Mercenary Pavise Crossbowmen

These poor soldiers of fortune have been sitting in various stages of completion on my desk for months now. Partly because I haven't been painting much, and partly because of trepidation regarding a new technique. (I'll get to that in a moment.)

This is a pair of mercenary pavise crossbowmen. Mounting large shields on their back gives them cover while they reload, letting them shoot others while being less likely to get shot themselves. Win-win!

They're members of my Italian-esque "Red Hart Company," hence the red deer on their shields. Obviously I'm not particularly skilled at freehand, especially on such a small scale, but I think the emblem gets the point across.

As mentioned, I tried something new for these guys. I got a box of some 300 tiny rare earth magnets, 2 mm in diameter and 1 mm thick. Often people drill into models and use hidden magnets to allow for swapping arms or heads, but I used them to attach the shields. So, these guys don't always have to bear the burden of their pavises on their back if they want to take a break. Here's a picture of their backs without the shields (below).

A mockup with a random online emblem.

Because I mounted them on the surface, the magnets are obvious, but they're small enough that they don't detract much from the models. I really like them! I may have to get a 2mm drill and try making swappable arms sometime.

As a final side note, I've discovered that I accidentally installed the magnet pairs in opposite orientations. The unintended side effect is that each soldier can only use their own shield. They find using their mate's magnet to be... repulsive.