Author: theimperfectmodeller

Welcome to this weeks Miniatures & Musings!

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This weeks miniature is another “Two Handed Weapon Knight” from the Footsore Baron’s War range.  The little chap has been painted in the colours and heraldry of Roger Bigod who was one of the Magna Carta Barons in the year 1215.

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Well It Made Me Laugh

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WordPress Notifications

In case it isn’t just me I thought I would share the following experience.

It took me more than a week to realise that very few emails were arriving in my BT email account advising me of Likes and Comments.  In itself it wasn’t a big deal, I just needed to check out the comments directly on the blog instead.  It bugged me though so I got in touch with a WordPress Happiness Engineer.  It would appear that BT seem to have a very high level of what they consider to be Spam, not that the emails are going into my Spam folder, they aren’t even reaching me in the first place.  Why has this just started to happen? Buggered if I know.

My Happiness Engineer suggested I change my email address to Gmail as they have a higher Spam threshold and allow greater control to be employed by the end user.  Having made the change it looks as though the email notifications from you guys are now coming through. On the downside, we all knew there had to be one, my Site Icon disappeared and was no longer being shown despite all the various boxes being correctly ticked in my settings.  More emails to a another Happiness Engineer has now hopefully resolved that. 🤞

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The Knights On TIM’s Modelling Table

This week the cavalry arrived, literally.

In addition to around 100 various foot figures still to do I have now given myself a further 16 mounted figures to paint.  Cleaning has been done but not the priming.  I also need to give plenty of thoughts to how I intend to paint them in terms of heraldry.  Fortunately I am in no rush so will continue to paint the foot figures that I have plans for.

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Give Me Five

We’ve all had those moments when we would like to take revenge for an injustice we have been dealt.  Alas the thought of criminal proceedings holds us back and we are left trusting in divine intervention striking down the bastards who upset us.  On a personal level I had hoped Covid-19 might have proven to be one of Big G’s “mysterious moves” but indications so far aren’t encouraging as my nemesis Mad Martin remains a live .  No such problems, however, stand in the way of our silver screen heroes who do our bidding for us.  The fact that this film genre was the toughest yet rather tells you just how many films are out there and how much the genre is a box office hit!  In no particular order my top five revenge movies (it could have been a top 30!) are:

1. Once Upon A Time In The West (1968)
2. Gladiator (2000)
3. Death Wish (1974)
4. Straw Dogs (1971)
5. Inglorious Basterds (2008)

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This week TIM has been listening to …

“The Beverley Hills Cop” Sound Track album.  Not sure what prompted this bit of nostalgia but I did enjoy the music and subsequently the film.

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This week TIM has been watching …

“Beverley Hills Cop” starring Eddie Murphy.  A blast from the past but just as enjoyable.

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Remember …

Being kissed while you’re sleeping is one of the purest forms of love unless you are in prison.

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TIM

Welcome to this weeks Miniatures & Musings!

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This weeks miniature (or should that be this weeks knight?) is one of four from the “The Knights with Two Handed Weapons – Pack 1”.  Applying the heraldry rules I decided to make up my own on this occasion and went with two white Chevrons on a red background.  It is possible, might even be probable given the colour choice, that the simple design does actually align to a real knight.  I will undertake a search at some point but if it does then it is purely coincidental on my part.

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Well It Made Me Laugh

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The Knights On TIM’s Modelling Table

Last week I found this image on Pinterest.

As best I can tell at the moment these Baron’s represent 25 of the key figures in the Baron’s War.  Therefore if I am to be true to the history then these shield designs and colours are the ones I should be going for.  The problem as I see it however is that yellow and red completely dominate.

It maybe there is a reason for this colour dominance, perhaps there are family connections which tie some of the Baron’s together?  Perhaps it’s just coincidence or simply a restricted colour pallette given the available paints and dyes of the day?  Whatever the reality I will be deviating from it.  I will do some for sure, I have in fact already by chance done the blue and yellow of Richard de Percy, but I will look outside of these for more interesting options where I can.  I will still aim for true heraldry but if the geezer fought in a different campaign then I will employ poetic licence if I think the end result will look cool.

