Hundred Year's War project, help with research

[Xerxes]

Over the past few years I have acquired a nice hoard of 1/72 medievals, including a few castles. My goal is to have everything I need for skirmish wargaming, anywhere from 10 to 50 models a side. Due to the date ranges of the sets available I trying not to be too obsessive about the period. There are limits though. Unfortunately I can't use Zvezda's French Knights set against Zvezda's English Knights because they seem too far apart in equipment, almost like WW1 Germans against WW2 US Army. But other than that example I am not too worried.

But I am a bit overwhelmed at the moment looking for inspiration for my castle kits. I would like to bash them a little possibly, seat them on promontories or next to a water feature and I am over my head looking at dozens and dozens of French castles courtesy of wikipedia. Can anyone pitch me some softballs? Is there a region/castle that I can model the project after easily? Small castle, maybe on the coast or next to a river (if they did that) or on a hilltop? Then I can crib some français, name the castle and the owning family and get really invested in the project. I am thinking the raiding English will be ensconced in a smaller castle. The players then fight to raid/protect surrounding villages. The English player will try to earn or borrow the resources to take the French castle and vice versa. The more homework I do, the more real it seems and the more rewarding the project is non? I have a bunch of Ospreys and some books about castles but I need an extra hook here. And what about the villages? Generic medieval or are there some touches that will make it French? Like England with demense and the open field system with a watermill every six blocks? Jeez, the more I think of it, the more questions pop up. Oh heraldry. Heraldry, heraldry, heraldry. Maybe I will take up fly fishing and just put all this behind me. Thanks for any help!

[Emperor]

http://books.google.rs/books?id=Yc3IO3b ... ge&f=false
http://www.frenchestateagents.com/frenc ... sin-france
http://www2.uncp.edu/home/rwb/Typical_M ... _House.jpg
Basically, England and France are neighbors, they are not like Turkey and Austrians, two different civilzations so that they have different uniforms, and different architecture...Look at this from this side, if they had similar war uniforms consisting from similar helmets, cuirass, swords etc, and were only different in color of textile, than they had similar houses....
http://www.castlesandmanorhouses.com/su ... Categories)&Type=Castle&Country=(All+Countries)&Parameter=Famous

[Xerxes]

Those are some hot links thanks! €299,600 for that property in Limousin. Blast it, I wasted all my money on figures!

[Paul]

Just off the top of my head..a small 100yrs war castle, Château de Bazaneix and a bigger one, on a hill next to a river, Castle of Pouance.
Bazanneix was occupied by the english during the 100yrs war
http://www.medievalists.net/2009/08/14/ ... -bazaneix/
and Pouance remained (Mainly) in French Hands.
Both have tons of pics on the web and floor plans so recreating them wouldn´t be too difficult.
As for the Zvezda bods, mix n´match. They are dressed and equiped pretty well for the period..or just do what I do.. to hell with 100 % historical accuracy and go Imagi_nation style. Much less constraining and fun.

[Paul]

As for heraldry..I´ve got a Tonnage of contact Sheets with english, French, swiss, german etc shields and a few flags (all scaled for 1/72nd)

[davbenbak1]

Try Velkommen krigsspil.dk for some excellent heraldry sources and history. Ehmar Crested Knights are my latest purchase. Caesar also makes some dismounted knights for the 13th century that don't have engraved heraldry. Some look "Crusaderish" with others being better for HYW. Remember styles changed slowly so don't worry too much about strict.

@Paul
Where did you get your "Tonnage"? Hand painting all the heraldry is one thing that has postponed painting my collection.