15mm "Heroic Scale" Pilgrims from Khurasan

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As I’d also like to be able to field my Normans as Early Crusaders, I decided to add a couple of units of pilgrims to the mix.

The best I could see on offer were those from Khurasan. They do a pack of ten ‘standard’ pilgrims along with another pack of three unique extras: a monk with crucifix held high, a woman brandishing a frying pan, and an urchin throwing a rock.

I needed sixteen figures for each “mobs” base, so a pack of each plus half a pack of unarmoured Norman infantry nicely fitted the bill.

Plus points first: great figures with loads of character that paint up easily.

The only negative is that they are heroic scale i.e. a little larger than even a large 15mm figure.

So how noticeable is the difference?

Well, it’s a little noticeable: in that if you are looking for it, it’s obviously there, but under game conditions I don’t think it will be noticeable at all. Here’s a couple of comparison phots with some Museum Miniatures’ Norman foot infantry from their CAD-designed Z range of Normans:

You’ll have to make your own minds up, but I’m not sure the difference is significant enough to matter.

It would matter less, of course, if your whole Norman army was taken from Khuarsan’s Heroic 15mm MILLENNIUM -- 1000AD to 1150AD range…something I might have done if I hadn’t already got Museum’s Normans: they are both lovely ranges of figures.

My New "Real Life" Roman Baggage Train!

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I’m doing a lot of To The Strongest competitions at the moment, using an almost wholly metal 28mm Early Imperial Roman army that weighs a ton! Carrying it from the student digs at Britcon to the venue practically killed me, and the SELWG ramp wasn’t much fun either!

Now, however, I have the solution: a rather nifty folding camping trolley from Finnhomy bought from Amazon:

This neatly fits the entire army plus a box of terrain, lunchbox, waterbottle etc (in fact we had two armies plus paraphernalia in it on the journey out of the venue) making it super easy to transport from car to table, and then acting as a side table as well. I wish I’d bought it sooner!

As the description suggests, it also neatly folds up into the boot of the car and is honestly the best thing since sliced bread!

Details are here:

Finnhomy Folding Trolley on Wheels with Brake, Festival Trolley, Collapsible Beach Trolley with Removable Wheels, Camping Trolley 100KGs Capacity, Garden Trolley Wagon with Drink Holders

More Italo-Norman Spearmen

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Here’s the second batch of Italo-Norman Spearmen for my Sicilio-Normans.

These are mostly Baueda 15mm, with a smattering of Museum Miniatures and, I think, Khurasan as well.

The trick of using different shades of blue on the tunics to represent a militia unit (uniformed but not uniform!) has worked very well here. I actually think that they look better from the back rather than the front!

Militiae Spearmen for the Italo-Normans

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One of the last things I needed for my Italo-Normans was at least one unit of Militiae: militia spearmen that would need to be distinct from the Sicilian Spearmen and Mercenary Spearmen I already have.

I used mostly Baueda figures for these: they are simpler to paint than the excellent Museum Miniatures Z range that forms the greater part of my Norman collection…something important when you have to paint 54 of them!

I used the Museum command figures and, as Magister Militum hadn’t managed to get me all the Baueda models I needed, leavened the mass with a couple of spare Museum Normans: you can see them in the centre of the front rank, and the crossbowman far left.

Unlike the Sicilians and other Norman Spearmen, I wanted these chaps to look like a militia which, to me, means some kind of uniform. At the same time, I didn’t want them exactly uniform either: these are militia not the guards!

My solution was to paint the mass of the spear in three different shades of one colour: in this case, green. Now they look like they all come from the same unit, but that different tunics have been ordered and issued at different times. I have another unit to paint: they will be various shades of blue.

I’m happy with these chaps: now to paint the blue ones!

Army Standard for the Normans

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Regular visitors will know that one of this year’s projects has been a 15mm Norman army using the excellent Museum Miniatures CAD designed Z range of figures.

