War of the Roses

A unit of handgunners were next off the painting desk these were a new manufacturer for me Athena Miniatures that I picked up at Fiasco in Leeds last year. These represent a small unit of handguns (although I still need to find some  pavices that they are equipped with in the rules we use).

The other first is I used “speed paint” first time on some of the block colours and they seemed to work ok using the 3′ rule.

The next unit for the Lancastrian forces, this time representing the forces of Sir Henry Lewes (who I since died in 1461 – presumably at St Albans) and Sir John Grey of Wilton.

This unit represents a “household unit reinforced with Men at Arms” and rather than just using archers in the wings of the unit I added billmen to easily show its status.

First Lancastrian unit in the collection representing the “household” troops of Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter in his livery colours of Argent (white) and Gules (red).

This unit I have made it to include the “men at arms” upgrade by including on fully armoured troops on the command stand so it can be easily recognised on the table. The standards are from Pete’s Flags and Freezywater flags.

Finished the next command stand for the Stanley’s. This time it is the younger brother Sir William Stanley.

Not only have I managed to complete this division but I have also managed to get them on the table in a recent campaign we are playing (albeit masquerading as someone else).

I mentioned earlier that we agreed a convention for the command stands to ease identification on the table.

The longbow units would have 5 figures and the household units would have 6 figures on the base. For the household units if they were “upgraded” to include “men at arms” the command stand would contain only knights (I haven’t painted any of them yet).

The entire division was completed using 2 boxes of the War of the Roses infantry with the odd metal figure and a couple of figures from the Men at Arms box.

Next I am starting the division for the Exeter, after I finish my Saxons for Midgard.

It was time for the divisional commander, and this was going to represent Sir Thomas Stanley himself.

Up to now all figures have been from the Perry’s but for the commander I picked up a couple of figures from “Ragged Staff miniatures” off Etsy (however you need to keep checking as supply is intermittent). This was the “thoughtful” commander and the “veteran bowman”.

I will admit that I completely “wimped out” on painting his quartered livery and just went with a representation of his main heraldic flag (badly). The stand also carries his personal standard.

The last unit for the Division would be a bill unit from the retinue of Sir Thomas Stanley himself again we were on solid ground with the livery being tawney and green but these being billmen and men at arms not a lot of the colour was on show.