Roger de Somery, Baron Dudley, Curteys Miniatures

This figure represents the local (to me at least) Baron of Dudley, Roger de Somery. 

Shield of arms for Sir Roger de Somery:
Or two lions passant azure.

Usefully, due to the lack of imagination when it came to thinking up original Christian names, this chap can represent a Roger de Somery throughout the 13th century. There are three barons named Roger de Somery, all associated with Dudley Castle. The cycle was finally broken by John who was apparently a Robber Baron (or a "bad 'un" as my nan would have said). At his death the Dudley estates passed, through marriage, to the Sutton family.

• Roger de Somery I (d.1225),
• Roger de Somery II (d.1272),
• Roger de Somery III (c.1254-1291),
• John de Somery (1280-1322).

Whoever controlled Dudley Castle were referred to as being King's Men, in the sense that they generally remained loyal to the king (although there are a few notable exceptions). 

In this short post I'm going to try briefly focus on the two later Rogers of the family. It was Roger de Somery II who supported King Henry III during the Barons' revolt, fought (and was captured) along side the King at the Battle of Lewis in 1264. As a reward to his loyalty he was granted permission to castellate his mansion (i.e. turn it into a castle).

Both the second and third Somery's took part in Edward I's campaign against the Welsh Prince Llwelyn ap Gruffudd and his brother Dafydd. After their deaths, another (one of the many during the late 13th century) revolt flared up this time lead by Rhys ap Maredudd of the Welsh royal house of Deheubarth in 1287-88. The English response was led by Earl Edmund of Cornwall as his brother, King Edward I, was overseas at the time. There were several notable sieges including that of Dryswlyn and Newcastle Emlyn castles with de Somery serving under the command of Roger Lestrange.

I have to admit I find it quite difficult keeping track of the Welsh princes and their actions. Not only because I find the names are difficult to pronounce but also because when the Welsh weren't fighting the English (and also fighting with the English), they were fighting amongst themselves.

I will hopefully go into more detail of this small slice of history in the future as I want to make it the basis of a gaming campaign using the forthcoming Lion Rampant rules from Osprey Publishing. So Rhys ap Maredudd may rise again and change the course of history.

The figure itself is from Curteys Miniatures from their 'Feudal Medieval - Western Europe' range.

The heraldry is hand painted and may initially look a bit odd particularly the lions. However it is based directly on the stained glass shaped heraldic medallion John de Somery which can be seen (Here). This glass is probably from the chapel, the remains of which can still be seen at Dudley Castle.

If you fancy your own piece of miniature family history, please feel free to entry my special give-away competition, details of which can be found (Here).

As today is the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings I'd like to dedicate this post to my granddad Perks who died before I ever got a chance to really know him.

Like a great number of other veterans he never talked about the war to his family, including my dad obviously, even when asked. Funnily enough my dad said the only thing his dad mentioned about the war was that he spilt boiling water down his leg in an attempt to dodge taking part in the landings, the punch line being that he was sent anyway. I now believe this was his light-hearted attempt at avoiding talking about his own experiences because I know for a fact he served as a gunner on 25-pounders with the Royal Artillery. He fought all through Normandy, Belgium and eventually was part of the occupying forces in Germany. He always had a family reputation for being some what of a rogue so I suspect he told that story with his usual mischievous look in his eyes, which I can still picture. Anyway, rest in peace Granddad Perks.

Peres de Corbet, Curtey's Miniatures

This colourful little chap represents Peres de Corbet. The model is my first attempt at using a transfer on a medieval figure, which feels like a gift from the heavens after attempting to paint even relatively simply heraldry. I started with him simply because I often visit Moreton Corbet church and castle in Shropshire where you can still see similar heraldry of the local Corbet family. 

Peter Corbet, according to the excellent Brian Timms website, succeeded his father in 1300 fought at the Battle of Falkirk in 1298 and may have been at Bannockburn, 1314. He may have also been present at the Battle of Boroughbridge, 1322 dying the same year. This model isn't quite 'right' in the terms of that he needs more plate armour on his legs and arms, although he may have been a slightly less off. It's probably more appropriate to represent his father (Thomas?).

