Gripping Beast Monks

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge is winding down and while I beat my personal goal of 400 points I'm trying to push through to an even 500. I've wracked up a few more points last week and I'm currently sitting at 477. Searching my lead pile I found a pack of Gripping Beast monks that I've been putting off painting for a while. They aren't the most exciting miniatures but will certainly get me closer to my goal.

These weren't the most challenging figures to paint up, but they'll make good bystanders or objectives for a variety of dark ages or medieval battles.

These four monks should give me an additional 20 points, putting me at 497, just one Curtgeld short of 500!

Fireforge Medieval Knights

This post originally appeared on the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.

When I started the Analogue Painting Challenge, I had written off some Fireforge Mounted knights stashed towards the bottom of my lead pile. I vacillated on which heraldry to use and was intimidated by trying to hand paint teeny tiny crosses and birds in 28mm. I figured they'd be too tough to deal with during the speed painting of the competition. After painting up my medieval foot though, I was hooked. I took the "challenge" portion of the painting contest to heart and decided to tackle some medieval knights.

When looking for a period to run Lion Rampant I settled on the reign of Edward I. He was mixed up in internal strife with the 2nd Baron's War, a brief stint on crusade and clashes in Wales and Scotland, providing lots of variety from which to pull scenarios. I collected heraldry from knights in his service, cross referenced them against the number of conflicts they engaged in and picked half a dozen knights and earls who appeared in multiple battles so I could paint a figure once and use it in scenarios throughout the later half of the 13th century.

Then I realized nobody I play against will care, so just got started on painting and didn't sweat the details. So here are my guys!

Antony Bek, Bishop of Durham

First up is Antony Bek, the Bishop of Durham. I know it's pretty common among medieval fantasy games (hence the bludgeoning weapon I gave Tony), but I'm fascinated by the idea of a holy man going to war. Antony served Edward on crusade and in his Scottish wars. I gave Antony an attendant with simple cross heraldry (painting that curley cross with ermine pattern was enough the one time).

Thomas de Berkely and his son Maurice

Next up is Thomas de Berkeley, a grizzled veteran of numerous battles. He fought at Evesham, Falkirk, the siege of Caerlaverock, and Bannockburn. His son Maurice (indicated with the extra blue label on his shield) also served in the Scottish wars, and later served Edward II. Those teeny tiny crosses? Such a pain.

Robert de Neville and retainer

Finally it's Robert de Neville and a member of his retinue. Robert de Neville was involved in the 2nd Baron's War and also has a really simple heraldic device. I love you Robert de Neville.

Six mounted knights completed. Painting (and repainting) the heraldry took longer than expected, but I'm happy with how they turned out and I'm looking forward to finishing up the next six mounted figures from the boxed set. I'm still getting my bearing with the period, so if you have any tips or info to help correct any mistakes (either painting or history) I'd be happy for the advice!

Fireforge Medieval Foot

This post originally appeared on the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.

Medievals have turned out to be the trickiest period I've tried. With World War II there are reams of uniform information to reference for painting. Dark Ages are pretty much "muted earth tones to taste" and information for Ancients is so spotty you can get away with painting them however you'd like, but Medievals... there's just enough heraldry to be confusing and intimidating enough to put me off getting started.

Luckily the Analogue Painting Challenge was just the kick in the rear I needed to throw caution to the wind and paint up these Fireforge Foot with a "good enough for now" paint scheme.

Researching potential paint schemes, I became interested in Edward I. The bad guy from Braveheart was involved in battles from his youth until his death, fighting across the British Isles in the Baron's War and against the Scots, even taking part in the Crusades. His livery was a striking yellow and red, also used by his son Edward II at Bannockburn, and variations on that color scheme appear amongst much of the nobility that fought with or against him. Standardized uniforms were not used during the medieval period, but it's not beyond reason that soldiers would use some sort of identifying color (either a piece of clothing, strip of cloth, or shield color) to identify themselves as belonging to the retinue of a lord.

I painted these Fireforge figures up in various earth tones, with a number of red or mustard yellow tunics, surcoats, and leggings. I gave the shields a variety or yellow and red color schemes. I thought there might be some shields provided by a lord, but most would be provided by the men themselves. Without a factory stamping these shields out I tried to vary the color tones and patterns to represent the variety of sources these shields would come from. The Fireforge set also comes with a variety of shields; longer kite shields, and shorter heater shields. From what I gathered, the kite shield is an older design, but lingered on in Eastern Europe, while the heater was far more common from the mid 13th century on. I bought a pack of heater shields from Gripping Beast as I intend to use these figures for the Baron's War and wars against the Scots.

Hopefully the colors will tie the figures together but avoid looking like a uniformed Napoleonic regiment. I'm planning on using these as Edward's household troops, but with such a common color combination I can also use these as the retinue for any knights or nobility with red or yellow heraldry.

I sabot based these for mass battles (such as Hail Caesar), but based them individually so I can try them out with Lion Rampant.

Arab Archers by Gripping Beast

Just a quick post to share my finished arab archers. These figures will get sabot bases similar to my berber spearmen, but I'm waiting until my Silfor desert tufts arrive from Scenic Express to finish the sabots.

