Ragged Staff Miniatures Veteran

 

Martin Brook of Ragged Staff Minis, kindly sent me a couple of models of his latest figure, the Veteran, from his Wars of the Roses range and it is a thing of beauty. RSM use the same sculptor as Reconquer as is apparent with this latest mounted addition to the series. No one else sculpts horses so well.

The figure itself depicts a clean-shaven man in a brigandine, a sallet hangs from his belt as does a scabbarded sword and a buckler. Slung over his shoulder is a wrapped long bow. The horse is grazing and the man gazes into the middle distance. The pose, right hand on hip, left on the cantle of the saddle, reins dropped for the moment allowing the horse to graze is a peaceful one. This rider may have just arrived atop a hill and is admiring the view or is he possibly scouting for enemies? He could be in conversation with a similarly mounted comrade. I think of him as a Harbinger, one of those seasoned captains that rides ahead of the army looking for a suitable building to use as a Headquarters for the Generals

I thought I would use this figure to describe my painting method. The big decision for me whenever I have a new figure is what colour scheme to use, particularly for this period where there is so much choice.  Often, I look at a figure and a paint scheme comes immediately to mind however with this one the one thing I knew for sure was that I wanted to paint a very pale Palamino type of horse.  I began at the beginning with an undercoat of pale grey

I decided to try Wargames Foundry Buff for the horse and so began with a good coat of the Darkest of the three in the triad. I spent a lot of my childhood around horses and I know that they can be just about any colour of brown you can think of! 

This I washed with Citadel Seraphin Sepia. I think Citadel inks are as good as any on the market, if maybe a little on the dark side, they are quite opaque can be diluted hugely without losing their essential colour. I then highlighted with the middle Buff colour, keeping the paint thin and picking out the muscle mass.

Then I used the lightest of the three Buffs on the most raised areas.  A wet pallet is an essential part of my kit as, among it’s many other virtues, it allows the paint to become very thin yet retain its colour

The last highlight has Vallejo Dark Sand mixed with the lightest Buff colour. I will return to this basic flesh coat several times as I paint the rest of the figure just generally improving the coverage or adding a slightly lighter highlight here and there. When I am happy with it, I will give the whole thing a very light Glaze of the Sepia ink.

The mane, tail and lower legs are then painted with Citadel Screaming Skull followed by a very dilute wash of Sepia before being highlighted with a mix of screaming Skull and Vallejo Ivory. To this mix I add a very small amount of white for the occasional highlight of a strand of hair

 I use this formula for “warm” whites such as cloth, hair, fur. For “neutral” whites-painted wood, leather, stone I use a pale grey, Citadel Administratum Grey highlighted with Army Painter Stone Golem, I very rarely use a small amount of white added to the stone golem as a final highlight. For “cold” whites, snow, and ice, I use Stone Golem highlighted with White glazed with Tyrol Blue

I used Citadel Kantor Blue for the saddle, I wanted to represent a dark blue velvet covered saddle. This I washed with Citadel Drakenhof Nightshade

My usual practice is to paint each part of a figure to completion before moving on but when I am unsure of what colours I want to use I tend to paint several areas with a base coat and have a think about it. Here I used Black to all the metal bits, Sallet, and mail. Vallejo Chocolate to the saddle bags, reins, bridle, and boots. Citadel Rhinox Hide to the Brigandine and a cheeky glimpse of Citadel Khorne Red to the sliver of hose that is apparent above his boot.

The brigandine has been highlighted with Citadel Doombull Brown. The saddle with Citadel Altoic and Hoeth Blue and then glazed with Drakenhof Nightshade. All the leather areas have received a coat of Vallejo Flat Earth, highlighted with a mix of Flat Earth and Dark Sand. The metal has had a coat of Gun metal.

The leather areas have all received a thinned wash of Vallejo Smoke. The metal has been washed with a mix of black and brown inks, that I knock up in a separate bottle and call my Armour Wash.  I have recently started using a new method for leather. I bought Valejo’s Wood and Leather paint set a few months ago and it has recipes for three different leathers by Angel Giraldez as well as several different wood effects. This is the recipe for “Dark Leather” which I have been using for a while and am now quite pleased with the effect. There are instructions for creating “Red” and “Light” leather too, I decide I shall try all three when I paint the second Veteran!

The rolled blanket on the front of the saddle and the bow cover have been painted with Citadel Steel Legion Drab, Tallarn Sand and Karak Stone and glazed with Sepia ink, a recipe I tend to use a lot for canvas.

  The livery jacket I have depicted as White and Blue, this chap must be one of the Beaufort’s men! For the white I have used Citadel Screaming Skull lightly washed with sepia and highlighted with Ivory, I rarely use pure white.

