My first Lancastrians

I have painted my first Lancastrians. To be honest, I had painted them by the end of last year but was waiting to get the flags before I posted them. This contingent of Northern spears supported by archers is led by Sir John Heron of the Ford, ably assisted by Sir John Crackenthorpe, and is part of Northumberland's command. According to one source on the Lance and Longbow Society mailing list (now defunct), Northern spears appear to have been an invention of WRG rather than a reality, but the order of battle we are using calls for them and I like how they look, so I shall use them in at least one incarnation of our Towton refights.

(click the picture for a larger version)

I'm not dead yet! (More Yorkists)

Well, it has been some months since last I posted here. This does not mean the project is dead though. Instead, I have been busy with a variety of real life things, as well as this project. In this time, we have received a whole host of flags from Freezywater Publications / Lance and Longbow Society (see the sidebar for links). They have very kindly supported us by resizing a number of their flagsheets to suit our needs. I have now added some of those flags to my units, while also making a few livery badge flags and company flags for my troops, to add variety. I have also used some flags provided by David Rayner, who specialises in researching heraldry, to enhance my troops. First up for display is a contingent painted for me by Steve Kelly of steve's blog.

Sir John Conyers on the left and Sir Reginald Grey of Wilton on the right (click the pictures for larger versions). I could find no mention of what badge Grey used, nor did his heraldic banner have anything suitable on it to use. I did find a reference to his family using a gray or badger as a crest, so I opted for that as a badge and made the livery badge flags with that image on it. John Conyers's livery badge flags were easier because I could find suitable references for them. The heraldic banners are from Freezywater as mentioned above.

Here we see levy troops commanded by Sir Edmund Grey of Ruthyn on the left and Sir John Astley on the right. The livery badge flags are from Freezywater and the company flags are my own creation.

Edward IV exhorts his cavalry to do their utmost before the battle. I am not happy with my attempt at a white rose on Edward's horse and may try to redo that later. For the time being I need to crack on with the remaining figures. This is one of the command stands for the game. I chose to depict Edward and his followers as mounted because one of the descriptions of the battle that I read described him giving a pre-battle speech to his cavalry. The standard is another Freezywater creation.

Edward IV's command at Towton all liveried and flagged up. This is one third of the Yorkist army.

Duke of Exeter's Battle Update

Progessing along reasonably well. I now have Sir Robert Holland's, Richard Welles' and Henry Lord Grey of Codnor's contingents finished and am well on the way with Sir Lionel Welles'.

Sir Lionel Welles and Henry Lord Grey of Codnor's contingents.

How the full battle will eventually look.

Steve S

Duke of Exeter's Battle

Well it's taken me a while to get started, but I finally have Sir Robert Hollands contingent finished and Sir Lionel Welles contingent started.
Holland's Billmen (Back 2 Left), Dismounted Knights (Back 2 Right) and Archers (Front 2)

Holland's Billmen (Back 2 Left), Archers (Front 2) and Welles' Dismounted Knights (Back 2 Right).

It hasn't been as bad as I thought painting all these and I should have Sir Lionel Welles' contingent finished in the next couple of weeks. Then just Sir Richard Welles, Lord Grey and Sir William Beaummont's to do to finish my first battle.

Steve S

The Earl of Suffolk's Contingent

I have now completed four out of five contingents for Edward's command at Towton. I had actually finished these last week but my wife unreasonably demanded my attention over the weekend so I could not get them photographed and blogged until today. The final contingent is being painted for me by Steve of steves blog, so I shall be turning my attention to Northumberland's command next. But first, here is the Earl of Suffolk's contingent.

Suffolk's Knights

(Click all pictures for larger images)

Suffolk's Billmen

Suffolk's Archers

Suffolk's Whole Contingent

Edward's Command (missing troops represented by blank bases)

Almost There

What happened to September? Following my return from France at the end of August life has interfered dramatically with my time. I've been away on business on average 2-3 days per week. However the second contingent is almost complete and should appear in their finished form this weekend. The 2 bases of archers have taken almost two weeks to complete which in terms of my painting schedule is a disaster.

However I'm hopefull that October will provide some light at the end of the tunnel and that the third contingent will be completed in a far quicker time slot.

Edmund Lord Grey of Ruthyn's Contingent

Poleaxed gives Sir Edmund Grey of Ruthin a contingent of levy archers and levy billmen. I chose to use the Baccus Longbowmen in Jack (WOR1) for the archers and Billmen in Jack (WOR3) for the billmen to differentiate the levy quality troops from the retinue quality troops. To further create the impression of irregular levies I used several different colours for the jacks rather than giving them livery jackets. I am unsure just how true this is to life, but it should give a reasonable impression on the table. The stands do not have flags yet, but they will do shortly. I just wanted to get pictures on the blog now and could not wait to get the flags sorted!

As usual, click the pictures for a larger version.

Levy Archers


Levy Billmen


The Whole Contingent


That's another 8 stands done and just leaves me 16 more stands to complete Edward's command, 112 stands to complete the Yorkist army and 240 stands to complete the whole order of battle. By my reckoning, that means I need to paint 3.5 stands per week up to the end of next year. Better get cracking then! No time to blog, I have figures to paint ...