Back to the Crusades; Horse Caparisons

The putty work was started on this particular miniature well over five years ago and was only recently rediscovered after trawling through a pile of stuff in my bits box! How a mini with delicate putty work ended up in my bits box is a mystery to me. Perhaps I was very hasty in my flight from my previous property? ;>) [Joke]

As soon as I caught sight of the half caparisoned horse and the Perry Miniatures First Crusade Knights sitting in the box it all cam flooding back to me! The Hospitallers, unable to take the withering arrow directed at Richard I's lines finally breaking ranks and hurling themselves at their Muslim foes at Battle of Arsuf! That is what has initially inspired to do the conversions. Then came my four or five year hiatus away from wargaming and the project, neglected was put away- not very carefully I might add!

Regular readers of my blog will know that last November I had started an 11th Century Spanish Reconquista project with a view to putting it on Zalaka/Sagrajas at Partizan that year.  The plans like so many of us had, were scuppered by the arrival of Covid. The project was shelved, which was a real shame as my "Rule of Threes" had kept all my projects running, if not quite on target then at the very least with satisfying consistency. I've made the decision to resurrect the Arsuf project as I will be able to use all the Spanish Muslim units. Also with the new Victrix Normans on the near horizon (see bottom of page for the Victrix pictures) it was high time that I pulled out the putty again and started practising again. Granted, with the Perry Horses being metal the going is more difficult; there is quite a lot of filing which needs to be done to make way for the putty, especially on the head but if I can finish a unit of twelve in time for the Victrix releases I will hopefully have garnered enough skill to keep my enthusiasm on par.

The caparison is a little rough and ready but I am not going to let that put me off. Already the lessons passed on to me by John Morris of Mystic Spirals fame vie the Lead Adventure Forum have been reabsorbed. I have finished the modelling for the shoulder, back, loin and docks of the horse and now have to tackle the rather more fiddly head. I think I have achieved a reasonably smooth surface which is half the battle. I've made a couple of rudimentary mistakes, for example, the horses tail should technically be covered by the caparison but overall, I'm happy with my first serious attempts in five years.

Here are the pictures of the Victrix plastics that will be on their way sometime early next year. They do look spectacular. I am looking forward to filing away at the plastic as opposed to the high grade metal the Perry's use.

Third Crusade Conversions Continued

So, I'm slowly adding to my Third Crusade Christian forces and then I see these:

I investigate the Gripping Beast site a little more and I see these:

And I start to wonder..... just how well will the new Gb sculpts mix and match up with the Perry Crusades stuff?

Answer on a postcard or just pop a reply here if you feel the urge,

Bye for now.

Battle of Arsuf Christian Conversions II Eureka Moment!

Well, all I can say is that if you want to learn to use putty in the correct manner you need to speak to someone who knows what they're doing. I got a lot of advice from a well known sculptor and some info on what to use as lubricant for the tolls and how to use it and all I can say is that is has made a world of difference! What I've produced is actually OK!!

Here's Yesterdays:

Here's Todays:

As you can see there's a world of difference between the grainy conversion work from the previous day and the work that I put in this morning. Like so many things in life it's all down to technique. I got a lot of advice from a very kind and well known chap on the Lead Adventure Forum yesterday and some advice via an e-mail from another well known sculptor the synthesis of which was the work produced today.

I did a little bit of filler in the gaps between the caparison and the legs with Milliput mixed with Greenstuff. This should dry rock hard and can be cut filed so any inconsistencies with what I'm looking for can easily be removed. 

I also cut away the caparison near where it joins the saddle as I want the edge to look as if it is below the caparison and it wasn't flush. I'll correct this in the morning when the Milliput/Greenstuff mix is completely dry.

I'll probably also be adding some padded armour in the gap between the horses legs to the front of the model as seen in the second pic above where I have just cut it away.

I find myself very enthused about this project and will certainly be doing a whole army. It will serve both as practice for converting and eventually sculpting and as a project in it's own right.

Bye for now.

Battle of Arsuf Christian Conversions I or Playing with ProCreate Again!

Hi,

In between bouts of painting I've been trying to brush up on my conversion skills (trying being the operative word!) and have been working on the beginnings of the Christian forces for the battle of Arsuf. I'm using the Perry Miniatures First Crusade range (Christian to start with)  naturally armours had changed over the preceding century so it's necessary to do a lot of conversion work. i'm viewing this project as something that I'll be working on in between painting sessions so that I don't grow impatient with the sculpting of the armours and horse caparisons. I have four models lined up currently but until I become more competent at using ProCreate putty (Greystruff) I'm going to be working on one model at a time.

The putty work is not as smooth as I'd like it to be but I figured that for the first mini this isn't a bad start so I decided to post up pics of my progress. This of course adds a little impetus to the project as well; blogging is a great way to do this!

A time consuming process. Yes.

The images of the knight show him with a surcoat (or part of!) added and the classic helm with a face 'mask' that was beginning to make is into Military fashion. I'll probably have the rest of the surcoat completed by today or tomorrow so will post up more pics as I jog along.

The horse has the 'front' part of the caparison done and I'll be adding the back part later today (skill permitting). It's quite a steep learning curve and I still have to work out the best time to smooth out the putty as can be seen in the pics!

Well, that about it for now.  I'll hopefully be posting up more pics of the completed article if not tomorrow then the next day.

Bye for now.

Battle of Arsuf, Third Crusade, Templars and Hospitallers

I came across these old pics of some of my Third Crusade army that was based around the Battle of Arsuf and couldn't resist the temptation to post up the pics!

They were all speed painted using washed and quick highlights so I would not describe them as being painted up to my usual standard but I have fond memories of painting them up so I thought I'd pop a few pics of the Templars and Hospitalers up. here.

The horses were painted using the method described HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

The Cappa on the Hospitallers was just painted in black and then successive subtle layers of dry brushing were applied. This was then given (from what I remember!) at least two coats of Citadel Black Wash.

For the Templar's Cappa I just used the Boneyard Foundry Triad. As I say the miniatures were painted up very quickly and on close inspection it shows! However, for a Wargames Standard, just to get the toys out on the table they were well worth the quick job.

And who knows.... now that I've rediscovered these pics and I'm equipped with Warwick Kinraid's great rule set, Soldiers of God, I find my interest in the Third Crusade rekindled and it may just lead me down the path of re-starting the project! Hope so!! :>)

Bye for now.