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Give Me Five

Now when it comes to films I do like a good saga.  A film of three hours of more is is just my cup of tea.  Watching a film like that on a cold winters night with the fire blazing and single malt in my hand makes for some perfect escapism.  One of the other things I like about some of these films is that the scenery can often steal the show.  So this week I have gone for my top five films where the cinema photography has for me made a film truly epic.  In no particular order:

1. Lawrence of Arabia
2. Legends of the Fall
3. Dances Woth Wolves (extended 4 hour version)
4. The Last of the Mohicans
5. Doctor Zhivago

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This week TIM has been listening to …

“Downtown” by Petula Clark.  This song was released in 1964 when I was seven years of age (was it really that long ago?) the same year that Zulu came out at the cinema.  When my brother and I were taken to see Zulu (I had to sit on the upturned folding seat so I could see the screen) it was, as I recall, a dark and dismall winters night when we all set off “Downtown”.  Although this song is not directly linked to the film I have always put the two together.  Everytime I listen to it this track conjures up the most evocative images of that time in my life and will simply always remain one of my favourite tracks of all time, not so much for the song itself but the memories.  Now where did I put my Zulu DVD ….

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This week TIM has been watching …

“Glory” starring Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman.  An excellent American Civil War film and one which I hadn’t watched in a long time.

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Remember …

When someone says get a grip, as tempting as it is, they don’t always mean around their neck.

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TIM

Welcome to this weeks Miniatures & Musings!

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This weeks miniature is one of the four which comprises the Footsore “Foot Knights with Two Handed Weapons No: 1” pack and he has been painted in the heraldic colours of “John de Berners”.  More on the project below.

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Well It Made Me Laugh

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The Knights On TIM’s Modelling Table

This week I spent some time reading and digesting the Wargames Illustrated article I made reference to in last weeks post.  Not surprisingly it turns out there are various rules which need to be applied where heraldry is concerned.  These rules are useful both in terms of making up your own scheme and deciphering real examples.  Now let me say at the outset I am no expert on this subject but I am aware that many of you perhaps are.  Apologies therefore if I am trying to teach anyone how to suck eggs and if I have any of this wrong then I am more than happy to be corrected.

The first rule I took note of was on colours.  It seems the colour palette is restricted to five main colours namely Blue, Red, Green, Purple and Black.  I assume there is scope within each colour to vary the shade but what is significant is you have to put a colour with Gold (can be yellow) or Silver (can be white).  Accordingly any of the five colours can be used alongside either Yellow or White but you cannot have Red and Green together or for that matter Yellow and White.  The good news here is that by good fortune the few knights I have done so far conform to this rule.  Is the rule flexible?  In truth I have no idea but I’m happy to stick with it.

It seems you can also add “Furs” to the design of a shield too and the first image below gives some examples along with the colours referred to earlier.

One of the next things I discovered was “Field Ordinaries”.  It would appear that shield designs generally use these layouts.  I have seen exceptions so I’m guessing the rule can be ignored to some extent, most likely determined by who you are (think King John and the three lions) but this is something for me to try to learn more about.  However, for my purposes Field Ordinaries coupled with colour choice will provide a huge number of heraldic options.

In the unlikely event that I should ever run out of heraldic shield options given the possible combinations from the above “rules” I can always fall back on the “English System” below.  With medieval families being large in number then shield designs can be used again but with the modification of adding a symbol relevant to the first through to ninth son.  Although I was unaware of it at the time, the red line on the figure I painted above of John de Berners defines him as the “First Son”.

All in all I have an almost limitless number of painting options.  I suspect further research may even throw up more but for now I have plenty to be getting on with.

For those of you who are into your Space Marines and the such like a thought struck me while I was writing this.  Heraldry has been around for a thousand years so what’s to say it wont be around for thousands more?  If you are stuck with ideas of symbols to use and how to define your hierarchy it occurs to me you could do worse that revert to some of the above.  In anticipation of abuse please be advised I am now ducking out of this one!

As a footnote please note the images used above were taken from Google and not from the magazine article as I am no expert on copyright law.

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Lies, Lies and Statistics

I don’t tend to put much store by my blog statistics, mainly because mine aren’t that great!  I never created this blog with the aim of conquering the world and I continue to not be disappointed.  What has surprised me though, and periodically continues to do so, is just where my blog has been viewed.  As things currently stand it has now been accessed in 83 countries with Algeria, Ecuador, Brunei and Guatemala having been just recently added to the list.

Now I am very aware that some of these countries have only ever given me the one hit and I feel certain that hit was purely by accident (the inevitable search of a testosterone filled teenager googling “models”) but I do get a kick out of knowing a post of mine has popped up somewhere new in the world even if it did come as a disappoint to someone feeling horny.

