Thursday 12 June 2014

William de Harcourt, Fireforge Games

This figure represents William de Harcourt. As regular readers may realise that, especially when it involves medieval figures, I'm not total obsessed with obtaining absolute accuracy with my models and figures (life really is too short to stress over such matters). If I like the look of a chap's shield, he's in my miniature retinue. Bearing that in mind whenever I visit Worcester cathedral I try and take a look at the effigy of Robert de Harcourt (which isn't always easy as it is sometimes hidden behind panels and displays) which lies near to the tomb of King John. An image can be found (here
This heraldry appeals to me not only from a painting point of view but also because it is a simple, strong graphic image. I haven't been able to find that information about the Harcourt's during the 13th century but they do make a very interesting appearance in the 15th century. 

The Harcourt's were involved in a remarkable feud (even by the standards of the Wars of the Roses) that included the siege of Stanton Harcourt church in 1450. This is one of the few recorded armed assaults (i.e. where the building itself was attacked) on a church in British history, although others did take place in the English Civil War. This involved the Harcourt family, supported by the de la Pole family (this family was headed by the Duke of Suffolk) against members of a branch of the Stafford family (the head of the Stafford family being the Duke of Buckingham), both influential characters during that period. Although not set during the official time-frame of the game I hope to use this as an scenario in a game using Lion Rampant rules.

The model is from the Fireforge Games Teutonic mounted knights box set. I've removed the typical Teutonic horns (?) from the helmet to give it the figure a more English look.

If you surname name is Stafford, Harcourt or any in fact any other surname and you fancy a miniature painted in your own personal heraldic pattern please take a look at my special free-to-enter competition - details can be found (here).

25 comments:

  1. Lovely painted and background. Fireforge makes some great figures, but alas they're too big to go with the OG and Mirliton guys I already have. Best, Dean

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    1. Thank you Dean. I think you're right, a few of the current medieval figures are suffering from scale creep compared to some of the releases from older manufacturers.

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  2. Nice work, beautiful colors!

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  3. Real men wear pink eh! Fabulous job Matt.

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    1. Top tip Michael - never try to lighten red paint with white, schoolboy error ;). I like to think the esquire was thoroughly beaten for putting his master's best surcoat in with the boil wash.

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  4. Lovely colours and fantastic shading on him!

    Greetings
    Peter

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  5. You made a crackin' job on the brush work Matt!

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  6. Particularly good work on the mail and helmet!

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  7. Very nice indeed Matt. I've been tempted a number of times by these minis are you're not helping!

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    1. Thanks Michael, they're a very tempting set of figures and being plastic they're also quite versatile of course.

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  8. Lovely painting, Fireforge make great figures!

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    1. Thanks Cyrus, you're right and compared to other plastic figure manufacturers Fireforge started well and are continuing to improve their range.

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  9. Great background and a fantastic paintjob. I quite like there new cavalry they've released getting very tempted by them especially after seeing such lovely jobs as this one!

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    1. Thanks Simon, the Fireforge cavalry are very easy to paint up compared to some other similar metal versions. I'd recommend them to anyone tempted to start a mounted medieval retinue.

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  10. Matt - enjoying seeing and reading about these knights - very nice work on the heraldry and caparisons.
    Simon.

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    1. Thank you Simon, glad you're enjoying this mini-series.

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