PROJECT LEWES

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 ...

This has been a long time coming but I have just finished my first body of Rebel foot to basing stage. They represent lightly armed foot soldiery of the Right Ward under the overall command of Henry de Montfort and led personally by his younger brother Guy. The figures are essentially Curtey's Miniatures and Gripping Beast (GB) with two Essex and one Old Glory figure hiding within the ranks. The Curtey's Miniatures figures are a relatively new range and specifically aim to supply the mid thirteenth century wargamers with a suitable range of figures not specifically covered by other manufacturers and I am very pleased with them indeed. Whilst they are designed similarly to GB, they do not suffer the same engineering faults - the spears and receiving hands fit with little modification required. The GB figures are pretty as always and these miniatures are from their crusading pilgrims range and come with raised crosses on most of them (see ginger mooustache and bl...

This was a relatively fast turn out for me and well it should have been - a skirmish unit of twelve archers. The exercise was interesting in itself because it is a combination of two new paint jobs and a touch-up of ten very old ones (more than 15 years at a guess). If you hadn't figured, the old ones are on top. I will point out that the bases are also partially upgraded as my older archers are based on balsa wood - something I rarely use for that purpose these days - and I have chamferred the edges. The static grass is to be touched up also as what you see is too green and not blended. I have added magnetised sheet to the base which reinforced the balsa and helps for transport in my collection of metal toolboxes. Deficiencies in my previous paint jobs were essentially to be found in the faces which I have redone, and the lack of detail in the arrow bundles - now remedied. Some previous archers have their bows strung with my wife's hair (thank you darling) but I have ...

A month of painting and simultaneous research and I have finished the painting of the Right Ward knights. At this stage I am electing not to complete the bases until the rest of the ward is finnished - I have commenced the archers and will then proceed to the two units of foot. The centre figure (representing William de Munchensy) I now realise should be with Gilbert de Clare's ward and not with this unit, so he is one of the two seperately based figures and will be replaced when I paint the next horse unit. John de Neville (foreground) and Hugh de Neville (rear) pictured left. I had originally intended that Hugh would be the unit leader (required under WAB) but changed to John de Burgh. You will note that my Hugh has a painted helm (the only one) and I have to admit that if you refer to my Right Ward Knights: Research & Heradlry pdf you will see that his blazon should be paly (6) azure and or - not paly (6) or and azure as I have it here. As if that wasn...

This list is of knights I researched who are confirmed Montfortian rebels who were either at the battle of Lewes or can be safely surmised to have been. They represent the knights in the van of the right ward under Simon de Montfort (the younger) and there are only nine as this represents a 1/10 representation for my army list based upon my calculation of the army size, less one knight to allow for the standard bearer/trumpeter. Right Ward Knights V1

I n fact, in the first shot it's one of my fighting Bishops with John de Burgh of the Rebel Right Ward heavy horse. If you've looked at the evolving army list (currently Version 2) you will be aware that I have ten knights attached to the Right Ward whom I have begun to paint. John de Burgh's arms are particularly complex and took two attempts to scetch out the red checkers pattern between which will be further detail. The bishop is simply being painted at the same time and I will feature him in another posting. These figures are all Gripping Beast for which I have a few comments. They are some of the best looking and proportioned figures money can buy and I particularly love these knights. They are; however, the worst models to construct primarily due to the poor hand detailing. Caste in an open grip to receive weapons, they are not deep enough and the alloy too rigid for ease of manipulation. It took some persistent cutting and careful filing to make a suitable recei...