The greater part of the start of the year was
taken up by the painting of my
Claymore Castings mediaevals for the Otterburn
War period, spurred on largely by my belated purchase of the Lion Rampant rules
(after avidly awaiting them for about a year and then getting sidetracked by
the Cold War at the time of release…).
I’d been making slow progress with these over the previous few years, mainly as
I wasn’t quite sure what rules I’d be using them for, so they were just getting
painted pretty much ‘cos they looked pretty! However, with the incentive of a
fun-looking, skirmish-level ruleset now in my possession, and the sound of The
Corries ringing in my ears, it was time
to get cracking. Here are the results so far…
Sir John Montgomery’s Schiltrom
This is composed of the bulk of the figures I
already had painted, with the addition of some newbies. Sir John Edmonstone and
Sir David Graham are making up numbers in the front rank (they will be replaced
by more spearmen in due course, and go on to form the nucleus of a second unit
of men-at-arms). Sir John Montgomery was a natural starting point for my force;
I live a short walk from his castle (or at least what’s left of it…) and I’m a
sucker for a local link.
Sir John de Haga’s Schiltrom
Mainly comprising the later figures. The Saltire
is borne by Sir Robert Hert of Lanark, in conjectural arms. Given his adherence
to the Douglases, I plumped for the heraldry I found to be most likely related
to his, given its similarity to the layout of the Douglas arms. He is named in
some sources as carrying Douglas’ banner, along with one of the Colvilles named
in other sources; so I decided to use both, and have Colville carrying Douglas
own banner, with Hert bearing the saltire (and of course Douglas of Cavers carrying
the Cavers Ensign…)
Banners are all by
Flags of War, who have well and truly converted me to pre-printed paper banners...
Knights of High Renown
These chaps will form a six-man unit of men-at-arms.
Sir George Dunbar, Earl of March
He’ll be leading the pack
Sir George Dunbar The Younger
Son of the above, carrying his father’s banner.
His arms are conjectural, based on “best guess” of his father’s arms, differenced
with a label azure.
Sir William Dalziel of Lanarkshire
Picked largely because I was looking for a knight
with heraldry that would be unlikely to have been done by anyone else (and I
thought I’d make a better job of it than I did), and I currently work in Motherwell,
and as I say- I’m a sucker for a local link… God, how I regret that now.
Explanation of the proto-Billy Connolly on his shield
here.
Peasants.
Foundry sculpts, picked up at Albanich years ago, as they seemed the closest in
terms of scale and sculpting style to the Claymore offerings. Two down, dozens
to go. They will inhabit a village composed largely of pre-cut MDF buildings…
Progress ground to a halt at the end of the spring as I came over all
Peninsular for some reason (probably largely related to the screening of the
BBC adaptation of Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell), but that’s another story…
Cheers
Iain
