My journey into the complications of the War of the Roses continues with a visit to the King Richard III Visitor Centre at Leicester. I have had it on my list to visit the museum ever since it’s creation and with Leicester being just a 30 minute drive down the A46, it wasn’t to much of a journey. I had closely followed the search for Richard III’s remains at the time the story was breaking. Apart from the historical significance of the story, I had spent a very happy part of my career working and living in Leicester and very much like the city and the people there.
Statue of Richard III outside the visitor centre.
As you would expect from such a new facility, the Visitor Centre is very clean and beautifully presented. I can certainly recommend the on site café for it’s quality of food and value for money – the cake was delicious!
Replica weapons on display
The centre of course, focuses on Richard III, how he came to power, his demise at the Battle of Bosworth and the search for his resting place. There is plenty of information to absorb and although I am familiar with the story of Richard III, it is still a fascinating tale of dark intrigue and betrayal. The centre covers how Richard came to power, the tale of the Princes in the Tower, his reign over England and Richard’s last desperate charge at the battle of Bosworth to hold onto his crown. Of course, with Richard now interred at the Cathedral across from the centre, the city of Leicester obviously feels an affiliation to Richard and the museum rightly asks the question as to whether Richard III’s reputation as a ‘bad guy’ is fair and justified. Having asked the question though, it leaves it up to the visitor to make their own judgement.
More weapons on display in the Battle Time line.
A large part of the exhibition is devoted to how the archaeologists tracked down Richard III’s burial place and recovered his remains. It is a superb piece of detective work and fascinating in it’s detail. The forensic ‘post mortem’ of the remains is intriguing, if somewhat gruesome. There’s no doubt that Richard III came to a nasty end, deserved or not!
Richard III Skeleton , as it was discovered.
If Shakespeare had intended to vilify Richard III for the sake of his Tudor masters, then over time, I suspect that this has not quite worked out the way that that he intended it to. I think that many of todays public will know of Richards last words as spoken by Shakespeare for him ‘A horse, a horse, my Kingdom for a horse’. Even more will remember him as the King that was found in a car park!
Yet more weapons! It is pretty obvious that these displays caught my attention!
I would definitely recommend a visit to the King Richard III Museum. It will take only a half a day at the most and you can spend the rest of the day as Julie and I did, browsing around the Leicester City Centre and it’s shops. If you are unable to get there then a visit to the web site is well worth a few minutes of your time. The 3 minute video is an excellent introduction to the centre – the link is below.
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
You can visit the King Richard visitor centre official web site here:
My War of the Roses project gathers pace once more and before I update you with my latest progress (and explain the quote in the blog title – not WOTR, I know!), I would like to say a special thank you to Martin Stephenson and Vexillia. Martin has very kindly helped with my research into the heraldry and in particular, the livery colours that I should be using on my troops. His web site Vexillia, is great source of reference and if any one else is embarking on a similar project, they could do no better than to visit Vexillia. I also bought three lovely little reference books from Vexillia. They are packed with information and well worth the money. Even better the service from Vexillia was first class, with both of my orders being sent out in a day and received very promptly. Thank you Martin.
Three invaluable references from Feezy Water Publications, available from the Vexilia web store.
I was also intrigued to note that two of the books have been co-authored by Dave Lanchester. I know Dave from having a stand right next to him at the Partizan shows at Newark and I had not realised how involved Dave was in the Lance and Long Bow society. I suppose the clue should have been that the Lance and Long Bow stand is usually situated right opposite us at Partizan and Daves Partner is often on the desk….Doh! I will be having a slightly different conversation with him at the next Partizan show. Instead of bugging him about books on the subject of Napoleonic Warfare in the Caribbean, it will be nice to chat about WOTR in between customers!
Harry Hotspur fly’s the flag!
One of the joys of my hobby is the historical research into the background of the characters and battles that took place. However, much as I take this seriously and spend a great deal of my leisure time reading, visiting battlefields and museums, when it comes to the painting and modelling, I am happy to take a less rigorous approach. My collection of figures are painted to the best of my ability to represent a generic force from the period that I am interested in rather than a specific unit or army in a specific battle. I’m just not into button counting and although I do like to get the detail as correct as my research allows, I am happy to go ‘wildling’!
You’ve given us the wrong armour and livery!!!
