Knights of the Realm

I've finally completed my first five Knights of the Realm. The fifth one was another I foolishly sprayed white, so it took longer and was more fiddly than I'd have liked. I'm quite happy with him, though my attempt to paint round the edges of the transfer has, if anything, made it more obvious. D'oh!

I deliberately didn't over highlight, as I could easily have spent ages on it. But I want big units of Knights, and if I spend weeks on each one that won't happen! I'll spend longer on characters and command, of course, but I need to keep the rank and file to just this level of super-quick highlighting. 

So all together, that's five, if I count the 'champion' as such. Once I have more done, he'll be a Paladin/Duke though. 

Quite happy with them. I plan to be a bit more adventurous with colours on the next batch, maybe start some split fields, etc. 

Already primed are three more KoR (including a standard bearer) and 6 archers to finish that unit off too. I also have a mounted damsel that is base coated and washed, which I'm working on in fits and starts. Next post will hopefully be three full units and a damsel. 

Back in the Saddle...

After an extended hiatus, I've decided to dust off the brushes again.

Down at Andy Lawhammer's last week we played a game of Dreadfleet, which was quite a lot of fun. The mechanics were unnecessarily clumsy and it suffered a lot, for me, through comparison to FFG's excellent Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures game (which I have been playing a lot. A lot.).

But it was fun, and it was Warhammery. And, having sold off my Orcs and Goblins (for shelf-space and money to buy more TIE fighters!) my mind turned to my nascent Bretonnian force. A few days later, and I have another knight done.

I present to you Robert De Cendres!

I'm happy with how he's turned out. What I'm enjoying about painting Bretonnians, as opposed to the Greenskins, is that I can paint differently. My men at arms I am army painting, very quickly.  The bowmen get a little more attention. The Knights, as there are fewer of them, and they are larger, get a bit more. I've deliberately not  over-highlighted the barding, as I really want the block of colour effect. I highlighted the crest a little more. 

I'll take some pictures of my Battle Standard Bearer (as I just realised I haven't done that yet) and get him up here soon. 

In terms of the future, I'll be speed painting up some more men at arms over this week, to get them up to a minimum unit size of 10, and working on another couple of Knights. I'm breaking out the dreaded white undercoat as I'm going to try some lighter barding colours for variety.

More soon!

Charge!

As I mentioned recently, I've succumbed, finally, to starting a Bretonnian army, and I am very pleased to present my first painted miniature.

Ta da!

Sir Andre De Lisque

This is simply a Knight of the Realm plastic model, with the champion's sword, a Knight Errant head, and the horse converted slightly to make it rear up a little (not too much, as at too steep an angle the barding looks weird).

The intent is for this to be my general, representing...well, me! Hence the beard, and the Leask coat of arms.

Now, I imagined getting some heraldic symbols like stars and diamonds would be easy, allowing me to make my own coat of arms up, but surprisingly not. Even the usually reliable Veni Vidi Vici didn't have anything quite right.

I was close to despairing, when a bit of Google Fu turned up CitadelSix custom designs. I knew it was possible to print your own custom transfers, but it's a faff, requiring special paper, spray on sealant, and I'd also need to get new ink...hassle.

But CitadelSix essentially do that for you. You can order premade designs or, for no extra cost you can email a design and they'll print that for you. Handy. A few emails exchanged, and lo and behold: transfers!

Side view: no way I could hand paint that so regularly!

Now, they're not the cheapest things ever, but I don't intend on outfitting an entire army with custom designs. I've ordered designs for two knights (the second one will appear here in due course), plus the Leask coat of arms for my Men at Arms (one of which I will be painting next); that all came to £14 plus postage. Very reasonable.

The transfers themselves are a little less malleable than what I'm used to, but for flat areas - shields, etc. - they work a treat. The set even has tiny little ones for all the little shields on the horse's harness, but I found them a bit fiddly, so only put one on the front of the horse's head, painting the others a blank white. I may go back and add more in later, but I wouldn't hold your breath. :)

Rear view - the red scabbard really stands out, huh? I may change that later.

Overall, I'm happy with the model, and very happy with CitadelSix's transfers. If you're after some custom detail, especially if it's fiddly / precise, I'd definitely recommend them.

Until the next time!
VBB

Ni!

Knights.

You've gotta love 'em, right?

Ni!

I know it's something of a cliché, but like a lot of little boys (and I don't doubt a lot of little girls) I've always been fascinated by stories of knights. When I was a kid, I had lots of knight related toys. I had heaps of toy knights, ranging from Lego to Britains model knights (remember those?). I had a cool scratch built wooden castle (that I think was made by a local dollhouse maker) and I had a wooden sword my dad made for me (which I may have used to terrorise my sisters...).

