned out with quite a nice swashbuckling look. I might sculpt a base for him that looks like wooden planks of a ship's deck.

The figure below was posted in the last post unpainted. It is meant to be a swaggering Braavosi bravo, a brash young swordsman who prowls the canals searching for a fight.

The main body is Perry WotR. The slashed sleeves are from a Warlord Pike and Shotte command sprue I had lying around. The head is from a Foundry dark age warrior of some sort. The frilly collar is sculpted by me.


I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Song of Ice and Fire WIPs

Here is a glimpse of some stuff for my aSoIaF project that is currently on my painting table.

First, we have another command stand for one of my fictional houses, whom I will fully introduce once the figure is based and the banner complete.

Obviously it still has a little work to be done on it, and I am hoping I will have the time to do so by the end of the week. School started up last week so my time has had more demands placed on it now than in summer.

Details on figure compositions will be given once it is finished as well.

Here, too, are a couple assembled and primed figures:

This one I intend to paint as Ser Barristan the Bold

And this is a Braavosi bravo, looking for a street brawl.

Painting will come soon enough!
Thanks for looking!

Lord Edmynd Crownbeck of Crownbeck (and better Aegon the Conqueror pics)

I have completed another command style stand for my A Song of Ice and Fire gaming experiences. Here we have the crafty and conninving Lord Edmynd of House Crownbeck. Their words (not featured on their banner) are "A Trickle Becomes a Torrent."

The figures are all Perry plastic WotR figures, with a few modifications. The head of Lord Edmynd is from a Warlord Games ECW plastic figure of which I had a sample sprue. The horse is a Perry metal. The missive and seal the herald is handing him is scratchbuilt from paper and greenstuff.


Also, here are a couple better shots of my Aegon the Conqueror figure that I was able to snap today.

I hope you enjoy!

Ser Julien Grimlowe, Lord of Goldmoor

Here is the first completed command stand for my planned A Song of Ice and Fire gaming experiences (mentioned in my previous post) using my now fairly decent sized (c. 650 figures) War of the Roses collection. The characters are representing fictional minor houses who reside in the border region between the Westerlands and the Riverlands.

This is Julien Grimlowe, the young, arrogant and adventurous 'Black Lion' of Goldmoor. House Grimlowe's blazon is a barry-bendy of 8, or and gules, a lion rampant sable. Their words are 'By Tooth and Claw.'

The figures are all Perry plastics, except for the horse, which is a Perry metal (I wanted a more static pose that the plastics, unfortunately do not provide without serious modification), and Ser Julien's head, which is cut from a Foundry slinger from their now defunct line of Franks.

His faithful squire makes sure that the brash Ser Julien does not careen into battle without his helm, as the lord regards him with disdain. I like how this one turned out. I am working on incorporating more motion into my multi-figure bases and attempting to tell a story through their posing. It sort of began with this figure (posted in a previous post), my Edward IV command stand.

Here too are a couple shots of a portion of my War of the Roses figures in action, fighting at the battle of Tewksbury. The wife and I were play-testing a scenario I am working on for Historicon 2015.

The van and main close on each other. Richard is in danger of outflanking if only Somerset could navigate the 'foul laynes and dykes' on his right. Here Hastings and Devon stare at each other from across the field.

Edward's retinue has crushed Wenlock's mainward in the center of the field. Only a single group of levied array troops remains facing the enemy.

I hope you enjoy!

A Song of Ice and Fire character figures

In between paintings of large batches of War of the Roses figures (I have recently finished about 80 more), I like to spend some time refreshing by doing something a little different. I have been a huge fan of George R. R. Martin's ASong of Ice and Fire series since I first came across them about 8 years ago. It has gone on to become quite the pop-culture item in its TV incarnation as Game of Thrones on HBO. In my most recent refresher time I have converted and modeled some character figures from the series. Whether I use them for any gaming, the future will tell. I am planning to do a fictional campaign in a the aSoIaF realm using my WotR collection with newly made command stands and vignettes (more on those in coming posts), creating fictional houses to play out a regional conflict between local lords.

I thought I would use this space to post up a few pictures of characters I have converted and painted up.

"A ruler who hides behind paid executioners soon forgets what death is."

First we have Eddard 'Ned' Stark and his massive Valyrian steel great sword 'Ice.' The body is a Perry plastic from the WotR infantry boxes. The blade for the sword came from some old ridiculous fantasy miniature. The crosspiece is a bit of a sprue , and the pommel comes from a Wargames Factory gladius. The head is a plasticWargames Factory ancient German tribesman, complete with the trademark Wargames Factory 'mushy face,' as I like to call it. I think this is the least pleasing figure of the bunch, due to the bad face sculpt, and the coloring of the sword. I was going for a bluish tint but not sure I like the way it turned out. The Valyrian steel effect I later came up with looks better (see Jon Snow below).

