Federico di Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino and his merry men

 Although it's been some time since I last posted I was still busy at my painting (and modelling) desk. One of the projects I completed recently is a six man MAA unit of Italian knights, specifically Federico di Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino between 1474 and 1482 together with a handful of his closest and most loyal knights. Being late fifteenth century MAA's, they are mostly clad in full plate with Italian and German armour styles for both mount and rider. The Duke's livery is especially intricate and was a challenge to paint but it is such challenges that I relish. I also tried my hand at a piebald horse and am particularly pleased at how it came out, never having done one before.

Figures are 28mm Perry multipose plastics and are exquisitely cast although my usual gripe of having to construct multipose figures still stands. Also, I noticed that they are built smaller than Front Rank 28mm MAA's but on the table the difference shouldn't stand out too much.

The Duke  and friends

 

Top-down view

The big cheese himself

 

 

 

 

 

28mm Perry Miniatures Dutch Guard Lancers

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I sometimes dabble in the 28mm scale just to enjoy painting the beautifully detailed figures that are available out there. This unit of Perry Dutch Guard Lancers is depicted at Waterloo with their leader - General Colbert - having one arm in a sling.  Colbert was wounded the day before and fought the battle of Waterloo with his wound dressed. The unit is an absolute joy to paint and the detail on the figures is outstanding. I must say they look very nice in my display cabinet!

The Dutch Guard Lancers in all their glory

General Colbert leads his men forward

Close up of Colbert, arm in sling

28mm Perry Miniatures Dragoons

I am a passionate 6mm wargamer (more on this in future posts) but absolutely adore the finely detailed 28mm figures which are being churned out by manufacturers of late.  So I made it a pet idea of mine to occasionally build a few 28mm units just for collection. Being aimed for the showcase, I put in that extra effort in finishing the figures. These are 28mm Perry plastic figures straight off the box painted as the 2nd Dragoons. The trumpeter's horse was converted from that of an extra officer with sheepskin and saddle roll built up in green stuff.I had to do this to beef up the unit to 14 figures since only 13 mounted figures are supplied in the box. I purchased a single officer figure from Perry and converted the horse for the trumpeter whilst the extra officer figure was converted to Eagle bearer. The final result is fairly decent I think.

Officer single figure

Trumpeter's horse furniture reconstructed

Eagle bearer, trumpeter and officer close up