Perry Miniatures Wars of the Roses Longbowmen

Having done specific units for Yorkist and Lancastrian, I decided to do a more generic unit of archers which could appear on both sides of the table (possibly in the same battle... this is the Wars of the Roses after all);

My default setting is to paint things red, so since I wasn't following a particular faction, I went with red.

Red and white makes a striking colour combination (hence its popularity with sporting teams of various denominations); but too much white can look a little stark.  To alleviate this, I used a light stone-grey here and there instead, which 'suggests' white, without actually being white.

The eagle-eyed will spot that, although they are supposed to be a generic unit, I found a badge used by (I think) a Lancastrian side which was a basic wheat or barley ear.  I liked it and wanted to use it, so I painted it small and unobtrusive :)

One thing I've avoided is the use of more than one red.  This (to me, and to fashion gurus the world over) looks awful - so if you're painting red, stick with one tone as much as possible.

Once red has been established as the unit colour, you can get away with quite small amounts of it, as it is such a powerful colour.  In the case of these two chaps, a bare minimum has been used - the open coat on one, and just the sleeves on the other!

The badge shows up quite well on these two.