The Grand Old Duke Of Norfolk's Backlog?

   I'm still carrying on with a backlog army in the form of the Yorkist Duke Of Norfolk for the War of the Roses. As I am painting them I am really getting the urge to put them on the table, but as I explained in the last post about this army, this is very much a painting project to just clear some backlog at the moment.

   This post should be the last of the 'basic' army - the last unit of leveried archers, another couple of units of foot knights (one not shown but it has the flags) and a unit of billmen. Looking back at my Lancastrian armies, I used a lot of the fully armoured models as billmen to balance those numbers out, so there is a risk the two units of knights are actually billmen.

   I have since found a pack of metal billmen that I don't remember buying and aren't on my backlog spreadsheet, but they are built and sprayed and will be painted at some point soon.

  I also need at least half a box of the Perry Mounted Knights, but as they are my least favourite models to paint - even if they are fun on the table top - I'll hold off buying them until it looks like I might actually use this army. I must keep the backlog in mind rather than add to it.

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Late Re-enforcements?

   Nearly a year ago now, I started building and painting a project that I bought in 2020 - my War of the Roses Yorkists. I built two sprues, sprayed and painted one, then lost focus*. With very little gaming going on and my real relaxation focus being on running, I've really slowed down in my painting, but as I'm also not really buying, that doesn't feel like quite the same issue. I've decided to just have a push on getting units and armies out of my backlog without any real care of what they are - if I can paint 7 units from 7 different armies, that's still 7 units off my backlog**.

*I'm really bad at this

**although, I'm going to try and do groups of units if I can

   So, in December last year, I had a mini stress about why the Yorkist side of my WotR project hadn't been finished as mentioned in this post. The second and third batches have been built and sprayed, sitting on a shelf next to my painting desk, being moved out of the way every time I've done anything - so these are a prime candidate to just get painted***.

***if it means the rest of the project gets a bump, that's a happy result

   Like the last batch, these are the Duke of Norfolk's (John Mowbray) infantry with their red liveries. I think I only have a single batch of regular infantry left in this project, plus various foot knights - so many foot knights?!? - but I will aim to get another sprue of from the Perry brothers to do some unliveried archers too in the future. 

Foot Knights

The mixed peasants

This project is starting to feel doable - hopefully the next post won't be late 2026 . . .

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The Duke Of Norfolk Arrives

   I'm all over the place at the moment with my projects* but I had a two and a bit hour drive for work and for some reason my brain decided it wanted to stress over why I hadn't started my War of the Roses Yorkists from a planned purchase in 2020(!). As I normally do for a historical period, I bought enough figures to do about 24-30 points for both sides, with a slight weight towards the army I thought I would end up using more often as I know I have an opponent who would be painting those up.

*as per

   Back in 2022, I ended up stealing some figures from this project to get my Lancastrians up to a slightly bigger than planned points size for a couple of games and while I've not replaced those figures yet, I do have enough in this backlog to get an army on the table, and the more I think about this project the more I want to get a game in in 2025**.

**Hopefully, Wayland Games 2.0 comes online asap

   I've gone back through my notebooks and collection of Freezywater flags for the Towton period of the war and it looks like I didn't have an exact plan on who I was going to painting and had a list of options. I then initally decided to paint the Earl of Essex's livery on my troops, but with it being Green and Black, it is a tad close to my main Lancastrian colours, so I've decided on the Duke of Norfolk with it's plain Red.

   This is my first batch which is a single sprue of troops made up of 8 archers and 4 billmen. There will be a couple more batches of these and then I can start on the various sprues of foot knights. Not looking forward to having to replace my mounted knights but that's a separate issue.

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Anarchy Knights

   Carrying on with the Anarchy project are the knights, these are a much later paint job being started in the last couple of weeks. I see these as more a knight and his mounted troops rather than lots of knights exactly.

   Painted in a similar way to the infantry, except I batch by horse colour initially, then mix those up to batch paint clothing.

There is one unit to finish but I needed these done for a game.

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Anarchy In England

   One of the big projects I wanted to do last year was an army for the Anarchy, the wars between the (true heir) Empress Matilda and her cousin King Stephen that followed the death of Henry I. Its a period that fascinates me* but I've never known where to start.

*Thanks Griff Hosker

   What I decided was that Conquest Games comes the closest to having the right models, their medieval knights are pretty perfect, along with the archers, but the infantry is where the problems start. As far as my research was showing, I was looking at somewhere between Norman infantry and the early 100 Years War in terms of figures - Footsore's Baron's War stuff gets close but is still not quite right, plus is just too expensive. So what I decided to do was use mostly Norman infantry, with some shield swaps mixed in to update those figures as needed, plus sprinkle in some early crusades figures for other armour types.

