Well, more Lion Rampant tonight!
I've had my first game, last friday actually, and it's a heap of fun. Activations keep the game a bit unpredictable, but no more than you would expect from a chaotic situation with an angry nobleman screaming at unruly peasants from across a muddy field, combat is quick and fun, and the terrain my friend set up is gorgeous. He wrote up a battle report here showing what went on better than I can write up here, so go check it out:
http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=80214.0
The end result was my forces beaten on points, barely, but with most of the villainous Danes either killed or sent running from the field, and his commander being bested in personal combat with my own leader and sent packing on his panicked horse.
It gave me a fair bit of impetus painting-wise, so I've been working almost solely on Lion Rampant units since.
First off, I completed the unit of Bidowers I've been working on. These are skirmishing archers, moving faster than other units and unhindered by terrain, but with terrible armour. They're good for picking off a few models off other units before engaging them in hand-to-hand, especially since units get 12 combat dice until they're half strength, then they get 6. This makes picking off that crucial 7th or 4th model vitally important once there's been a bit of attrition, and also good for forcing unpleasant morale tests, since they're modified by the total number of models lost so far.
The models, of course, are the old Perry Brettonnian plastics from the old, old WHFB starter. I think the fact that I'm using Perry sculpts is part of the reason I'm enjoying this project so much - something about the style and models, also on the newer metals, are very reminiscent of back when I started the hobby. It's a nice trip down memory lane, even with better models.
These pikemen are going to be foot serjeants in-game. Serjeants were typically citizenry with decent equipement but reservists rather than professional soldiers. Still, with the minor conflicts endemic in 14th century German, it's not unlikely that a fair number of these were fairly hard-bitten vets even without being professional soldiers, at least as I see it.
The unit will number 12 models when it's done, and I'm having a ball painting them. I've even gotten 2 painted in the time between taking these pics and posting them... Although I won't be painting more infantry than that right now since I've run out of bases.
The last Lion Rampant for tonight is the Mounted Serjeants. The army will include a unit of 6 of these, and the chap in the middle on the black horse is going to be my leader. Background-wise he's going to be a minor lord from the Welf family who's taken charge of a combined force of his own / Welf family troops and reinforcements from Brunswick-Lüneburg. Their lances will be done later, when I can do the entire unit at a time.
This puts the completed tally for the Lion Rampant project, with the two foot serjeants not shown, at 19 models painted, out of 49. (Unless it grows, which it probably will to be honest. It's a fun game.)
It wouldn't be a proper update without a bit of infinity, and I've gotten the first Knight of Santiago done:
The pictures haven't turned out that well - it's a difficult model to photograph - but I'm really pleased with this one. It shows that I've changed the way I paint blue from the legs to the torso, but it's still one of my favorite infinity models I've painted, right after the Mobile Brigada, Father Knight and Crusader.
Tally for the PanO: 1 model, the other KoS missing, then that's a wrap!
As always, comments and such is most welcome, and thank you for reading.
