Szekler Light Cavalry

These are Old Glory figures from their Crusaders and Saracen range - actually listed as Turcopoles. I'm including them in an Early-HRE Clerical army as Szekler light cavalry. I'm not exactly sure what Szekler cavalry are supposed to look like, but they are listed (in the Armies of Chivalry supplement) as having light armor, bow, lance and shield. Quite a combination - which along with being Expert Horsemen with Feigned Flight and Parthian Shot abilities - should make for a formidable skirmish unit.

I experimented using Miniwax stain for the horses - thinking this would be a quick way of shading them. It looked okay, except for the fact the stain seems to remain sticky - I ended up coating it with clear matte spray. Then I dry-brushed the highlights of the horses. Don't plan on doing this again - too messy.

Next up are the remaining infantry - Curteys spearmen and Old Glory crossbowmen. I also built movement trays for the knights and infantry.

These will join previously completed Old Glory spearmen and crossbowmen to form three Mixed Order units of infantry. Then all I'll need to finish is the carrocio/army standard.

Season's Greetings

Best wishes to all during this holiday season.

As my oldest boy was taking out the garbage this morning, he came back in with a Fed Ex package. I had won a replica Sugarloaf Great Helm off of ebay earlier in the week. Didn't even expect it in till sometime during the new year. It was listed for about $45 and included the option to place an offer. I offered $39 - which included free shipping (from California). I was surprised to get back the approved bid within minutes - I wondered if I should've went even lower with my bid - oh well. Anyway, I had to open the package and try it on.

A perfect fit! Okay, this is a posed shot; but the Gripping Beast figure has a Sugarloaf Great Helm on too!

In between being a Christmas Eve couch potato, I managed to cut up some Wargames Accessories metal stands in 20X20mm bases, and also snip up some brass rod for spears. I also hammered the points of the rods into spear tips. Both of these items are for the Curteys spearmen and Old Glory crossbowmen for the Early-HRE army.

Again, Happy Holidays and hope everyone is doing well.

Curteys Medieval Spearmen and Bowmen

Have arrived; 24 spearmen, to include command, and 8 bowmen. The spearmen will be in a mixed unit with some Old Glory crossbowmen. They compare very well in both size and sculpting style. Here is a comparison shot with the unpainted Curteys spearmen with previously painted Old Glory spearmen from their Mongols in Europe range.

 

The Curteys come with spears and various sized/shaped shields. I'm debating if I should replace the spears with wire rods like the Old Glory guys.

This next shot shows the Curteys bowmen with Old Glory Crossbowmen from the Hussite range.

The bowmen will be a separate group of skirmishers. I probably could've used some Crusader Norman archers I already have, but thought I'd have bowmen in the mixed spearmen unit. This changed after I placed the order when my buddy Scott offered up the Hussite crossbowmen to me. By the way, I just got an email update from Curteys today; they're going to raise their prices a bit come the new year.

Chariot Wars - Mycenaean v. Mycenaean

Got in a nice Chariot Wars game today with my buddy Scott A. at The Game Matrix. I broke my Mycenaean army down into two fairly equal armies. One had more troops armed with javelins; the other more troops with thrusting spears - including a chariot squadron. This was done to see how the two types compared in battle. Here are the opposing armies - some skirmishers are further out on the flanks.

Here are a few shots of the game; however, as I played one side, I failed to capture all of the action. Also, apologies for the blurred and not so in-focus images.

Seeing how we used the older version of WAB (1.5) - as well as not having played Chariot Wars in a long time, we probably did some goofy things. Suffice to say, it is good to be armed with missile weapons in chariots (two shots per); particularly if you are a hero with re-rolls for hits and wounds! Another item that came up was how to randomize missile fire on chariot squadrons with runners attached. It's probably in the 2nd Ed. rules, but since we only had 1.5, we ended up rolling 1-3 for hits on chariots & 4-6 on runners - then worked out wounds from there. Oh, and I have to add that more often than not, I kept forgetting to use the archers in the thrusting spear infantry unit.

ADDENDUM: As this is a Chariot Wars posting, I'd be remiss if I didn't include better images of the actual chariots. They were played, but as the action got confused in whirling dust clouds and screams of horses, I failed to capture good photos during the game. So, here are some staged photos of the chariots - now one big happy equeta gang again.