For the Blue I am using Citadel Fang, washed with Tyran Blue and highlighted with Russ Grey and Fenrisian Grey. This will receive a glaze of Tyran Blue.

The horse harness has been prepped with pale grey and every other “flap?” has had a coat of Army Painter Stone Golem

The sallet has received a thin wash of Tyran Blue but only in the recessed and “shady” areas

The sack of arrows on the back of the horse has been painted with Citadel Zandri Dust, Ushbati Bone and highlighted with Screaming Skull. 

Here I have added the Fang/Tyran blue mix to the buckler and every other “lappet”? on the horse harness

and so to the manflesh, I usually paint this first, I don’t know why I didn’t this time. For this figure I chose to use the Wargames Foundry Expert Flesh set. This consists of six grades from A to F dark to light.

I base coat his hair with Citadel Mournfang Brown

I wash the hair with Agrax, hmmm, that sounds like a shampoo ad! And the flesh with Citadel Fleshshade

I wash the hair with Agrax, hmmm, that sounds like a shampoo ad! And the flesh with Citadel Fleshshade

I added a small thin highlight of Shining Steel to the Sallet. Some flesh, B, to the lips and eyelids of the horse

 Ignore the red flare at the top of the bow case, its a power light on an amp in the background! 

a subtle highlight of dark sand added to the hair mix to pick out the hair in more detail

A blob of dark brown mixed with black for the horse’s eye and a tiny dot of white washed with a very thin wash of black ink to tone it down. A faint highlight of flesh D to muzzle lips and eye lids

   I used Ushbati Bone to pick out the teeth

A very fine glaze of fleshtone completes the face.

  My painting method is a time-consuming process! For this reason, I love the wet pallet as it keeps my paints wet and useable for days so I can keep returning to a colour for touch ups or to hide any accidental blobs Such as the small patch of blue on the saddle bag, visible in this picture and the blob of flesh on his belt purse. 

The figure is now ready for varnishing and basing.

For the second figure I wanted to do a brown horse and use a lot of different browns on the figure, a study in brown or maybe a brown study.

I basecoated the horse with Citadel Rhinox Hide and used the Warganes Foundry Dusky Flesh range for consecutive highlights

 I decided to make this horse a bay with black mane tail and lower legs I highlighted the black with Citadel Skavenblight which I then lightened for the final highlights.

The saddle is Citadel Rhinox Hide/ Doombull/Tuskgor

Brigandine a mix of Citadel Rhinox Hide and Khorne Red, highlighted with the lighter variants of these in a 50/50 mix

Bow cover Citadel Mournfang/ Skrag/ Deathclaw

Blanket -not brown! Citadel Castellan Green/ Loren Forest/Straken Green

For the Reins and horse harness I used the Giraldez Red Leather recipe of Vallejo Orange Brown mixed with Woodsmoke, highlighted with Orange Brown, a second highlight of Dark Sand and then a light wash of Woodgrain

The cowl and sleeves were painted using the Giraldez Vallejo Light Leather recipe which is a base coat of 50/50 mix Japanese Uniform and Dark Sand, highlight Dark Sand, washed with Flat Earth, then washed with Smoke

Flesh was Wargames Foundry again

Hair Citadel Zandri Dust washed with Sepia ink highlighted with Ushabti Bone that Screaming Skull then a few strands of Vallejo Dark Sand

The rope was Steel Legion Drab/Tallarn Sand/Karak Stone

Boots and saddlebags the same Dark Leather recipe as previously used

The detail in these sculpts really is superb

The shield is speckled Foundry Dusky Flesh triad

Varnished , based and ready for war!

Ragged Staff Minis are as good as it gets, who else sculpts triple rivets on the brigandine? I wonder what they will come out with next? Whatever it is I can't wait to paint it!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/RaggedStaffMinis

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Wargames Atlantic Peasant Levy 1100-1350 a figure review

 

Wargames Atlantic have a prolific output of plastic figures all of a high-quality multipart design that lends itself well to conversion and kit-bashing! Latest of these are the Peasant Levy and they are excellent

There are seven frames in the box, five with the six different bodies and various arms heads and weapons and two frames which consist of arms with various long weapons, mostly Bills and Spears.

These long weapons are interesting in that the arms are of three types, unarmoured sleeves, gambeson or jack sleeves and mail.  

  The bills appear to be quite crude and I immediately thought that combined with Perry Agincourt English or French figures these would make perfect Jacqueries!

The set has the kind of farming implements and tools you would expect to find with an armed rabble as well as a few more standard weapons. It’s nice to see a sling in there.