The figure itself is from Curteys Miniatures from their 'Feudal Medieval - Western Europe' range. 

The transfer for this figure is from Battle Flag (Wargame Transfers) : 'EDI/07 28mm Medieval Mounted Knight Peres de Corbet Transfer Kit and Standard Waterslide transfer kit for Barding, Shield and figure detail plus archival quality paper flag.' 

This particular model was painted well over a year ago but I will be painting another similar figure soon'ish which I plan to video and will hopefully go online to support Ade's website and YouTube channel. 

If your name is Corbet then you may want to enter my special give-away competition to win a personalised model, details can be (Here). Don't worry even if your name isn't Corbet as I will be painting a model to suit the winner's surname.

Special Give-Away Competition

I've previously mentioned that I was working on a special (mainly because it's my first ever) give-away competition to reward the long suffering followers of this blog. After a great deal of thought I've finally managed to work out the details. So to put it simply:

The winner of this special give-away competition will receive a model of a 13th century style mounted medieval knight miniature painted in the follower's own personal coat of arms. 

To win this prize all you have to do is be a public follower of this blog and leave a comment below, even if it's something like, "Hi my blog is 'Garry's Blog' and I like winning free stuff, regards Garry." No tricky questions to answer (like how do you actually produce 'Ubique'), it really is as simple as that. 

Image for reference only. Unless the winner's real name is actually
Peter of Dreux then they won't be getting anything looking like this.
The winner will however win a model painted and finished to the same standard.

I have to admit that the idea for this comp isn't entirely original. The initial idea for all this came about having a chat, during a demo, to the makers of a new'ish medieval tournament game Crossed Lances at a recent show. They have started to introduce, in conjunction with Curteys Miniatures and  Battle Flag, branded sets of figures for their game and mentioned in passing that they'd eventually like to produce individual transfers for their customers (it is also mentioned somewhere in the rulebook). I thought I could use this idea to make and paint a unique figure for one of followers of my blog. I'd like to point out that I have no personal connection to the Crossed Lances game or to the creators of the game, two nice and very knowledgeable gents called Peter Bradford and Martin Knight. So if they happen to enter and win there has been no sneaky deals or tricks behind the scenes, honest.

I'm currently working on a similar project for my dad which I know is destined to go straight into his display cabinet. So even if you don't play medieval games or use different size figures then I still hope you will take part, even if the model will simply end up in a display cabinet or given away as a gift to a member of your family.

Now then the all important Terms & Conditions which I recommend you actually read in full because (most of) it will be relevant: 

