Perry Miniatures - Mercenaries 1450-1500

This year I decided to finally paint my Perry Mercenaries boxed sets that I purchased years ago.  My inspiration came from the fact that I wanted something besides Chaos and Undead for my Oathmark games.  However, I have not painted 28mm figures in years, so I am very rusty.  Needless to say I also am very hard on myself and so far the results are not that impressive to me.  

Disclaimer: I don't claim to be a great painter, not even good really.  Sometimes I can produce something out of this world.  Other times its crap.

I decided to go with Burgundians.  That was probably a mistake.  I hate painting white.  Truly.  That combined with hand drawn crosses and it is really a nightmare.  

It has also been about 10 years since this boy assembled plastic model kits.  My ignorance of this time period in history also did not help with assembly.  In hindsight I would have mixed and matched arms and torsos differently.

The only washes used were on the armor.  Everything else was shaded by hand, the Kevin Dallimore way. Like any art form, whether that is superior to using washes for shading is a matter of preference.

I am struggling with the armor, strange as it seems.  I have not painted full plate in years.  I airbushed everything in Mig Steel, then washed it in thinned Tudor Polyshades, then drybrushed it with Vallejo steel.  I am meh about it.  By this point I was already thinking, "Why are you doing this you fool?  You suck and this takes too long.  Just sub it out to a painting studio".  I did some livery on a couple of knights based on some ideas off the net.  Meh.  Looks pretty amateurish.  

I hate white.  The Duke of Whoever The Fuck You Are stands ready beside his impetuous son Sir Yellow Hair.  They apparently need help in determining which way to attack.  The heraldry is supposed to be a Fleur de Leaf.  Its crap, but hey, its my first.  

The pikemen really went no different.  I tried different colors.  Meh.  I should have mixed and matched arms more.  I went for a uniform look, matching up like minded arms and torsos.  

King Henry is in the middle.  Golden Armor.  Rich fucker!

I added some stripes to the pants of a few fellows.  I like stripes.  

So far I have tried a few white schemes.  I prefer working in triads, so I tried two schemes Valleo Pale Sand/Off White/White and Silver Grey/Off White/White.  Not sure which one is better.  One is cold and other warm with a yellow tint.  My wife says the latter.  My middle son says he cant tell the difference.  Fuck!  Someone just tell me what to do already.  

I added some gold on a few of the knights to break up the sea of steel.  

I painted some helmets Burgundian white and blue to again break up the mass of metal.  Apparently in this age some folks actually painted their armor, so my take is not too far off history.  At least that is what I am telling myself.  

The crossbowmen are almost done, with 24 cavalry up next.  The crossbowmen are tricky; I had to do some research to figure out what was on some of the models.  Again, historical ignorance.

It has taken me three weeks to get this far and I am already beat.  My mind is debating with itself: keep or sell.  My skills have atrophied over the years by just painting 15mm sci fi.  I have relied heavily on extreme highlighting and Tudor Polyshades in the past to finish off models at that scale.  However I am struggling with these larger figures and using bright colors.  My skills are just not up to snuff at the moment for this historical stuff I think.  What I picture in my head and what I am able to produce are two very different things.  In hindsight I should have gone for an easier scheme, such as red and blue.  

I hate white.