Elizabethan Irish

Also recently back from the basing department is a bunch of figures for Elizabethan Ireland.

Another longer term project it gained a boost recently with the release of Irish for the Wars of The Roses by Perry, beautiful figures which will fit perfectly with the Claymore Islanders I have committed to paint a load of what I have before buying anymore.

I may decide to stick to these two makes for the Irish, for the moment though Graven Images are the majority of the English along with some of Mark Owen's Foundry Swashbucklers. Chum Andy is also doing Garrison troops to add to his border Reivers which will make an excellent addition to these for bigger games.

As the Irish Gallowglass each had a servant who also skirmished for them I thought I would photograph them in pairs. This first Gallowglass looks rugged with his bare shanks and his Kern has a hole in his knee too.

The second pair are less well off, the Gallowglass has an old round helmet and the archer no jacket at all.

I have added two more English to the range and I think these two give you an idea how much more chunky the Graven Images figures are, although they still have stacks of character. More of these guys on the workbench

This chap is getting a bit more stuck in, these Claymore figures have loads of character, although the axe took some getting into the gap in his hands (axes are cast seperatly).

This pair are my favourite. as a senior Gallowglass this chap has ring mail over his Aketon which is dyed a dark red and his Kern is also his personal Piper. Beautiful figures both of these. I particularly love the Piper.

I wont pick any Perry figures up just yet, I really should finish what I have bought first, I still have a dozen Claymore figures and 10 or so Graven Images English. I think 50 or so per side will give me plenty to game with so even these few make quite a dent in that target. Armies in Ireland tended to not be that big and smaller scale actions are more what I have in mind. Tempted by either Pikemans lament or Sharp Practice with amends.

My next challenge with the Irish is to bring them up to the late Tudor period with the addition of some more modern Helmets. The odd Morion and Burgonet mixed in for both the Kern and Gallowglass will sort that out. Really not sure where to get these from at present though short of buying whole figures in order to remove their heads.

Picked up some Morion helmets from Warlord I will try modelling on and considering the Landsknecht head sprue from mailed fist which has a couple of helmeted heads on. I have some earlier dark age and medieval Kern and may try some head swaps on these to give the overall force a more Tudor appearance.

I will give it some thought.

Thanks for reading, see you again soon.