Entry #1 to the 9th Lead Painters' League - 'You want it? Come, pick it up.' Bosworth 1485

'You want it? Come, pick it up.'  Bosworth 1485

Now that my administrative duties for the Painting Challenge are more or less wrapped up I can get back to some of my neglected projects.

One event that helps me get back into gear is the Lead Painters' League, an annual event hosted over at The Lead Adventure Forum. As in previous years, this season will be made up of 10 matched submissions, one per week, with extra points being awarded for new work, specific themes, etc. The participants are paired off for duels utilizing a random draw. 

To be perfectly honest I have some issues with the format of the League (the single picture limit, the over-use of backgrounds which distract attention from the figures, the feeling that one's competing amongst a clique, etc.) but it always proves to be a nice distraction and gets me back in that saddle with my own work. 

Anyway, the opening theme of this year's League was 'armour' and so, as a nod to Richard III's recent reinterment, I decided to enter some Wars of the Roses figures as a Bosworth vignette

I chose to go with figures from the Perry's excellent Wars of the Roses plastic infantry set. I wanted to do something which depicted Richard after his all-or-nothing charge against Henry and his retainers, where he is ultimately unhorsed and has become surrounded by a tightening ring of Lancastrians. For inspiration, I drew upon Graham Turner's evocative illustrations which he did for the Osprey title on Bosworth.

The envisioned a scene where Richard has finally run his course, where he is separated from his retinue,  knowing all is lost, but he nonetheless fights on - choosing to go down swinging. As it turns out this 'hopeless stand' theme conformed to the match results as these lads were soundly trounced when exhibited last week. Life indeed does follow 'art'.  ;)

I selected parts from the plastic set that, with a bit of cutting, repositioning and the strategic use of sculpting putty, would depict Richard pointing to his fallen crown (still attached to his sallet helm), challenging his enemies to come forward and take it.

In order to aid players in keeping track of who is who on the tabletop I've simply placed red or white roses on the bases, depending on the allegiance of the figure.  

Richard's heraldry is a bit impressionistic but serves well enough.

While these are my first attempts at some Wars of the Roses figures  I do have a few more waiting in the wings, namely some Welsh retinue archers. I also wanted to do a figure conversion of Richard's ill-fated banner bearer, Sir Percival Thirlwall, but the figure I wanted to use as a basis did not arrive in time so I was forced to submit without him. I'll do a follow-up of these figures in a later post.

This weeks round (the second of the 10-round series) is now up over at The Lead Painters' League. For my part, I've submitted some more figures for my 1812 Winter Retreat collection - it's somehow easier to work on these when it's not 20 below zero, go figure.

Please drop over to the League and check out the work by all the participants. I'll be keeping a weekly update on my progress through the League so come back to chart my march of folly.

Thanks for visiting!