Late Crusader Army complete

Good morning everyone!

Today is one of the rare moments in this hobby when I can say that an army is finished. It's been a long work once again, mainly because I didn't stay focused on the same subject very long, but here you are, my Late Crusader army for DBA and L'Art de la Guerre.

 This army list represents Crusaders from the end of the 12th century to the very beginning of the 14th. it's the list you need when you want to paint Templars, and that's what I wanted :)

Please note that I didn't follow any official army list, I built a troop with the figures I had, and most important, the figures I wished to paint.

Though not based, the figures can be seen as 13 elements. Let's have a look at each element, starting with the most vulnerable.

• Maronite and Syrian archers - 2 elements

Left to right: 2 Hät figures (El Cid Andalusian infantry), 1 Italeri (Saracens), 1 Orion (Byzantine infantry 10th-13th)

These archers have already been photographed in 2018, you can find the related post here.
They will be used as light infantry with bows. You will notice that one of the previous archers has been replace by a new one on the far right of the picture - I needed another man with a composite bow instead of an ordinary bow (in case you're worrying, no, the previous archer has not been deleted, he will be in use in another unit some day :)).

• Crossbowmen - 1 element

Left to right: Zvezda (Livonian Knights with head swap), Italeri (Crusaders) with head swap, Accurate (HYW English) and Zvezda (Livonian)

To say the truth, I need at least two elements, but I can't find my Strelets Medevial crossbowmen set in the cellar, maybe I've never bought it! This unit was first designed to be part of a Teutonic knights army, but that project was delayed, so...

• Templar Foot Sergeants - 3 elements

All Strelets (Military Order Warriors)

3 elements of heavy foot soldiers, painted as Templar sergeants. Most of them have a dark grey coat of arms, but not all, I wanted them not to be too uniformed. The rectangular shields looked strange to my eyes, I couldn't find any illustration with that sort of weapon, so I cut them to have triangular forms. 4 of them have already been displayed here.

•  Turcopoles - 1 element

Strelets figures (Turcopoles)

The Turcopoles were light cavalry equipped mainly with bows - one element needed.

•  Bedouin Light Horse - 1 element

Hät figures (Andalusian Light Cavalry)

 The other Auxiliary cavalry unit is composed of Bedouins. I chose to represent them without bows this time.

•  Templar Knights - 2 elements

Italeri figures (Templars)

 The Templar knights form the bulk of my Crusader army, so I painted 2 units of Templar Knights, and I wish to add more in the future - every medieval wargamer wants to have as many knights as possible.+Some of them were painted as early as 2017, see here, in a fight against Ghulams.

Regarding accuracy, the armor of these men, particularly the helmets, are a mix of 12th and 13th century fashion - let's say that I have an early 13th century band of knights, some of them being conservative. So I have an early Late Crusader army :)

• Hospitaler Knights - 1 element

Some more Italeri knights

When you're a bit fed up with white knights, why don't you try to paint some black? That's the magic of the military orders. Not that easy to paint, and the picture above doesn't show much. I chose black and not red, because the helmets and kite shields refer to the early period.

• Crusader knights - 1 element

Italeri figures (Crusaders)

 All knights were far from all being military order knights, and it's good to use some color when you don't want to paint them white, nor black.

Now that makes 12 elements. I also wanted a command element

• General

Left to right: Hät (El Cid Spanish command), Valdemar, Hät (El Cid Spanish command)

 To identify these guys as a General, I needed an impressive commander (probably reading prayers, which must not be very easy on a battlefield), a holy man (yes the others are holy too, and yes, a Franciscan among Templars is probably a bit strange, but it was cool to paint) and a banner - Red cross on white (croix de gueules sur champ d'argent) is probably a cliché but I think it works well.

A few more (messy) pictures:

Hope it was worth the wait :)

Late Crusaders: Maronite auxiliary archers

This year, I've decided to complete the armies I've started to paint in 2017 or earlier. The more I read l'Art de la Guerre, the more I wish to play with these rules, so I need different armies to test most situations. One of the most epic scenes is the charge of units of heavy cavalry, so I need an army with knights. Since I painted a few Templars for DBA last year, I decided to paint a Later Crusader army.

I prepared a list for a 100 pts army, the closest format to DBA. Here it is:

• General (1 knight + 1 standard bearer + 1 monk): 5 pts
• Templar knights (6 knights): 26 pts - 4 painted, see here
• Crusader knights (6 knights): 20 pts - 2 painted, see here
• Turcopoles with bow (2 horsemen): 6 pts - 1 painted, see here
• Bedouins (2 horsemen): 6 pts
• Sergeants on foot (8 men): 16 pts - 4 painted, see here
• Sergeants with crossbows (4 men): 7 pts - 4 painted, no pictures
• Maronite archers (4 men): 10 pts
• Light infantry with bows (2 men): 4 pts

There is no manufacturer who released Maronite archers, but the Andalusian archers  are close enough in my eyes. I also painted a couple of figures from other manufacturers to add some variety in the poses.

Here is my unit:

 Not as impressive as the knights of course, but they will be highly valuable auxiliaries.
Some close-ups:

These figures come from the El Cid Andalusian infantry by Hät (set 8168). They are perfect as Maronites, but two poses are a bit short, hence:

The firing archer comes from the Italeri Saracen warriors (set 6010), He is rather close to the previous ones. The other one comes from the Strelets Anglo-Saxons before battle (M050). He would be perfect in my eye if he was equipped with a composite bow - let's say that he was compelled to use an occidental one :)
If I find a better mini for the fourth Maronite archer, the Saxon archer will downgrade to light infantry. Any suggestion ?

Templar Foot Soldiers

Good evening (well it's late in France :)).

I recently bought a set from the Crusader period by Strelets - Military Order Warriors. I wanted to paint some of them as Templar foot sergeants, an addition to my DBA Late Crusader army.

Here you are four of these men - enough figures to represent one DBA element. I really appreciate these minis, they are perfect to represent a defensive line, and the black and white shield of the order is nice (and easy) to paint.

Let's show them. The first pictures were taken with a dark background, so that the contrast is not too strong, we see the details rather well.

Next pictures are an attempt to show the minis as if they were in action in the Middle East - good weather, but dusty sky. The foot soldiers are operating together with the knights of the order.

I am quite happy with the result, each man differs from the others but they look like they form a unit. What do you think of it ?

Crusaders in Middle East, 12th century AD

Hi! Today, a few pictures related to the medieval Crusades in the Middle East.
If you follow that blog, you probably already saw my Templar Knights at fight with Ayyubid Ghulams.

This time I chose to paint an old reference - Italeri Crusaders. Do you remember them ?

Let's begin with the knights:

The third mini on the right is a Strelets Turcopole

The Italeri knights are nice figures with interesting details, but not very accurate. The heraldry patterns are engraved on the minis, which is a problem when you have several times the same poses, because you're not supposed to see the same knight several times on a battlefield (or anywhere else) !

I tried to cut off the pattern of the white and red (Argent et Gueules) knight, but it is rather difficult, and the result is not as good as I wanted.

I also painted two men at arms on foot:

Still a lot of work before I have a complete DBA army :)

Clash in the Middle East

Palestine, at the end of the XIIth century AD. A clash between Templar knights and Ayyubid ghulams. Soon, the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem will be defeated at the battle of Hattin (1187).

Templars by Italeri.
Ghulams by Italeri, Caesar and Strelets.