I could use one more chariot (already have Dendra armored crew) to have two, eight-chariot squadrons; or  four, four-chariot squadrons for smaller games.

Codex Manesse Knights - Completed

Completed, except for adding their lances - which should be arriving soon - I ordered some 100mm spears from North Star. I needed some pikes for the Foundry Silver Shields anyway. I'll end up cutting down a few for lances. I decided on Siegfried of Westerburg, Archbishop of Cologne, to be the army general.

Although on the losing side at the Battle of Worringen, he had an aggressive nature and not afraid to stir things up. Prior to taking the office of Archbishop of Cologne, he was the church official who oversaw the Teutonic Order in Germany. Coincidentally (or not?), the coat of arms for the Archbishopric of Cologne is the same style black cross as the Teutonic Order.

They are a mixture of Mirliton, Old Glory and Gripping Beast. The shields with animal charges are paper designs from Mirliton. I plan to start on the light cavalry next - they are Old Glory Turcopole figures - they'll be Szeklers with lance, bow and shield. Also waiting on an order of spearmen from Curteys. My buddy, Scott A. gave me some Old Glory crossbowmen who'll join the Curteys spearmen in mixed order. These are in addition to earlier completed Old Glory spearmen and crossbowmen. Finally, an Old Glory Hussite war wagon will be modified to be the Army Standard wagon.

Here are some illustrations from the Codex Manesse of actual battles - as opposed to those of tournaments. The first one depicts John of Brabant dealing a deadly blow at the Battle of Worringen.

Codex Manesse Knights - WIP + 4

Finished all of the knights for the Early-Holy Roman Empire army. Only the bishop/Army General needs to be completed - after some research. Here are the last three knights:

The figure in the center is a Mirliton model of Hartmann von Aue; the two on either side are Old Glory models with Mirliton helms. The helm on the left-hand figure is based on a helm belonging to Albert von Prankh of Styria. The figure on the far right is painted as Walter von Klingen.

The shields have paper designs from Mirliton. The bases still need flocking, of course. I hand-painted the barding - including those crazy-looking chicken heads.

Here is a picture of the Prankh helm preserved in a museum. It has a reinforced face plate, and was likely used for jousting.

Codex Manesse Knights - WIP + 3

So I finally got off my duff and picked up a paint brush. Managed to finish the Walther von Metze figure. He'll be my other character for the early-HRE clerical army. I have an Old Glory guy with a mitre on top of his helm - he'll be the actual general. Anyway, I really like Metze's flamboyant wings on his helm. It reminds me of the helmet worn by Hagen von Tronje in Fritz Lang's Die Niebelungen.

Of course the base still needs flocking, but I'll wait until I finish the rest of the knights - mainly the barding for their horses. Here is a shot of this figure (along with the rest of the knights WIP) - showing how the lines for the checkered patterned was sketched. Note that the shine on the figures is a coat of Krylon gloss to protect the barding while the pattern is worked. Also, the knights themselves will receive some Vallejo matte on the appropriate parts. I like my metal armor shiny.

Here are the rest of the horses needing detail to their barding, along with another figure that I finished earlier. As his mount has mail barding it was a lot quicker to paint. Also, the shield is a paper design from Mirliton.

Foundry Silver Shield - Crusader Shield Replacement

Just picked up the pack of Crusader Macedonian Shields which John up at The Panzer Depot was kind enough to add to his recent Old Glory order. Thanks to a tip from Allen Curtis on removing Foundry "bottle cap" shields he posted on Jeff Jonas' site, I took out my own trusty saw and started cutting off the "caps." The photo below shows the figure on the far left with the original cast-on shield; next a figure with the shield removed; and the last three with different variations of Crusader Macedonian shields attached. Note lopped off shields at the foot of the second figure from the left.

Here is what the replacement shields look like from the Crusader website:

Although much thinner than the Foundry shields, the Crusader ones are slightly larger in diameter - which IMO seems to make them even more intimidating. I will probably get some Gripping Beast figures to beef up this phalanx unit to 28 figures - like the other three phalanx units already in the army.