• This competition is free to enter. 
• One entry per follower. 
• Entries (i.e. comments below) must be in before 1st July 2014. 
• This competition is open to all followers of the blog, so whether you've been following since the start (blimey, way back in late 2008) or from just a few minutes before midnight on 30th June 2014 GMT all are welcome to take part.
• The winning entry will be chosen at random by myself or by a glamorous assistant (if I can find one). 
• I will paint for the winner a single 13th century style mounted medieval knight miniature. Either a plastic or medal 28mm sized model will be used, depending on what I think is suitable for the winner's heraldry but probably a plastic FireForge model (see model above). 
• The model will painted especially for you and finished to my own usual standard i.e. one I'd be happy to display online as one of my own collection (again see model above). It won't be a rushed job so it might take a while to complete (so don't moan if you have't received it within a few days of the close of the comp). 
• I will be painting the model by hand, by this I mean I won't be using transfers for any of the heraldry details. 
• The heraldry will be displayed on the shield and on the horses barding but, unless it is a very simple design, not of the figure's surcoat. I will produce a model based on a similar format to that seen on the Great Seal of Edward I. 
• I will finish the base to my normal standard (painted sand, tufts and grass) if required. If you'd prefer an unfinished base and would rather it left blank in order that you can match your own models, no problem (less work for me). 
• The model will be varnished to a matte finish. If you prefer high gloss, again no problem, just let me know.
• The prize cannot be exchanged for a cash equivalent (which I think would be quite rude and probably get you blocked if you even asked, cheeky bugger). 
• As I realise that not everyone is not fortunate to live in the Black Country, or even the English Midlands (I know blimey, you poor souls, you only get to drink stuff like Fosters, Carling or Stella) so if you win and you don't happen to live in this blessed region, don't worry, I will post the prize internationally and it still won't cost you a penny (nor a nickel, peso or euro). 
• If you play fantasy games you may, if you wish, have a fantasy style heraldry pattern such as a half ogre/half flying trout combo etc. but the figure used will be still be a 13th century style model. 
• There is one special rule - if a lady wins then the I'll throw in an extra prize mainly because I like ladies and they generally smell nicer than blokes. I'd prefer to call this positive discrimination, rather than being sexist. After a few unpleasant experiences at some shows and in a number of GW and independent hobby shops (such as walking into a solid 'wall of stink') I'd like to encourage more women to share in our hobby if only to encourage better general hygiene levels. 
• Speaking of poor hygiene, my nephew young Barry is not allowed to enter. 
• I will announce the winner in the first week of July (the best month the year - obviously). 
• The winner, and only the winner, will need to provide me with some of their personal details e.g. only the obvious and nothing too personal (I don't really need to know your inside leg measurement or your mother's maiden name for example) but surname (unless they want a fantasy scheme), email and postal address spring immediately to mind. Only enough information so I can paint the figure with a suitable heraldic design, keep you informed of the stages of progress and finally, of course, know exactly where to send the model to. This information will not be passed on to anyone else nor will it be sold to an annoying marketing company.
• If you leave a comment and enter the comp then you agree to the above Terms & Conditions. 

Now to deal with the potentially tricky/fun part: The vast majority of people do not have a personal or family coat of arms. You may have an image printed out from one of those commercial companies that will sell you the history of your family name and a rather nice picture of your family heraldry. I've seen at least three totally different images presented for my own family name, so I personally suspect they simply make a lot of these things up (apologies if you already have one of these). If in any doubt about that statement, enter your own surname into Google Images and see how many different results you get. 

On my travels wandering around many old medieval churches, often in tiny villages in the middle of nowhere, one thing I've noticed is that the coat of arms of the great medieval families are normally very simple/geometric patterns. For instance the Beauchamp, Mortimer, de Clare, de Vere, Hastings, Woodville families etc. all had very simple, and the important bit, easily identifiable coat of arms. Is this an attempt at a cop out of painting complex heraldry, again no. If the lucky winner wants me to use one of these commercial available images as a design reference that's no problem. If the winner doesn't have a particular design in mind then I'm quite prepared to research it for them and come up with a few suggestions. 

Free feel to advertise this comp/give-away on your own blogs. It would be jolly nice of you and it would of course be greatly appreciated. However you will still only get one entry as I like to think of my online blogging empire, my own Ubiquetopia, as an loosely democracy-based benevolent dictatorship rather than some kind of banana republic with crazy multiple voting options. As stated above - one entry per follower. You will of course be technically decreasing your odds of winning by promoting the competition but you will also be acting 'nice' and being 'nice' is good thing.

There may (note the use of the word 'may') be a runners up prize but which will depend on the number of entries (it's my blog = my rules. It's my 'loosely democracy-based benevolent dictatorship' remember). This runner up prize will be triggered after a reasonable number of entries (I know, it's almost like a Kickstarter style comp), I'm thinking once around twenty/thirty entries but I'm going to be flexible with this. If only two people enter for instance then I'm not going to be particularly inclined to paint another prize but if all the blog followers enter (200+) I may even produce several runner-up prizes (my dictatorial benevolence knows no bounds).

