Photoshoot

I've been experimenting with my photography setup, using my new terrain boards and some backdrops I've painted. These are the first results, I'm quite excited with how they've turned out!

The plan will be to get some photos like these from every game I play. Of course in-game photos are going to be a bit more rushed, but perhaps I can recreate the best ones afterwards whilst the terrain is still on the table. I've found that however many photos you take, you're never going to capture everything - every unit on the table, every exciting part of the battle, all of your personal favourite miniatures in shot. But perhaps from 20 in-game photos you'll accidentally create two or three gems. And likewise with carefully posed photos like this, you're never going to get every figure perfectly in focus for all to see. It's all about the overall visual impact of the scene, rather than getting each carefully converted and painted figure into the frame.

I'm made a gallery page for this blog, accessible from the menu up above. I'll put all my best photos there going forward, both in-game shots and from photoshoots like this. Not the photos of new units as they are showcased, but rather compositions like these that hopefully each tell a little story.

Wagon

Here's a wagon to join my baggage train of carts. Like the earlier two-horse artillery limber, this one is based on a piece from the Perry Miniatures American War of Independence range - as far as I am aware the wagon itself and horse harness works fine for three centuries earlier. And I wanted a two-horse setup rather than the full four-horse one to make painting and assembly simpler! The traces are made of twisted fuse wire.

Burgundian archers

A long overdue unit - some archers for my Burgundians.

Like my French archer units, these are mostly Perry WOTR plastics, but with the bow hands replaced by the superior ones from the Perry Hundred Years War range. Some of them have also had tall riding boots added with green stuff. There are also some metal conversions in here, most notably some archers from Crusader Miniatures with Perry head and hand swaps.

These can represent archers of the compagnies d'ordonnance which were raised by Mary the Rich and her new husband Maximilian of Hapsburg after the disastrous campaigns of Charles the Bold, which had led to the ruin of his army and his own death in 1477. No doubt they would have been made up of the same soldiers who has served under Charles (or at least those who had survived his wars), re-organised into new companies. Maximilian followed the French model of organisation, with each 'lance' of a company consisting of a man-at-arms, a coustillier and two mounted archers (whereas under Charles the Bold each lance had also featured several infantrymen). There are no records (to the best of my knowledge) of liveries and flags of these new companies, so I've designed my own which I think seem plausible.

I've gone for a blue and red livery with a white St Andrews cross. As for the flag, I had a go at hand-painting one of my own designs, and think it's turned out great. It's a 'cornette', a long narrow flag which seems to have been used by units of archers. It's inspired by those of Charles the Bold's ordonnance companies, though admittedly much simpler in design - leaving off his personal motto, but keeping some appropriate Burgundian symbols - a St Andrews cross formed by two arrows, and the ubiquitous 'flint and sparks'.

I painted it in large scale, then scanned it in and downsized it (as well as adding my usual digital ripple effect), as can be seen in this picture (I printed off three different sizes, and chose the smallest one). I had some doubts about my painting, but once scaled down like this any dodgy brushstrokes become invisible.

This unit shares the blue and red livery of an earlier unit of Burgundian heavy infantry. They are supposed to be go together, representing both archers and men-at-arms (plus coustilliers) dismounted for battle. They can be used as separate units, or the bases can be combined into one larger 'bill & bow' formation in various ways.

Building terrain boards - Part Four

I finally finished the four river boards I've been working on for a while, to join the first one I did at the start of the year.

I'd originally tried to write up a detailed run-down of the planning, construction, painting, problems encountered etc.... but in the end I think the pictures should just explain everything. If any more details are required, just ask!

I'll save photos of a full table setup with these boards for when I next set up a game.

There are still lots more terrain boards to be built.

Artillery limber

Finally got something finished that's been sitting looking at me on my workbench for ages. My second limbered artillery piece. Like the first one (more than two years ago!), this is made using a limber from the Perry Miniatures American War of Independence range, with the gun and crew replaced with suitable 15th century figures. Really pleased with how it turned out!