The crossbowmen themselves are pretty much straight builds from the Fireforge medieval sergeants kit, as described in previous posts. I've included them in this shot to show that the mantlets are painted-up to match the same quartered red/white scheme.
Construction of the mantlets;
Cut some 1mm plastic sheet into rectangles 22mm x 18mm. You could use other materials, thin ply or MDF, or even card. If you are matching to smaller / older miniatures, you might want to reduce the height or width slightly. Likewise, if you have huge steroid mutants (Games Workshop miniatures, for example) you may need larger proportions.
I made up some artwork in Photoshop for the front, and printed it in colour onto sticker paper. I use quite expensive good-quality paper, with a smooth finish and a slight sheen to it (though not glossy), so tht acrylic paint flows nicely over it, rather than just soaking in or clumping on the surface. Of course, you can also use decals (Veni Vidi Vici, Citadel Six, Little Big Man etc.), or paint freehand - and if using printed paper, you can use plain paper and attach with wood glue (as I usually do for plastic shields).
Next, I covered the back surface in wood-grain sticky-back plastic film. You can buy this in DIY stores, though mine actually turned up in my local ALDI. The supports are made from lengths of square section plastic kit frame (or 'sprue'), trimmed to approx. 15mm length. The horizontal is attached about two-thirds to three-quarters of the way up, and secured with plastic cement (this handily bonds styrene and sticky-back plastic film). The vertical piece then attaches to the underside of the horizontal, roughly halfway. The support pieces are deliberately not exactly alike, and the angle of attachment varies too. This gives a very pleasing effect when they're lined up.
Next, the mantlets were attached in pairs to 'cavalry' style plastic bases (from Perry Miniatures sets, but I think Renedra do them for lots of manufacturers). The fronts were battle-damaged with a few light scuffs, and some spare plastic arrows (Perry Miniatures Wars of the Roses longbowmen kit) painted up to stick in. Holes for these were made using a heated pin, as my 0.5mm drill bit snapped under pressure from my big gollum hands. A drop of plastic cement in the hole was enough to secure the thin arrow. I stuck them into every other mantlet, but if you want more battle damage, you can chop off corners / rip the painted cover / add more arrows.
Finally, I put the scenic treatment onto the bases. If you do this after assembly, as I did, be careful to 'squash' the mantlet into the surface, so they don't appear to be balanced on top (unless your bases are rock / paving / stonework!). In this case, they were based to match Mark's existing collection, so looks a little different to my usual sandy ones.
These could also be made with no heraldry on the front, in which case you could cover both sides with sticky-back plastic film - or paint wood grain by hand. It would be fun to do some with religious scenes, as I do sometimes for my 15th century pavises. The larger, flatter 'canvas' would give more room for artistic freedom.
By chopping a 1.5mm - 2mm square chunk out of each bottom corner, and adding small slices of 2mm - 2.5mm plastic rod or dowel, you could make wheeled mantlets. Sometimes, the mantlets had a dedicated footsoldier to support them and move them around (the 'pavisier'). Sadly, the Fireforge set doesn't include any kneeling poses, so I couldn't do them like that - but if your collection includes kneeling figures, that would look great too.
I did some for Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game too, modelled to look like Orc / evil ironwork. I'll post pics of these at some point soon.
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