John Tayte of Eastwood

The second warband I have begun as of late is that of John Tayte of Eastwood. The younger son of the lord of Eastwood John had no inheritance and sought his fortune working as a mercenary in Italy. He amassed a great amount of wealth and the loyalty of some of his mercenary soldiers but was recalled to England upon the death of his elder brother in an accident, to take over the Eastwood estate. 

Although England lacks the flamboyant air of Italy John has decided to dive directly into local politics to cement a name for himself in his homeland. The biggest hurdle he faces is the fact that the Eastwood estate is small, thus he has found in his father's records deeds to some of the neighbouring lands. Of course his neighbours, such as Thomas of Langley, are fighting in court the validity of these deeds but everyday it seems the two men are being drawn closer to armed conflict. If it comes to blows John is supported by some locals he has retained, but also a core of experienced mercenaries from his service in Italy.

This is my first fully completed and based cavalry figure (though I have also now based Sir Henry Grey and his retainer) and I am very happy with how it turned out. Comments and criticism is always welcome.

The Grenes of Langley Part One

Sorry for no updates as of lately but school has been in the way and then I was hit with a case of the lazies. After the release of Silent Invader's Wars of the Roses ruleset titled "By Arrow, Bill & Sword," I have been inspired to whip together and finish some warbands. The rules are free and can be accessed, along with Q&A pertaining to them here. http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=48144.0

Here is the first installment of the warband of the Grenes of Langley. The Grenes hold the manor of Langley just to the South of Codnor and are a fictional family I am creating for my Wars of the Roses project. 

The oldest brother, Thomas, is a sly cunning tactician who makes up for his lack of physical strength by being treacherous and highly intelligent. The Grenes under his patrimony have risen quickly in wealth and status thanks to their well situated mill and the tolls levied there. These high tolls have begun to cause tension with Thomas' neighbours, especially John Tayte of Eastwood newly arrived from abroad after the death of his eldest brother. Right around the time the mill at Langley was built the neighbouring mills begun being attacked by an unknown arson. 

Here is Thomas with the first of his retainers. I still need to think of some sort of livery badge to paint onto them. Something simple enough for my mediocre painting skills. Comments and criticism always welcome.

Thomas Grene of Langley

Sir Henry Grey's First Retained Archers

Here are the first two painted archers of Sir Henry Grey's retinue. For the Dux Britanniarum conversion these will count as a soldier class unit and be paired with a unit of billmen as well. To show that, these archers have some armour and at least a gambeson whilst the archers of the militia class are mainly in cloth and have a few gambesons.

Man at Arms and Retainer

So between painting SAGA vikings this weekend I completed a dismounted man at arms for my WOTR project. He is made up of bits from the mercenary command sprue, hands and sword with buckler from the WOTR command sprue and a mounted man at arms head. I wanted a man at arms wielding a pole axe and pointing like you can build with the WOTR set, but I wanted him wearing a coat over his armour and a turban. The conversion was simple, cut away the hands from the WOTR set and then took off the equivalent of them from the mercenaries set, made sure they fit flush then glued them on. All and all pretty simple and I feel it turned out well. These minor conversions I am doing are heavily inspired by the ones Captain Blood on the Lead Adventure Forum does, they really add a little extra character to the force. As always comments and criticism is encouraged.

To break up what I was painting (the vikings) I whipped together the first mounted retainer of Sir Henry Grey. He is lightly armoured and I have yet to decide if I want to make him the banner bearer or just have him as is. He is wearing leather soled hosen so no shoes or boots. I've seen a few manuscript images depicting this from the later half of the 15th century and I figured it would be a good way to make it seem he was less well armoured than his lord. His horse is about 80% complete and I'll try to finish it off tonight.

Sir Henry Grey of Codnor

I've finished painting my first Perry mounted man at arms who will be Sir Henry Grey of Codnor. I will be building up his retinue to use for the 15th century rules conversion of Dux Britanniarum that both Max and Jim are working on (and any other skirmish rules that will work). These are their blogs.

http://arlequinsworld.blogspot.ca/ http://scyldandseax.blogspot.co.uk/

I haven't painted a horse since the plastic Bretonnian knights first came out so I'm not sure how I did with it but it will do for now

Next up for the WOTR is Sir Henry's banner bearing retainer, another man at arms accompanying Sir Henry and a couple of kit bash conversions inspired by Captain Blood on the Lead Adventure Forums.

http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php

Beginnings of Wars of the Roses

The Entire Force so Far

Here are my first painted (or mostly painted) Perry wars of the roses figures. The Yellow and green are part of my fictional retinue of Baron Patrick fitz Christopher and the red and white part of Willhelm van Brugge's mercenaries.

The Baron Himself

Willhelm van Brugge

Billman and Archer

Two Flemish Crossbowmen

The Other two Archers

These have been used as a Mordheim warband (Marienburgers) and I also plan to expand the force to use for WAB and some sort of skirmish rules.