The Normans, under the To The Strongest rules that I use have access to a Papal banner: the banner awarded to William the Conqueror (or First or Bastard, dependent on which camp you’re in) which looked a little like the image to the right.

I’m going to source one of those but, meanwhile, I also want to use the Normans as Early Crusaders, so needed a standard for them too. The choices, according to the lists are the Holy Lance of Antioch and The True Cross, so when Khurasan released the pack, below, I was straight onto the ‘net to order:

MILLENNIUM 15mm European mounted bishops (Odo of Bayeux, Adhémar of Monteil or other fighting bishop, and bishop bearing the True Cross or similar relic) (x2)

I’m not quite as good at painting as Khurasan’s house painter, but here’s my attempt:

I’ll leave aside the question of historical accuracy, but these are really nice figures that paint up very easily indeed. As they are part of Khurasan’s “heroic” range of Millennium figures (first millennium, that is) they are quite chunky and size very well with Museum’s Normans. Highly recommended.

Next up has got to be the Pilgrims set and, even better, the pack below:

MILLENNIUM 15mm Crusader "noncombatants" -- monk with crucifix, "washerwoman" with frying pan, and child with rock (x3), meant as mix-ins for Crusader foot, especially Pilgrims

Horse Archers in 28mm

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Regular visitors will know that I’m about to take part in the To The Strongest competition at Britcon this year, fielding a Roman army not in my usual 15mm scale but in 28mm, using an army borrowed from a friend.

The army is great: plenty of legionaries and auxilia etc, but a bit of playtesting revealed the need for some equites sagittarii auxiliary horse archers, of which I had none.

A quick trawl through eBay suggested that I’d need to pay vast some of money for painted models, and would be jolly lucky to be able to buy only the three that I needed. The solution was at hand, however: I could buy a single sprue of Victorix Arab horse archers for the princely sum of £9: a bargain even if I would have to build and paint the figures myself.

Building the figures was quite fun, although I did find it tricky to get the two sides of horse to fit together snugly: you’ll see the tan horse in the middle has quite a VNL (visible neck line!). The arms were also tricky: superglue wouldn’t set quickly enough so I used a mixture of PVA and superglue which did the trick nicely. Any puffing just looks like the seams of their coats are coming apart!

Painting them was easy: using Contrast paints on 28’s after 15’s is like slapping paint on a shed, and even the tack (my usual bugbear) wasn’t too bad to do. I hashed up the man in the middle’s jacket: my purple dots are not good at all…but don’t look too bad from a distance. I was, however, very happy with the faces.

So thumbs up for Victrix and multipart plastic cavalry. I won’t be switching from my beloved 15’s, but have no problems in giving these a Recommended rating!

Attack! in Devises (and some musings!)

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Last weekend I went to the Attack! show in Devises for the first time.

A lovely drive through the Wiltshire countryside almost made the trip worthwhile on its own and, after a little confusion as to where the actual carpark was (Attack! takes place at a school, and you have to snake your way through almost the entire campus to get to the area where you can park your car), I duly arrived and headed into the show.

Attack! is an old school (pun intended) show where rather than being in a single, purpose built exhibition hall, the various venues are scattered across the school campus: main hall, gym one, gym two etc. I rather liked this: it was quite fun exploring, but I was glad it wasn’t raining!

There was a good selection of traders, and I managed to pick up all those odds and ends you need but don’t want to pay postage on, a fair selection of demonstration games, and a large bring and buy. Part of the bring and buy was the sale of a truly massive collection of 28mm mixed historical and fantasy figures that apparently came from a recent house clearance: there were twelve dragons as part of it, which shows you how big it actually was.

Painted Figures for Sale

One thing that was noticeable was the amount of painted figures on sale throughout the show i.e. both on the trade stands and on the B&B.

