Author: lorenzoseventh

Wargaming in an erratic style

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normans in the south

First Strelets 1/72 Normans are complete

So these first two bases of Norman cavalry have their slightly arid ground cover and bit of green vegetation to liven things up. The base style comes from Impetus ideas about using the greater space to create more of a diorama look instead of the serried ranks style. It works for these Normans I think.
A nice variety of weaponry and also other equipment means these chaps can also become Carolingian and Ottonians
A nominal couched lance is provided although the helmet is a puzzle. All coat d’arms horse colours are on show
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Wars of Louis XIV

Sun King Distractions

So Barry Hilton advertised some back copies of 2nd Edition Beneath the Lily Banners. So i bought a copy which arrived very promptly – thank you Barry
I am so tempted to dust off some of my Zvezda 1/72 plastic Russians for a test drive of these rules. But then that would do serious damage to my Dark Ages project. So maybe another time for these old school style based chaps!
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normans in the south

Norman Cavalry arrive

So after that quick intermission for some Saxons, more of them in another post, I am back on the horsemen of the dark ages (ok the back end) – the much vaunted Normans. Well you will not get too many couched lances here as strelets 1/72 norman cavalry are a mixed bag and actually lend themselves to Frankish armies generally.

Some were primed with pva which cracked so they like their comrades are in vallejo grey primer followed by blacking out the metallics and then some coat d’arms horse colours which having only recently been discovered have proven their value to me already.
I found the vallejo grey to be a good base for these cavalry and the coat d’arms horse colours give a mottled coverage
I tend to have quite a few horses with black stockings – more coat d’arms horse colours on show
on the left some PVA cracking overpainted but even so you can see the strelets figures still have some reasonable detail
The horseman on the left corner shown in previous photos is now complete, varnished and based, justing waiting a final ground highlight plus some vegetation
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saxons

Saxon intermission!

So no normans in this post instead a base of Saxons for your delectation!
These guys have painted up nicely
Strelets do some nice poses and again a suggestion of motion lifts these figures. I need to finish the basing and get on with a few more.
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Carolingians

Carolingians complete

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

Despite a bad plastic soldier review which I follow avidly Charlie and his guard have a decent look about them
I am quite pleased with my light cavalry unit
Categories
wargaming

Carolingians varnished

Made some good progress with my Carolingian cavalry after the PVA primer problems. Even coat d’arms horse colours fell victim to some cracking.

Charlemagne not quite majestic
The horses that plastic soldier review detested
After some care and attention and yes shiny gloss they are beginning to look quite nice
The two light horse I chose actually look ok on their dynamic horses
Another view of the grand national contenders!
If nothing else this set creates motion
I have two heavy cavalry bases for my Carolingian or Frankish army plus a light base from one pack.
Categories
Carolingians

Carolingian cavalry started

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.

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basing normans in the south

Plants for your figure bases

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 used Frome Model Centre small green tufts to add variety of height

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.

Categories
metal miniatures

Garrison Vikings and Normans

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.

Garrison Vikings painted plus their Normans bought together in the late 1970’s

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!

The norman figures came with loose weapons and the design seemed to lend itself to less flash.
The vikings were more open although the Norman spearman was far less contrived yet still a classic stance.
The vikings did have one weakness – they were quite two dimensional – good as they rush forward but again probably designed to help the casting

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.

Spot the citadel knight and yes mounted vikings – just what you need for D&D – our games ranged over the countryside fairly early on!
I really like the citadel horse, less so the Garrison one
As you can see I had primer confusion going on. Actually I painted my horses in artists gouche or washed out enamels over white. I used black for the predominantly armoured soldiers.
These have made it to a painting stick a mere 40 years late! I might even finish them although sadly the vikings will just not match up with the strelets plastics. I might do better with the normans.

The normans though were from the mid seventies figure style – a good wargame figure for army games.

ok so I can’t explain the soldiers being in different primer styles!
These chaps will make it into a unit as giants amongst their strelets cousins
ok these two axemen look classic 1970’s – slight bodies with large heads. And whats that monster on the right – yes its a Lamming Norman – but thats another story.
I really will have to sort out the priming………….

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.

Categories
normans in the south

Progress on Normans and some Saxons

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

i have opted for an arid south mediterranean look rather than a dark earthy northern europe one
in slightly different light the ground does not look quite like a desert!
so a few archers and now a few spearmen – i have opted for a more open look with the shieldwall not formed
I quite like some of the before battle poses strelets have done although figures do vary in size. I am not looking for the regimented look anyway.
I am quite happy with the look including the vegetation. the bases are all 80mm x 60mm and I shall use them for either AMW, DBA or Impetus games amongst others.