Anglo-Norman Army

I found these old photos (therefore a bit lo-res, unfortunately) of an Anglo-Norman army and thought I may as well post them. 

The Anglo-Norman army

The figures are a mix of mainly Tabletop, Essex, Tin Soldier with a few Minifigs and Museum miniatures.

The General

Some more knights

I recall it being a tough army to beat with its strong blade and spear masses that could be supported by psiloi/light infantry.

Some blades

Spearmen

The impetuous, irregular fast knights made it dangerous both for me and my opponent.

More spearmen

Psiloi archers

Psiloi crossbowmen

Late Imperial Roman (Eastern) Army - DBA II/78b

Here are my Late Imperial Romans, Eastern Army, II/78b, all options. 

The whole army

I’ve gone for the era of Constantine the Great, 

Emperor from 306-337 CE. 

The cavalry. (L-R) Equites Scutatorum Secunda, Equites Brachiati Ioniores.

I say loosely because while the Notitia Dignitatum shows plenty of the shield patterns for eastern foot units, cavalry shields are not so well documented so I substituted freely. 

The foot are (front row L to R) Legiones Palatina Scythae, Legiones Palatina Daci and Auxilia Palatina Undecimani. (back row L to R) Auxilia Palatina Falchovarii and Auxilia Palatina Regii.

The army itself is loosely based on field army of the Magister Militum Praesentalis II, based in Asia minor. 

Equites Persae Clibanarii and Equites Catafractarii.

I tried my hand at dusty-ing up the shields by painting on some hairspray then applying some ground up artist pastels. 

Equites Sagittarii Iuniores and Equites Dalmatae Passerentiaci.

Psiloi, bolt shooter and archers.

The baggage camp in the main army picture is my original simple mobile camp. 

I've since upgraded to one based on a combination of the the Large Palaestra at Pompeii and the Getty Roman villa & garden replica. 

Featherstone Factor: 55 - Holy crap they’re good! 

Or at least they used to be…

Donald says that the Roman armies of Marius, Caesar and Augustus were the bee's knees. However (there had to be one) by the end of the 4th century CE the barbarisation and deterioration of the legionary infantry - including the replacement of the pilum for a pike (!) and the forced, but logical, increase in cavalry numbers due to hordes of restless horsemen, meant it was down the gurgler for the legions.

What’s this Featherstone Factor all about?

Find out here.

Kitton Kitoka Ronin AKA Ninja Cat

A bit of whimsy with this post. My wife and I pass a particular house on our daily walk and if we’re lucky, we’ll see a certain cat. He’s a rare sighting because it’s a white cat that blends in with any background, white fence, white wall, whiteish cement… you get the idea. 

For his super-powers of camouflage, we’ve named it Ninja Cat. 

So, for my wife’s birthday I thought I’d paint up Ninja Cat using a wonderful Kitton Kitoka Ronin from Alternative Armies. 

My wife didn’t roll her eyes and actually put Ninja Cat on display, so it must have turned out okay.

Islamic Style Standards

I've been working on an Ayyubid Egyptian army and created a bunch of standards. Some are versions of historical banners, some are 'in the style of.'

If you're interested in downloading a PDF of these banners, click on the link below.

Islamic Banner Download

Let me know how they turn out for you.

White Horse Tutorial

I thought I’d do a technique post. I was much taken with how the white horse was painted in the water colour below, so I thought I’d have a go at painting a horse in that style.

All models are 15mm figures. The general's model is from Irregular Miniatures and will be the CinC for my Ayyubid army. In the last picture the drummer is from Grumpy miniatures and the standard bearer is from Alternative Armies with an Essex horse

The steps are noted with each picture. 

If you try this method, let me know how it works out for you.