Further to my last post here is the painted result of the barding conversion I attempted on a plastic Perry MAA horse, it's taken a little while and required a few late nights of coffee and radio so I thought I'd share it to get your opinions as to whether it's a worthy effort.
After painting the horse I then chose a Wargames Foundry gendarme figure in a fine suit of maximilian armour to be the rider, the fit wasn't quite snug so I found I had to file down the rear of the saddle and pin the figure for some extra stability and strength.
This figure shall be used as one of the captains of a base of demilancers, hence the effort to have him looking a little more refined than his troop. Still, it is a unit of lighter cavalry so I decided to forgo a full harness for the horse, though I might try this at a later date.
The gentleman I have based this figure upon is Sir Henry Bourchier, 2nd Earl of Essex and a fitting one at that he is; he was made captain of the Kings bodyguard by Henry VIII in 1509 and throughout the 1513 campaign was lieutenant general of the Kings spears, he would most certainly have been one of the few to taste combat at the battle of the spurs outside Therouanne. He met with a slightly less glorious end in 1539 as a young horse he was riding threw him and broke his neck.
I am presently working on his standard bearer which will be a little while I think. Curiously his standard is yellow and green to which do not appear in his heraldry - I'm no heraldic expert but it did have me check and double check that I'd matched the right standard to the right man, I have tried to reflect both in putting together this figure in the barding and on the scabbard. I did consider showing his heraldry upon the raised bosses of the horse armour but almost exclusively I have only seen English heavy cavalry of the period with a St. George cross depicted, the only exception being the king who displayed his own arms.
The demilancers I am working on will have a wealth of personalities such as this largely due to the fact that I can field more of them than the token gesture of heavy cavalry that feature in early Tudor armies so watch this space for more flags and interesting characters.
That aside, what is the general consensus on this conversion, have I managed to bring this figure from the 15c to 1513?
Stuart
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