Robert the Bruce

The 2027 Society of Ancients Battle day will feature Bannockburn. So it is time to get painting Robert the Bruce’s retinue.

I always use a white undercoat as it brings out the colours better, even with troops who have lots of armour. Then I apply a black ink wash over the armour. See Painting Armour for more detail on my method. Usually I paint from the outside in but when it comes to armour I do this first as my technique tends to spill over onto surrounding areas

Next comes a dark gunmetal dry brush over the black. This starts to pick up the highlights. The man in the kettle helm has not yet had this applied, showing the comparison.

Two other layers of lighter metal dry brushes follow — chainmail and then silver, Then gold highlights applied to the appropriate areas such as King Robert’s crown. A wash of Coat d’Arms Black Super Shade picks up further details.

Again breaking my usual rule of painting from the inside out, I next paint the shield faces. This is because the intricacy of the work will involve close handling of the figures. If I did it later then handling would quite likely cause paint to be rubbed off. The shields are (from left to right) the Earl of Atholl, the Earl of Strathearn, and the King of Scotland.

Next comes the flesh and face highlights followed by clothing. I have chosen to paint the figures in shades of yellow and red matching the shields to give a sense of coherence to the unit.

I scanned a copy of the Scottish Royal banner and then painted it over before attaching to the flagstaff.

With the painting done a thin wash of raw umber picks out the details, followed by a matt varnish over the clothing and a gloss varnish to highlight the armour.

The unit is now complete — King Robert the Bruce’s retinue and his retainers.

And here is the view from the rear.

The figures are are mostly Antediluvian Miniatures with few extras from my spares pile..