The figures above are a case in point. I have recovered them from the bottom of my lead pile and repainted them to be part of a siege force that will include a trebuchet model that I recently acquired. I suspect that the armour is more suited to a period earlier than the WOTR. The livery colours are a nod in the direction of Warwick (EDIT! whoops! just rereading my books after I wrote this post and I’ve actually used Talbots livery…. Ah well, it will still do as I like the red and black!), for no other reason than there is a superb working replica of a trebuchet that I have seen in action at Warwick castle!
Another batch of Men at arms ready for basing.
Meanwhile, I continue to work my way through the Perry’s Foot Knight set, with another 6 Foot knights completed and waiting for the basing to be completed and six more foot knights well underway.
The final 6 foot knights in armour – just the detail to complete.
In the back ground of the above picture are the 12 foot knights that have tabards over their armour. Completing these will mean that I will have finished the boxed set and added 36 foot knights to my retinue. It was painting the tabards that had made me pause and do some research on WOTR livery. I have decided to paint these in a mix of colours, White and blue, Red and Black and Red ( Murray) and Blue. This should give some variety to the look of my force, now 90 strong!
The army groweth!
If all goes well over Easter, my main force should be complete and ready to take to the table to fight against Sir Andy of Bingham, Sir Peter of Woodborough and the Lady Jasmine of Papplewick! And so to my own army, led by Harry Hotspur. If you haven’t already guessed, yes, that is the Tottenham Hotspur flag that my standard bearer is flying. At some point, as the army grows, I will add some more authentic standards to the force but for now, it’s a good day to be a Tottenham fan!
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
As I have mentioned above, if like me, you are starting out on a WOTR project, you could do no better than to visit the Vexillia site here:
We have the Perry’s plastic range in stock and at the time of writing we post free to most worldwide locations.
I have also created a new category for the blog, War Of The Roses, and gathered all of my other articles that are relevant under this category. This includes a few Lion Rampant battle reports and my visits to Stokes Field and Warwick castle, as well as how I have painted m some of my figures.
I wrote the following article for Wargames Illustrated sometime ago. It’s still relevant to me – the techniques I discuss help to keep me focused – to a degree – and it seems appropriate to revisit it in my blog now as I am torn between my Naploeonic project and my growing WOTR army.
CLIMBING THE LEAD MOUNTAIN
A fairly frequent conversation that I see on social media and often have at the club with my wargaming buddies is how to avoid ‘painters block’. I think that we all get bogged down in never ending projects from time to time or just loose enthusiasm. I am fairly relentless, although somewhat slow, when it comes to painting my units for gaming but I too suffer from becoming jaded. I have a couple of strategies that help. Writing a blog is one of them. It’s very useful to document what you have achieved and what you plan to do and it was part of a business strategy that I was taught when working at WHSmiths. If you want to achieve a goal, there are four steps to work through.
Lady Butlers painting of the 28th at Quatre Bras – an inspiration for wargamers!
STEP 1 – See it
First picture in your mind what you would like to achieve. Visualising your next project is a powerful way of getting you started. There is plenty out there to help you do that. Just pick up the latest copy of Wargames Illustrated for a start. Go to a Wargames show, visit a model shop – even an online one will help…Arcane scenery is great! BUT don’t think about the unmade product itself, focus on what it will look like when painted and finished and even better on your war games table! Check out your friends collection. The library is often overlooked these days – they may not have the exact book that you want but it’s surprising what you can find just by browsing. Talking of browsing, a morning spent in the man crèche otherwise known as Waterstones can be very rewarding. And of course there is Pandoras box, the Internet. Google images is simply an amazing source of reference and inspiration, as are the forums, facebook groups and other peoples blogs. One of the most useful sites that I have found is Pinterest. I’ve rambled on about this site before but it’s worth repeating again. If you haven’t used it, you are simply missing out on not just an amazing collection of images but the opportunity to organise your own collection. Even better it’s free!
Demo games are a great source of ideas!
So no excuse for not having a clear idea of what you would like paint, model or collect for your next project. The point is though not just to look at other peoples stuff but to visualise in your own mind how your models will look. It’s OK to dream!
