Spanish Civil War Republican militia

    Two groups of figures here that I painted up for another individual who has a tremendous interest in this period as I painted up over 200 figures for this period for him alone. The choice of colors was mainly by him (I incorporated a slight amount from myself for variation) as the two groups are The Republican Militia in mainly green and blue colors and the second group are the all female militia that fought in the war wearing medium blue colors. Both groups utilized red scarfs. The owner again will provide the basing. The first four pics are of the female militia and the bottom four are the non lady Republican Militia.

Byzantine command

   Here just a few pics of some Gripping Beast Byzantines. I painted the command figures based off my personal taste but the two archers was off the owners specification for colors for reddish armor and shield appearance. Naturally, the owner will provide the basing. The shields are not attached to the figures as they will be sent back unattached...why they are missing

French Napoleonic Marines

     Ok Ok...the French naval Infantry during the Napoleonic wars were called Naval Artillery Regiments not marines. These figures are produced by Steve Barber Models and have been painted on behalf of someone else who will provide the basing for them. Roughly 32 figures is what I painted of these and have included a small sampling of them as they are probably not run of the mill figures many people would have. For uniforms my understanding was the normal french blue coat and pants with red waistcoat and lapels so here they are.....

Normans…no pics. Historical notes only

         One attraction of having a Norman army is its possible opponents. We are all aware of Hastings but the Norman’s also fought in Italy to Sicily against the Lombard’s, fought the post Manzikert Byzantines, if historical battles turned out different engagements against Vikings were possible not to mention post Hastings an Anglo/Saxon would have fought both the Irish and the Scots, plus Norman figures would not be out of place to be fielded as crusaders for the first crusade. 

Painting the Norman’s: Fortunately, we have the Bayeux Tapestry which are paintings of the time of the battle of Hastings and we can get both colors used and examples of shield designs. It records 8 colors those being red, ochre, turquoise, yellow, 2 shades of green and 2 shades of blue. In addition we know that various shades of brown, grey and cream were common colors of the time. Bear in mind the colors on the red, green and blue were more muted colors so ideally they should not be in the bright side. As for shields crosses were often painted in both curved and straight lines and mythical beasts were likewise common. For inspiration for shields one can utilize samples from other peoples figures (why I post pics of figures so copy at will) or inspiration from shield decals is very doable or simply of course just use the decals themselves. Keep in mind most of the Norman forces would be armored either in mail or in leather padded coats. Personally, I utilize most mail for the mounted knights with a fair mixture for the foot with a few figures thrown in with no armor for visual appeal. It was not uncommon for the knight to dismount and fight on fought to anchor the Norman line so feel free to mix some of those in if one wishes. 

3) Organization and size. For its time the Norman army was a very balanced force that invaded Saxon England and gives it a unique feature. If one reviews some of the other battles such as Civitate (1053) or Dyrrhachium (1081) the Norman’s comprised solely the mounted force while non Norman infantry were provided by local forces making the events of Hastings some what unique as it was the only battle of this period where Norman infantry played a specific role. Other battles post 1066 such as the battle of the standard (1138) against the Scots the Saxon shire-levy were used as infantry (some Norman knights did fight dismounted to help stiffen them) as well as the cross channel invasion at Tinchebrai (1106) when the the Anglo/Saxon force the foot were comprised of the Saxon shire-levy again with some of the Norman knights being dismounted to fight on foot. The point being outside of the 1066 campaign be aware that outside of your dismounted knights we don’t find any Norman infantry being used so for the purist who wants to use his Norman’s for the other conflicts you will need a variety of other foot figures to augment your Norman’s. Back to the campaign of 1066 Williams army probably comprised around 8000 or so troops with roughly 25 percent being mounted, 20 percent missile armed with either bow or crossbow, the other 50-55 percent being the footmen mostly armed spear (hence the reference to a well balanced force). It might well be lack of transportation kept Williams force from comprising a higher percent of cavalry or the possibility of having to establish a beachhead upon being disembark from the ship against immediate opposition. The Saxon army of course had to march north to oppose the Viking invasion at both Fulford and Stamford bridge ….and it was during this time the Norman’s landed. One final note would be Williams army would of been the best of the best….transportation limitations meant only his best troops would of been brought over so there was no general levying of the population for poorer quality manpower to be utilized. 

3) Battles. I already previously listed 4 of them besides Hastings one can research for those who want to refight actual engagements…or build your own scenarios against their historical opponents or do as one wishes against non historical opponents. Turning to the events of the year of 1066 there are some variations of possibilities where that well balanced Norman army under William could be used instead of the same refight of Hastings. 1) William invasion preceded that of the Vikings under Harald and Harolds English army was 20 percent larger instead of being depleted from casualties sustained against the Vikings? 2) William was able to have a larger mounted force say perhaps 35 percent instead of 25 percent? 3) Harald was victorious against Harold and it was the Vikings that marched south to oppose the Norman’s? 4) A series of battles or a campaign could be drawn up perhaps…what if Harold was not killed at Hastings and the battle ended in a draw? Certainly, a second battle would have been fought with the Saxon having a better replenishment of additional forces for losses than that Williams Norman’s. 

Lastly any questions feel free to ask I’ll try to answer….my hope is to eventually in time provide more in depth historical context and information to go along with photos of the various collections of painted armies. 

