I guess with the attention to details in me, 2 details about the Lannister Guardsmen banner bearer and the Knight banner bearer miniatures bothered me a lot.
First up, its the Lannister Guardsmen banner bearer. His banner hoist end is just a flat surface. There’s no spear tip or anything offensive that he can use to defend himself. On top of that, his sword is missing, having only a scabbard around his belt waist. How do you survive that in battles with no defensive/offensive options. I decided that my 2 units of Lannister Guardsmen and it’s unit banner bearer really needs an upgrade.
I decided to add a spear tip design onto the Lannister Guardsmen banner bearer’s banner hoist. I will follow the same design as it has on the Lannister Halberdier banner bearer. I will recast the spear tip from the Knights of the Casterly Rock lance/spear. Use the instant mould stuff (check out Blue stuff from Green stuff World) to cast a mould from the Lannister Knights spear tip. Once the mould is done, using Milliput Epoxy Putty, filled up the mould and press hard, leaving it to dry for at least 4 hours.
Once the epoxy is dried, I removed it from the instant mould and cleaned up the edges. I had to experiment and try quite few times in creating the mould and moulding the epoxy to achieve the ideal spear tip. As you can see, once its cleaned up, it looked as good as the original spear tip. To assemble to the banner hoist, small holes were drilled on the banner end and the spear tip end, and they were pinned and glued to secured in place.
For the Lannister Guardsmen banner bearer’s sword, I decided to cast the sword hilt from one of the Lannister Guardsmen’s sword arm. The mould is created the same way as earlier with the spear tip. Once the sword is recasted, I cleaned it up and slowly cut away the extra hand section leaving only the sword hilt. Once that’s done, the scabbard is removed from the Lannister Guardsmen, and the sword hilt is glued to the scabbard. And with the sword done, its glued back to the Guardsmen at the best appropriate handling position.
With these 2 upgrades done, my Lannister Guardsmen banner bearer can now stand confidently with defensive/offensive weapons options.
Next, is the Lannister Knights of the Casterly Rock. The banner bearer Knight had the same issue as the Lannister Guardsmen, his banner hoist end does not have a lance or spear tip. How do you charge with that in battle? I don’t think that will give 3 extra attack dice when charging, haha! Anyway, I re-casted a few more spear tip using the same mould. Removed the hoist ball end from the Knight’s banner, pinned and glue it to the knight’s banner hoist. Now, that’s a Knight of the Casterly Rock with a charge, a +3 attack dice when charging!
If you noticed carefully, 2 of the Lannister Knights of the Casterly Rock’s sword hilt were miscast. I managed to touch them up using the epoxy leftover. My other painted unit of Knights of the Casterly Rock, I decided to sculpt the hilt with green stuff instead for easier control to reduce scaring the paint job.
Now, with my Lannister Guardsmen banner bearer and Knights banner bearer upgraded, my Lannister units now grow in confident and… Hear me Roar!