Even five years ago, painted figures for sale were a comparative rarity, now they are all over the place…and I can’t decide whether this is because:

  • we are all more time-poor these days, so buy painted figures instead of taking the time to paint things ourselves

  • are of the instant gratification generation i.e. want to play now rather than spend the time building an army

  • are more butterfly in our wargaming habits: moving from period to period, scale to scale, and funding the change with the sale of figures from our last, now abandoned project

  • wargames from the start of the ‘golden age of wargaming’ are now all dying from old age and their collections are being disposed of

I am certainly guilty of the first two, but then don’t sell any figures, so my collection just keeps on growing!

The Circle of Life…

That said, I have been selling off a few wargaming bits and pieces that I found in Mother’s attic when helping her clear it out. These I had deposited some thirty years ago, and included any non-15mm kit that I had, including a cardboard box full of nearly-all-unpainted, still-in-the-packets 28mm Celts from Garrison.

I duly popped them up the ‘net, and friend Steve said he’d take them off my hands…but it was only when I came to give them to him that we realised that he had actually sold them to me over thirty years before when he was Garrison in that little shop in Twyford. Proof of the pudding: my name was written on the box in his handwriting!

March to Hell 3D Prints

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A post on the Lead Adventure Forum reminded me that although I’d read about the March to Hell 3D printed miniatures from 3D Breed, I hadn’t actually seen any in the flesh and, as I needed an extra command figure for my Marian Romans, I thought I’d take a look and see what all the fuss was about.

You can get them in the UK from the Geek Villain website, which is well presented and easy to navigate. There are a lot of 15mm 3D prints available: the main WW2 forces, medieval Spanish and Moors, and then the usual suspects ancients-wise: Republican and Early Imperial Romans, Germans, Celts, Persians, Greeks, Macedonians and Carthaginians.

I decided to stay focussed (for once) and headed for the Roman section in search of enough figures for a command stand, and almost immediately came across a special model representing Scipio Africanus: both mounted and dismounted. Looked great in the pics, so I ordered them, and then browsed through and, as I still have plenty of Baueda legionaries in the lead mountain, a couple of the other specials: a medicus set, with a standing and kneeling doctor; and a legionary accompanied by a couple of wardogs!

Scipio and the wardogs were £3, the medicus set was £2.50.

A few days later, a box arrived from the Post Office. The box was about 10cm square and seemed to weigh almost nothing. Opening up, there was a vast amount of bubblewrap folded around the loose miniatures.

Okay, I can live with that - saves on the packaging, the environment and all that (and I’m sure the dustmen/neighbours etc think I’m a drug dealer with all the little plastic ziplock bags I throw away) - but how would that work for a larger order, or did they just loose pack them for this order because it was small and easy to work out which model was which?

The models themselves were beautifully crisp: little works of art. Every last bit of detail was present, with no mould lines, build lines or flash. Lovely.

One thing, though, as represented in the pictures above, they had no bases. They were literally just the same as the images. I’m not sure why I expected them to have bases, after all there are no bases in the pictures, but this did come as a bit of a surprise.

This also wasn’t a problem for the specials: rather than my usual lolly stick mounting for painting, I could glue them straight onto the bases I would be using as mini vignettes…but that did raise the question of what I would do if I was going to buy whole units to be mounted multiple figures per base. I would definitely have to think about that one.

Also, although the lack of bases wasn’t a problem for the infantry (they stood up on their own) it was a bit more a problem for the horse that one of the Scipios sits on. Yes, I did get three horses in my order (not sure why, as only one horse had Roman tack: one even had heads hanging from the breast strap) but none of them had all four feet on the ground. In the end, I mixed a little superglue and PVA together and glued the whole of two hooves to the base…but the horse still sways freely if you knock it. We will have to see how that stands up to battlefield usage.

So how do they paint up?

The quick answer is “beautifully”. I painted them with a black undercoat then with base-wash-highlight, and am very pleased with the results:

Apologies for my crude painting and even cruder photography. Ignore the signifier with the Scipios: he’s from another manufacturer.