   Shields then became my next issue. My research seemed to suggest that heraldry and liveries had started to appear but this wasn't the uniform of 100 Years Wars retinues, so I decided, historically or not, to do a single (varied) shield design across the army, but let each guy have their own clothes. This would also stop it being a new second Norman army.

   As I tend to do with these projects now, I painted mixed batches of figures using the same colour. So batch one might be 10 figures in a mix of archers, crossbows and regular infantry all with orange tunics as they standard thing. The first batch was finished in February and I've painted a batch whenever time and motivation came together.

Archers

Crossbows

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Roman Archers

   I've been meaning to add archers to my Early Imperial Roman army since I started buying it, but while I was happy to place orders for pack after pack of metal Celtic archers and slingers, I wasn't so sure I wanted to do the same for the Romans. Then I saw a scenario in the most recent Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy magazine that called for a unit of them and it made me rethink my plan. A few evenings with a unit of Warlord metals in a basket and looking at the price made me remember that I've seen Victrix did a set instead, so I went and had a look for that. I could do 2 units of plastic archers for less than a single unit of metal archers, I was sold.

I've got the other unit of archers built and sprayed, plus I've sprayed up the rest of the Roman forces that haven't made it onto my desk since I started the project. Lets see how that goes.

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Moor Heavy Cavalry

   Carrying on with the crusades theme are a unit of Moorish/Arabic 'heavy' cavalry along with a drummer (definitely Moorish) and a bannerman for the army. As with my other Moorish/Arabic units I plan to be able to use the army in both ends of the Islamic world depending on which units get picked for any game.

   The heavy cavalry are another (half) box from Gripping Beast and the command figures are both metal Gripping Beast as well, ordered at the same time as the Warlord from last year, but didn't make the game he was painted in time for.

I'm actually getting distressingly close to finishing this project now, even with the extras I've added since the last game. . .

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Back To The Holy Land

   This is a bit of a mixed up post of bits from all over the two projects but as I wanted to play more games set in the desert this year, I thought I had better get those projects finished. There is still more to come, but in the meantime here is what I have managed to finish.

   First up are the commanders for my Crusader army. A Templar Warlord, Templar bannerman and a Bishop in a vaguely Templar colour scheme.

   The Bannerman is from Gripping Beast and in armour that is probably about 100 years out of date, but there was just something about the 'seen it all face' that looked perfect for the role. The other two figures are both from 1st Corps to give a bit more flavour to my force.

   Then we have a unit of Ben Youssef's Black Guard plus some left over plastic infantry. The black guard I've just painted exactly as their name, everything black including straps and scabbards, only adding colour where it is completely necessary as I wanted the unit to look like it was definitely wearing black and not a unit that happened to be mostly in the colour. I'm not 100% sure where the whole unit came from but I think the command figures are from Gripping Beast and that the regular infantry and from Footsore Miniatures.

   Then we have a 'unit' of monks. I was making bases of carts* for a raid scenario and I saw a monk on a donkey from Conquest Games that I bought from a different project sitting on a shelf next to the monk from Colonel Bill's cart driver set and I had an idea. The two spare monks then fell out of a cupboard while I was trying to find something else and were perfect to add to the base.

*in the painting queue

I've got another couple of boxes of Arabic horsemen I really need to get painting next, lets see how that goes.

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The Conquest Continues

   I called this post the conquest continues because it features the plastic Normans from Conquest Games and a quick review of what I thought about them as the end result is very different to the Gripping Beast figures I've been using for my Normans up until this point.

   The first unit is a couple of sprues of Norman Knights that I bought separately from Conquest Games instead of buying a full box*. I've got a review of the infantry further down the page, but the knights I have much less to say about, figure wise they are absolutely fine with very little I'd change, except that the horses are much too big compared to what the Normans would have actually used, being little bigger than ponies in real life.

*I just couldn't face another 12 horsemen

   Next up is a unit of plastic Conquest Games Norman infantry. The Gripping Beast order had already sorted my needed 3rd unit of infantry out, but as I was buying a whole box of infantry to use as the base of the forth coming Anglo-Norman/Anarchy army I had spare figures, so they went into bulking up my Norman army.

The review part: 

Good points - the shields and bodies are properly nice. My mate Neil's Norman army is entirely made from Conquest plastics and it looked so good on the table - as you'll see in the end of year post. There are less armoured bodies than you normally see, which I don't think is a bad thing and the poses are dynamic without being silly. I also really like the bare head on the sprue as it screams Normans with the haircut.

