Wargaming in an erratic style
So I will complete my Carolingian cavalry with my Mediterranean style basing
I use gloss partly because it gives protection as these figures are to be handled and partly because at 3 feet away on a game table it lifts the colours
The budgie grit bases will get a 3 stage paint job and some tufted plants!So that’s it for these chaps, next up are some strelets normans
Made some good progress with my Carolingian cavalry after the PVA primer problems. Even coat d’arms horse colours fell victim to some cracking.
So next up on the painting table are some Carolingian cavalry. Plastic soldier review (http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com) slated the horses but beggars can’t be choosers as they say. Carolingian cavalry are less loved than the infantry and even those have to be nicked off your Saxons somehow.
Here are my primer choices again persisting with PVA versus VJ grey primer on soap washed and scrubbed 1/72 strelets medium plastic.
These Carolingians will double up as Franks as well. I also painted a few Normans (on the left above) into the bargain, again Strelets 1/72, being from some of their original sets.
As you can see the VJ primer shows up the detail straight away which I like.
So first I cleaned the flash – not too bad and then matched the figures as per the photo on the box art, pinning and gluing the horsemen to the horses. After priming and white undercoating, I painted the horses with coat d’arms horse colours – looking good already – followed by blacking out the metallics.
My Norman bases have an arid appearance so to offset the desert image I added some planting. I opted to use individual plants rather than “scatter” or “flock”. This ties in better with the more arid look. I did do a few bases with some bush flock and they look ok. I used three product types. Bush flock, grass tufts and plants. I also tried a couple of seasonal variants for the grass tufts.
I used gaugemaster NOCH plants of two types – stalky on left and on the right stalks with heads with large tufts at the bottom.
I did a couple of bases with US based company Woodland Scenics light green bush material just laid on the ground.
More crumb based than discrete stalks I am pleased with the outcome.
Having got the 1/72 strelets Normans going, I decided to search out my old 20/25mm metal figures from long ago. The idea was to see whether they could be used alongside my plastics.
Specifically I was looking for some small Garrisons Normans. These were bought in the late 1970’s. At the time it was Garrisons new 25mm Viking’s which caught my eye. I bought the Normans at the same time all on impulse. They were actually for dungeons and dragons gaming as well as skirmish gaming. Big battles were in theory Macedonia versus Persia although the armies were never completed.
So it just happened that the Garrison Normans were shorter than their new Viking mates. I think this was the moment when 20mm, 1/72 and 25mm were going their separate ways. Well 20 mm had already stayed where it was while 1/72 and 25mm just about lived with each other yet 25mm was getting taller. But in these photos you can see the height, bulk and style difference within the same makers existing ranges. There is nothing new under sun – least of all scale creep!
For my money the garrison Vikings were up there with Citadel castings. Top notch on detail. And probably heading towards the few well painted skirmish figures collection or D&D idea.
The normans though were from the mid seventies figure style – a good wargame figure for army games.
As it happened the Vikings never made the D&D games while the Normans were parked after undercoating. My wargaming days ended – well for about 15 years.
When I returned in the mid 1990’s it was all DBA, acrylics and 15mm.
I have started my Normans in the South project by painting up some Strelets figures. These are a bit chunky but on the whole a likeable set of figures. I used the figures from the big Stamford Bridge set and the mini sets for Normans
It has been a while since I wrote on this blog and in that time the world has literally turned upside down. Back then, actually only February, the Chinese were wrestling with their outbreak while in Italy the first signs of a serious European outbreak were just appearing. Since then it has begun to spread everywhere and most of Europe is locking down to try to avoid following Italy into significant loss of life.
Society is in collective shock and it appears relying heavily on the world wide web to help the isolation and separation that we must now all encounter.
So I hope this will be the last time I write about COVID-19 and that this blog will focus instead on the distraction of the simple hobby of table-top wargaming.
I hope that what I share you will enjoy.