"I think it passing odd that I am loved by one for a kindness I never did, and reviled by so many for my finest act."

Here is Jaime 'The Kingslayer' Lannister, (spoiler alert!) after his run in with the Brave Companions and his heel-to-semi-face turn). The body is once again a Perry plastic, the cloak is from the Fireforge Teutonic sergeants plastic box, the head is chopped from a Foundry Roman head that came stuck on a stake meant as a Germanic/Gallic decoration. The armor is polished looking I think, washed at one point with yellow to give it a golden-white appearance.

"I have won every battle, yet somehow I'm losing the war."

Above is Robb Stark, 'The Young Wolf.' The components are fairly similar to the Jaime figure, body by Perry plastics, cloak by Fireforge, and a Foundry head hacked off.

"There’s no shame in fear, my father told me, what matters is how we face it."

Jon Snow is almost entirely from the Fireforge Teutonic infantry set. There is a little sculpting done at teh back of the right arm to get it in the position I wanted. The wolf's head pommel piece was sculpted by me from Kneadatite 'green stuff'. The figure is decent, and I like how it turned out, though I wish the nose on the Fireforge hooded head was not so broad. It is a little overpowering for the face, and does not quite look as I would want.

Here we have a Targaryen of some sort. The armor is inspired by Rhaegar's at the Battle of the Trident, but I could not quite get the whole Targaryen sigil on the chest, so one dragon head will have to suffice, rather than three. This one is entirely from the Perry platic WotR boxes. The dragon on the chest was altered and fitted by me from a 6th ed. Warhammer dark elf shield decoration.

I hope you enjoy, and say tuned for the some pictures of my command vignettes I intend to use for the campaign.

S.V.B.E.

Lancastrian Commanders

Here we feature the commanders of my recently painted Lancastrian forces for the Battle of Tewkesbury. We have already had one re-fight, using a version of Piquet's Hostile Realms which I have modified slightly for period flavor and tactics, and I am tentatively calling 'Hostile Roses.' There will be a short write-up on the action in the days to come when I find the time.

Here are the ward commanders beginning with the vanward and proceeding down the line.

First we have Edmund Beaufort, 4th Duke of Somerset (and his infamous axe). One of the myths surrounding the Lancastrian collapse on the field is that Somerset, in his rage at John Wenlock over his lack of support for Somerset's (botched) flanking maneuver, caved in the old soldier's skull with his axe--an act which helped precipitate the rout. He was facing Richard, Duke of Gloucester across the field (as Edward IV had his vanward on the left, presumably to match his more skilled younger brother against the slightly more experienced Beaufort, rather than leaving the job to Hastings, who had performed poorly at Barnet in the weeks prior).

'Souvent me souvient!' (Somerset = Perry metal; others = Old Glory 25's) 

In the mainward we have the tough ol' John, Lord Wenlock. Wenlock had once been on the Yorkist side, but that was because he was a devoted follower of the Earl of Warwick. When Warwick betrayed to Margaret of Anjou, he took his seasoned commander with him. For the scenario, I have put Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales with Wenlock in a sort of 'understudy' role and as an objective for the Yorkist forces. Wenlock was pitted against the ever-doughty (and later doughy) Edward IV.

Not even his turtle-like appearance could save him from  Somerset's fury. (Wenlock = Perry metal; others = Old Glory 25's)

The eighteen-year-old needs a little advice from the Hospitaller John Langstrother. (Edward and Langstrother  = Perry metal; others = Old Glory 25's)

Bringing up the rear is John Courtenay, 15th Earl of Devon. Devon was squared off across the field from Lord Hastings. He was not particularly influential in the battle from reports, since it was largely decided on the other side.

All dressed up, nowhere to go. (Devon = Perry metal; others = Old Glory 25's) 

I hope you enjoy the photos! Good gaming to all.

S. V. B. E.
The Fox

Edward IV Mounted and Perry Plastics

I have recently purchased some boxes of Perry Plastics from their Wars of the Roses range. Now, I admit, I have loathed my previous experiences with plastic figures. But I have come to realize that this was likely due to the fact that my original plans with all of the plastics I have previously purchased was to build an entire force with them. After modelling one unit, fatigue sets in as I become sick of dealing with fiddly-bits and wondering why on earth someone would cast a plastic miniature in 12-15 different pieces. Exasperated with the agonizingly slow progress, I give up.

