A quick and dirty update from here at Arkiegamerland.
My French light infantry now have an officer to lead them, and a couple of new mess mates. Following on from advice I’ve received on the blog, these guys’ uniforms are a darker shade of blue than I’ve painted in the past. I like it! Still not as dark as the uniforms I see in reenactment photos, but I think these tones will look good on a wargaming table.
Another six figures, and this project should be good to go! Of course, then I’ll have to build up from Song of Drums and Shako small scale skirmish to Sharp Practice company sized skirmish. That should take no more than two to five years!

Silence shrouds the forest, as the birds announce the dawn. Three Four travelers ford the river and southward journey on.
Bonus if you get the reference in the caption. These are a few fantasy figures I’ve painted over the last couple of months. All are Red Box Miniatures. I really like the 6′-6″, lard-assed friar. He’s pretty much ready to kick butt for The Lord. I was going to string the bow on the ranger figure, but it turns out not to be possible because of the way the figure is sculpted. Whoops. Still, Red Box puts out my favorite range of contemporary miniatures, even if the heads are a little small and the bows don’t work!
These guys plus my legere means that I managed to paint all of 7 figures over the last two months. Pathetic!
I’ve been reading about the Perry plastic War of the Roses figures over on Lead Adventure Forum, and finally gave in and ordered a box of the Mounted Men at Arms 1450-1500. It’s a fantastic kit of parts. No flash. Assembly takes some time, but isn’t a particularly onerous task, and the mix of heads, bodies, arms, weapons, and styles of armor included in the box means that great variety can be achieved. You get 12 mounted figures for $32, which is a pretty darned good deal!
I’m going to be building a pair of forces for Lion Rampant, but instead of doing the War of the Roses (which I know very little about), I think I’ll be doing a couple of houses from Game of Thrones (which I know quite a bit about). There are some fantastic examples of GoT projects over at Lead Adventure Forum, and such a project just looks too fun to resist.
I’ll be using the cavalry heavy French list from Lion Rampant to build the Lannister force. I’ll use the English list from Lion Rampant for House Stark, as foot knights and archers seem more appropriate for the northerners. I’m looking forward to attempting to custom make banners for the two houses. There’s a fantastic tutorial on the subject by Wargames Soldiers and Strategy over on YouTube that utilizes Japanese calligraphy rice paper.
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I’m either going to plow through my last six French light infantry next week, or start painting this bright shiny new Game of Thrones project. Given my lack of discipline, I’m sure it will be the latter.
Comments
Good luck with the Game Of Thrones project,I shall watch closely for exact detail as I have read all the books and love the series on tv😀
I read the first four books, but haven’t kept up with the written series beyond that point. I just finished watching Season 5 of the TV show last night. Devastated!
Historical or fantasy, no matter, you always make the miniatures shine. I love the bases. They add contrast, a realistic framing and just that “shire“ feel. These Red Box minis look superb. True scale, good proportions and then your excellent paint job to make them shine. I can surely see them as a GOT project or just SoBaH. I would love to see some pictures of individual miniatures!
Well, thank you. Very kind of you to say!
As far as individual pictures go, I may do that when I get a vignette modeled to show them off with. To be honest, my painting doesn’t really hold up to close scrutiny-when the pictures get over scale, my lack of precision and clean lines really starts to show up. I should probably invest in a magnifying glass, or at least go get my eyes checked!
I don’t really have a project for the fantasy figures, though SoBaH is certainly an interesting option. On those rare occasions I get to play D&D they’ll sometimes come out of the box to track marching order, or something like that.