The foot troops slog
29 April 2021
Doing the cavalry for my 10mm Wars of the Roses project was a breeze. It was all armour, brown and a little work on some detail. And it was basically the same for the dismounted men at arms.
The dismounted men at arms were the first foot that I painted. Based on that experience, I thought the the rest would be a breeze.
Salisbury’s dismounted Men at Arms
Audley’s dismounted Men at Arms
I thought it was all going to be the same for the rest of the foot troops. How wrong can you be?
I wanted them to be fairly generic so I could use certain troops for other types if needed. You know what I mean, retinue archers as plain old archers, Shire billmen as levy, militia or just normal foot, and so on.
It is funny how your mind works in convincing you it is all going to as "sound as a pound" and "easy peasy".
The first four bases of the foot troops, the Retinue and the Shire Levy was a slog - a long slog that was over the hills and dales of northern England.
- Four evenings of painting.
- Two and half hours each night (6:00pm till 9:00pm, including the dinner break).
- For a total of eleven hours, if you include the hour for the photos and blog.
- Plus, not enough pre-recorded Coronation Street to keep a very important person at Chez Riley happy while I was otherwise engaged doing the painting.
10mm needs a lot more detail and it is not so easy to do a factory process in the way I like to paint 6mm. I kept missing bits - trousers, shirts, tabards, armour, leather, ribbons, it never ends . . .
Then I had to go back to check over them all again, chopping and changing paints to touch them up. And then, of course, there was more final tidying up for the base painting and flocking.
Blimey what a fuss.
The Foot Troops
Retinue Polearms/Billmen (Which can double as plain old Polearms when needed)
Retinue Archers/Longbows (Which can double as plain old Archers when needed)
Shire Levy Polearm/Billmen (Which can also double as plain old Polearms when needed)
Shire Levy Archers/Longbows (Which can also double as plain old Archers when needed)
The rest of the bases will be much the same as these. Different colours, of course, but a similar approach.
I also did the Artillery and Ordinance a while back, but included here for completeness.
Now I am off to take some photos for the ruleset.
Artillery
Ordinance