I've been quite busy converting some of the Salute Free Agincourt mini's sculpted by Alan Perry with other parts from their plastic HYW English boxed set again sculpted by Alan Perry along with a couple of metal conversions too.
If you remember, in my original post my aim is to create a few bases of archers in the process of nocking, drawing and loosing and to have a few bases of archers dropping their bows and getting stuck into combat. The ideal actually comes from a suggestion that I made to Michael Perry a few years ago so you can imagine my excitement when the Agincourt to Orleans Melee pack was released!
First are two metal mini's that I converted some time ago. The first being a Handgunner readying his match, with the hand cut away and a bow placed in it in place of the linstock. The bow I've tilted to one side as he reaches behind him to where I've placed a metal bunch of arrows. I think the conversion works quite well as it shows the archer in a slightly contorted pose reaching for the arrow:
The second metal conversion was actually really simple in that I had already cut away his arrows which stood paced in the ground behind the model and added some plastic arrows from the Wars of the Roses Longbowmen (The HYW plastics didn't exist at the time!). Again, although a simpler piece of work than his mate above, I think that it works quite well and shows that with a little effort sometimes very realistic looking results can be obtained:
Next I have a mini using the archers body from the Salute Freebie and the arms and equipment from the HYW box. The body is in a much more dynamic pose then the one's in the box set and I've modelled him drawing the bow- with the bending of the back knee he really looks as if he is straining to draw the bow as one's body does when "bending in the bow". I've got to cut away part of the hood from the torso and then add a ProCreate hood to finish the lower extremities of the hood. I've also got some work to do on filling the gap of his right arm and his shoulder and modelling the details of his gambeson in that area. I should add, that like on all plastic miniatures, the mould lines have to be removed before any kit bashing was done:
Again, below, is another very simple conversion. I cut away one of the smaller bases from the Salute 2011 'Freebie' sprue and rounded it off by filing away at it with an emery board. The mini was made up of parts solely from the box set and I simply drilled a hole and added the arrows, again from the 'Freebie'. Again a little ProCreate will be added just to fill in the gaps and the mini will have all mould lines removed- I find this actually easier to do when the mini has been stuck together and the glue has thoroughly set. Don't cut corners and let everything dry.:
With the next mini I have utilised the steak with the axe stuck in from the Freebie and have my archer who has already armed himself with his buckler reaching for the axe in the wooden steak. It's as though he's dropped his bow and is about to take the plunge into melee. I want a series of archers in various stages or preparedness as I want the bases to look as though they are all just starting to wade in to the ensuing combat as the miniature drops his bow and reaches for his hand axe already placed in the steak:
The next mini is very much a WIP and to be honest I'm not sure how he's going to turn out! Time for some experimentation! I'm considering replacing the maul with a bill but I don't have access to my Wars of the Roses plastics at present so I don't know- long story!:
I'm planning four two six bases of archers with two different basic types, some nocking, drawing a loosing along with the ubiquitous with the two fingered 'salute' and three bases in which the archers are in the process of/have dropped their bows, picked up whatever they have at hand, be it maul, axe, falchion possibly even simply a sword or dagger and are about to wade into the maelstrom that typified the Late Medieval battlefield. After all, all battles of the period ended up with some serious fighting even for the archers, or as in the case of Agincourt and Verneuil where the pressure put on the flanks of the French in melee won the day (French and Scots at Verneuil).
The ProCreate putty used in these conversions was a new purchase at Salute. I still have some older ProCreate from a while back and I have to say that I think that the older stuff, being less tacky was easier to work with than the newer stuff! It's probably just a case of getting used to using the newer stuff so I'm sticking with it. Just not too old as it tends to be very hard and difficult to even mix!
In the pictures below the putty has been added from the basic poses above. Yep, I do need some practice but a multitude of sins will be well hidden when it comes to painting the miniatures up!
Here are the completed HYW Perry Archer Conversions, for many of which I have used parts of the Salute Archer designed by Alan Perry.
They're at this moment drying after having been given and undercoat and will be ready for paint tomorrow. i hope to make a start on them tomorrow but I've got six archers nocking, drawing and loosing to start first.
Archer about to Loose:
Archer Resting Hand on Stake:
Archer Blowing the Note to Prepare for Melee:
Archer Reaching for Axe in Stake:
Archer with Maul Gathering His Courage:
Archer with Sword and Buckler (not a conversion):
Archer Attacking with Maul:
Erm..... Stakes!
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