1 Down...just!

And with little in the way of fanfare, that's my first Bretonnian unit done. 10 men at arms, including champion.

I was very pleased with how quick these were to do. Real army-painting stuff:

1. spray black undercoat
2. drybrush model with Eshin Gray (using large drybrush)
3. paint metal areas with Ironbreaker
4. paint brown areas with Gorthor Brown
5. paint flesh areas with Cadian Flesh
6. give detail areas a wash with Agrax Earthshade
7. give detail areas a one stage highlight with base-coat (Ironbreaker, Gorthor or Cadian)
8. add transfers to shields
9. tidy up
10. base

And you're done. 

Really quick;having the single wash for all detail colours helps speed things up, as does the black base, which means I don't have to be too neat with the wash. 

I have to give more props to Geoff at CitadelSix Custom Design who did the transfers. They tie the unit together brilliantly, and there's something nice about seeing my family crest on all those shields!

When I was assembling these, I was really pleased with the champion's pose, thrusting his halberd over his shield-rest.Very cool. Then I tried to rank them up. D'oh! Still, it just about works. :)

Next knight is about 60% done  - the white undercoat is making it all look messy, so it's taking longer. 

Next update when he's done, unless my resolve goes and I do the next 10 men at arms. I am really pleased with the poses for the musician and standard bearer. 

VBB

Men at arms

A very brief update today on my burgeoning Bretonnians. Very, very slowly burgeoning, but still.

Now, time for the peasants! 

I'm taking a little more time on the Knights, as I want each Knight of the realm to look reasonably impressive on their own, but I thought it would be good to paint up one man at arms and one archer.

No, not you Man at Arms! 

 Now, obviously these guys are designed to look good en masse, so I needed to spend a lot less time on them per miniature; so simple colour schemes and one stage highlights all the way!

For the Men at Arms units, I've decided to stick to my Lord's colour scheme: i.e. mostly black. So, a simple black undercoat, pick out details in flesh, brown and dark metal, wash the detail colours, quick highlight, then quick highlight on the black with Eshin Gray: done. All that remained was to add a transfer (courtesy of Citadel Six) and he was finished. The uniformity of the transfer will really help make them look like one big unit.

On his own: not so much with the fearsomeness. 

I'm pleased with the end result: though basic, he was damned fast to paint, and once he's ranked up with several friends, I'm sure he'll look more impressive.

Next, the archers. Now, the Men at Arms, I reasoned, were actual peasant militia, outfitted & equipped by their lord: in this instance, my general Andre de Lisque. Hence, they'll be in his colours, with his sigil on the shields. The models back that uniformity up: they're not identical, but they're fairly homogenous, and I've avoided adding any extraneous details to them.

For the archers, though, I fancied a more rag-tag approach. I see these guys as hunters, gamekeepers (and maybe even poachers in desperate times!) who're just rounded up to come with the army. Their role as scouts / foragers for the army would make them more independent, and they'd be less uniformly drilled or outfitted than the Men at Arms. 

So I've decided to paint them all slightly differently: mostly leaning towards a green/brown palate, but with plenty variation. Here's the first one:

Twang!

So I've let more colour in there, but kept it reasonably muted. The blue matches another Knight of the Realm (a standard bearer WIP) as my idea is that the archer units will be made up from peasants "belonging" to different lords, i.e. different Knights of the Realm. 

The models reinforce this heterogeneity too; there's lots of different details and various accoutrements you can add to the models, which reflect the independence of these foragers. For instance, this chap has a mallet (for putting in stakes / tents, and a hand weapon in a pinch), and on his back he has a pigeon that he's presumably taken down earlier (and kept for supper).

Yep, that's a pigeon in a pouch. Coo. 

Both models were actually very quick to paint, and while individually they are less impressive, once ranked up I'm sure they'll look good. 

My next WIP is the aforementioned Knights of the Realm standard bearer; hopefully I'll get him done soon. In the meantime, here's my mighty army so far: three whole models! 

Arrayed against the many splendour'd hordes of Elves, the Undead and the Empire of Men, General De Lisque couldn't help but feel somewhat outnumbered.

Until the next time!

VBB