Mission Creep

I know that I do *technically* have enough models, painted and unpainted, for a reasonably sized Anglo-Norman army. Unfortunately the lure of Reasonable Female Miniatures (buy some!) plus the Dice Bag Lady's new selection of heads, with more medieval-friendly hairdos, has led me to spend worrying sums on new stuff. What makes things worse is that at some point I'm going to want a camp element, which will no doubt involve expenditure on tents, camp followers (ooh Matron!) etc.

 

So, the following post, as well as containing the latest finished efforts, will showcase some of my most adventurous conversions yet, using actual modelling putty.

All but the one on the left are finished, she needs a sling in her hand.

I ordered three packs of 4 heads, and was very kindly given another free pack (total 16) as one of the models (Urdagger Bear Mystic) is out of stock due to a surge in demand. I'm not surprised, really, it's a rather unique sculpt that would fit into a lot of fantasy forces.

Knights. I will add a helmet on the belt of the right-hand one, but I assume the axe-wielder has lost hers in the din of battle.

The heads themselves are quite small, but fit perfectly with Wargames Factory bodies. For the others, I have had to experiement with modelling clay to cover the gap. Results have been mixed, but the gaps are indeed covered, and if you squint you can't see the join. One word of advice: I found I needed far less putty than I expected, so had an enourmous lump left over.

Not all of the head stuck to the putty, leaving me to superglue the heads on these unsettling figures

 On a more positive modelling note, Conquest Games plastics respond wonderfully to the application of scalples, hopefully when I've painted some of my next batch I can have a special feature on handswaps in plastic.

Perry knights with couched lances. I'm very fond of the black and white shield. Very avant garde.

In case you haven't noticed, these photos have been taken with a housemate's flashy digital SLR camera. Personally I think the quality makes near as no difference for a miniature wargame blogger, but you might.

And from the front

As you can see from my other photos, yet more Norman foot have been painted. These feature some novel shield patterns, such as blue and yellow on the same shield (I didn't want to remind viewers too much of Ikea) and the chevron-type pattern in the photo below. It's not been represented in any 11th century art that I've seen, but it doesn't look too out of place at least.

Chap on the left could probably been glued onto his base more squarely...

I was much alarmed and amused by the following news bulletin from Warlord Games (check the date please). 

Some of the models I'm excited about painting, plus crosbowman's shield, and the last gripping beast crossbowman, as yet unbased. 

We round off today with a newish Believable Female Miniature. Thankfully for my wallet, the others are rather too 8th century for my taste.

A very large axe for a historical figure if you ask me...