I wanted to keep a subdued color palette to blend with the neutral tones of my berbers, but I couldn't help but give these archers a bit more color. I settled on a color palette inspired by the cover of Osprey's The Armies of Islam : 7th-11th Centuries. The figure in the foreground of the cover has a warm yellow robe and blue head scarf that I quite liked. Coupled with the earth tones I used for the berbers (namely Vallejo Beastly Brown and Sand Light and a mix of Sand and Spicy Mustard ) the overall effect should be fairly cohesive for the finished army.

Berber Spearmen by Gripping Beast

Berber spearmen in neutral white, tan, beige, and brown. 

I took the plunge into an arab army for the upcoming crusades supplement for SAGA with some berber tribesmen by Gripping Beast. I'm not settled on a color scheme and my knowledge of the muslim armies of the 11th and 12th centuries is very shallow, but I was itching to get paint onto some figures. I really like the look of these tribesmen by Gripping Beast, and I think they're generic enough to be pressed into service anywhere from Moorish Spain to the Levant, at least until I flesh out my arab armies with more theater specific figures.

The bases could use some tufts, but I didn't have any desert vegetation on hand.

Besides SAGA, I also intend to use these figures for mass battles. Although individually based on washers, I created a few sabot bases for them as well. I intended to mount four of them to a 40mmx40mm base, but they were jammed in so tightly I switched to 60mmx40mm bases. 

Magnetic tape being affixed to metal 60x40 base

To help keep the figures attached to the sabot base, I laid down some magnetic tape on top of the rectangular base.

In the future I'll make the holes a bit larger so they're not quite so snug

On top of the magnetic tape, I glued some 2mm foam sheet that had circular openings cut out to accommodate the spearmen's bases. 

Once glued and painted, I did have to go back and chisel out some errant grains of sand

Both the spearmen and sabot's received similar texture and paint to help the bases blend together.

Berber tribesmen, ready for skirmish or set piece battles

The Gripping Beast figures are decent. I quite like the robes and head scarves, but the detail on their faces was quite tricky to make out. Overall I'm pleased with how they turned out, but I'm eager to compare them to the new plastic range they've just released.

Planning an Arab Army for Crescent & Cross

With the upcoming release of Studio Tomahawk's next Saga supplement, I've been inspired to get cracking on some opposing armies for the First Crusade.

I have a nice start to a Norman army, but I have zilch painted for their arab opponents. Entering a new period, I'm a bit scattered in what I'd like to collect: Ben Yusef's Black Guard, Berber tribesmen, Saladin, etc. are all begging me to get them to the paint table. I've decided to go with a starter band of Berber tribesmen and some arab archers from Gripping Beast to serve as some fairly neutral figures that can be used in any muslim army of the early medieval period.

Picking a Paint Scheme

With figures primed and ready to go, I also need to settle on a paint scheme. My knowledge of arab dress is woefully lacking. I get the sense that the muslim armies featured a wide variety of exotic colors and fabrics, but I'm drawn to the idea of a solely monochromatic army of cream and black, with a few figures sporting a bit of vibrant color to mark leaders and elite troops.

I've picked out some examples as reference, but I'm still researching. Do you have any advice on colors for arab armies?

Arab warriors by Artizan in earth tones

Berber spearmen by Gripping Beast in cream

Berber spearmen by Gripping Beast in black

Moorish Black Guard by Gripping Beast. These guys look awesome.

Arab archers in more colorful dress, by Gripping Beast

Dark Age Norman Book Club

I discovered the battle of Hastings after watching Simon Schama's History of Britain.  Hastings and the Norman Conquest weren't a part of my high school courses, and I didn't take any medieval history courses in college. Schama's retelling of the story stuck with me, as he draws their personalities so vividly that they seem like living people, rather than a collection of names and deeds. The cast of characters, the twists and turns of the conflict, and the agonizing decisions that Harold faced seem like something drawn from fiction. I read a few books subsequently on the battle and period, but with only a handful of battles I didn't think there was enough potential for gaming the war to warrant painting up any armies. 

After listening to Lars Brownsworth's 12 Byzantine Emperors, I decided to listen to his Norman Centuries podcast, despite feeling the Normans were the "bad guys" who ruined the good thing the Anglo Saxons had going on in Britain before William got involved. I still think the Normans were a group of thugs, but I did get interested in their adventures in Italy, as well as their involvement in the First Crusade.

It turns out these Normans are a group I could get behind for wargaming. From small scale raids with SAGA, to the actual battles involved between William, Harold Godwinson, and Harald Hardrada, the Norman invasion of Sicily and Italy, and finally their trek to Jerusalem, there's plenty of fodder for wargames large and small.  My knowledge of the 11th century is woefully shallow, so I've decided to put together a reading list to bone up on the period before painting up hundreds of Norman knights.

I already polished off a few books:

• 1066: The Hidden History in the Bayeux Tapestry1066: The Year of the Conquest
•  The Year 1000. 
• 1066: The Year of the Conquest

For getting a handle on Norman warfare I'm looking at Osprey's The Normans (Elite) , Norman Knight AD 950-1204 (Warrior) and Ian Heath's Armies of the Dark Ages, 600-1066 A.D.  I typically need to provide both sides of any wargaming I want to do, so to get a handle on the Muslim adversaries they might face with a Crusades game I'm thinking of picking up The Crusades Through Arab Eyes. That should be plenty to get me started, but I would love any recommendations.

Edit: The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land from the recommendation in the comments. Thanks Bob!