War of the Roses

I've been getting into the WOTR lately and even bought a set of rules to play some games. Test of Resolve is what I opted for after a lifetime of researching it. One thing I really love about these rules is they give you nice army lists for battles. This is just what I needed to give me a plan of action. I have chosen Tewkesbury as a starting place and Hastings' units to be exact.

I haven't bought the scenario book yet but the battle list has been included in the example pages. That's all I need at the moment to start painting.

I like big bases I cannot lie and so these units will be 8-9 men to a base. The bases are 80x60mm. I'll paint these up just to scratch that itch and see where we go from there.

Back in the late Nineties I bought some WOTR figures from Foundry, I think they were £15 for 50 or something silly. They were clearing out old stock if I remember correctly. Of course I bought some and have sat on them ever since. Now they are selling for £14 for 8.

So looking at Hastings' battle first, I've decided to start with a unit of archers. I like the fact he has Superior Retinue rather than Household men at arms. This is a nice bit of unit character and I couldn't resist putting the first company together. I chose to model these Superior Retinue as heavily armoured bill men. There's a few tough looking characters in there too.

I have stuck the old Foundry figures on cut up MDF to raise their height a bit. They are old Perry sculpts so kind of match the Perry plastics. In this batch of elite billmen are sculpts from Mark Copplestone too. They can now be ordered from Forlorn Hope miniatures and are a fantastic match for the Perry's range. They are quite pricey but are very nice.

The lists for Tewkesbury below.

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This is just what I've been looking for as a guide to start collecting and painting. If it all goes well and the period holds me, I can also paint up Warwick's forces for the battle of Barnet too.

Update: Next day, next coat of paint. There's a real trend at the moment of cracking through these lightly armoured figures using Contrast paints. Not being one to buck a trend, I thought I'd give it a go and see what all the fuss is about.

These figures were sprayed black then grey at a slight angle. Finally a xenth highlight of white was applied from above. The results were quite good with some nice shadows in the clothing and equipment. All the sprays are rattle cans from Halfords.

Amongst these archers is a test pack from Athena miniatures. Very nice sculpts that match the Perry's well in scale.

The other company of Billmen Retinue I sprayed black, as they have a lot of armour. I'll dry brush this lot with metallics first before doing the clothes.