I remember these being much, much better

When I was getting into this hobby, I was instantly drawn to the Bretonnians, being the Medieval Knight heavy army. I can remember well, when I was still very knew to the whole thing - I'd played Heroquest and D&D, and bought one issue of White Dwarf the year before - I got ill. Chest infection. I was off school for ages, and en route to the doctor, my mum said I could buy a magazine. I was going to get a comic, but then I saw White Dwarf and thought...why not? I spent the wait in the doctor's flicking through the magazine, and what should be inside? Why, a whole heap of Bretonnian models. (I think it was issue 136, but it was hard to find a decent index of issues)

I was hooked.

It so happened I was also reading TH White's "Once and Future King", as well as a Robin Hood novel, so all those Knights were well seared on my juvenile imagination.

It's been a while...wonder if it'll hold up to a reread?

As it happened though, I was also mad-keen on sci-fi, and my burgeoning group of gamers were more drawn to 40K, so I never took up Warhammer until years later, when working at GW. And despite having had several armies, I never went for Bretonnia: mainly because of the job. See, one of the things about working in a Games Workshop store is that you have to paint a lot of minis. I mean A LOT. Especially when a new boxed game comes out. And while I was at GW, Warhammer 5th Edition came out. And it had a lot of knights.

That's a lot of knights!

Strangely, painting all those sets never put me off Lizardmen, but it sure put me off Bretonnians (an issue still afflicting Baz, I know!).

But I think I'm finally past all that. When I started this blog I mentioned that Bretonnian's "could wait" as they were "fiddly to paint". 

True enough, but the time I feel, is now.

See, Andy Lawhammer is in the process of sprucing up Mighty Empires to function as a Warhammer campaign system, and I'm very excited at the prospect. What's more, I've hit that army painting slump with my orcs. I like the models, I want to paint them, but I've painted so many it's getting tedious. Plus, I'm at the stage of bulking out extant units...doubly tedious.

What's more, as well as keeping up with Game of Thrones (a rewatch before Season 3 was needed in order to convert my wife to the show...), I also watched the 90s BBC Ivanhoe series. A whole lot of jousting fun!

Brian De Bois-Gilbert from the Ivanhoe series (an almost unrecognisable Ciaran Hinds!)

The Knight of the Flowers. He's so pretty, oh so pretty...

So I've decided to get a wee Bretonnian army on the side. They'll be fun to paint, to break the monotony of the Orcs. They'll also be very different to play. And if the worst comes to the worst, and I never actually get to play with them? No biggy, I'm sure I'll find them a home on eBay. ;) So, that being the case, I picked up a Battalion today.

Bretonnian Battalion - good value for £60 I'd say!

I was briefly tempted by the very good Fireforge Teutonic/Templar Knights (you can see them here on their very hard to navigate and overall pretty poor website). They look pretty ace, and they're cheaper than GW. And they're plastic. They're also a bit smaller than GW, so I'd need to commit to 100% Fire Forge, and also to my army looking weeny on the table. So I popped into town, caught up with Baz, and bought the battalion.

I plan to paint them up in small batches, and I intend to make them as characterful as I can. That doesn't necessarily mean masses of conversions, but each Knight is a lord, and I intend to name them all, and try to make up their complex genealogy. 

But of course I need to think about my general. They always say in the Warhammer rulebook that your general represents you on the battlefield, so I've decided to take that (almost) literally. Step forward Andre De Lisque, Bretonnian Knight! 

This is the Leask coat of arms. I may not use it on my Men at Arms' shields! 

I'll use the Leask coat of arms for my general and his family. I may chicken out of doing my men at arms' shields with that heraldry though, as I don't have transfers for stars/diamonds, unless anyone knows any good places? 

I decided to do the general first, on a horse initially (though I may do him on a Royal Pegasus, or even a Hippogriff in the future - all my enemies seem to have DRAGONS!). I fiddled with the horse's base to make him rearing slightly, and put on a knight without a helmet, so you could see his face. I clipped the hilt away from the scabbarded sword, as he had a drawn sword in his other hand and also put a helmet on a chain hanging from his belt. I considered adding a lance to his back, but it looked naff so I took it off. 

But it was missing something. This is supposed to be the general, the leader. It's supposed to be me! What's it missing? Well I couldn't give it glasses or a big belly, but I could give him a beard. To the greenstuff!

Andre De Lisque

I'm pleased with the beard, especially the moustache. When I'd done the beard, I realised I needed to bulk out the hair a bit too, so I did. 

Close up of the beard. That'll do pig!

Looks a bit wonky straight on, but the angle's not helping.

And from the other side, with more detail of the hair extensions. 

Now I'm no sculptor, nor do I possess Andy Lawhammer's artistic gifts, but I'm really pleased with how he's turned out. Now I just need to paint them damn thing!

VBB