In the near future I will also be running a similar competition/give away type thingy to promote the new medieval skirmish game Lion Rampant which is being released be Osprey Publishing but that competition will have slightly different T&C's, entry conditions and very likely a far broader scope for potential contestants, with use of various social media with multiple entries allowed for and you won't need to be a follower of this particular blog. 

So this personal coat-of-arms comp/give-away is more of a reward scheme for followers of this blog (and this competition, in my opinion, has a better prize because it will be a personalised, unique model for the winner) plus you'll have a potentially far better chance of winning. 

Now hopefully you will have realised that I won't be making a penny from all this, quite the opposite in fact. So why, you may reasonably ask, do it at all? Well the answer is simple. I've had an awful lot of enjoyment and entertainment from all the other blogs that I follow and read so I'd like to give something back to the online community and 'pay it forward'. This may all sound a bit Hollywood/soap opera spiel (or "a load of old cobblers" as my granddad would have said) but I think the users of the Bloggosphere (all the other online blogger systems such as Wordpress and the like, not just Blogspot, are included in this) are quite special in their approach and spirit. Online forums and YouTube, although very useful at times, can often deteriorate into an aggressive bun fight or echo the antics of an unruly schoolyard. Bloggers always seem to be universally positive (apart from the occasional rants) and very generous in their comments and advice, plus they always seem to be giving goodies away. So if you can't beat them, join them.

So anyway thanks for reading down to this bit, thanks for entering (if you do) and good luck.

Marder III M (German Tank Destroyer) - 1/48 scale, Tamiya

This model of the Marder III M (German Tank Destroyer) was given to me by Ade as part of our ongoing Bolt Action desert project. Although the kit is 1/48 scale it is visually close enough to suit 28mm range of figures (which is generally quoted as being 1/56 scale).

From the Tamiya instruction sheet:

"During WWII, Germany produced many open-topped tank destroyers using the chassis of obsolete tanks. Among these was the Marder III series, which was based on the 38(t) tank made by the Czech company CKD (later BMM) and developed to counter Russian T-34 and KV-1 tanks."

As far as I know this type of tank destroyer didn't actually serve in north Africa but according to the info sheet the Marder III Ausf.M were painted in overall Dark Yellow, individual units then applied their own Red Brown and Dark Green camouflage patterns over the base colour to match local conditions. This particular model is finished with decals are for that of the '1st Company 348th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 348 Infantry Division, Belgium Spring 1944' and was painted in a simple two tone shade of yellow/sand. My logic was that I use this model in European or desert scenarios and it wouldn't look to out of place although I find it odd though that a unit serving in Belgium would opt for a simple dark yellow camouflage.

This model has been made as a gaming piece and not a military modelling display item. For instance I've left off certain items (I'm not telling you which bits though) but the initial idea was to paint and finish it as an example of simple weathering techniques. I videoed this process using various different methods to show how relatively simple is to produce half decent looking results. One technique I've never tried before was 'salt weathering' technique which is to use salt grains (I used model railway ballast as well) to produce a look of chipped paint. Another technique used was to apply weathering powers which achieves the look I always wondered about whenever I looked through military model magazines.

Note shiny exhaust. The black dots are actually a decal, something I only
noticed I had missed off after the model was finished (hence lack of matt varnish.)

The final video(s) will hopefully eventually feature on Ade's channel Wargaming For Fun.

On Monday I'll be announcing the start of a special giveaway/competition type thingy with a special prize for one lucky follower, so make sure you pop over to have a look (I know, I'm such a tease).

Imperial French, Franco-Prussia War - Baccus 6mm

Regular readers may recall brief mentions that in my own particular lead/plastic pile are a number of 6mm figures. My brother bought the Franco-Prussian War starter set from Baccus at the Derby Wargame Show (when it was held at Derby Uni buildings which shows you how long ago it was, over two years?). I knew he was interested in the period but I had been subtlety (obviously too subtle) trying to convince him to buy larger scale figures "Oh look at these lovely 15/28mm figures" and such like, trying to put him off buying the Baccus figures for purely selfish reasons including: 

1. They are tiny, 
2. They are full of detail (they've even got bloody moustaches! I ask you) and 
3. There are literally hundreds (and hundreds) of them. 

