Tag: strelets 1/72 normans

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new additions

1/72 Reinforcements

These figures are quite slight and in soft plastic so we shall see hwther they paint up well and fit with my other forces for 11th century Italian Wars

So some more 1/72 reinforcements mainly early medieval for my Normans in the South project which will at some point include Byzantines.

Byzantines are sadly lacking in 1/72 so I will have to do some conversions of late romans and el cid HAT ranges.

Lets start with an odd one out!

These grenadiers of Louis XIV are a nice set and will complement my great northern war Zvezda forces
These are all either going into my late roman war forces or just maybe will be reworked to make late byzantine cavalry which are few and far between
back covers of 1/72 Medium and Cataphract Cavalry by Hatt
I already have quite a few of these two sets and it does not hurt to have some spare when your building 11th century european armies of any type.
Not as good back cover art as Zvezda although they show what you actually get in one case. somehow the unpainted figures promise more which is a bit unfair as the painted box art must be at least 10 years old at a time when strelets had nowhere near the resources of a company like Zvezda
These are great figures and I look forward to painting them. some will make it into my planned Varangian Guard unit for my Byzantine 11th century force.
The Zvezda back of box pictures of the painted figures just cry out to be bought. The animation is fantastic although better suited to loose and open fighting rather than showing a shieldwall
These figures are quite slight and in soft plastic so we shall see whether they paint up well and fit with my other forces for 11th century Italian Wars
These are currently my best bet for building forces of Byzantine Cavalry around the 11th century. I can’t use all of them and the horse fittings look a bit suspect.
Categories
metal miniatures

Normans in the South using 1/72 metallics

Without drifting too much into the issue of scale in wargaming, this post covers my solution regarding mixing metallics and plastics for my Normans in the South project.

So the lead in photo shows horsemen because this is where the most pronounced differences tend to show up.

left to right we have

Strelets 1/72 Norman cavalry

Tumbling Dice 1/72 Norman and Saxon cavalry (command figures!)

Citadel 25mm Mongol cavalry

Citadel 25mm Saracen cavalry

Lamming 25mm Norman Cavalry

Greenwood & Ball (Garrison) 25mm Viking Cavalry

Lancashire Games 25mm Malburian Cavalry

Typical BIG 28mm cavalry (ok he gets a base as well to make the point)

It is also worth noting the base thicknesses in these photos.

the small saracen then the big viking even bigger malburian and rather small saxon
1970’s citadel mongol and saracen plus Garrison viking show how the horse can influence size
The Tumbling Dice Norman horse could almost get by with the Lamming Norman yet the rider size especially the head suggests not. The Mongol horse is compatibale with the TD Norman horse but again the bulk of the figure suggests they will look wrong together
Things look slightly better head on for the cavalry

What I have found is that in the raw you notice height, bulk and head size. These then affect how you see the figures. Once painted and based the differences seem to be less pronounced.

I plan to use all these somehow!

The last shot shows – SHQ 20mm saracen; strelets 1/72 norman; Hatt 1/72 ElCid cavalry; Tumbling Dice 1/72 norman and lastly another Hatt 1/72 Hun.

Bases are similar thickness so no adjustment needed or to be exploited.

OK last point – my solution.

Using some maths – 12 inches or a foot being 304.8mm for my purposes. Now assuming someone 6 foot high you get the following in real height of 1828.8 mm; at 1:87 (HO) = 21mm; 1:76 (OO) = 24mm; 1:72=25mm; 1:65=28mm and 1:56=32mm (fractions ignored)

So marrying 20mm (1/87) and 25mm (1/72) figures should be tricky although apparently less than 25 to 28mm.

But here is the rub research by a top university shows that the average height of people living in england changed as follows.

167cm pre roman; 170cm roman; less during the dark ages (no figure given because it was dark!) 172cm circa 1066 and 173cm by the 1100’s. Then it drops until recovering to 173-174cm during the period 1400 to 1650. Heights then declined to less than 169cm by the 1800’s! by 1970 we were averaging 177cm.

So that means for a 1/72 warrior he could a 23mm celt; 23.6mm legionaire; 24 mm norman; or a 23mm british redcoat again in the 1800’s. In short averages throw up millimetre differences so actual variations in height will be even greater. So in 1/72 a 21mm (4foot 11inches) high figure next to a 24mm (5foot 11inches) high figure is possible. Add to that variations in helmet shape and size and freedom beckons.

Finally it really comes down to the figures you like, I like the SHQ Saracens, I like the tumbling dice norman and saxon commands and I like the strelets norman and saxons (yes with hands the size of heads!)

so my solution has to be : I will take some notice of scale, maybe more about bulk than height, and paint the figures I like. I can always squint at the jarring mismatches when they do happen.

Happy Painting & Wargaming.

postscript – scale creep was always with us and good enough in “charge or how to play wargames” anyway. Are those “half round lancers on ponies?”

Categories
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
Categories
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
Categories
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.