From Andrew G: Wars of the Roses Bill & Bow with Men-at-Arms (110pts)

One of my ongoing big army projects is to build a Yorkist and Lancastrian force to fight the various battles that occurred during the Wars of the Roses. Specifically, I’ve chosen the Battle of Northampton (10 July 1460) as my focal point around which to build my first units.

Why this particular battle? A few reasons. First, I didn’t want to snow base my figures for this project and Northampton was one of the few major engagements of the period to have occurred during the summer months. Second, the battle is notable for being the first in which artillery was used in England – though typical British wet weather that day rendered much of it useless during the fighting. Third, the battle had all the good stuff representative of the period – lopsided forces and formations, bad weather, arrow storms, treachery, etc. – making it a great project for wargaming ‘what ifs?’.

I’m currently leaning towards using the Hail Caesar Wars of the Roses ruleset, so I’ve opted to multi-figure base my troops accordingly. This group represents a unit of (William Neville) Baron Fauconberg’s household with the men-at-arms upgrade. The unit includes both bill and bow, with men-at-arms occupying the billmen’s front rank. The miniatures in this unit are all Perry plastic Wars of the Roses Infantry and Men-at-Arms with a few alterations here and there just to create some variety within the ranks.

Once assembled the figures were primed black and then batch painted with various Vallejo and Army Painter colours and washes. I purposely did not paint Fauconberg’s hook symbol on these figures yet as until I have enough troops painted, I may use them to represent generic forces in other battles.

After letting them dry for a few days, I gave them two coats of matt varnish and then positioned them on their bases. I find that typically I can get six billmen comfortably on a base but only five archers, thus my 4-base units tend to consist of 22 figures vice 24. However, since what matters in Hail Caesar is frontage and not figure count, it doesn’t really matter how many figures occupy the unit’s space. Last, I keep the troop types separate for flexibility as some army lists includes units made up of just one type or the other.

I make my own bases on my FDM 3D printer – these ones are printed in olive drab PLA and measure 40x60x2mm. I find anything thicker tends to make the figures look like they’re standing on a platform and takes away from the terrain aesthetic. The base is then covered using Vallejo European Mud (26.807), a mix of Tajima tufts, and some Noch static grass. Done and ready for the table!

Claiming 22x 28mm figures = 110 points

A fine collection of WoR infantry from those excellent Perry box sets.  Love the clean liveries and your basing really works.  I might suggest To The Strongest as an alternative to HC, we've found that it gives a fun and fast game with reasonably plausible results.  I like your choice of Northampton as you battle, my dad was born in Northamptonshire.  Peter