Continuing on from the previous post, these are the foot units which the client requested to go with his knights. Again, these were to be multi-based, four to a base;
Firstly, two units of crossbowmen. Apart from grouping them in fours (easy, apart from the more dynamically posed miniatures, such as the chap second from left), these were similar to previous Hospitaller crossbowmen I'd painted. Firstly, I prime and undercoat in black. Next, all the metal areas are treated to a gunmetal base and steel highlights, followed by a thinned black ink wash (ink - not paint - so as to give a slight sheen). Next, all flesh areas get a ruddy flesh coating, and the eyes completed with white and chocolate brown (oval of white, flattened dot of brown). The Fireforge faces, in common with the Bolt Action WW2 faces, don't need any highlighting - they look great with a single coat, and much more natural.
Two units of (mostly) spearmen, again finished in the normal way. Once the flesh areas are complete, tunics, hoods and sleeves get a layer of mid brown. Any scale-armoured miniatures (such as the chap second from right) get their scale armour coats layered in a red leather colour. Hose are not painted uniform colours - so two or three complimentary colours (sometimes more for large units) are selected. In this case, a deepish red, french blue, and a blueish grey. The hose colours are then applied in such a way as to avoid two similar miniatures having the same colour hose. The scale-armoured chap mentioned earlier has no hose - I've painted him bare-legged (same skin tone as his face).
Another two units of (mostly) spearmen. With the hose complete, the belts and shoes are finished in red leather (as for the scale armour) and most of the weapon hafts given a layer of light buff. 'Grips' on the weapons are also touched-in with red leather. The miniature himself is then finished off with a cross applied in white to his chest. Regulations existed for the size and placement of crosses, but these changed over time. I usually apply a mix - some large and plain, some with serif, some small ones (placed top left, like a school blazer badge), and some 'Maltese' style.
The fifth and final foot unit. The last step in painting is to complete the shields. I have a few techniques for this, but these ones feature an old standard style I've used since the 1980s. The shields are separate here, making the job much easier. First, the shield is primed and undercoated (colour not important, though grey / black / brown works best). Next, the front has a printed paper cover applied with wood glue and pressed smooth. This is less shiny than a typical transfer, and mimics the leather cover many shields of this period had. Next, the back is layered in buff, then thin lines of red brown and dark brown applied to imitate wood grain. In reality, the grain is overscale, but they would otherwise be quite plain! Finally, nicks and tears are applied to the paper cover, and buff leather colour applied where damage has occurred. Attach the shield and presto! All done.
Having now painted more Hospitallers than actually served in the Holy Land, any variety when it comes to painting Fireforge's excellent medieval miniatures is always welcome. In this case, there were to be several deviations from my normal way of working. Firstly, and most obviously, six of the mounted Hospitallers were to be finished in red;
The second difference was that the miniatures were to be multi-based. As you can see in most of my other postings, I usually base miniatures singly. It's a small feat of engineering getting three mounted Fireforge guys to squeeze onto a 60mm x 45mm base and not look like they've just crashed!
As I was modelling two units of three, one is equipped with lances, and the other with hand weapons (yes, I know a lance is a hand weapon... but it's a common Rules distinction). I have to admit I wasn't at all sure that the red scheme would 'work' on a barded horse, and almost chickened-out and gave all six unbarded horses. But I'm happy to report that I was wrong. Despite the huge amount of red already on display from the cloaks and surcoats, the barded horses (to me) just look more intimidating - rather than too fancy or just too much :)
I don't think I got the shield shade quite correct, as it looks a bit soft compared to the vibrant blood red of the rest of the miniatures... but the crosses on the barding look pretty good. Looking at the pictures now, I'd have had maybe only one barded horse per base. And not had two brown horses on the same base. And maybe left the cloaks off the riders who were on barded horses. Just to improve the balance a bit.