Speaking of needing more figures, after pointing up the Early-HRE WAB army in-the-making, it seems I will need approximately 38-40 more spearmen to make up the infantry percentages of a 2,000 point army. Another tip, this time from a fellow gamer here, Scott A. (who incidentally is also working on an HRE WAB army), I plan to order some Curteys figures. They look really nice, and the price is good - hopefully the shipping will be too.

Codex Manesse Knights - WIP + 2+

Finished half of the unit of knights for the early-HRE army. The figures are from Old Glory, Battle Honors and Mirliton. All but the one of the helms are from Mirliton. The helm with the horns quartered in or (gold/yellow) and gules (red) is an Old Glory piece.

In the image below the two figures on each end are from Mirliton; the one in the center is a Battle Honors figure with Old Glory helm and horse. Otto Von Brandenburg's shield has a paper image from Mirliton glued on - and weathered a bit.

The next image are all Old Glory figures and horses - however the two great helms are from Mirliton; as well as the paper shield image glued onto the rider on the right.

All of the heraldry - or at least the patterns - are from the Codex Manesse.

Here are most of the remaining knights for the unit. I'm debating on using an Old Glory figure with a mitre cap too; as I plan on going with an Early Clerical army - since this will allow me to use light cavalry from the Hungarian list. NOTE: I was informed by a comment posted here that the figure on the far-right is not Battle Honors, but actually Gripping Beast. It was sold in a Battle Honors blister at my local gaming store - probably very old stock.

Mirliton & Gripping Beast (Battle Honors) Knights - WIP

Painted up a couple of knights for the HRE army; I know it's slow going, but I've been doing other things and had to make myself sit down and paint for a bit today. The one on the right in the photo below is the Mirliton Ulrich Von Lichenstein figures. The one on the left is a Battle Honors figure with an Old Glory helmet from the Teutonic Knights set.

The guy on the left is based on the illustration below from the Codex Manesse of Burchard von Wengen. Since it only shows his helmet and shield, I took the liberty to use one of the Gripping Beast figures with a sleeved surcoat. The horns on the Old Glory helm isn't exactly like the one illustrated, but close enough.

 

A couple more views of the figures. The Von Wengen guy will go on a horse with mail barding. Notice how the mail is sculpted differently on the two.

 

It appears the "man purse" isn't a new invention - the Gripping Beast guy has one.

Old Glory & Battle Honors 13th C. Knights

I managed to remove the capes from several of the Old Glory Teutonic Knights, and one of the Battle Honors Knights. The method of removal is not something I would recommend to anyone - unless one were trying to win a Darwin Award. I first used nail clippers to remove the larger parts of the capes. Next, I got this "brilliant" idea to use a soldering iron to melt off parts of the remaining cape. It actually worked and I managed not to drop molten lead on myself or the carpet. Well, I did melt off a leg from one figure - he's now in lead heaven. Finally, I used a Dremel with a tip normally used to sharpen steel blades. This was used to smooth out most of the remaining areas. Green Stuff was used to construct simple, if not crude, rear portions of the saddles. Here they are with their shields attached - I'm waiting for some helmets that I ordered from Mirliton. The center figure in the bottom row is a Battle Honors figure.

The next photo shows them with an Old Glory Teutonic Knight with his cape still on.

Besides the musician, these are the remaining Old Glory and Battle Honors figures that I won't do any modifications to due to either their capes (OG) or sleeved surcoats (Battle Honors) making it next to impossible to remove.

Codex Manesse Knights by Mirliton - WIP +1

Finished Otto Von Brandenburg's horse. His was a little more work, as his coat of arms is an eagle - which was reproduced eight times on the horse's barding.

As with Ulrich Von Lichtenstein's horse, the basic color of the barding was painted and shaded then given a spray coat to protect it while the coat of arms were worked onto it. The escutcheons (shields) were drawn on and then painted white (argent). Next, the basic outline of the eagle was painted with reddish brown. A sample sheet with coats of arms was used as a guide.

The eagles were then "fleshed out" a bit with the darker red as a base.

Finally, a lighter red was painted in the outline. Yellow (or) spines were also painted within the wings. Forgot that the eagles should be facing forwards - corrected after seeing this picture.

Here are the horses for Von Brandenburg and Von Lichtenstein. The knights themselves are next to be painted.