Late Knight Progress

       

I'm close to finishing a couple of units of dismounted later knights (above) that, most unusually, I mostly painted myself. They are intended to be generic men-at-arms for those tricky moments when a unit of later knights is better off on foot (perhaps when there are nellies about!). The unit I fielded at Britcon performed rather well; in one game, cutting its way right through the heart of the enemy army.

These are all Perry plastics, with some slight conversions. The original figures I painted were a bit too "shiny" and well armoured, so I've mixed in a bunch of scruffier chaps in brigandines and riding boots with a selection of weapons including pole-arms and a few bows. I'll take a proper photo when they are flocked and bannered. For the banners- I'm thinking Wars of the Roses. Something heavily folded so one can't make it out particularly well, so it fits the generic concept. :-)

PS To the Strongest! and FK&P are both currently up for voting in the Yarkshire World Cup on Facebook- both votes ,are too close to call, at the time of writing. If you'd like to vote for either (or, indeed, for their opponents) you can find them here (TtS!) or here (FK&P).

Kingmaker Tournament approaches its conclusion

The TtS! Kingmaker is now in its sixth and final week, and the players have ratcheted up a mighty 35 online Wars of the Roses battles between them, so far!

All of the terrain is based on WotR battles, as are the army lists. Antony Spencer, who designed, organised and is running it, has written a summary of the campaign, so far, including a campaign map. You can find it at this link on the TtS! forum. Fascinating stuff!

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/tothestrongest/tts-war-of-the-roses-kingmaker-tournament-week-6-u-t2140.html

To the Strongest! War of the Roses

 

Chum Antony Spencer has designed some stunning new digital miniatures for an online TtS! Wars of the Roses campaign, which he will run starting on 7 September. It'll be similar in some respects to the very successful 1066 tournament we ran in the spring, but as well as the tournament element, the outcome of the battles will determine whether York or Lancaster triumphs n the wars.

To join in you'll need a reasonably capable PC, broadband and the Tabletop Simulator software available from Steam. Antony or I can help you with these and with the rules. The new Wars of the Roses mod can be found at https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2207109539.

If you'd like to take part, please email me at the address above and to the left, and I'll forward your details straight to Antony- or if you are on Discord you may be able to contact him directly. 

I suppose I'd better get some practice games in... :-)

Bat basing part III

Shire billmen

I covered around a half of the bases from my last post with static grass using an electric applicator, and then glued tufts on top of them, perhaps 60 on each base. I then added some flowers (less is always more with flowers) and weeds. Finally I matt-varnished the base and clumps. These units are now ready to march into a hail of Wars of the Roses arrows.

Shire bowmen

The majority of these lovely Perry miniatures were painted by mate Shaun (Redzed painting) alongside some minis painted by Patrick Connor.

I've just put most of my Bat Bases on 20% or 25% off promotion for one week, if you would like to try some out for yourself!

Norfolk bows

Here are the archer counterparts to the earlier billmen, again beautifully painted by Patrick Connor and based by me on one of my new Bat bases. Those Perry plastics are really lovely. :-)

A pleasant surprise is that they are fairly rugged- not at all brittle. Now I just need another 22 elements and I'll have the pair of armies that I need for a game. I had better consult my army list...

Norfolk billmen

I mentioned a while back that I have bitten the bullet and started to collect my first medieval army. These stunning minis were painted by Patrick Connor and I've unit based them on one of my new MDF "bat bases", of which more anon.

I really like the Perry plastics (and metals) and I am certainly going to need a lot more of them!

In other news, there are a couple of places left for the second To the Strongest World Championships on Saturday February 13th 2016. If you are available please drop me a line via my email address on the left and I'll put you in touch with the organiser. Loan armies are available.

Lastly, yesterday I posted a new Mongol Conquest list in the Later Medieval booklet, which was written by Peter Ryding with a little assistance from me. Looks like a fast "shooty" army with an interesting twist...