Artizan Design Carolingian Milites

 I don't post much about historical miniatures. Truth is that those very miniatures got me into the hobby, as one of the first posts on this blog attests. I like historical miniatures very much but the problem is that I don't get much chance to play with them. Yet, every now and then I distract myself with a set of them.

Out of all history, my favourite period is the Iron Century, that dark age between 888, the death of the last Carolingian Emperor, and 961, the crowning of Otto the Great, in many ways the founder of the Holy Roman Empire. Few companies do Carolingians, and I decided to test one, Artizan Design, now a daughter company of North Star Figures which is one of the best miniature companies out there.

So without further ado, here's three milites, that is knights, from the period.

Gaidwald is a North Italian miles, most probably of Lombard origin. He wears a spangenhelm of rather old design, with a nasal guard, cheek-pieces and a crest.

Folcuin is a Frankish North-Italian miles. He wears a typical Carolingian kettle helm. I am particularly proud of the grey steed he rides - it was a tough job to stipple those spots, but in the end the result is ok.

Amalfred is a Frankish knight from the Rhein valley. He also wears a kettle helm and sports a very Frankish blonde moustache.

All in all, these miniatures are nice and were fun to paint. If you dig the period, I cannot recommend them enough. Will be buying more of this!

GW Space Marine Primaris Intercessor of the Dark Angels

I've got a number of Space Marines test minis and I have decided to paint some with different Chapter colours. So here's a Dark Angel, for you.

Steve Barber Ottoman Regular (2014)

Here's another Steve Barber Model miniature from the Greek Wars of Independence range, this time an Ottoman Regular (GWI22).

For centuries the backbone of Ottoman armies was formed by Jannissaries, a corp composed of Christians taken away from their families when children and educated by the army as Muslim fighters. As the Empire declined, however, so did they, becoming softer and corrupted.  

In 1826 the Sultan ordered the formation of a new army, trained and equipped in the European way. The Jannissaries mutinied and, after violent fights, were all killed or executed, except for a few who escaped and lived in hiding until their last days.

The Mansure Army was segregated from the civilians, living in their own barracks. They were trained by European commanders and divided in infantry, artillery and cavalry. Officers were educated in military academies. They were governed by a strict military law and their life was highly standardized to teach them to follow orders and discipline rather than develop blind courage.

The new military was formed by Turkish Muslims, and the population's perception of the army changed positively. Corruption was greatly reduced, by abolishing provincial armies and establishing a central Military Council.

Undinel, Herald of Serpentsfang - Foundry Sea Elf Command

Since last Summer I have been experimenting with colour schemes for a Sea Elf force. Here's one of them - the light blue and sea green of clan Serpentsfang.

This figure is from the Wargames Foundry Sea Elf Command blister, a line with many flaws (strange proportions, missing weapons, weird body positions) but also great detail (I love their mariner boots and scale armour). Too bad they were discontinued, but if you are at the shop you might be able to get a few at half price.

This specific figure came without a weapon - i would have loved to find a trident but in the end settled for a spear, which I had among my bits. It is a female figure in armour, with a closed helm sporting a serpent crest and a harp decorated with wave motifs.

One of my housefluff Sea Elf Houses is called Serpentsfang: they are based in Dralas, in the Border Princes, and they are merchants and healers. Their device is a Serpent's Fang dripping poison, a reference to the foundation myth of Dralas - the slaying of the Sea Serpent - and a reference to the killing and healing powers of venom. 

I decided this character is wearing a ritual armour representing the whole clan in city festivals. The harp is a heirloom of the clan, the Harp of the Waves, able to conjure or banish sea turbulence. Undinel is one of the daughters of Magalhaes, the clan Head, and is also her father's herald, representing him in missions away from the city and the Community.