Bad points - only 5 heads for the 5 bodies gives a lack of real options. One more head on the sprue would have made a big difference - for example the chainmail body will always have the chainmail head as you can't use it on any other body. The weapons are my biggest problem with this set - 5 bodies per sprue but only 3 spears, 1 sword (and all the bodies have sculpted on swords in scabbards that are hard to remove) and 2 great axes. I would have preferred more spears even if they came on the command sprue in the box, as it was I've raided my knights sprues for a couple more swords**.

**leading to a few guys with 2 swords each

Overall, I really like the infantry, its just a real shame they didn't just add another head option and spear to the sprues***.

***also do a deal with Battle Flag and put the shield decals they sell for this set on your website to save me doing two orders.

I have used up every bit of space in my Norman storage box so anything new in the future will need to spill into a second box, which always gives me pause for thought.

Thanks for reading

Conquering For The Bastard

   I've got a big Anglo-Norman/Anarchy era project that I've been buying for coming to a blog near you at some point soon but first I thought I had better finish adding the units to my regular Norman army before I get too distracted with that project.

   My Normans were definitely missing at least one unit of regular infantry but I always had plans to bulk it up by at least two units and maybe some knights. So an order to Conquest Games (and a quick bolt on to a Gripping Beast order) and I had the bits I needed for both Norman projects.

   This post is the metal element of the project and there will be a plastic element post coming very soon.

   The infantry unit is slightly under numbers as I painted slightly too many Normans on my last big push, and it was this realisation that gave this first unit of infantry the real push into a basket as it saved me a third of the cost of a unit of metals. They are all from Gripping Beast and use up the last of my LBMS shield decals. I used one of the smaller banners just to add a bit more colour to the army.

   Then we have the slingers from Conquest Games. These were a bit of an after thought, on the back of an order I was already making. They came as a full skirmisher sized unit for Lion Rampant, so I figured for the price they would make a nice addition to the collection. The sculpts themselves are positively gorgeous and I very much recommend them even if I'm not sure they will see the most amount of use on the table.

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Yet More Yellow Shields

   It was only as I was working out the sides for the Britannia 43AD (or so) game and having a look at my backlog that I realised I hadn't painted quite as many of my troops as I thought I had. The game itself was only a smallish demo game - 44 points an army, split between 2 players a side - so I didn't need everything, but I was sort a unit of Roman Auxiliaries. 

   Again, like the Skyclad Britons, I had some already built and sprayed, so I grabbed them and started slapping the base colours on to see if they could be done in time*. It was only later that I realised the 14 that I had built and sprayed wasn't everything that I had left, there were another 7 or so waiting in backlog, built but not sprayed . . .

*figuring if the base colours and washes weren't done before bed the day before, there was no point even trying to get the rest of the stuff done the day of the game

   I followed the same recipe that the others on this blog have been painted in, although this batch had the metal command figures that had so far avoided going under the brush. I'll sort the last few out when I next have a moment.

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Fearsomely Dressed

   I've had a bit of a painting lull in the past few weeks - although the backlog of posts might not have shown that - which has been brought to an end* by an impending game. Project Britannia AD43 (or so) is a pair of armies that I just haven't managed to make into a decent game despite a couple of plays - using the Rule Britannia fan made Lion Rampant variant, which mixes Lion Rampant rules and Rebel & Patriot stat lines just meant the Celts didn't stand a chance. The Romans should probably win the games, but when between two games there was only 3 combats, and neither of those went well for the Celts meant they weren't fun games for either side. I've seen MG42's less effective than the Roman pilum machine gun.

*as is so often the case

   This time I've gone back to the standard rules and pointed units up accordingly. This then meant I was thinking about my backlog and while I can't get all the figures for these projects done for the game, I thought I'd better make a crack at starting some and the already built and sprayed Skyclad Ancient Britons met the brief perfectly.

   The main bulk of what was left was the second unit of sky clad warriors - although now the units will be going down to 12 figures and not 16, I actually have enough for three units with the extras I've ended up buying.

   Like the last unit, the bulk of the figures are from Warlord Games - I've bought a lot of packs of metal from them now, but there are a few figures from else where. I'm pretty sure at least one figure is from Crusader Miniatures and the woman is from Colonel Bills, just to add some variety. 

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The Last Of The Egyptians

   While my New Kingdom Egyptians are a project that are on my list to finish this year* the influx of Ancient Egyptian tv programs to coincide with the 100 year anniversary of the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb mean I have ancient Egypt on the mind. So to finish this project off, here are the stragglers from my New Kingdom Egyptian army, a unit of Medjay Nubian archers and the Pharaoh himself.

*for multiple reasons**

**It also helps I'm working on desert scenery for another desert based project next year

I've got no plans to get these on the table any time soon, although I think one of my mates has an appropriate opponent for them, but it is useful to have them done ready for a game whenever it happens.

