16 x Perry Miniatures Bohemond of Taranto Command Group of Normans.Progress

Status:  16 horses and basing completed. 16 knights complete, Shields 75% complete. Banner and pennants 90% complete, weathering and varnishing still to complete.

More photos here soon

Estimated completion date : 20/06/14

Below converted Bohemond awaits some weathering and varnish.

And his younger nephew Tancred

Again matt varnish, weathering and shields still to be added.

Above I have started looking at the shields,  I have painted a 2mm square  red and white chequred pattern on 30% them.

Below a close of one of the shields.

From most complex to the most simple,  a few shields always look good in simple plain colours with studs. I will add sword cuts and rips to some as well as weathering them to make them look dirty.

All 16 horses complete and varnished, bases need finishing and movement trays need to be made, magnetic attachments will be used.

Close up of the horses and one completed rider( no shield yet, leave those until last)

Four movement trays 80 x 90 mm with magnetic attachments, sand glued in place , ready for painting.

Below the bases painted, dry brushed ,

And static grass, plants and rocks attached to the bases.

Below I have started the  banner and pennants, I think I prefer the  one with solid red tales.

Below the knights completed,awaiting weathering and varnish.

I have completed two banners to see what looks better, the shields are not stuck on yet , like to be able to move then about before settling on choice.

I think the banner with the smaller squares looks Breyer at the moment

The whites on these will be washed to look dusty/ dirty .Pennants  added to all lances.

18 x Perry Miniatures 1st Crusade Knights completed

 Status: completed and dispatched

Here a group of 18 knights + 20 horses and 4 command figures completed.

Note the poor knights/ squires  on the rear rank holding  spare horses.

And a bit more mixed up from above.

Banners and command figures.

Note studded shield

Squire holding spare riding horse

More knights

Another squire and spare riding horse

Last group of knights/ squires

The horse holders were converted from poor knights/squires .

The original reins were removed with a scalpel, a saddle, stirrups and new reins were made out of green putty, the shield arm was drilled out to take a spear.

Same treatment with this one,  spare horses were from the holy orders knights

A close up of figures above and below

16 x Perry Miniatures Bohemond of Taranto Command Group of Normans. Work in Progress

Status:figures converted, cleaned up and under coated .

Made a few changes to the command figures.

Chopped off a few heads and working out some new configurations for command figures. Above a proposed alternate Bohemond with facial hair, but could work well for any command figure .

Above a more animated Tancred, all bits currently held together with blue tack, when finalized will be drilled then wire inserted, superglued and then green putty added to fill joints and detail.

Above similar pose but different head for Tancred .

Above the completed conversions, pinned, glued and green putty applied around necks, coif, etc. Should look good painted.

Above the whole unit starts taking shape, figures cleaned up, steel spears added.

Another view of the converted Bohemond and Tancred .

Above added some arrows stuck in the shields, flights yet to be added.

18 x 28mm Perry Miniatures 1st Crusade European cavalry unit, Work in Progress

STATUS: Finished apart from static grass on bases

All figures finished apart from grass and stones on bases.

Poor Knights/ Squires one converted to lead his lords riding horse. Same again below.

Above , hand painted Milan Cross/ St George's cross / Papal banner almost certainly carried by crusaders on first crusade.

More knights

One knight in area used head gear, and variety of shield designs

And above Goddfrey command group on an additional smaller movement tray so he can be embedded in to a unit if desired.

 I will provide 3 more movement trays so the same can be done with three other command groups of Raymond, Bohemond, Robert Curthose.

Norman Knights in progress , banner has just been started. Shields may be swapped around  before being glued and varnished 

Movement trays 80 x 90 mm so the same depth as command trays but more tightly packed to represent "boot to boot" shock cavalry formation.

Spare horses with saddles awaiting  squires.

I will be supplying extra movement trays for the command groups so they can be integrated into larger units or kept as a seperate unit. 

Above 6  movement trays of 4 figures the colours and designs of shields correspond with , Bohemond,Raymond, Robert Curthose and Geoffrey command groups with a few  generic studded leather shields.

Shields have not been glued on yet, maybe changed before they are finished.

Three of the Knights almost complete, the studded leather shields have not been glued on and may be swapped  with others when the unit is completed. Bases still need painting. Like the look of plain leather studded shields they feel really authentic.

Here all twenty horses and the four command figures of Geoffrey make a  good size conroi of 24.

Should look mighty impressive when finished.

The horse holders and spare horses have been based in twos, all the rest based on singles, movement trays to follow.

Godfrey de Bouillon command group progress

Status: finished 

Godfrey and his knights complete except for a little extra detailing on his leggings.

Simple banner based on early images of this famous leader( the tomb of Robert Curthose amongst other references) is very  similar with other 11th century banners portrayed in images found in  the bayuex tapestry.

This level of research gives the figures an authentic feel of their era.