Big Green Men On Big Green Horses

Something I did a few months ago but didnt get round to writing about.....I was given a boxed set of crusader-esk knights for a birthday a while back (years, and years....), and didn't have an army to slot them in to. I decided they would make a decent addition to my Undead, and in the garage they stayed waiting for that day.

I've been looking for different things to make and paint recently and they jumped out at me.

I built them as per the plans, carefully making sure they ranked up into two lines (and then failed to mark them so I now can't remember exactly how they went....).

I had intended to paint them dark and brooding, but had a late idea of going all luminous green and ghostly. It would provide an unusual appearance and be completely different to paint. It would also be quicker than trying to paint all the horses tack etc because I intended to drybrush various shades of green so horses and riders looked the same.

An undercoat of brown was followed by a drybrush of white to make the green stand out. I went with a green speed paint, then a green wash (old GW orc flesh I think!), then 2-3 drybrushes of green, with a bit more white added in each time to gradually lighten the colour.  

I experimented with a gloss varnish hoping for a shiny ghostly effect, but it didn't work so replaced it was a matt varnish. I did try transfers for the first time since.....hmm. They went on ok despite their great age (GW men at arms transfers from circa 2006), but a number had a white residue around the edges. I'm not sure if that was due to the age, or the application.  

And done.  They even got some grass on the base and a few of Jessica's red flowers for colour, hopefully they don't look too happy and bright, they are supposed to be the baddies after all.....

Wars Of The Roses - Part 9 - In Which I Paint Some Crossbowmen And A Horse!

As above. I've done a few men at arms at the same time, and felt up to working on the first of my horse; 5 light horse in this case, having avoided the 24 heavy horse I've got still.

You may notice the lack of grass on the bases - I'm going to flock en-masse at some point.

Wars Of The Roses - Part 8 - Arrows & Iron Balls

First arrows.  Many, many arrows.  In the Never Mind The Billhooks rules the bow-armed units have a limit of 6 looses of an arrow each game.  It can be quite nasty, especially when you can loose twice in a turn, however, it's also can run out sharpish.  

To keep track of this sharpish situation a marker is recommended, and having looked at others suggestions and recommendations I settled upon the following effort; a round base with a dice slot/square on it, most of which have some arrows to show it is an arrow counter.  The effect is finished off by a mini 6 sided die, my colour of choice being green (not mint, just normal green).

The usual sand was added and brown spray used before painting the base the same as my other WOTR figures, and the arrows painted a suitable sandy and white combination followed by a strong tone wash and a bit of dry brushing to strengthen the colour again, nowt fancy.  A matt varnish over arrows and base finished it off.  I don't usually varnish a base, but there's so little to use to pick it up each time that I thought it worth doing.  They still need some flock but I'm saving that for a Big Flock Day along with other WOTR bits.

On to the iron balls, and it's my one piece of ordinance from the period.  I gradually worked on it to break up the monotony of many billmen.  I'd seen an example online of someone painting their piece green and liked it, I think mines come out OK. The crew I wasn't sure whether to go uniformed or all the colours of the rainbow.  In the end rainbow it was.

Wars Of The Roses - Part 7 - The Broken Made New

My original Wars Of The Roses models are plastic and date back around 12 years. In that time they have been out, not only for a battle or two against like minded individuals, but also to satisfy my sons wargaming interest. Unsurprisingly the latter caused casualties in the billmens billhooks department.  A couple of the mounted men at arms also took a hit but I have yet to find the heart to look at those.

I had replaced the broken arms amd weapons with new ones, giving an unpainted grey look to otherwise painted figures. I took the opportunity of being in WOTR painting mode to finish these off, with a brown primer followed by varying colours, trying to for in with the original painting style I had used. My current painting style and techniques are for brighter, clearer colours.  Billmen fixed, and added to the growing pile of WOTR infantry, now if only I wasn't scared of painting horses.....