So, you can see what they look like, but how do they compare with other figures size-wise.

Here’s a couple of group shots with a base of Baueda Marian Roman legionaries:

No problem with sizing: they match very well indeed.

In conclusion, I liked these and am very pleased with what I’ve got.

Plus points are size, beauty, price and, for the models I ordered, uniqueness and quirkiness.

The big minus point, however, is the lack of bases: I’m not sure how I would mount an infantry unit for painting, and the cavalry without bases is just plain difficult to deal with.

I will be scouring the other listings for more specials like the above and, as I sit here, am severely tempted to see how I get on with a unit of legionary cavalry…

A Few More Romans

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I’m waiting for newly-ordered figures to arrive at the moment and, as I felt like painting something, thought I’d dig into the lead mountain and see what I could find.

Back when I started a Marian Roman army in 15mm, I ordered enough figures to field my equivalent of two legions: ten two-base units, with each base holding 12 figures. I painted up the first legion, no problems, but stalled a bit with the second, only finishing one unit. The problem was that I didn’t need them (six bases of legionaries is quite enough for most To The Strongest Marian Roman armies) and I was, quite frankly, a bit sick of painting them!

Fast forward to now, however, and painting up another two bases worth (i.e. 24 figures) seemed like just the thing.

These are Baueda figures, bought through Magister Militum in the UK, and paint up very nicely indeed. Rather than use Contrast Paints, I went back to a black undercoat for these: seemed more suited all the chainmail.

I had, of course, forgotten how fiddly the Little Big Man Studio shield transfers were! They are great, I hasten to add, and really make the unit a unit, and are easier (for me) than painting every shield with the winged pattern shown, but it does mean cutting out forty-four individual half-shield decals, which was a very tedious affair indeed!

So seven out of ten Roman units finished. I wonder if it will be another few years before I do the next one!

A Few Burgundians

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Regular visitors will know that I bought a 15mm Burgundian Ordonnance army at the Warfare show last year. I’d already added some organ guns to its roster, but now needed to properly finish it off.

First up were some mounted crossbowmen, the only light cavalry in the army and thus the source of all of my scouting points.

These are Essex 15mm figures, painted with Contract Paints. Painting these after the Khurasan Normans was a real pleasure, and I am quite in love with the Essex style again. Their chunky, broad surfaces really take Contrast Paint well and I’d say that if you didn’t know they were 15’s, the photo above could show 25’s.

Next up were some light infantry handgunners, also Essex.

The photo above doesn’t really do them justice, but the Contrast white really works when placed next to the blue and the red: look at the chap second from the left in the back row (the one with the red hat). He’s the one that the photo has actually captured well.

Siculo-Normans

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Or troops from the Norman Kingdom of Sicily.

As the look and fighting style of the Siculo-Normans was heavily influenced by nearby Arabic territories, I wanted to used different manufacturers to the rest of my Normans (all from Museum Miniatures’ excellent CAD-designed range). Looking around the Internet, Khurasan and Baueda (available in the UK via Magister Militum) seemed the best best, so off my orders went.

First up, some of the Khurasan figures and, of them, first finished were the light cavalry.

I must confess that I am not quite sure what to say about these. I generally love Khurasan’s figures, and must have well over a thousand of them from various ranges. These come from their Norman range and whilst they look great, with very animate and all-action sculpts, the actual execution of the figures was less than what I expected.

The horses are beautifully animated, but arrived all crushed down on their bases. Straightening them took an age, and they are very fragile as well. I came very close to snapping them right off the base several times.

Same with the Siculo-Norman infantry. Every spear was not just bent but positively twisted, taking a lot of time to sort. Worse, the bases had either been sculpted badly or been carelessly clipped from the sprue: one corner was turned up slightly and thus every figure (all thirty!) needed the bases flattened and filed much more than I’ve ever encountered previously before they would stand up. A right pain!