The Leydenhoven Border Patrol - a Mordheim warband

Since I created the Coldwood Smugglers, I planned on having a nemesis for them, a band of Border Wardens hunting smugglers and, since we are in the Warhammer World, monsters and mutants. But at the same time I didn't want to invest a lot of money in it (too many other projects... ) so I decided to build the new warband with a single set of miniatures: the excellent Empire Archers, in the time of AoS also known as the Freeguild Archers. Created in 2009, this set has been hugely popular because of its quality and modularity (and price point), before being discontinued in 2019.

That's right, I got myself a basic warband for around € 20,00, which is a steal!

The fluff of the warband is simple: the town of Leydenhoven lies along the river Reik, on the southeastern border of the Wasteland, still belonging to Marienburg but a few hours walk away from Middenland and a short boat trip from Reikland. It is a sleepy border town: boats pass by on the great river, and few people walk along the road, mostly peddlers and hunters. The main road to Marienburg also bypass Leydenhoven by cutting from Kalkaat to Klessen anyway. To the east of town the eaves of the Drakwald loom all too close and the summits of the Mirror Moors are clearly visible.

The inhabitants of Leydenhoven are local merchants, hunters, farmers and fishermen. The city maintains a small garrison of guards commanded by a Captain sent from Marienburg, who is also responsible for order within the city, but the main defence are the Wardens of the Border Patrol, a corp of rangers trained to scour the forest, capture smugglers and outlaws and kill beastmen and mutants.

Unlike the guards, who are mostly outsiders, the wardens are all local people - woodsmen recruited and paid by the Burgomeister. Their captain is Rutger Hauer, an middle-aged veteran whose experience and sense of responsibility allowed him to access a position few others would keep, had they his total lack of mesure in talking. Rutger the Outspoken, the Straighforward, the Sincere are just kind names for his inability to hide, or even sweeten, his opinions, which are generally negative or anyway pessimistic. The Burgomeister Cornelis Drebbel can't stand him, but also trusts him to do his job and keep an eye on a group of people who are paid too little to be professional and are very prone to corruption.

Rutger de Stomp - the Blunt - is assisted by three main assistants: Lieven de Schermer, Eddi de Groen and Elke de Bosdochter.

Lieven de Schermer (Leobwin Visser) is the only member of the wardens to have a proper combat training. He is a Marienburger with an obscure past - some say he was a duellist, some say a protagonist, all agree he ran into some trouble connected to a woman, her husband and some murder. He enrolled into the Border Patrol and nobody ever asked him any question. He does not like to talk about his past, anyway, although when drunk he occasionally mutters about some past sorrows he needs to forget.

Eddie de Groen (Eduard van Halen) is the youngest member of the wardens. He joined because he wanted an exciting life of fighting monsters in the woods, rather than fishing like all his family does. Rutger constantly yells at him or berates him for his lack of judgement, but he is actually grooming him since he is one of the few members to actually believe the Wardens have some purpose. Eddi carries a sword, apparently found on a river wreckage when he was little, and is trying to learn how to use it.

Elke de Bosdochter (Adelheid Bosch) is a priestess of Taal and Rhya. While not a member of  the wardens, she is often called upon when the Patrol needs to deal with supernatural threats. Elke agrees to help them if there is indeed a supernatural threat to the population, and expects to receive a donation to the village temple.

The rest of the warband are regular wardens, all armed with a long bow and a dagger.

Jurgen the Wolf - GW Middenheimer Youngblood (1999)

I am a fan of '80s miniatures because of nostalgia, but in terms of proportions and style my favourite period are the '90s. At this time better tools and materials coupled with talented artists to generate great sculpts. Sadly, the passage to graphic design and finecast has, to some degree, exaggerated some cartoonish features and taken out the soul that hand-sculpted pieces were so full of.

Mordheim miniatures lack all reference to the great age of Oldhammer but they have a character of their own and this is one of my favourites: one of the two Middenheimer Youngbloods sold in a the blister since November 1999. The fact that it is sculpted by the great Alan Perry is a brand of guarantee.

Our youngblood has a dynamic pose, caught in a dash - either charging or running away from an enemy - and his expression conveys all the excitement and urgency of an imminent fight. He is armed with a nothing but a warhammer and dressed in old farmer's clothes (notice the rip on the knee), carries a large bag and a big wolf's hide on his shoulders. Can't get more Middenlander than this! he also carries a bow and a quiver on his side, because he's a hunter.

