The Nutkin Wood Neighbourhood Watch

Hello again.

Happy April Fool's Day! Please be advised that I will not be trying to con, mislead, cajole or otherwise partake of the day's events during the writing and publication of this post.

One of the things I like so much about "Burrows & Badgers", as I have written before, is the seed it has sown in my creativity and imagination, things I had long thought at best dormant. As I trawl through the remaining score or so of figures I have yet to paint for this project, whilst contemplating adding more to the pile following Oathsworn's most recent Kickstarter, I am confronted by figures which have not yet made it to the painting station and, as with the Dickens Street Runners, I ponder why. The realisation in my head that the Wildcat with axe and top hat was a ringer for Bill Sykes and the Siamese Cat sorceress would do very well for Nancy/ Nan-Si led me to Victorian East London and its criminal underbelly, hence the Dickens Street Runners.

One such figure that I previously struggled to fit into what I already had is the subject of this piece. He is a knight, as you will see from the photos below perhaps (or at least a warrior of some standing given his heavy armour), but he bears no particular connection to the previously painted Knights of the Order of The Lavender Garden, having no lily motif anywhere to be seen and sporting neither surcoat nor coif. In fact, the poleaxe, plate armour, plumed helmet and cloak are things which set this fellow apart from his colleagues within the Order, as none of them sport any of those things. So, what to do with him?

Enter stage left the Nutkin Wood Neighbourhood Watch!

What exactly do the weaker folk in Northymbran society do for protection? How do they fend off the ravages of the darker side of life? Who bands them together and leads them when rats and foxes come a-calling? Well, Sir Tawny de Russet could do so! Squirrels might not be the Tiger tank of the "B&B" world, but give them some clout with a poleaxe and some plate armour and they might make a Panzer II! Perhaps even the Luchs version!!! Throw in some militia types in the form of mice, moles, shrews and similar small fry and we might actually get above six models for our starting warband! And for those particularly troublesome enemies, we can always hire some mercenaries. They have made it to the painting table, by the way, sitting resplendent in their black undercoats as I type!

So, in the absence of any other member of the Watch, I can at least offer Sir Tawny for your delectation and comment.

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Sir Tawny de Russet in full plate. I would like to see him gather nuts in that get up!

I like the dynamic of this figure, with his tail erupting in one direction, his cloak in the opposite direction and the poleaxe almost perpendicular to both. The figure has a great sense of movement for one so small and from the weaker side of the Northymbran faunal catalogue.

I may repaint this eye. The right one looks reasonably determined (see picture one), but this one looks a bit startled! It took me about five or six shades of yellow and blue respectively to get the depth of highlight on the plume and cloak, but I am glad I put in the effort. The cloak especially had to be done to emphasise the movement inherent within the figure.