The pictures show some of the initial force of the Imperial French Army, three hundred and eighty four figures to be precise, which consists of the French Imperial Infantry Booster Pack (two hundred and eighty figures) plus a few stands from the starter pack. There should be three hundred and ninety two but with two of the bases I've left the skirmishes off, something I'll repeat with more of the bases because with the Polemos rules you don't actually need to place skirmishers on the bases. In fact if you read the rules one of the first things it states is that you don't actually really need any figures at all! You can simply play the game with plain MDF bases as long as their marked up correctly; it made me laugh anyway as I thought it was a very frank and honest (or mad) approach from a company that should be trying to sell you figures.

These figures had been languishing on the 'to do' painting list for so long because I honestly wasn't looking forward to starting them because:

1. 6mm figures are really tiny. Don't believe me? Go find a rule and measure out 6mm...see, it's tiny. They're about knee height to a grasshopper or a 28mm figure. 
2. They are full of detail (Moustaches! Have I mentions that these all these 6mm figures have moustaches, yes ALL of them) and finally, 
3. There are hundreds of the little buggers. To misquote Colour Sgt.Bourne (Nigel Green) from the film Zulu... "Frenchies - thousands of 'em." Well, around fourteen hundred in total for both armies as it eventually turned out. 

After the guilt of delaying starting on the miniatures became unbearable I finally prepped the entire force and then...ignored them again as they looked overwhelming. I felt like Gulliver in the land of Lilliput. After yet another long delay with my brother occasionally asking, "When are you going to start on those 6mm figures? "They're next on the list, honest" (they never actually were).

Finally I realised I had to make a start if only to stop my brother nagging me. However once I had started to get into the rhythm of painting them (a block and batch technique is definitely the way to approach these) I started to actually enjoy it. Readers may be surprised to note that I don't generally enjoy painting, viewing it almost as a necessary evil, I much prefer modelling and building stuff.

Seen en masse they do, even if I do say so myself, look impressive. And this is still less than a quarter the figures to paint, there are the rest of the French, the entire Prussian army and some of their allies to paint so around fourteen hundred in total. The best thing is that I know it's achievable, hopefully completed by the end of the year. To achieve the same look using my normal 28mm figures would, I honestly think, take me a lifetime to complete. The only 28mm figures even approaching this effect is my ECW Royalist/Scottish army. I know for a fact that I'd lose interest in them way before looking like the massed forces of these 6mm miniatures.

Ironically, after saying all that, I won't be switching to 6mm figures in the foreseeable future. This is simply because I have far too many 28mm figures waiting in the 'to do' painting list, all of them I want to complete eventually As mentioned previously I'll be concentrating on more skirmish style games in the future. Right, I'd best get back to painting the remainder of this little lot.

Cheap Plastic Cowboys

As I suspect is true of a number of fellow modellers/gamers, I often stealthy wander over to the toy section of any superstore or discount store I happen to be in. It's in these sections that you can find cheap toys that can be utilized for your tabletop. As I don't have any children, just in case I'm ever accosted by an overly helpful assistant, I have even created an imaginary nephew called Barry. Now Young Baz (I'm quite a happy go lucky pretend uncle, I don't even take the mick out of his awful name) is a very versatile character and is aged between 3 and 15 (which probably reflects my mental age as well) depending on what type of toys I'm looking at. 

This avoids the very embarrassing situation (and real life situation) when you're paying at the till when the operator asks you: 

"Are these toy cars for your nipper, what's his name, how old is he?" 

"Err no...they're for me actually." 