This time, however, I purchased some plastic sets with a new mindset: to use them to build small groups of unique figures, for, say, things like command stands and individual characters. This approach is already paying off. It also helps that the Perry plastics are the first ones that hold sufficient detail for them to not look blobular (Wargames Factory, anyone?) to me. The Perrys have crafted plastic miniatures that look little different than metals when placed side-by-side, and that is a significant achievement.

I have put together a command stand with Edward IV a-horse. This was entirely surplus to force requirements, as I already have a command stand with Edward a-foot in my Yorkist army. The process was a great pleasure--an entirely new experience for me when dealing with plastics--and I think the results turned out well. All of the figures are built from some combination of the three Wars of the Roses sets released by Perry miniatures.

In other news on the Wars of the Roses front, my Lancastrian force has come to 'completion,' reaching the original point that I hoped to get it to when I began the WOTR project a little less than a year ago. This makes me quite happy, and, of course, there will be pictures in days to come. The collection of Wars of the Roses figures now stands at around 400 figures painted. I will continue to work on it (and still am: some levy units are on the painting desk as I write), but am glad to have reached a checkpoint, and able to tick something off of my 'Miniature to-do list.'

Si vales, bene est,
The Fox

The Yorkists Have Landed

I have completed the basing of my Yorkist forces for use with Band of Brothers (2nd) by Piquet. I thought that now they are complete I would share some photos with everyone. This army is going to continue to expand, but I now consider it 'complete enough'--that is, enough to give a good game in the battles for which I am building it. It has ten bill and bow blocks, 2 mercenary units (pikes and hand-gunners), a cavalry unit, and a set of guns (14 total units). The Lancastrians are up next, and I already have two of their units done, out of the seventeen total planned.

With that said, on with the eye candy! Be sure to click through for bigger photos. All figures are from Old Glory 25s, except for the three commanders, who are by Perry.

An overall view 

A close up on Edward IV, leading from the front. 

The cavalry!

Organ guns!

Aerial shot

I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!

S. V. B. E.
-The Fox

WOTRs: Yorkist Commanders

Accompanying Edward (who can be seen in this previous post) in his bid to retake the throne of England were his two steadfast companions, Richard, Duke of Gloucester and William, Lord Hastings, who had both been his companions in exile. The then eighteen-year-old Gloucester's first battlefield command was on the foggy field of Barnet, where he acquitted himself rather well; he would go on to earn a reputation as a sound warrior and skilled commander. As for Hastings, the overlapping flank of the Earl of Oxford (the fog had skewed the positioning of the troops, causing the battle to be fought in a sort of pinwheel shape) made quick work of his men who fled into the town. Fortuitously, the failure of Hastings to hold his men (to his defense, in admittedly perilous circumstances), however, did not win the day for the Lancastrians, as the Earl of Oxford's men did not capitalize; they instead set about pillaging and looting. The performance of Hastings at Barnet is the suspected reason for Edward IV's decision to reverse the deployment of his battles at Tewkesbury: he preferred to have the capable Gloucester facing the more experienced Duke of Somerset. Hastings did not go unrewarded for his loyalty, of course, as he was granted the lieutenancy of Calais once Edward had retaken his throne.

Here are some pictures (bases unfinished--par for the course). The commander figures are from Perry, while the others are all Old Glory 25s.

Richard, Duke of Gloucester

William, Lord Hastings

Enjoy!

S. V. B. E.
-The Fox

Edward IV retinue

For the past week or so I have been at work painting my Old Glory 25's War of the Roses figures up to use with Piquet's Band of Brothers rules.  The strategy I am using to tackle the project is to paint individual nobles' retinues for the Battles of Barnet and Tewksbury (both rather small engagements, compared to others), which, once they have reached playable proportions, will be added to gradually with militia troops, mercenaries, and artillery.

I have finished Edward's retinue troops and thought I would share a few pictures.  All the figures are from Old Glory 25's (except for Edward himself, which is a Perry), and I must say, that Old Glory can be hit and miss, but the War of Roses range has impressed me so far (though some of the casts have been poor--par for the course).  It is definitely one of their better ranges from what I have seen, and they paint up easily.  They are detailed enough, but not overwrought--just my style.

On with the eye candy! (Click through for larger photos.)

The retinue assembled.

Side view with some archers.

Ol' Ned himself, taking time out from wenching to kill some Lancastrians.

I hope you enjoy!

Si Vales, bene est!