From Kerry T - In days of old when nights were bold....450 + points ( I think)?

Morning, afternoon & evening all

For most of the challenge,  I have found myself in the medieval period where there is a wealth of stories and legends. Of course, many are famous and ingrained in our psyche, particularly if we were born in the UK. Who has note been regaled by stories of Arthur & Merlin, Robin Hood and his Merry men and countless others

During medieval times, heroic deeds and acts of chivalry carried out by the great and the good of the land were regaled in ballads sung by the bards. Because of this, for my last post of the “Sweet Sixteen” challenge I thought I might tell you all such a story. Like a bedtime sort of story so you'll probably fall asleep 

The actions of one of Wales’ greatest knights though once prominent and in those days on the tip of every bard’s tongue somehow became lost until its recent discovery. Thus we arrive at the Ballad of  Sir Creshan of Deheubarth. So join me if you will by the fire, pull up a chair and close you eyes and imagine. (Er On second thoughts it’s probably best that you don’t close your eyes as you won’t be able to see the pictures which would defeat the whole object)

In days of  old when knights were bold…

The Bard Gerald of Wales will help us recount the tale...

Behold Sir Creshan and his trusty squire - Pod

Sir Creshan has no lord, he's a hedge knight and is sleeping under one

Sir Creshan is on his way to a tourney where he plans to earn fame and fortune by winning and so marry the love of his life, Lord Lucan's elder daughter Lucretia who will no doubt be unable to avoid his advances should he win and so become a knight of renown

She's on the right wearing blue

Of course one of the reasons he wants to marry her is because she has big chests

What were you thinking, take your mind out of the gutter, these chests are full of money

Anyway I digress....

This is Sir Creshan's old squire, Hodor, but he had to let him go...

At the last tournament on the circuit though Sir Creshan had been victorious he had somewhat unfortunately be the source of much jest and mirth because of the unfortunate well stupid actions actually of his then Squire Hodor. Now Hodor wasn’t the sharpest tool in the box and when asked to repaint Sir Creshan’s shield with his Leopard heraldry misconstrued or misheard  and a dreadful scene followed " I said paint a Leopard -L -E - O-P-A-R-D - there's no T in Leopard you stupid boy.

Fighting with a leotard on your shield is not really the way to garner favour with lords and ladies

This is Pod, Sir Creshan's new squire

Being a squire is hard work

The day hasn't started well because they slept late  and its worse when they get to the bridge where's there's obviously an ye olde traffic jam where carts are piled up waiting to cross

"Pod, I'm in a hurry, tell those peasants to get a move on as I'm an important man you know"

5 mins later - "well? "

"He's signaling sir - I think he's saying it will take 2 hours to cross"

It soon become apparent what the trouble is and Sir Creshan springs into action

A river troll it seems

Finally Sir Creshan is victorious

On with his journey and into the forest.....

Ni, ni, ni - you shall not pass...

Thank goodness for the shrubbery, not too expensive

If that's not bad enough, a few miles on and another says Sir Creshan shall not pass....

The dreaded Black Knight..

Call it a draw?

Meanwhile with his back turned and horse left unattended it looks like some thieving sod has made off with his horses hooves and shoes ( The current practice of stealing car wheels and leaving the car on a pile of bricks originated in Medieval times)

Off to the blacksmith

Then there was the matter of that magic sword

Arthur you little sod, come here. Where did you get that sword, you could get someone’s eye out with that, You wait till your father gets home he will brain you for stealing that sword – now take it back to where you find it and not only that if his lordship finds out you’ll be on one of those boats to Australia

Next off to see the Mad Bishop at the church for a blessing

Nobody was expecting this

At the tourney Sir Creshan's first opponent was disqualified for wearing a dress and being improperly dressed and his second was a little odd

But look behold

Unfortunately not all medieval tales have an happy ending....

Poor Sir Creshan, all hot and melted.....

Apologies a mad rush and only just in

So In summary - 455b p0its in foot and horse, 3 wagons and a troll and dragon

_____________________________

Wow, amazing work and such a rollicking story, Kerry! I loved how the saga of poor Creshan (it's all very Welsh, you know) allows us to have a wonderful tour of your collection, both new and old. So much to take in. Of the group, I especially like the jousting knights and, of course, the red dragon. Amazing brushwork and all beautifully photographed amongst your stupendous terrain. Bravo on this final parting volley, Kerry! I look forward to seeing you with us next winter for Challenge XVII.

- Curt

From Kerry T- Clippety clop, more hooves and arrows (300 points)

Morning, afternoon & evening all

One of my AHPC goals this year was to paint some horseflesh and thankfully I've managed to do his in the past week. In the next few weeks I hope to knock off a few more units for my Italian wars project

First up though, more Welsh, this time some archers. Finishing these meant that I had painted all of my Welsh figures from Footsore. That sounds great, but as we all know no army is really ever finished and thus some more unpainted figures arrived in the post this week. I see myself using these in skirmish type Lion Rampant/ Baron's war games against Normans and Saxons I think. I figured these should be painted in muted colours

Footsore Miniatures later Medieval Welsh

Not running away, just going to the woods to cut more sticks for arrows

The bulk of the army was painted during the challenge, but here is the complete force (not faction!) including the cavalry, all but four of which were painted up before the challenge

Next up more Perry Plastics, again from the Light cavalry 1450 - 1500 box but this time made up as mounted longbowmen

This box allows so much versatility

I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with these but I think I'll definitely use them for 100YW Welsh bowmen, so I set out to paint them in the green of Cheshire but at a push I wonder if I can get away with using them as Mounted Italian Longbowmen for the early Italian Wars

As you can see I didn't quite press hard enough when gluing the horse halves together!

Finally my third unit - some heavies for the Italian wars

Casting Room Miniatures

Now these are proper heavy cavalry, they really do have some serious heft, I don't think I've ever come across figures that weigh as much as this!

The poses are limited but turn out ok

On the website they are listed as Gendarmes but I figure they aren't flashy or dandy enough to be French Gendarmes so have kept the painting simple with horse armour mainly in metal and no Barber pole lances. This will also make it easier to distinguish them from the French on the table

A Perry miniature s flag depicting an Imperialist unit 

These were surprisingly quick to paint given the simplicity of the paint job so perhaps I'll manage a few more before the end of the challenge.

Regrettably no time to get bonus figures painted up this week, maybe next week

In summary

12 x 28mm Welsh foot archers @ 5 points = 60 points

12 x 28mm Mounted Longbowmen @ 10 points = 120 points

12 x 28mm Heavy cavalry @ 10 points = 120 points

Total 300 points 

(Millsy check my maths please if I make another mistake I'll never live it down!)

2 Squirrels

Thanks or looking, see you next week I hope

From Millsy: Another absolutely wonderful submission Kerry, which is only improved by the quality of your table and photography. I really like your choice of colours for the horse furniture and barding which I'm often tempted to scoot over myself. Your math looks good to me so that's another 300 points for your total mate. Smashing brushwork!