Anyway, back to reality, it was a regular jaunt to Morrisions that I noticed a big tub of brightly coloured plastic 'Cowboys and Indians' (other sets were available such as modern soldiers and knights, both awful). The cowboys caught my eye because I instantly recognised them as (very cheap) copies of toys I had played with way back in the mists of time, or 'the 1970's' as people tend to refer to them nowadays. I have no cowboy projects planned, these were purely an impulse buy and nostalgia trip. 

The detail, or lack off, was initially a problem. The 'face' on most of these figures generally consisted of a blob for a nose. Luckily I soon accepted that this was probably for the best as I didn't really want to invest too much time and effort into things that are, after all, cheap plastic toys.

I've also been thinking about how to indicate the various size of models and figures when posting images online as sometimes on seeing a figure thinking, 'that's not bad for 28mm' then realising its only 6mm high. Unfortunately sometimes the opposite is true, 'nice 10mm figure...oh dear that's a 28mm figure, blimey.'

I have seen people use various coins as a reference, obviously using their own national currency, one pound, euro dime, yen coin etc. This is great if you happen to live in the same country or have a ready supply of foreign coins at hand. It could also turn the posts into more of a 'Various International Coins That I Have Found Down The Side of the Sofa' feature, which I'm certain no-one wants to see.

With all this in mind I tried to think about an object that is relatively small and is internationally recognisable. I recall seeing someone used a pencil sharpener as a size reference and realised that would prove ideal (well that's the hope, if anyone has better ideas please let me know). Even if someone has never used a pencilsharpner (which I suppose is possible in this digital day and age) everyone will know the approximate diameter of a pencil. So from now you will hopefully see a token pencil sharpener popping up somewhere on my photographs simply as a scale/size reference for the figures. You'll have to trust me but hopefully this will make a lot more sense when I start posting images of the 6mm figures that I've been painting for my Franco-Prussian War project.

Spring WIP

Following an impulse purchase by my brother I've been doing a lot of prep work on Mantic's Deadzone. The mechanics of the game appeal to me greatly, no modifiers to your dice roll which still manages to confuse my easily confused brain. The success or failure rate remains the same, you simply add or take away the number of dice used.

You get an awful lot of bangs for your buck with the Deadzone game, figures, terrain, dice, playing matt, cards, tokens etc. everything in fact that you need to play the game.

You get a number of nicely sculptured figures for two factions, one of which is the Plague. These figures have turned their back to the camera as they are quite shy (and rather ugly). I'll detail the figures properly one they are all finished, but here is just a brief preview.

I've mentioned previously that I have an awful lot of tiny figures waiting in the my painting queue, actually bought by my brother. In fact my brother buys an awful lot more figures than I do, which I paint. The figures in question are 6mm Franco-Prussian armies from Baccus. To give you an idea of the numbers involved you get 280 figures in a small booster pack and in the starter army pack you get nearly nine hundred figures. 

These are a sample of one base of 6mm Baccus figures that I worked on during March. There are twenty eight little chaps per base and I have ten bases to complete. These are part of my Imperial French army. This particular base hasn't been finished yet, it still needs flocking etc. I've already painted the majority of the whole forces from this particular booster pack.

If you look very careful you may see that the sculptor has even given the figures buckles, straps and even moustaches. I'm not even quite sure how he (or she) managed to do this. 

To give you a sense of scale the MDF bases are 60mm x 30mm (or just over 2" x 1"). 

Another project started (these projects keep stacking up) were the German AfrikaKorps (DAK) from the Perry brothers, which made a quest appearance on one of the Bolt Action videos. These particular figures have been modified slightly, arm swaps, Green Stuff etc. nothing too major. I've recorded the process for these figures but again I'll detail the mods online once they've been painted. These are just a couple of examples of the half dozen individual I made.

I'm currently trying to work out a special give-away pressie. This will be for either achieving 200,000 page hits or 250 followers, I haven't decided which one yet although I'm edging towards the follower option. The prize will be unique to the winner and possibly for a runner-up as well but, as I said, I'm still trying to work out the details. Or I might save myself the trouble and offer it straight to Fran or Ray.

Now all I have to do is paint 'em.