Tuesday 9 June 2020

Wars of the Roses Artillery.

Painting projects seldom grace the pages of this blog, but this base has a slightly different emphasis.
Front Rank 28's


Years ago, pre home computer, I put together a small booklet that covered the Battle of Bosworth 1485, containing a short narrative and a simple set of rules for 10mm armies. The whole thing suffered poor editing and poor production values, but it has its place in my gaming history.

Fast forward to now and a conversation about the said booklet with a family member, had that person suggesting that I redo it and they gifted me a Front Rank 28mm medieval gun piece with crew, plus a pack of WoR casualties, obviously keen to encourage me to take on the project.

Anyway, it has rather enthused me to do a pair of War of the Roses armies and I have collected a few boxes of plastic figures in readiness for when I get sufficient fortitude, but I thought that first, I would make a bit of an effort with the gun base. 

Firstly as a thank you and secondly (play sad music) the family member has no inclination to having any interest in my gaming or collection, but I thought that since this is my passion, this single base might now have enough of a connection to make a good keepsake, when I eventually shuffle off my mortal coil and my collection just becomes a hassle to the family, exiting stage left to some place where old armies and boardgames go ..... shudder! 

I must say, I quite enjoyed doing the piece and had never appreciated the clever but simple mechanism for adjusting gun elevation that these things had. The video below shows some period artillery in action (plenty of smoke!)

Everything went together fine and painted easily, though I am finding that my Winsor and Newton Professional matt spray varnish is taking away some of the vibrancy out of the colour. 

Basing is 2mm MDF at 60mm wide by 80mm deep. The photo doesn't show it clearly, but the tree stump is propped up at one end by an earth mound made from Green Stuff. You can click on the images for a closer look.

Resource Section.

My sister webspace COMMANDERS is a bit more snippet based than here. Link.


A video showing gunne, artillery and archery in action! LINK

30 comments:

  1. Looking good Norm and every new period needs to start somewhere. A period I have often considered from a distance. But quite a big undertaking 👍 perhaps one day ?

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    1. Thanks Matt, yes another rabbit hole to disappear into!

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  2. Nice job on gun and crew, Norm! Your painted works ought to appear from frequently. I look forward to your Bosworth project.

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  3. Thanks Jonathan, Bosworth does grab my fancy.

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  4. Looks a lovely paint job. Like the figure grouping.

    The Bosworth video is real fog of war when those guns fire!

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    1. Thanks Mike, I was surprised by how much smoke there was, but also as to how quickly it dissipated. I am guessing that there was generally a low rate of fire.

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  5. "Saint Barbara pray for us!" Gorgeous cannon, Norm.

    And our minis, board games and troves of rules will be waiting for us all at Fiddlers Green.

    For posterity you should post those Bosworth, 1485 rules!

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    1. Thanks Steve. I have the old booklet being typed back into the word processor (that almost sounds old fashioned now!) and have also been gifted by the same person who bought the gun, the new Richard III and The Battle of Bosworth book by Mike Ingram and published by Helion ....... superb!

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  6. Beautiful artillery stand Norm! If this piece is a preview of things to come then I hope it won’t be long before you dive into painting those armies.

    PS yes, sometimes certain varnishes do tend to spoil the vibrancy of some colours.

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    1. Hi Mike, this has given me a taster, though I think your specialism of heraldry on figures will sorely test me!

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  7. Very cool, Norm. Someday I hope to return to WotR; possibly with Hail Caesar rules - last time I played WotR, I used Lion Rampant - worked out nicely.

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    1. Thanks Dean, there a certainly some good rule options out there.

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    1. Thanks Michal, it was a fun piece to work with.

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  9. That's a neat looking piece Norm. If you decide to go for it I have some painted Perry figures you are welcome to, I diverted from the WotR to the Italian Wars with Dave.

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  10. Phil that is a very kind thought and to own something with your brushwork would be a privilege - thank you. I will contact you via your site. Norm

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  11. Lovely looking artillery piece! I am planning on expanding my WOTR armies, I want to do a nice big version of Barnet 1471 at some point, probably with Hail Caesar, how are you going to get around your plastic glue aversion with the boxes of Perry figures?!
    Best Iain

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  12. Thanks Iain, I knew you would like the piece.

    Re the glue, I have bought Roket Plastic glue, which is non-toxic, minimal odour. It is a weld glue, but not as instant as the revell Contacta glue. Also, I have decided to glue in the summer outdoors in limited batches, masked. I then leave the figures for a few days in a shed to 'gas-off'.

    I need to build up enough summer stock to be able to paint through the winter. The breezy weather we have been having also helps with the above.

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  13. Cracking job, what a splendid artillery!

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  14. Thanks Phil, it was just a pleasure to work on it, a good introduction to Front Rank.

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  15. Great looking piece. Artillery bases have a certain air about them that draws the eye. 😀 Will WoTR be a part of the pocket armies project?

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  16. Thanks Stew, yes it will, together with ACW, WWII and napoleonic .... Oh Dear! :-)

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  17. Nice story and lovely work on the Front Rank figures

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  18. Thanks Keith, making this base the start of new project has been quite motivational. The Front Rank figures certainly have a lot of character.

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  19. What a nice gesture and you've made a great job of this. The WotR is one of thos colourful conflicts that I'm drawn to but never get round to doing anything about. Maybe one day...

    As for matt spray, a very matt finish does kill colours based upon on my former life as a modelmaker. We would spray our 'matt' models with more of a satin finish as they looked 'right'. Not sure why. I use brush on Vallejo matt lacquer which works for me as it's not too matt.

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  20. Thanks Steve, there seems to be a recent flurry of WoR armies being built and they are very eye catching, more-so than I ever thought.

    The W&N is very flat. On metals I gloss varnish first to protect from rubbing, so the W&N does a good job at killing the gloss, but for some jobs (not tanks etc) I am starting to think that Satin would give a better outcme

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  21. A lovely looking base Norm, great animation and I love that period costume. I hope that you do take take the project forward, it will clearly produce some very colourful armies.

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  22. Thanks Lee, the Perry plastics have made it a very do-able period in this scale, but it is nice to have one posh piece in metal. :-) I also have a metal Perry command pack for each side, so there is enough invested to want to move forwards.

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  23. Thanks Stuart, I did use the Front Rank catalogue as a bit of a guide.

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Thanks for taking the time to comment