PROJECT LEWES

I have long used casualty markers for my units to remind me of who needs to undertake morale tests or even the status of a units psychology - routing and panic etc. Thus far, there is not much available (in fact nothing) for the mid-thirteenth century wargamer and there is rarely ever much on offer for mounted units. I was thus compelled to design my own. I had discussed with my club mate Matt the idea of developing original models from green stuff for moulding - this may still be a future option. In the end and for the time being I have plenty of spare figures which will serve. The example this time are two Essex Miniatures knights and caprisoned mounts - one of which has an old paint job. I chose these figures because Essex Miniatures are particularly malleable - most important for the horses. I removed the horses from their bases with stright nosed cutters, filed the hooves back and then twisted the legs, central torso and necks to achieve different poses - one dying and one attem

I n fact, in the first shot it's one of my fighting Bishops with John de Burgh of the Rebel Right Ward heavy horse. If you've looked at the evolving army list (currently Version 2) you will be aware that I have ten knights attached to the Right Ward whom I have begun to paint. John de Burgh's arms are particularly complex and took two attempts to scetch out the red checkers pattern between which will be further detail. The bishop is simply being painted at the same time and I will feature him in another posting. These figures are all Gripping Beast for which I have a few comments. They are some of the best looking and proportioned figures money can buy and I particularly love these knights. They are; however, the worst models to construct primarily due to the poor hand detailing. Caste in an open grip to receive weapons, they are not deep enough and the alloy too rigid for ease of manipulation. It took some persistent cutting and careful filing to make a suitable recei

My first knight is off and racing. In actual fact, it's the commander of the first or Right Ward of the Rebel Army, Henry de Monfort (eldest son of Simon de Montfort) who at the age of 26 fought with his father and brothers at Lewes. The images (left) depict the seals of the three brothers who fought that day in their father's cause. The illustrations are taken from images reproduced in J.R.Maddicott's Simon de Monfort (Canbridge University Press, 1994) from 18th century drawing of the originals now lost to us. If you click on the image you will get a better view of Guy's arms with what I reckon to be a label (5).  Guy was a fighting man also at Lewes and given that he was the fourth son with a label (5). To date, other than their ages and dates of death, I know little of de Monfort's sons and whilst my army list has all three brothers within the Right Ward of the army, it seems likely to have been Henry who commanded the whole ward and his younger brothers, Guy