  And I love some of the details, the notched sword, the casually held long bow, a perfect match for the raised two finger saluting hand.

Various single-handed weapons such as axes and knives will be perfect for archers “armed for combat” a la Ruckus!

  There are a few sheaved knives to hang from belts as well as bunches of arrows for your peasant archers and Outlaw types.

As always with a multipart kit, its the implications for kitbashing that are the most intriguing

There are a couple of flails, excellent for Hussites and some nice cudgels for your thugs and Henchmen.

  The bodies consist of torso and lower body with legs and there are four different types of each to a total of six bodies. Some of these have rudimentary buckled leathers belts and some have ropes as belts.

There are thirteen different heads.

These are nicely varied, one has a gaping mouth, one has an eye patch.

They perfectly match the bodies in style, low relief, light detail and perfectly proportioned. These figures are anatomical rather than heroically proportioned and make a nice fit with the Perry Miniatures range.

I would say that they are much nicer sculpts and more realistic than the only other similar plastic multipart peasant levy figures available, the Fireforge Northmen Folk Rabble, who have rather stark, staring faces and gigantic hands.

The various different weapons and tools offer a massive range of possibilities for these figures and I would love to have built the lot of them however I have many projects on the go and not enough time so I contented myself with creating the four quarterstaff armed Outlaws that I need for my Outlaw band

I simply cut the head off the spear to create a useful quarterstaff.

  I used Citadel Greens triads. Caliban, Warpstone and Moot Green for the bright “Apple” green that I used on the hoods and cowls

   This I suppose was my attempt to create a Lincoln Green although, there are so many varied accounts of what colour Lincoln Green actually is that it is hard to know which is right.

I figured as long as I have one distinctive green that they all wear …

The paler of the other two greens consists of the Citadel Death World Forest, Elysian and Ogryn greens. 

The rope belt is Citadel again, Zandri Dust, Ushbati Bone, Screaming skull washed  with Sepia ink…

The leather bits, including the eye patch, are done with Valejo Chocolate, Flat Earth, and highlighted with Dark Sand and washed with Smoke, sounds like some Deep Velvet lyrics…

The dull darker green is another Citadel triad, Castellan, Loren Forest and Straken Greens

   The quarterstaffs are yet another Citadel Triad, I am trying to use up all my Citadel so I can buy a set of Army Painter Fanatics, this time its Dryad Bark, Gorthor and Baneblade Brown

The boots are Wargames Foundry Dusky Flesh another triad

Overall, the figures went together well. Its not always obvious which arms fit with which weapon on what torso and they are rather fiddly to get right, a small dab of plastic glue to tack them and then fiddle about while it dries seemed to be the best tactic.

The figures are well proportioned and look realistic however the light relief and low detail mean that they are quite tricky to paint well. 

How do they compare?

Left to right WA, Perry Plastic, WA, Fireforge, WA, Frostgrave, WA, Perry metal

WA Peasant Levy 1100-1350 £30 for thirty figures…

Ruckus- My movie style retinues

 

My Baddy Retinue

My baddy retinue is based on the fictitious Baron Blackheart, a Character that has had an increasing presence in my games since I bought the figure from Black Scorpion games earlier this year. He is listed as the Breninmoor Noble man, although there is little that is noble about my bad boy! I figure the Baron can be the big bad boss that I wish for my Ruckus games and Campaigns and act as a stand in for more classic baddies such as Guy of Gisbourne.

I have used I him in several games, quite a few demos and participation games at shows and the figure seems to be a one blessed with good fortune…for other Players using him that is!

As Baron Blackheart, he has only had two outings, both were fun, he dominated the first game and lost abysmally in the second one. Damn that Lincoln Green clad varlet and his archer friends!

Here is the Baron and his Retinue as I have used him in the last few games

Baron Blackheart

Skills Skill’d at Arms, Dastardly Schemer, Evil Genius, Guards! Guards! Behind You! Riposte, Fluted Plate

I drew these Skills at the start of our last game and it produced a Villian that I really like. The combination of Evil Genius and Dastardly Schemer produces a typical movie villain and allows the Bad Guy to manipulate the way the game plays. Guards Guards proved invaluable in my last game where the Blackheart took four Henchmen as his personal guard and sacrificed 3 of them in the first turn to an astoundingly accurate arrow storm from his opponents. The well tested skills of Fluted Plate and Riposte provide protection and a classic movie trope, the underhand stab in the belly from a hidden dagger. I have yet to use Behind You! in a game and have no idea how well it works!