I don't play Middenheimers, but this will be a nice addition to the Coldwood Smugglers, in the charachter of Jurgen the Wolf. Young Jurgen is from the village of Isenbüttel, the son of a woodsman; when caught poaching to feed his large family, he escaped the Grand Duchy of Middenland. He met the Smugglers in the Coldwood and readily accepted to join them.

Bretonnian Infantry Command, painted as Standard Bearer of Dralas

I got this nice little miniature on eBay. Could not recognize the code, and didn't record the year before basing it. I just know it's Bretonnian and it comes from a command group. It could easily be Perry-sculpted, as far as I know.

I bought him together with a bunch of other Bretonnian infantrymen, with the idea of creating a group of guards to use in WFRP games. I toyed with the project of painting them all with the colours of Dralas, the homebrew city in the Border Princes where most of my scenarios start. After a long time, only this guy has been painted, and the other will most likely follow in another livery, that of Artesia, the bordering princedoms that usually poses as the villain of the campaign.

Dralas is a port city and its colours are white and blue, like the sea and the foam over the waves. The city sits at the mouth of the river Zaffirio, so sapphire is the stone associated with the city heraldry. The other association is the Sea Serpent: according to legend, Dralas was originally founded by Elves and abandoned in the distant past, then a Sea Serpent set its abode under the murky waters of the ruined elven harbour, until the hero Dalphis slew the reptile and reclaimed the ruins, becoming the founder of the city.

Dalphis lived some 15 centuries ago and since then Dralas has seen many events: the city was a capital and then a subject, it had kings, princes and councils of citizens. Until recently it was ruled by a prince, until he was forced by an elven adventurer and pirate to surrender power and the hand of his sister. Nowadays it is the Regent Gelmir Lindarian who controls the government. This, however, does hardly mean that he holds power: Dralas is a famously seedy port where a lot of deals are made under locked doors, and the real power rarely resides where it appears to be.

The Regent directly controls the Black Guard, a group 30 of mercenaries who helped him conquer the city, commanded by general Achille. The Palace Guard's loyalty is divided between the Regent and the Prince: they are about 30 well trained warriors. The City Guard (90 members) follows the orders of the Regent as long as it gets paid regularly. The City Militia, being the largest force in town (450 members), obeys its Captains, who in turn are nominated among nobles, and so they follow their own interests and are generally raised only in case of foreign invasions.

This guy probably belongs to the City Guard and is therefore the most flexible. He could be used to police the streets, guard locations or escort important people in town. He wears a padded leather jacket and a helm, and is armed with a sword (so he is probably an official) and carries a standard with the city device.

Bears Head Miniatures Undead Ogre

Bears Head Miniatures is a British company run by Philip Hynes. They started business around 2017 with a remarkable kickstarter about Undead, which I promptly backed. I'm a big fan of unusual Undead, you see, and Bears Head was just offering those: Dwarfs, cattle, minotaurs, peasants giving the middle-finger and butchers holding human heads. It was great. This is the first of their miniatures that I post on my blog, but others will follow. So without further ado: the Undead Ogre.

Now, I know its proportions do not follow those of the usual Oldhammer Ogres. It's too tall and too proportionate. But how cool is it? Caught in the moment preceding the swinging of his ball and chain, screaming his blind rage. Half naked and with bones coming out of his leg and shoulder. It's a great piece.

It's so great I decided to make specific rules to use it in Mordheim, within my Restless Dead warband. Here they are:

0-1 Large Zombie
50 gold crowns to hire

This large undead creature may have been an Ogre, a Troll or similarly sized humanoid monster that has been reanimated shortly after death to serve a Necromancer.

M 5

WS 5

BS 0

S 4

T 4

W 3

I 2

A 2

Ld 5

For any other purpose, the Large Zombie is treated like a regular Zombie.

If you try it, let me know what you think!