Shadespyre's Rank and File (I) - The Kingdom of The Gnolls (284.5 pts - An Orcs & Goblins Army)

OWAC V - Rank and File (I) - and some Local History

January

I didn't have to go back to work till the 4th, so I started painting at midnight on December 31st with the aim of getting as much as possible done before then. 

As usual, I didn't have much of a plan, so the colours just sort of happened for a while. As a result there is more purple than I'd planned and somehow pale blue features quite prominently? Whatever. Getting paint on metal (or, on primer, I guess) is the goal at that point. And I'd already decided that there would be no Gnolls (or is it Goblins?) in formal uniforms - I'm *not* aiming to make this a pseudo-Empire army.

However, while the ranks of basecoated Gnolls started to fill up nicely, it was clear that I couldn't actually finish a unit without deciding what colour to paint their shields. And so I went on a Google hunt for inspiration...

Eventually, I discovered that one of the earliest attributed coats of arms belonged to Waleran, the 1st Earl of Worcester* - Worcester being the city about 8 miles from my house. He even occupied a (long gone) castle just along the Malvern Hills from me. His colours were Chequy or and gules - red and yellow chequers, if your heraldic French is a bit rusty.

No way I'm painting a whole army as a chess board, but I thought I could live with red and (shudder) yellow, because at least yellow is not as bad as white, is it? One quick search for "Norman shield designs" later, and I was equipped with enough inspiration to paint some shields and finish some miniatures...

It's a Rank and File Month

Heading up my first Rank and File month, here are the Royal Huscarls

A selection of their different shield designs. Which is your favourite?

The standard bearer is actually stolen from one of the Chieftain's chariots, after I realised that the "leaning on the chariot side" pose could be adapted to this "leaning on a shield" pose. I think he adds a little bit of swaggering confidence and character to the otherwise rather formal unit. Probably before the end of the project I'll be adding something to his little flag.

Obviously, these chaps aren't fully based, and I intend to leave that the case for a while rather than dive right into it. I regret rushing the bases on my Orc army where I'm still not very happy with how they ended up, so I may leave them to the end to all do at once and give some proper thought to. I think it'll just be meadow grass and flowers, but even so.

Paintwise, these are table ready to my usual army standard, but maybe the skin tones are a little flat and I may well do a round of (more yellowy) highlights on their faces. I'll sit with them for a while, and also I think the need may be more apparent once I've painted more bareheaded Gnolls. Might think about some wear and tear on those brightly coloured shields, too.

Bonus Unit

Full transparency: I've painted a lot more miniatures than I needed to for this month, but I shall be holding many back in reserve to protect against disaster. Last year I lost a lot of April to back problems which I still haven't entirely fixed, so let's keep that safety buffer going.

This does mean I've been able to add to my planned army, so here's a bonus unit of helmeted Gnolls-At-Arms, which gave me chance to try out some round shield designs, which is what most of the army will be bearing.

I particularly like the curved three-limbed design (though, spoiler alert, I can't paint it the same way twice!). I'd love this unit to be bigger, but these helmeted Gnolls (or is it Goblins?) are the hardest of the lot to collect. They might collect a character to lead them, maybe even an army standard bearer to guard? We'll see.

Scores for January:        284.5 points        30 models

20 x Royal Huscarls       (Orc Biguns with Standard Bearer)                                           199.5 points

10 x Gnolls-at-Arms        (Orc Boyz)                                                                                        85 points

Coming Next:

More Rank and File! Maybe some rough and tumble Gnoll tribesmen? Plus more sloshing of paint onto as many minis as possible!

*He had an interesting life, which you can read about here, if you like

Wikipedia - Waleran, Earl of Worcester