Squires The Barons squires are straightforward normal Ruckus squires and I think I was lucky to draw these combinations of Skills

Kurt Maelstrom Mighty Warrior, Stalwart. Kurt is tall and has a dodgy East European accent and a Klaus Kinski vibe. Kurt is built from a Steel Fist dummy and head. These are superb figures, slightly taller than most of mine which makes Kurt stand out in the Retinue. He totes a massive axe curtesy of the Frostgrave Knights set.

Jack Nastyface Born to Hang, Battle Fury. Jack is an old grenadier figure now produced by Forlorn Hope. I painted his armour with Vallejo Gun Metal then highlighted with Plate and Mail and a final edge lining dry brush with Shining Silver and then made his armour darker and darker as I glazed Nuln Oil and Tyran Blue over all. The trick seems to be just using enough so that the metal still has a glint.

Retainers

Henchmen Lumpy, Chunky, Lopsided, Beefy, Lumber, and Millstone  

Crossbows Slyboots, Shonky, Marketborn, Wiffle, Dregs and Spotlick

The Baron’s Retainers

The Henchman profiles have not had a lot of exposure to game conditions, that is to say, not a lot of playtesting, it will be interesting to see how they do with more game time. I think they work well. They do not have the fighting skills of bill men and cannot provide support. In a normal melee the Henchman is at a real disadvantage, however the Mobhanded Trait should allow them to gang up and use numbers to overwhelm their Opponents, in true Bad Boy style! It would take three Henchmen to guarantee taking out one Billman with average luck due to the bill man having Skill’d at Arms and being able to Fend. I suspect that a Bad Guy Retinue would be about equal to a normal Ruckus Retinue, ie one with 9 Retainers. I also think the Bad Guy Henchmen are an excellent Profile to represent Orcs!

I used a variety of kitbashes utilising many different figures to represent these Minions of Evil, even using the occasional controversial scale armour! Movie medieval baddies pay little heed to historical convention and so neither shall I! Any pretence at historical representation has gone out the window with this particular Retinue!

I used a restricted pallet to create a uniform look of black for the armour, the Citadel Fang triad, with Nuln glaze, for any soft clothing and Citadel Rhinox Hide for coifs etc. Boots and belts were made to appears as scuffed leather created from Army Painter Chocolate, Flat Earth, and Dark Sand. Helmets received a single coat of Gun Metal with a heavy wash/glaze of Nuln Oil.

The Goodies

Robin B’stard and his Messy Men

I don’t really do the Good forces in any game if I am honest, I like the Baddies, the Orcs, The Bandits, the Jack Palances... However, you cannot have one without the other and its all about movie tropes so…

I did not want to do a Robin Hood as I have plans for a whole campaign featuring that particular Character for later in the year, however, I had already knocked up some Outlaws from various figures I had and used the classic Lincoln Green as a theme. And my wife had bought me the Medieval Mayhem set with a rather diminutive RH figure… So here we are with a NOT Robin Hood.

Everybody has a different idea of their favourite version of Robin Hood, mine is from the books by Roger Lancelyn Green, a very traditional story based around the famous tales, a classic in every meaning of the term.  So, THIS hero is a not Robin Hood, lets call him Robin B’stard. He will serve to test the rules and provide a template for the Hero to come.

Robin B’stard-Rogue Knight

Skills Skill’d at Arms, Puissant, Skilled Tactician, Dashing Hero, Hold My Mead! Deadly Blade, …and his Merry men. He saves on 4+ no plate armour for him and all Outlaw Heroes have the skills Woodsman and Nimble

Puissant may be the best Hero skill in the game, a Prowess of 4 makes everything easier. Skilled Tactician enables him to occasionally outwit his devious foe. Dashing Hero makes every Gambit easier to perform, and the experimental Hold My Mede should ensure that luck does not rule in every play! Deadly Blade is a well-known Ruckus skill and His Merry Men should ensure that his Retinue does not vanish into the dark Wood at the first opportunity.

To be Robin Hood proper he would need some shooting skills, Veteran Archer and Deadly Aim might do the trick.

Squires

John Small Saves on 4+, Skill’d at Arms, Strong as an ‘orse, Stalwart The figure is from Oathmark Human Light Infantry metal figures and he’s a beaut

Will Scarlock Saves on 4+, Skill’d at Arms, Hawk Eye, Steady Hand. Another Oathmark HLI Metal and very nice he is too!

The Retainers

The Outlaw Retainer profiles have been around since we first started playing Ruckus and work well as they are so no need to change them. The Figures are from a number of different sources Perry, Frostgrave and Oathmark are the majority of the bodies with arms and weapons form many sources.  They are not quite right yet; I need more quarterstaff toting types and I am waiting on the Wargames Atlantic medieval levy to complete my set.