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Medieval Wagons

   Have a called a post this before, I feel like I have? My drive to add wagons to every army hasn't diminished in the slightest as I think they add so much to the feel of a game even if they aren't part of the game itself.

   I've had an open basket with Colonel Bill's for a good few months that changes weekly as I have different ideas. In it I've had a couple of wagons for my crusade era armies to allow a escort scenario, ACW wagons to boost that project, various other medieval or dark ages wagons, then at SELWG  a couple of weeks ago, I noticed Colonel Bill was there, so I had a quick look at the shelves while my little boy was distracted by his grandad and made some decisions.

   It was the agricultural loads that really got my attention and with a bit of going back and forth with what wagons sizes each era had to match loads (sadly I couldn't fit the looted goods into a medieval wagon) I picked up an ACW wagon*, a pair of mules and a pair of medieval carts.

*future post

   It was only that night as I unpacked my bag that I noticed I had forgotten to buy any animals to pull the vehicles and another order had to be made online. . .

   I decided to mount the mules on a single base rather than separate figures like I tend to do. I think this makes a better looking scene and probably makes them more useful in game too, so it's something I expect to do going forward with any others.

I have my eyes on more wagons from Colonel Bill's now that I've had some in my hands. Maybe something for my Ancient British to add to the Laager, or those crusade wagons I had an idea for. So many ideas.

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Agincourt Refight - With Added Knights

   So, I said on the last post that the biggest issue I had with the first game of Agincourt we played was the lack of French mounted aristocracy. In the mixed bag of goodies I bought off my mate Neil, there was the best part of 4 or so units of knights, but for the game I only managed to paint up 2 units. 

   I have supplemented the unpainted knights with another box and a half (don't ask) of plastic knights along with some more Perry command figures for a bit more variety. Then, being the idiot I am, I painted other things right up to a couple of weeks before the planned date for the game and had to panic paint the 30 knights in next to no time*.

*I really need to stop having to do this

   My first two units of knights (from the last game we played) were painted in whatever colours I had to hand and were just painted to be bright, with no thought to accuracy or real heraldry. This time I've tried to base every knight on a real knight who was at Agincourt, which is where the book below came in. I was recommended Knights of Agincourt by someone on twitter (Raglan I want to say?) and it has been immensely useful, with simple renditions on who was at the battle (for both sides) and what their shields looked like.

Charles, Duke of Orléans

Charles I d'Albret, Constable of France

Jean II le Meingre Boucicaut, Marshall of France

Louis, Count of Vedome

Edward, Duke of Bar

The rest of the flower of French nobility;

   There is no real methodology behind which commanders I chose to pick out with banners, other than I picked the 3 main named commanders, Vedome because the model I had from Perry had sculpted on heraldry and the Bar because his banner is a fish . . . As mentioned before, the knights are all Perry Miniatures, either plastic or metal, and the banners are from Freezy Waters.

Also, can I mention how much I dislike white metal lances as my parting shot . . .

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Agincourt Refight

   One of the projects that was hit hard by covid was my 100 years war project. The Agincourt game had already been rushed to make sure it hit the table*, which is lucky as it turned out to be the last I managed to play before we were hit with the first of many lockdowns. I did finish the game with loads of ideas, for a start I didn't have anywhere near enough French Mounted Knights** but a couple of months of painting it meant that I needed a break from the project and with how the rest of the year panned out, I never went back to it in any real meaningful sense. Until now.

*rushed because of a deadline not because I knew what was coming

**which was something I knew going into the game

 

   So for a refight of Agincourt my hit list of what I need to add goes like this; 

• More mounted French knights, top of the list, no questions asked - minimum of 2 more units but ideally another 4+, but ultimately we will see what I can paint in time
• Henry V and some serious banners for him
• If I go as high as 4 more units of knights then I might need more English archers (but might just use some WotR archers from my Lancaster collection although I am still undecided whether to boost the archer numbers)
• Finish the last few infantry I had bought for the project (think it's only about another 20 men?)
• Lastly, if I'm giving the English a big block of banners and important men, then I should do the same for the French
• Ploughed Fields - already started

So, that's the plan but what have I done about it?

Henry V and his banners;

• Sir John Codrington carrying Henry's personal banner
• Sir Thomas Strickland carrying the Cross of St George
• The banner of St Edward

   I have to say on these that the banners (and I wish I could remember where I bought them from so I could block their webstore in my browser to stop me doing anything stupid in the future) were horrible. The art is gorgeous on them but they are decal banners*** and had aged really badly. I've fixed them as best I can but they do not stand up to close scrutiny.

***always a bad sign

   Slightly cheating, I did also finish two more units of French infantry that I drafted a post about but then never posted, so here they are below;

Thanks for reading