Robin Hood Project: Jester & Musicians

These are all late additions to my Robin Hood project.  I was ordering some things for other projects from Badger Games at the beginning of June and stumbled across these Grenadier miniatures, now made by Mirliton SG.  They are very old sculpts, as you will be able to tell from the photos, but they have a lot of character and will add some atmosphere to my games.  I wasn't sure if I would have time to paint them but they arrived quickly and the simplicity of the sculpts worked to my advantage.

The first pack consists of a Jester (center) and Buffoons. My 13-year-old really liked these so I let him pick the colors and designs. They were fun to paint.

This is the XIII Century Lords pack, though it came with 2 lords and 1 lady.  I will use them as courtiers or wealthier citizens of Nottingham.

The Medieval Orchestra pack.  The trumpeters came with separate arms, as did the violinist's bow arm.  The seated trumpeter was also split at the waist and the stool was a seat and 3 separate legs. Talk about overkill! At least they were designed with sockets for the arms.  I had to drill a couple of them deeper with a pin vise but everything superglued together securely.

Two cooks. They both came with separate arms and for some reason the one on the left was split at the waist.

The assembled denizens of Nottingham.

Robin Hood Project: Civilians

 My scenario ideas for Robin Hood require some civilians. I wanted a variety of peasants, townsfolk, monks, barional retinue, etc. I started by scouring my lead stash to see what I already had that might be useful.  Next, I used a sprue of Wargames Atlantic Peasant Levy and a sprue of WA Fantasy Villagers (obtained from Spruedude).  I also had a pack of 3 Reaper Bones Townsfolk that I bought at Siege of Augusta earlier this year.

These peasants and ne'er-do-wells are from a sprue of 6 Wargames Atlantic Peasant Levy.  I used a couple of arms and a head from the Villagers sprue.  They are dressed in various browns.  I intentionally avoided any green or brighter colors because I also used this sprue as the base for my Merry Men.

These are 4 of the 6 WA Fantasy Villagers.  The other two were converted into Maid Marian and the Sheriff of Nottingham and will appear in a future post.  I am sure the drunk man and his puppet have some entertaining stories to tell.

These 3 are Reaper Bones Townfolk: a beggar, the local blacksmith (who will be working his market stall from my previous post) and a friendly local.

Last are 3 miniatures I already had: a monk from Footsore's Crusader range and 2 very old minis of unknown make.  They came as part of a secondhand purchase in a mixed bag and are a softer metal.  If anyone knows their origin, let me know in the comments.

The traditional group shot.

I am currently finishing up the last 10 or so miniatures for this project, so there are many more photos to come.

28mm Civilians

Over the years I have painted a lot of civilians for my Doctor Who and 7TV games.  They come in handy as objectives, obstacles or just a nice addition to the scenery.

From Lead Bones (l-r): skater, waitress and 4 clerks.  I purchased these from Recreational Conflict.  The skater has a knack for appearing in the oddest places during games.

The first 2 on the left (waitress and cook) are from Ainsty; the other 3 are from Killer B's 'Geezer' range.  Also purchased from Recreational Conflict.

This intrepid BBC reporter and cameraman can often be found in harm’s way.  I bought these secondhand and loose; I later learned they are part of a Copplestone Future Wars pack along with 3 other models.

4 Pulp miniatures.  I do not know the manufacturer.  I bought them at a Cold Wars convention ages ago, from a gentleman in the flea market selling lots of loose Pulp miniatures.  The one on the left still has my old style of earth & grass basing since he looks like a gamekeeper or poacher.  The second one from the left reminds of me of the old officer from the 1939 version of ‘The Four Feathers’ who keeps retelling a tale of his exploits in the Crimean War; “On the right, the British infantry.  The thin red line”.

I took a lot of pictures at the same time so there are more posts on the way.  Thanks for reading!