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Give Me Five

The end of the UK Lockdown continues to gather pace.  If things continue to go as well as they have then the country will return to near normal by the middle of June.  Inevitably there will be signs of the aftermath but we’re talking mask wearing rather than bombed buildings.  Despite the horrors the pandemic has brought to a great many, and still is to vast swathes of the world, there are somethings I will miss.  ln no particular order my five are:

1. The Quiet roads
2. The additional time spent modelling and painting
3. The time at home with my kids due to work and school closures
4. Re-connecting with people I haven’t spoken to in years
5. Having all my football teams fixtures televised live

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This week TIM has been listening to …

“Pinball Wizard” by The Who.  A classic track instantly recognisable from the intro by those of us of a certain age.

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This week TIM has been watching …

“Mississippi Burning” staring Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe.  A classic and very powerful film in which the performances of Hackman and Dafoe are simply outstanding.  A film I have watched many times and that never fails to be move me.  Based on a true story.

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Remember …

Alcohol is never the answer but it is a good way of forgetting the question.

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TIM

Welcome to this weeks Miniatures & Musings!

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This weeks miniature is the next installment of my Medieval Army.  As with all these figures they are from the Footsore Miniatures Baron’s War Range, in this specific case the first of four figures which comprise the “Foot Knights with Two Handed Weapons, Pack 2”.  The freehand heraldry is that of “William Bisshopsdonne”.  As and when I get all four of a particular pack completed I will post a little group shot.  At the moment though I am choosing to work in a somewhat random way so right now I have no idea when the first group shot will be.  I suspect a but like buses one or two will come along at once!

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Well It Made Me Laugh

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The Knights On TIM’s Modelling Table

Over the last week I was able to pick up some useful information in relation to knights and their shield designs.  A link I found – Glover’s Roll – was particularly useful in providing designs as well as names.  Some look very much easier to paint than others so time will tell just how adventurous I get.  I also found a wealth of images on Pinterest too all of which has led me to another decision. 

Although the figures I am painting are all from the Footsore Barons War range I’m not hung up about every heraldic knight I paint having to be a participant of that precise period and/or campaign(s).  Whilst my OCD will, for example, insist that my bases conform to a level of uniformity I’m relaxed about the accuracy of participants.  What does matter though is that the heraldry is accurate and that the figures are painted well enough to give a colourful display and wow factor when they are displayed.  At the end of the day I see models as a representation and, a bit like Hollywood directors, there is room for poetic license.

Another thing I picked up on last week was an article published in Wargames Illustrated entitled “A Wargamer’s Guide to Heraldry”.  I’m not a subscriber to this magazine but getting hold of the March 2021 issue seemed like a good idea.  I haven’t had a proper chance to read it yet but at first glance it appears to contain some very useful information for a novice of the period such as me.  More on that next week.

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Salute 2021

April is normally the month when the South London Warlords hold Salute.  Understandably it was never going to be held so early in the year with the various Covid restrictions in place.  The good news was the organisers were aware of that and so they pushed the date back to later in the year.  The bad news for me is they chose the same weekend in November as the IPMS Small Scale World show in Telford! 

I’m sure I am not the only one who enjoys attending both events but alas this year I have to choose.  At least it wasn’t a difficult decision.  Telford is the bigger event and held over two days but more to the point my hotel booking from last year was rolled over to this one so Telford it will be, assuming the event does go ahead!

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Give Me Five

With lockdown restrictions in the UK starting to relax I thought this week I would list my top five things I am looking forward to (fingers crossed) in due course.  In no particular order:

1. Attending a model show (Telford if nothing else)
2. Going to the cinema, hopefully to see the latest Bond movie at last!
3. Getting away for the weekend
4. Meeting up with family 
5. Going out for a meal and eating it inside!

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This week TIM has been listening to …

“We Will Rock You” by Queen.  It’s been a while since I listened to a bit of Queen so it was high time that I did.  So many tracks to chose from but I just love Brian May’s guitar solo at the end of this one.

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This week TIM has been watching …

Line of Duty, Series Six.  The last episode was shown a little over a week ago but now that all the episodes are now on BBC iPlayer it was time to sit down and binge watch the whole of series six again.  As UK TV dramas go this one captured the nation more than just about anything and had everybody trying to work out the likely outcome.  I wont spoil anything but if for some reason this series and the previous five have passed you buy then lucky you as you now get to watch the lot.

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Remember …

Five out of six people agree that Russian Roulette is completely safe.

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TIM