PROJECT LEWES

Born in 1244, Guy de Montfort was the youngest son of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, leader of the baronial army at Lewes. Commanding men within the right ward of the army, Guy was 20 years of age at Lewes and I have difficulty imagining the terror, fear, anxiety, thrill and exhilaration which this warrior youth must have felt throughout that eventful day. A proud day for his father, Guy fought with his two brothers, storming to victory against the odds. This family affair extended to the opposition also, as the opposing general was Guy's own uncle, King Henry III - his mother's brother. Another uncle also commanded against them: Richard of Cornwall, together with his son, Henry of Almain who Guy must have viewed as a deceiver, Henry only having recently deserted the rebels to go over to the King, betraying Guy and his father's cause. Prince Edward (another cousin and future King) also fought against them. These perspecti...

Having embarked on the Rebel Left Ward of the London levy, I realised that my foot unit of 70 spearmen and combined archers are going to take me some time to assemble - let alone paint. I shifted to the archers as they were assembled in a day which is what I want to talk about in this post. When I say assembled, this is not just a term for the new hard plastic figures coming out. Every unit requires some degree of modelling and I had flagged in my previous archer post that I wanted to pay my next unit of entirely new figures a bit more attention to detail. These men represent what I have determined are the archers of London, as part of the London levy under the direct command of Nicholas de Segrave. As I am going to be wargaming Lewes using Warhammer Ancient Battles , in WAB terms this large infantry unit will be a mixed body with 12 archers forming part of it in addition to the 70 spearmen.  As they are of London, I am anticipating that the soldiery of th...

At last the remaining body of 32 soldiers has been completed for my Rebel Right ward. These figures I have determined to be rural levied infantry from the de Montfort and allied estates under the command of the last of my de Montfort sons, Guy de Montfort . I have taken some time to differentiate these soldiers from its sister unit - more of a reliance upon green hues and less on the browns to help identify them from their brethren under Simon de Montfort (younger). I have kept with the same principles for shield depiction and the extension of the white cross onto not only clothing but shields as the rebel field sign. The cross was a much used symbol by de Montfort in his rebellion and rule stemming from his zelous pity and its application in a propaganda campaign to rally the population to his 'legitimate' cause and to motivate his armies in the field. Fixed to 'back and breast', the crosses are cited by the Chronicle of William de Rishanger and ...

Inspired by a fellow blogger Bigredbat who I follow, I knew it was time to think about casualty markers for morale purposes. The thing with these sorts of game additions is that we often leave them as a last resort or after thought but I determine to get them underway as I went to ensure I didn't need to make a dozen at once at the end which for me would be tedious. I have taken two of Essex Miniatures caparisoned horses because I had plenty spare: most of their accompanying knights falling outside of the 1260s. Essex also caste in a flexible white metal which I hazard has a lead content unlike more modern pewter castings. In spite of their thickness, these horses can be manipulated with enough force so I modelled one marker with the rider dead and the horse beginning to get back up from the fall whilst the other knight is knocked out from crashing off his killed and fallen steed. The knights themselves are again Essex Miniatures but were foot knights with their stands...