Painting Challenge Entry 1

There's couple of painting challenges currently running over on The Guild and Lead Adventure, the one on The Guild having the theme "Red", and the one on Lead Adventure being a medieval one. As luck would have it, my first entry fit the criterea for both!

Presenting Sir Archibald "Bell The Cat", the Red Douglas, Earl of Angus, at Sauchieburn 1488, with a couple of his retainers.

The figures are from the Perry's plastic Wars of the Roses "Mercenaries" box. It seemed like a good idea at the time to use one of the spare standard arms to make a front rank man with a (Somewhat clumsily and unconvincingly held) levelled pike; now I reckon he looks more like an extra from Hawk The Slayer (probably as a result of that helmet and mace combo...) But however...

The Guild challenge finishes on the 14th, and I've got another couple of entries to try and squeeze in for that, and the Lead Adventure one closes once 200 miniatures have been painted by the entrants collectively, so again, want to get some more stuff finished for that aswell.

Back to the painting table!

Cheers
Iain.

On Flodden's Bloody Field

Since next month will be the 500th Anniversary of the Battle of Flodden Field, where the biggest and best equipped of the Scottish medieval armies stomped down a hill to it's doom at the hands of the venerable English brown bill, I thought I'd dig out my long-standing project of Essex 15s covering Jimmy the Four's grand soiree'  around North East England.

Started back in 2005-ish as an excuse to paint cannon (which i've still not done), I'd run out of steam on them some time ago, but recently started up again (by doing some flags for 'em on the computer!)

Unfortunately, when I started these, i was going through my "Gloss varnish is the future, I've seen it" phase, with the net result that the figures are virtually bombproof when it comes to unscheduled flights from the tabletop, and they look impressive at 3 foot distant, they look a damn sight less so at close range...

However, in the interests of nostalgia, here we go;

The man in charge- James IV of Scotland, by the grace of God

I do of course realise that the Herald should also be wearing the Lion Rampant, but hey ho...

The Earl of Atholl's Regiment. First of the much vaunted, but ultimately doomed pike phalanxes

Clan Robertson. I have yet to find any documentary evidence of their being at Flodden (and I strongly suspect they weren't), but since they were strong supporters of the Stewarts as a whole and the Jamesean monarchs in particular, I thought I'd include them (and a little bit of Clan loyalty never goes amiss either...)

Still to come are further pike blocks for the Earl of Bothwell (a major player) and the Earl of Eglinton (somewhat less so) and the Town Levy of Perth (nearly finished!) accompanied by the border lances of the Maxwells (who will be remaining firmly in the saddle this time around). I'll also do the grand battalion of james himself, to lead bravely to his doom. As you can see, I'm not doing a unit for unit representation of the Flodden Army, but rather sticking to units with a geographical link to each other- Clan Robertson, Perth and Atholl are all of the same area in the south eatern limits of the Highlands, and Bothwell, Eglinton and Maxwell all held lands round about where I stay just outside Glasgow.

At the moment, progress is slow, and I don't forsee having them anything like finished in time for the anniversary (still up to my eyes in redcoats and BAOR!) but it's the thought that counts!

Cheers
Iain.