So good and bad things to say. It won’t stop me buying Khurasan’s stuff in the future, but I will be cautious about this range.

Last of the Norman Milites

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Here are the last of the Norman Milites figures: 15mm miniatures from Museum Miniatures’ CAD designed Z Range.

That’s eleven units of Norman cavalry (88 figures) I’ve painted since the first ones rolled off the production line in February, all of which were painted in ‘eights’ so with each horse and rider painted in a unique colour scheme.

These are lovely figures. I read a review somewhere else on the ‘net criticising them for not having enough depth of detail to take Contrast paints well, but that hasn’t been my experience. I highly recommend the Museum Z Range and now have Sumerians, Classical Indians, some Greeks, and now the Normans.

Must be time to get them onto the tabletop…

Siculo Norman Cavalry

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As previously mentioned, I’m building my 15mm Norman army out to include Anglo-Normans and Italo-Normans.

One key difference between Norman-Normans and Italo-Normans is the influence that the existing mix of Greeks, Arabs and Lombards had, and I wanted to reflect that in the different troop types/figures that I would field.

The To The Strongest list allows for up to four bases of Norman knights, two bases of Mercenary Knights and two bases of Communal Knights. I could field the Norman knights via my Norman-Norman milites, so just needed a couple of bases of different-looking figures for either the Mercs or the Communal types.

Step forward Baueda (available in the UK via Magister Militum) who actually do figures specifically for the Siculo-Normans…so here they are:

Nice looking figures, although they are distinctly smaller than the Museum Miniatures Z range that I am using for the Norman-Normans. They also all have upright lances in soft metal which, to my mind, just means lots of bent spears that continually need to be straightened.

I decided to hand paint the shields myself rather than use a decal as a base. Not a process I enjoyed, but I did get better at it as I went on. I should really have added Baueda Norman command figures as well, but I wasn’t thinking when I ordered the figures so have no command types and have had to hang the banners on standard lances rather than the extended version that banner-carriers have.

So that you have a direct comparison, here’s another base of standard Norman-Norman milites that I have finished. Only two more of them to do now!

Matching Assyrians

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As mentioned before on this blog, moving from one set of rules to another often involves certain tasks: the dread re-basing being the most common. Close on re-basing’s heels, however, is the need to add more troops to the army, either different troop types or just more figures.

My Assyrians for To The Strongest are a case in point. The collection I had needed a few extra figures for use with TTS, but that was with some single element bases combined into pairs of double element bases. That was fine, and I added a first wave of new figures that you’ll have seen showcased on this blog previously, but did mean that some of the double element pairs didn’t match. The second heavy infantry unit, for example, comprised one element of mixed Spears/Bowmen with one element of either Slingers or Archers. Not a problem on the tabletop, but it just didn’t quite sit right.

So I bit the bullet and ordered enough figures to match the mixed Spears/Bowmen base and set about attempting to paint the new figures to match.

The figures are Chariot Miniatures via Magister Militum - I seem to remember that I wanted a change from the Essex Miniatures that make up most of the army. Here’s the new element, painted and based, front and back:

But does it match the old element, I hear you cry? Not as easy as you might think, as I first painted the Assyrians in 2021, some twenty-two years ago and way before the introduction of the Contrast Paints I use these days.

Here are the two elements together:

The new base is on the right as you look at the picture above. It’s the one without the command figure with the different shield.

Not a bad match.

Obviously I can see every tiny difference, but to the average eye, particularly at the magic 3ft distance, they might as well be identical. Job done!

Even More Normans!

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Not much gaming going on at the moment, so I had a chance to finish off some more Normans.

Off the painting table today are two units of light archers, the heroes, and the senior command stand consisting of William the B himself plus Bishop Odo (who you can’t see as he’s behind the flag).