STEP 2- Say it
It might sound daft but talking about your next project whether to your mates or your family is a really important step on the road to completing a project. It does help if you are talking to someone that’s interested in the subject but believe it or not, it is not essential. There are a number of helpful reasons for talking about your next project. If the person has any knowledge of the subject, you can be sure that they will be happy to share it with you. Now this can backfire…I’m sure we have all been in situations when we have started a conversation at a wargames show that has become a one sided lecture in the minutiae of a subject that barely relates to your original statement. You know, you started to talk about the fact that you were going to build an Artillery piece and have to listen to 10 minutes on the chemical composition of gun powder in the 18th century!
So strangely, talking to someone who isn’t in the hobby is often more useful than you might think. The very act of explaining to someone what you intend to do helps to organise your thoughts and will help you to plan. Even better, friends wont deflect you or put barriers in the way. Sometimes I have found that my non wargaming buddies or family have been the most helpful. They have also been great cheer leaders. Just the simple question,’how is that painting project going’ is enough to spur me on if I am flagging. It’s also nice to keep your partner informed so they have some idea of what you are specifically doing rather than just disappearing off to ‘play with toy soldiers’… One word of caution when dealing with those outside the hobby and talking about your project – watch out for eyes glazing over – you don’t want to be that guy talking about the chemical composition of gun powder!
My British Napoleonic Artillery park is still growing!
So ‘it’s good to talk’ but now it is important to move to the next step.
STEP 3 – Write it down
Once you commit your thoughts to paper your project starts to become a reality not a dream. I am sure that explains the popularity of blogs on the internet. The truth is that many are writing for themselves as much as any desire to let the world know what they are up to. You don’t have to start a blog though. Just getting your thoughts down on paper is good enough. And we are not looking for JK Rowling standard manuscript here! A list of things that you need to finish the project, a very rough diagram of how the diorama that you are planning might look is enough to clarify your thoughts. A list of units in a brigade that you would like to paint will keep you to your project even if you are diverted by something else. Even some post it notes marking a reference in a book will help to record that you are about to embark on a new project.
My project notebook.
The other useful point about writing details down is that you will have a record of what you have achieved and how you did it. I cant tell you how often I go back to my reference’s for the first cavalry unit that I painted. I wrote down some ‘recipes’ for various horse colours and I refer to them all of the time. My own written notes mean more to me than going back to the original sources because as I read my own notes, I can remember exactly what I did. You will also become your own cheerleader – reading back through past projects will encourage you to get on with your new one!
Paint recipes for horses!
So write it down and you will be ready for the final step.
STEP 4 – Do it!
Now buying another batch of figures or model does not count as doing it! You are just adding to your lead mountain and actually I would say that the act of purchasing a new pack of soldiers is really only part of step 1 – Seeing it. In fact, if you want to be hard on yourself, take a look at your lead mountain. The bigger it is, the bigger the dreamer you are. Harsh, I know but for me ‘doing it’ starts when the model is on the work bench, out of it’s packaging. Just start somewhere. Scrape off a few mold lines, stick some bits together, spray the model with primer, put the figure on a temporary base, just do something that starts the process. Don’t focus on the end result at this stage just on the first step that you need to take in the process. Remember, you already have a plan. You have imagined what the model will look like when it is finished, you’ve told your mates that you are working on it and you have a rough plan written down as to what you need to do.
It’s a long way to go to finish three regts of highlanders but it’s a start!
That’s why I like to batch paint my Napoleonic units. Painting 24 figures is still quite daunting for me, even after years of painting. The thought of painting an army would stop me before I even started. But I know that I can paint the shakos of 12 figures in 30 minutes. Then I do the faces, then the back packs, then the water bottles….you get the idea. Over time, I now have an army. So ‘do it’ doesn’t mean do the whole thing in one go. Life isn’t some Nike advert where you are suddenly transformed into a painting and modelling god! It means start and once you do, you will get it finished.
My WOTR army is steadily growing!
So that’s it. See it, Say it, Write it down, Do it. Four steps to achieving your next goal. I hope that it works for you – it’s a technique that I use and I know that it helps me with my hobby. I hope that you find it useful too.
THE COMMERCIAL BIT!
If you need help with your project my shop, Arcane Scenery has a huge range of products from tools to paints and of course scenery and much, much more. Even better, we post free to most worldwide locations!
