Lion Rampant: The Yorkist Army is Assembled!

This really is a dream come true!  I know I've said it before, but it's worth repeating.  I never thought I'd be able to bring The Wars of the Roses to my gaming table. There's the financial obstacle for someone like myself with a virtually non-existent budget. Then there's the fear of biting off more than you can possibly chew.  But here I am.  And despite thinking I had a greater chance of pole vaulting to the moon than being able to do this, my dining table bears testimony to the generosity of those whose Christmas gifts turned a dream into reality!
I've been working away on the models, oblivious to the time or any sense of deadline or rush.  You don't crush your dreams.  You hold them gently in your hand and cherish them.  Over the past week, I've been able to make a model or two here and there as work and family responsibilities have allowed.
And after an early start, I found myself making models and crossing them off my list as I completed their assembly.  Before I knew it, it was 8.30am and I was crossing out the last model on my list.

My Yorkist force was assembled!

of course, I just had to get this band of brothers together on the cutting mat to see what I had achieved in all of its glory.
And what a glorious sight it is!
I'm still in a state of awe as I put this post together.
My Yorkist force then consists of the following units:
1x Foot Men at Arms @ 6pts
2x Expert Archers @ 12pts
1x Expert Foot Sergeants @ 6pts
1x Burgundian Crossbowmen (Archers) @ 4pts
2x Burgundian Handgunners (Bidowers) @ 4pts
1x Burgundian Foot Sergeants (Pikemen) @ 4pts
36 point retinue







Of course, the next thing to do was to add my base mix.  I began by removing those who have already received this.

And then, with a dressing of the ranks...
...I got on with the task.  Again, I don't think I have ever based so many miniatures all at once.  Ever.  This is probably because I play a lot of skirmish games or work on a unit at a time.  This is all new to me.  And I have to say, I absolutely love it!

If you've never seen one of my posts before, I'll explain what I mean by base mix.

There are of course many different ways to go about basing your models.  Thre's not one way that is right and everything else is wrong.  I've used different methods over the years, but this one has become my default.  It works great for me, which is why I use it all the time.  Which, to be honest, is quite remarkable.  The first time I used this mix was on some WWII models I was assembling.  I was adding offcuts of plastic sheet embossed with a stone pattern to their bases.  I wanted to add rubble, so I set about cutting small bricks out of spare frames.  To tie it all together, I made a base mix for them. It's approximately 70% sand, 20% ballast and 10% cork chippings.  And it worked great, as you can see here:
But then I was working on some other miniatures and I decided I wanted to give an uneven surface to their bases.  Nothing too dramatic you understand.  I was just fed up with applying various layers of ground foam and static flock.  As good as it looked, it was just...well...too flat.  So I decided to add some of my mix to the base of a model that had been stuck to its plastic base and then had some miliput applied to give a smooth transition from the lump of plastic it was sitting on to the edge of its base.

It sounds good, but I wasn't happy with that result either.  The ballast and cork chippings seemed to accentuate the slope.  Which looked horrible.

So what I do now is skip the miliput stage and apply a generous amount of PVA to the base.  I then sprinkle some of the cork chippings from my mix onto the glue and push them in.  Then its just a case of sitting them on the mix and flicking the stuff over the base.  After that, I remove the model and wipe away any overhanging bits with my thumb.  This cleans it up nicely and I set the model aside to dry for a few hours.  To be honest, I wouldn't start applying any paint until the following day.

During the drying time, the PVA shrinks a little and you have a rather uneven surface when it's all done.  I then paint the base before adding my grass blend, static flock and coarse turf.  I love the result

Of course, I always have a look at the model once the glue is dry and use an old brush to wipe away any sand that has chosen to lie in the details of the model.  This is why I always have the bases of my models ready before painting.  It saves ruining the paint job!

Anyway, here's the models with the base mix applied.
I think they look great!
You can see in the next photo that three different types of 25mm diameter bases have been used whilst assembling these miniatures.  The first model on the left of the next photo is on a Renedra base.  The second is on a 2mm MDF base.  The other three are on Warlord Games' lipped bases.  I have to say the lipped bases from Warlord are wonderful for my basing method.  The lip really helps keep everything in its proper place.  I purchased these a while back when Warlord had a half-price sale on their sprues that coincided with free shipping.  I sadly won't be able to buy any more of these for a while.  They are a great price, but a flat fee of £5 p&p on all orders under £50 means I simply can't justify the expenditure. 
It's been an absolute pleasure to build these Perry Miniatures.  Thankfully I'm not going to feel down that the process is over because I have a Lancastrian army to assemble!  Can you tell I'm a very happy man?

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