These are more of the 15mm Museum Miniatures CAD designed Z Range, except for five of the Heroes who are from the Splintered Light Norman specials pack. I particularly like the chap at the back charging forward whilst swinging his sword.

I’ve also now ordered a ton of Sicilian and Italian style Norman spearmen from Baueda (via Magister Militum) and Khurasan, plus a few extra cavalry types to represent light cavalry and Sicilian style milites. Looks like I’m going to be painting Normans for some time!

Norman Archers

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Had a real push on finishing the Normans last weekend:

There are two units of Archers and two units of Light Crossbowmen. These are 15mm figures from Museum Miniatures lovely “Z” range of CAD designed minis. Highly recommended for anyone looking for Normans in that scale.

With these figures finished, I can now field Anglo-Normans if I add my Vikings to the roster as quasi-Anglo-Saxon types. I could also field a Norman-Norman army, but it would be a very infantry-heavy one: I’m going to need to paint up some more milites before I can field mostly-mounted Normans.

Romans and Normans

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Here’s a couple of bits of painting I’ve managed to complete.

First up, a unit of unarmoured milites for the Normans. Very much a question of one down and two to go on these: I’m writing this post instead of working on the next unit!

These are more from the Museum Miniatures CAD designed 15mm ‘Z’ Range, and very nice they are too. I went for the bright colours because these are wealthy individuals looking to look their best on the battlefield.

Next up was unit of Roman legionary engineers, which I will use as the Camp Servants that appear in the Marian Roman army list for To The Strongest that I work from.

These are 15mm Baueda figures ordered from Magister Militum. What I particularly like is that no two figures in a pack of eight are the same: that’s a decent variety for such a niche sculpt. I think I could have done a better job on the faces, though, and, for some reason, the Army Painter matt varnish has come up a bit glossy…but that will fade with time.

Right, better get back to those Normans…

A Few More Assyrians

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I needed a rest from painting Normans, so I thought I’d fill out my Assyrian army a little bit more.

When I started playing To The Strongest, I resurrected all the Ancients armies that I used to use for Vis Bellica, the only problem being that a VB element was approximately half the size of the elements I use for TTS. Not a problem for most of my armies, as I always over-collected on what I’d actually need to play a game, but it was for the Assyrians: the trouble being that as it was a small, expensive (in points terms) army, I didn’t have multiple identical VB elements that I could combine into a smaller number of TTS elements.

So here’s one TTS element (or, I suppose, two VB elements) of Assyrian heavy infantry, spearmen with big shields in front, archers behind. The figures are from Essex: always dependable figures that do exactly what it says on the tin!

The other issue with matching older figures is, of course, that one’s painting style changes over the years. These days I almost exclusively use Contrast paints, my Assyrians are painted using a black undercoat with acrylics on top , so I had to effectively re-learn how to paint that way. Annoyingly, I couldn’t get the cuirass to look as good as the figures I painted some fifteen years ago. I suppose I’ll just have to buy some more to get more practice in!

More Norman Milites

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The Normans are coming along nicely now: the last two bases of Milites rolled off the production line this weekend, along with the brigade leader, Bishop Odo in on-foot pose.

Again, the shields were the real pain to do, but do look good at tabletop distance.

That’s about half the Normans done now: just a brigade of knights not in chainmail, the archers and the lights.

Norman Crossbowmen

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I needed a rest from doing kite shields, so decided to paint up some crossbowmen bases. These would have started to appear from about 1000CE onwards.

Again, these are very nice figures from Museum Miniatures. I have painted them up as relatively ‘official’ units, all wearing padded armour a bit like a fabric version of a hauberk.

I like the poses on these figures, particularly the ones I have used at the back who are using the stirrup to pull the string back.

I’m also going to do a couple of bases of light crossbowmen, but these two bases are the backbone of the missile defence of the army.

As you can doubtless see, I had problems with the shields of the command group, so I wasn’t completely free of the shield-curse yet!