Norman Infantry

    The maker of my Norman miniatures are a combination of Footsore, Crusader, and Foundry which I combine and mix freely together. These pics are slightly on the dark side and I may brighten and repost its such a battle for us non photographers to avoid both being too dark (hides separation of the colors) and brightness (which over contrasts the color on the miniatures) so I keep looking for a balance. I might also highlight some of the faces in the next round of pictures as the Foundry faces and the detail of expressions I found well done (I should add they are the most expensive of the bunch and on the table top for large forces the individual faces go unnoticed so for some its a mute point). 

Regarding the composition of the Norman armies most are familiar with their mounted forces and the noted ferocity of their charge. Sometimes which is forgotten is they can contain a fair amount of foot for their forces. Regarding the invasion of Saxon England my opinion is a fair amount of foot accompanied the army due to 1) Lack of transportation for additional horses so perhaps a larger percent had to fight on foot. 2) It is equally plausible that William anticipated a possible confrontation on the initial landing by the Saxons on the coast/beach and to gain a beach head would require dismounted infantry to secure and why a greater concentration of infantry forces. 

On those notes (hopefully at a later time I will post more info on composition, fighting style and choice of colors for the Normans)  here is the first batch of their infantry...most shields I just hand painted as the Norman choice of designs are fairly simple to replicate. 

comparison pics of Vikings (FootSore and Foundry)

         I painted some Vikings for an individual and realized might be a good idea to post comparison pics for those who might be interested. Eventually, I do hope to post  pics of my Vikings which is a rather large collection but I have also been adding to it with the Footsore Miniatures which currently are sitting in drawers unbased. I painted up some foundry Vikings and decided to take a few shot of them side by side. The figures on the right side of each stand is Foundry and the other figure to their left is Footsore. Obviously, when the stand is turned 180 degrees around the Foundry will be on the left.

SCW Legionnaires

      These figures (like all the spanish civil war figures posted) are done on the behalf of another individual for his collection and who will provide the basing. As has been my past practice I do like to post a few of those I have painted for those who need visual ideas or inspiration. 

Carolingian Infantry Gripping Beast

      These figures are a unit of Carolingian infantry by Gripping Beast. The figures are very nice as they rank up very easily and are intended to represent some of Charlemagne household troops. Historical sources seem to indicate that sometimes a portion of the Carolingian horsemen could dismount and fight on foot (Montpensier against the Vikings for example) and these figures would be the better equipped Scara to do so. I also chose to give them a slightly uniform appearance with dark blue cloaks with a off white linen color border. The blue cloaks represent the capability that the Carolingians could do so....that is providing uniformed cloaks (blue being one of the colors they used) to their household troops. How uniformed the Carolingians would be I am not certain of and if one looks at the various pics of my figures I chose not to uniform them but did utilize colors that were popular under Charlemagne. 

Some notes for those interested:1) Charlemagne was very much wedded to the idea of a society that was dressed in some type of uniform appearance. 2) Ambassadors from Haroun al Rashid in Bagdad marveled at the novelty of the uniforms and arms worn by members of Charlemagnes court. 3) Early in the wars against the Saxons there is an incidence recorded that the Saxons were able to infiltrate a Frankish camp by intermingling themselves with a foraging party that returned to camp causing considerable damage. However, in order to do so they appeared indistinguishable from the Franks suggesting they copied their appearance in dress or uniforms. 4) Undoubtedly, group or unit cohesion and recognition can much more easily be maintained by some type of uniformed representation. 

Again I only choose one unit for such an appearance but one would not be unhistorical to include in ones own collection of  their miniatures to have some type of uniform theme for their Frankish units. It could be similar type of shield color or using banners for example. Some popular colors recorded and that I used were the following that the historian Notker recorded: palace troops had very white uniform shirts and uniform britches of dyed scarlet and often the puttees (linen wraps) of scarlets also. They were all equipped in leather boots and their cloaks were blue or white. It has also been recorded some of the cloaks were also uniformed with stripes. For other popular clothing colors for tunics deep red, brownish red, yellow and ochre colors would apply as well as creams and brown’s especially for legging colors in addition to the scarlet. As for shields much of my miniatures were by Artizan so the shield appearance was already solved by the sculpting. For these Gripping Beast figures that have no pre design on them I went with a lot of radial lines something that seem popular with the Carolingians. Hopefully, soon I will post more of a complete image of the Carolingian army I have as it comprises some 90 plus mounted and 90 plus foot figures.

Falange

    These are Falangist a type of militia that fought during the Spanish Civil War. These figures will be added to an individual I know who I have been painting up a large amount of figures for him for this conflict. My expertise is not on this conflict but this person I know has actually traveled to Spain to take in some of the historical sites of this conflict. Naturally, he will do his own basing with these miniatures.

 

British Foot Royal Scots

     The following are a combination of both some British command figures (plus one Scot in a kilt) and a sampling of the 1st Regt of the Royal Scots during the Napoleonic Was. The figures are for someone else collection who will provide the basing. I use the word sampling as this individual goes with large regiments look both the Royal Marines I painted up were 48 figure Regt's as this one else also was 48 figure group (why I use the term a sampling 48 figures a lot to set for pics).  He requested they be clothed in very light grey trousers and hence they are