I have been thinking about building a War of The Roses Army for some time now. I have a Lion Rampant Retinue that would serve as the core of the army. I just need to expand it so that I could field a much larger force and perhaps try a new wargaming rules set. It is a bit of a distraction from my Napoleonic project but sometimes a change is required to prevent painting fatigue and I was feeling the need to try something different.
Pike men on the work bench close to being finished.
I’ve also had six assembled and undercoated Pike men on my modelling board for well over a year. They were left over from my Lion Rampant Retinue and were not needed at the time and so not finished. I had also recently bought a lovely Trebuchet that perhaps would form a nice centre piece or objective for a Lion Rampant game. The final piece in the push, was that following our recent display game at The Bingham Napoleonic Days, Andy Callan offered to revise our Napoleonic rules to make them suitable for WOTR.
The Trebuchet is also primed and ready to be painted.
So, with all this in mind, the first job was to finish the pikemen and then decide what to add to the army. I decided that I needed to expand the core of the army – the men at arms. The Perry’s make a lovely set of English Foot Knights for the period. A box of these would give me 36 Foot knights in heavy armour, as well as a couple of Command figures. I also thought that they would be nice and straight forward to paint. I had no intention of doing any really serious research on colour schemes. The box art of the Perry’s set, Pinterest and the couple of books that I have on Medieval Warfare would do for now. I just wanted to get on with the figures and as I have commented in the past, too much analysis leads to paralysis!
Foot Knights assembled
As four of the torso’s on each sprue of the Foot knights are modelled in full armour, research on colour schemes, could wait. I would leave the Foot Knights with Tabards for last and get on with painting! Assembling the Knights was fairly straight forward, although a bit fiddley. I could have done with a bit more guidance in the instructions but on studying them closely and looking at the box art, I soon had the hang of it and assembled my first six figures. There is little flash or mould lines to remove and to be honest I wasn’t sure that some of the mould lines were actually edges to armour plate!
Knights ready for priming
I then blu-tacked the figures to my spray board ( an old piece of Hardboard). The picture shows how you can tilt the board and the figures stay in place whilst you spray! This means that you can get to all the places on the figures, even underneath.
Primed! Army Painter plate mail primer.
To prime the figures I used Army Painter Plate Mail sprate. Any good silver primer will do the job but the Army painter range all works well together, so I prefer to use it. Once primed, the figures are taken off of the spray board and mounted on temporary bases. Blu-tack is used – it is fine for both metal and plastic figures and I have been using the same ‘lump’ for some years now – so is good value for money!
The foot knights on their temporary bases.
I then gave the figures a good wash with Army Painter Dark Tone Ink. The picture above shows the contrast achieved, with the figure on the left being inked.
Foot Knights after washing with Dark Tone Ink.
Once the dark Tone ink is dry, the next stage is to dry brush with Army Painter Plate mail paint. It matches the original primer and starts to highlight the figures, bringing out the detail.
First Plate Mail dry brush coat.
The next stage is to dry brush the figures with silver. In this case I switched to Vallejo Silver as it was what I had on the work bench. The Army painter version would work just as well.
Silver Dry Brush added
I tend to use a very light dry bush for the silver but repeated it a couple of times. I think this actually helps to ‘polish’ the top areas as the paint dries.
Time to start picking out the detail.
I then picked out the detail using vallejo ‘New Wood’ for the weapon shafts, Flat earth for the leather strapping, Leather brown and saddle brown for the scabards and other leather wear. I also picked out the flesh and used off white for the trousers (hose) that show at the back of the legs. Finally, the swords and scabbards were detailed with Brass and black where appropriate. As a final touch, I washed some of the areas ( Faces and leather straps) with soft tone ink and touched up any obvious errors that I could see and the figures were ready for basing.
Foot knights ready for action!
With six Foot Knights and the Pikemen added to my Lion Rampant retinue, my army is starting to take shape. I’ve sent off for a book on WOTR colours, so when it comes to painting the figures with tabards, I will have a better idea of how to approach the subject. With 18 more Foot Knights in full Harness to complete, I’ll have time for a bit of research!
The Retinue gathers.
THE COMMERCIAL BIT
As always, most of the models, paint, basing and tools that I use come from my shop:
At the time of writing, we still send out post free to most worldwide locations. Here are some direct links to just some of the categories that we have.
Of course, if you have a facebook account, you can follow me here by ‘liking’ my page. I regularly post pictures of what I am working on and you can see what is new in the shop.
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