As well as the red ones, I was also to produce some in classic black. Again, these were a little tricky to rank up on the small bases - this is probably just the right size base for three horsemen in 'true' 25mm, but a bit cramped for these more heroic sorts. I'd guess Perrys would fit more easily. I'm much happier with the composition of the unit above - three different horses both in pose and colour, and only one of them barded.
This is another lance-armed unit. Again, it might look better with only one barded horse - but I wanted to do half the riders (overall) with barded horse and half without, so some bases got two. This looks more obvious, as both barded horses are also black!
This is the command group. They've clearly been paying attention to the ordained instructions of not shedding blood, and have chosen to wield maces instead :)
Another unit with hand weapons, and a better looking composition. Incidentally, some of the Hospitaller shields use transfers from Veni Vedi Vici, rather than printed paper shield covers as I normally use. There's a bit less variety, but they look pretty good. The transfer sheets are well priced, and you get two sizes of cross. I've used the larger on the horses, and the smaller on the shields.
A short note on horse colours... there are probably hundreds of guides on painting horses, and I wouldn't profess to be any kind of horse-expert. But I find that some colours / combinations work better than others. For impressive knights charging into battle in their splendid black gear, a range of sober tones and patterns is complimentary - blacks, greys, browns, and keeping the markings to white or black. Historically, the best horses were mostly gone after the first flush of crusading zeal, and many were not replaced at all - or replaced by smaller local mounts, or even mules. But here's the thing... I wouldn't want to see a unit of Hospitaller knights mounted on a mishmash of chargers / piebald mares / draft nags. So instead of going for the visually-unappealing (but historically accurate) I plump for making the horse more of a background item.
This means darker neutrals for the Hospitallers, where I might give Templars mostly greys or lighter browns for their mounts. So you're looking at the rider, not his steed. If you take a peek at the earlier posts of dark ages Irish, you can see the opposite approach. The mounts are small ponies (historically accurate) so I've 'enlarged' them by painting them mostly lighter colours, and even going piebald with a few.
The same commission included footsoldiers to back the knights. They're on the next post...
Here are more pictures of the Gamezone miniatures I recently completed for a client. These are the knights, and are (if anything) even more brilliant sculpts than the footsoldiers. As you may know, I'm not exactly youthful... and I can remember the likes of Ral Partha and Citadel in the late 70s producing classic fantasy knights just like the ones I've presented here. The poses are a little less flat, and the overall height greater (as we moved from an actual 25mm to a nominal 28mm - which is usually more like 30, 32, or even more), but the spirit is old school.
I don't know if the choice was deliberate, but the ornate 'joust' helmet crests all have a mythical beast theme. This first pairing being a unicorn and a dragon. I didn't choose the yellow / white quartered scheme (that's to fit in with the client's collection), and wouldn't normally have gone for it unless historical accuracy demanded it (such as with the Wars of the Roses Tiptoft units, earlier post); but I think it really works here, especially on the dragon-helm chap, whose dark hair and skin, and large areas of exposed metal armour, might have otherwise led to him looking a little gloomy.
Booty shot of the same two knights, showing how simple quartering can look effective on both surcoat (left) and cloak (right). I wasn't asked to paint a 'charge' or 'device' onto the quartering, but if I had, I'd have been tempted to echo the crest animals, perhaps in red for the dragon, and in white / outlined red for the unicorn.
This is the other pairing. Now, the kneeling chap might not actually be a Gamezone miniature... but I recycled his packaging and can't remember now! Anyhow, he is in a scheme more closely related to the footsoldiers, though in truth you can't see much of it. Or his face. So he's a nicely detailed lump of kneeling metal :). All very pious and holy, but not my favourite pose to paint. And not much to say about it either - I used my usual ink-over-highlighted-paint for the armour finish, and went with dark hair again. The other chap was much more fun to paint. A green dragon this time, to make him different to red-dragon dude (above), but I carried a little red hint through all four miniatures - scabbard and cloth twist on this guy.
Rear view of the second pairing.
