Dan Becker's Medieval Party 28mm Figures

The Duke and Dutchess have decided to reward their friends and subjects. They have invited all to a grand feast. The pavilion tent has been set up in case of rain. The servants a laying out the food and drink and rewards.

However, the Duke is puzzled. "Where is everybody?" "I am tired of waiting."

The band is the first arrival. They set up near the Duke's table to provide him with entertainment.

The Duke laments, "This food cannot last outside forever - the ravens will glut upon it."

Hooray, the sound of the band is bringing the guests out. They devour the food and drink and share stories with friends.

Amongst all the chatter, more band members arrive.

The Duke scoffs, "Must the music be so loud?"

More guests and nobles arrive from far and wide. With more guests the music must be louder, and more musicians arrive. The young ones love the music and begin dancing.

The Dutchess exclaims with delight, "Finally a party worthy of nobility." The Duke replies, "Excellent. Now when will they all leave?"

The remainder of this article goes into the construction and painting of this scene.

First up is the Duke's Pavilion. From my earlier article the Duke's Banquet, you will see that I built a hall out of stones with some timber frames. It was left open and roofless so that you could see the miniatures. I wanted a similar setting for this scene.

I decided an outdoor party on a patio with canvas tent would be a nice way to display the minis and still be able to see them.

This photo shows the stone patio floor made of Hirst Arts plaster floor tiles from the Flagstone Floor (mold #260). Each tile is one inch square so this floor is 8 by 6 inches (20 x 15 cm).

The tent poles are made with 1/8 inch (3mm) wooden dowels. A small cup is drilled into the floor so the dowels can be glued into place. The tops of the dowels have small patches of tissue paper so the dowels can better support the tent canvas.

A 28mm Viking is shown for scale.

The tent canvas is made from ordinary facial tissue paper. The tissue paper is slightly wetted with an aerosol mister, and then the tissue is draped over the tent poles. Extra white glue is soaked through the tissues to cement them to the poles.

The tissue becomes nearly transparent from the glue. It will be painted later.

While the glue dries, the canvas can be shaped and draped. It can be made more or less wrinkly. It can be trimmed with any edge design.

This photo shows the tables and benches for the party. The tables can be made with simple flat panels, two legs, and a cross bar. The benches are made from strips with simlar legs and crossbars.

If the color looks realistic, that is because they are made from authentic walnut wood. The tables are unpainted. I like the color of the real walnut.

The food and drink comes courtesy of the Eureke Medieval Feast set.

Next up is a discussion of the figures and painting. First come thee Eureka minis for the Medieval Band (12 figures) and Medieval Feast (18 figures).

At the end of last year, Eureka had a nice offer for a big set at a discount, and I could not refuse adding a few more medieval town folk to my collection. Nice poses of the guests talking, eating, drinking, sleeping, etc.

The medieval minis also allowed me to use more vibrant colors than my usual ancient and dark ages military figures. Here the nobles and guests are painted with Vallejo Xpress paints. The Xpress paint color range is well stocked with muted period browns, reds, yellows, and blues. They do throw in a few brighter reds, magentas, cyans, and aquas as shown here.

This photo shows the servants and other characters from the Eureka Medieval Feast set. I love the one lady holding a peacock. I had to sift through many reference images to find a peacock color scheme I liked.

There are also two young lads, one feeding a wolfhound, the other stealing an item surrepticiously. The Knight at Arms is sold separately, but apparently Eureka threw it in as a bonus.

The bases for these miniatures are made to match the patio stone. A Hirst Arts tile is sanded down to a disc, the mini is glued into place, and then the tile is painted.

Now it is time to heap praise on the Eureka Medieval band. These first four figures are wind instruments.

It is very nice how all the people are different and so are the crazy instruments: bagpipes, cyrtal, cornett, and crumphorn.

A view of the wind section from the right side.

Here is a photo of the string section. Again, four crazy instruments. A lute, a harp, a cittern (alto lute), and a rebec.

A view of the string section from the right side.

Finally the last four of the band - the percussion section. We have a big tom, a small tabor and pipe, nakers (a double tom), and a tambourine.

A view of the percussion section from the right side. That young woman with the tambourine looks like she is having a good time. Cheers to the sculptor who gave these figures lots of life.

Now we move on to the Mirilton Medieval Dancing Girls. Very nice sculpts of happy young female dancers and a tambourinist. The two dancers nearest the tambourine have their arms up to form a bridge. The next one is ducking down to go under the bridge. The other ladies have arms out to form a human chain.

Here are the dancers from the other side. I chose the most vibrant vivid colors for the dancers. I envision this is the one of the highest social events, and all guests are putting on their best clothers.

This next group from Mirilton are two sets of nobles, one male group (4 figures) and one female group (3 figures). I painted them with lots of stripes to emulate embroidery or other adornments. They want to look their best for the Duke and Duchess.

Here are the nobles from the right side.