A good visit to Vapnartak which including playing in the participation game laid on by the Lance and Longbow society (LLS). The battle of was fought in 1410 between the teutonic order and the polish lithuanians and is variously now known as Grunwald, 1st Tannenberg or Zalgiris according to the useful LLS table guide provided on the day.
Many thanks to the guys who ran this participation game which used a house rules version of big battle lion rampant and also their advice on painting plastics. The figures were all 1/72 or 20mm from various manaufacturers medieval ranges. They might be considered small in these 28mm days but they looked good to me.
Neil Rennoldson editor successively of Arquesbusier (journal of the pike and shot society) and Hobilar (journal of the lance and longbow society) sometimes used his editorials to review centenaries and anniversaries in a bid to inspire articles written by members.
Looking back through history at the numerous wars and battles fought has two impacts on me. The sheer number of events that occurred and have been recorded and then what a distraction they can be from my current wargame projects.
I will start this post with a reflection. The first two decades of the 21st century have seen multi century anniversaries.
War of the Spanish Succession
Great Northern War
War of the Quadruple Alliance
War of the League of Cambrai
Jacobite Rebellion
The Ottoman Venetian war
Numerous Anglo Norman (1202) Anglo French (1214) wars not to mention Anglo Scottish (1400-1420) Anglo Welsh (1211) wars. Plus the Barons War (1215-1217 – Magna Carta and all that)
Then there have been the Polish Teutonic wars (1409-1411) and the Umayyad wars in Iberia and eastern Mediterranean (700-718).
I should say that my reflections only concern European and Middle Eastern history including those lands bordering the Mediterranean and Black seas during the period 3000BC to the early 1700’s.
Turning to earlier times things seemed a lot quieter although I would single out 400-419 AD as one of immense change for the Western Roman Empire as the Suevi, Alans, Vandals and Visigoths swept across Gaul and Italy sacking Rome in the process and drawing away the last great roman armies of fortress Britain.
I might also mention some of the battles from the medieval and early modern periods like Clontarf 1014, Bouvines 1214, Morgarten 1315, Agincourt 1415, Ravenna 1512, Novara 1513, Flodden 1513, while in the east the Umayyad siege of Constantinople in 717/18.
That’s an impressive list so what do the roaring 20’s promise the historical gamer looking for inspiration, or simply a backdrop to the next wargames project?
War in the “roaring 20’s”
In my preferred periods in question not a lot jumps out prior to 1550BC so here are some that caught my eye since then.
Egyptians conquer the Hyksos 1523-1517
Nubian Campaigns of Thutmose III 1429-1428
First Messenia War with Sparta 740-720BC
Nubian conquest of Egypt 732-721BC
Colchis – Scythian War 725BC
Revolt of Babylon against the Neo Assyrians 626BC
Peloponnesian War 431-404BC
2nd Samian War with Rome 327-304BC
Lamian War with Macedon 323BC
Barcid conquest of Hispania 237-219BC
Greco Bactrian wars of Diodotus II and Euthydemus I 230-220BC
Cloemenean War 229-222BC
Gallic wars with Rome 225- 222BC
Greek Lyttian War 220BC
Rome defeats the pirates of the Balearics 123 – 121BC
Jurgurthen War with Rome 122-105BC
Cantabrian Wars with Rome 29-19BC
Tacfarina Numidia Rebellion from Rome 17-24AD
Constantine versus Licinius 314-324AD
Roman Sassanian Wars 421-422AD
Now for some battle anniversaries coming up this decade
320’s – Chrysopolis
420’s – Aetius and the Visigoths (426) and Franks (428)
520’s – Vezeronce
620’s – Siege of Constantiploe and Nineveh (Byzantine/Sassanid)
720’s – Toulouse and Ravenna
820’s – Ellendun (Mercia/Wessex)
920’s – Battle of the Highlands 926(Bosnia and Bulgaria)
1020’s – Shirimni & Svindux (Byzantine/Georgian) and Lemnos (Byzantine/Rus)
1120’s – Didgori(Tbilisi)(Georgian/SeljukTurks),
1220’s – Lihula, Trebizond, Estonia
1320’s – Boroughbridge, Muldorf, Zuppolino, Cassel
1420’s – Hussite Wars, Arbedo, L’Aquila, Zagonara, Maclodio, Patay, French recovery in the Hundred Years War
1520’s – Belgrade, Bicocca, Frakenhause Peasant War, Pavia, Mohacs, Vienne, Siege of Florence
1620’s – White Mountain and the Thirty Years War, Cossack Raid on Istanbul, Cecora, and Ottoman Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth Wars
1720’s – Russo Swedish Naval War and Russo Persian War
The 1720’s look a bit empty after the numerous wars of the first two decades of the 1700’s. Elsewhere the decisive battles are Pavia, Mohacs, White Mountain and Nineveh.
