More Saxon cavalry

More pics of the Saxon cavalry.

I have a total of 17 mounted Saxons (which I think completes my Crusader Miniatures castings.) Harold is based singularly so he can be used wherever on the table leaving a unit of 16 figs.

Saxon Cavalry

Some pics of the Saxon cavalry which make up part of my Saxon army. These have had 2 outings on the wargames table and didn't perform particularly well (although they looked nice!) This was more likely to be a result of my inexperience as a wargamer rather than their ability to fight - or maybe not!!

Harold on the right

Horses were painted using the 'oil wipe' method. Riders undercoated black then painted in the usual way. Details of both methods given in earlier postings.
Figs are all Crusader Miniatures based for Crusader rules. As the base size is 50 x 50 (for 2 figs) they should be ok with a wide variety of rules.

Shield transfers by LBM Studios.

Some more pics of Saxon cavalry later.

The Hussites

Just an aside whilst I prepare and paint more Norman spearmen. Thought it would become tedious just to keep posting pics of batches of painted Norman foot so I've decided to show some pics of the Hussites I've painted (and am currently painting) alongside the Normans.

Background
Bought some Kingmaker Hussites a while back. Painted a few at the time but got distracted with other projects. A few pics of the ones I painted are shown below. (Some of these were posted on the Steve Dean forum some time ago.)


Jan Zizka - military leader of the Hussite Army

Next up a couple of Knights

Shield and barding transfers by LBM Studios.


Last year I spent the New Year period in Prague and came back keen to do more Hussites. I visited a travelling 'Hussite Wars' exhibition which was held on 3 floors of one of Prague's famous powder towers and it was fantastic - full of artefacts, information, re-enactors etc, etc. I also bought the trilogy of films on the Hussites (Jan Hus, Jan Zizka and Proti vsem - Against All  .) The key battle scenes are available on youtube and are quite atmospheric.
(Type in Battle of Sudomer on youtube and you'll get the battle scenes.)

When I returned I painted up a few more samples - see below.

I have recently found the black undercoated Hussite figs tucked in amongst my Normans so have painted a few more as they are easy to paint alongside the Normans - same technique and painting style. When the basing is complete I'll post some pics.

I must mention that the inspiration and colour schemes on the above figures came from the fantastic work of Eric Bonsell - if I had not seen his work on the Kingmaker website I may never have bought the figures or looked further into this fascinating period in history.

Next up some peasants/ women from the Hussite wars.



More Norman Spearmen

Another batch of Norman spearmen complete.

The Norman Army so far (based or ready for basing!)

I've been spending time preparing and undercoating more Norman spearmen and preparing the cavalry. I'm looking forward to painting the Norman heavy cavalry as for me this is what a Norman army is all about!

Norman Spearmen

The first batch of painted Norman spearmen. The repetative use of some colours here is intentional - it makes painting the figures easier/ a little quicker. When the figs are distributed amongst the different units they should look more random!

 

Norman armoured archers on the table:

Some Saxons in action:

Archers on the hill

Unarmoured 'lesser' fyrd supporting armoured thegns and huscarls

Archers screening the advancing armoured thegns