One stand out battle anniversary for 2020 has to be White Mountain. The 400th anniversary of the battle between the Empire and Bohemia was one of the most significant in the wars that lasted from 1618 until 1648. The only rub is that my pike and shot armies have never got going so I would need a miracle to field the armies by the anniversary day in November.
So plenty to go at if my current interest in Normans and Saxons takes a wrong turn.
Not content with “off piste” in my last post I am looking at books in this post. The thread of wargaming is still there and my current painting enthusiasm waxes and wains around what I am reading.
To sustain a period of painting I need the books to back it up. Until recently the Normans had been a period admired from a distance but avoided. My interests at best for the years 500-1200AD were mostly Byzantine. One of my favourite authors has been John Julius Norwich. He wrote Normans in Sicily many years ago and it is still recommended reading. This book had always been on the edge of my reading list not least because the Mediterranean Normans appear in other books by John Julius Norwich – notably the Middle Sea.
So my interest kept returning to Southern Italy and this period. It was not a large step to head north to Normandy and then England. I have begun to read more about the Normans in England. Previously I had just given a nod to Hastings.
A visit to Sicily furthered my interests. The multi ethnic multi religious nature of the Normans in Sicily seems unique for the period. Then a speculative purchase found in a discount bookstore got me reading about the Normans in a broader context.
“A brief History of the Normans: The conquest that changed the face of Europe by Francois Neveux caught me eye. Francois being Professor of History at Caen University was well placed to talk about the people of that area.
Published by the Little Brown Book Group in 2005 ISBN10 – 1845295234.
The book starts well before the Normans could even claim Normandy. And in this sense I enjoyed this particular book linking as it did the Carolingian era to that of Normandy and the rise of France.
In fact the chapters before Hastings were a mine of information and written in a way that kept me turning the pages rapidly. Somehow after that the story line lost its edge although it was still an enjoyable read.
My next foray into the period was on the Saxon side. Edward the Exile, son of Edmund II Ironside, the potential heir returning to England in August 1057 was killed within 2 days of his landing. Its author Gabriel Ronay made the pre-Hastings era an interesting and broader story than simply Harold versus William.
Both these books offer a more European perspective of the English problem of succession.
And then I picked up Marc Morris’s Norman Conquest. I hoped I would enjoy his story and I have not been disappointed. Suitably detailed, the narrative moves along quickly without becoming superficial.
The James Aitcheson Trilogy of historic fiction I found by pure accident. I picked up the second part in a charity shop and then bought the first book on kindle.
Not a great fan of historic fiction stories the trilogy covers a rather overlooked period post invasion. The author reveals his historian first author second character. Some good observation of the period makes the story settings believable and engaging. The whole story line though is incredulous – hang on this is fiction though – and the main characters move around a bit too easily. The very modern conversation style mixed with using old Saxon and Welsh place names did not really work for me.
Given these fiction books are the first ones I have finished in a long time thats a compliment. And at least the cover picture is of the period – too many historical books having sloppy front covers simply then disappoints me on reading as well.
Right now I am reading some modern travelogue – fingers crossed my Norman painting does not dry up.
The Wargaming Erratic 