Heading Overseas with the Baron’s War

An addition of a bit of terrain to this project. Oshiro Model Terrain ran a Kickstarter earlier this year for a modular Arabic shrine. It arrived a bit late for Terrain Fest, but done now.

It’s quite a nice set of resin, accompanied with a little tomb inside and a stone well. The painting won’t win any awards, but the end result looks okay enough.

Last but not least for this project is the Islamic banner bearer. This chap was painted at the same time as his commander, but I then had to tackle his flag.

This flag has been probably the most intimidating part of the whole project. Looking at images of designs from the period, they are very much based around intricately stylised text forming elaborate patterns that quite frankly is beyond my skill to replicate, particularly as I would need to repeat the design four times (two identical flags, with the design repeated on both sides). I did consider buying a premade flag, but felt that it would be a bit disappointing if I  didn’t try to make something myself considering all the freehand shield designs etc.

I decided to completely ignore any historical sources and designed a relatively easy to replicate geometric pattern that fitted well with some of the shield designs I had painted.

And that’s the end of my project (at least until more figures get made for the range…).  I’ll look to get some full army photos taken soon, but thanks to everyone who has followed along and provided extra motivation with kind comments and positivity. It has certainly helped keep me on track and not get too sidetracked with other things.

Considering how bright and colourful my Islamic forces have turned out, I wanted their leader to be suitably attired. The yellow cloak isn’t quite where I want it, but I’m pretty happy with the end result. I decided to decorate his shield with the colours of the mat I’ve been photographing everything on as a reminder for my later self.

Four medium cavalry, more armoured than the light cavalry, but without the bows to harass and skirmish against the Crusader States.

One of things I really admire about the Baron’s War range is the dual character packs, which have both on foot and mounted versions of the same figure. This Imam is no exception, and it’s quite enjoyable to try and match the painting on both models.

Second batch of six spearmen all finished, with the end of the project firmly in sight – just ten figures left to go now.

First batch of Islamic spearmen are done. I probably went overboard on the shields considering these are essentially just levy troops, but it was quite a lot of fun finding some interesting designs and practising some freehand details.

A few Islamic light cavalry to harass and skirmish around the heavy Frankish knights. Whilst they’re all armed with bows, there’s a nice mix of models both shooting and engaging in melee.

The plan with these guys was to use some of the same colours as I used on the Islamic models to date, but to deliberately tone down the brightness and avoid the purples and turquoise; the idea being the slightly plainer colours will align with the knightly orders, but with a bit of reference to the colours worn by the locals.

Another great character sculpt by Paul Hicks.

I got a bit lost when painting the shield, having to start over a couple of times and having a few moments of doubt about what I was trying to achieve (essentially I needed to brighten up the colours to get good contrast between them). I’m very happy I ploughed on, and although it’s not perfect, I’m quite pleased with the end result.

Two knights from the Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, also known as the Leper Brothers of Jerusalem.  The military order was founded in around 1119 at a leper hospital in Jerusalem, named after its patron saint, Lazarus. It was recognised by the King of Jerusalem in 1142 and canonically recognised as a hospitaller and military order of chivalry in 1255.

Painting this pair reinforced my earlier decision to paint the majority of the knights in Hospitaller black rather than as Templars – white continues to be a challenge for me. I’m not unhappy with the end result, but I would have hit a mental barrier if I had another twenty odd models predominantly white in colour.

Moving onto the elite of the Islamic forces, the Mamluk cavalry.

The first few of the Islamic infantry, these four armed with swords as opposed to the spears the majority will have.

Quite happy with how the shields turned out. Future me will likely be cursing when faced with more shields needing freehand to match later down the line, but that’s a problem for another day.

Naft (pitch) was often used by Middle Eastern armies. Examples of the ceramic jars that could be lit and thrown like grenades have been found, and were more common than the rarer and more exotic siphons. Although there are historical records of the siphons used to project burning liquid (Greek fire), including depictions in illuminated manuscripts, none have survived.

A pair of sneaky individuals belonging to sect of Nizari Ismailis Shia Muslims led by the mythical Old Man of the Mountain. Orginating from Iran, the Assassins held a chain of forts in the Syrain Coastal Mountain range, forming an enclave between the Crusader States of Antioch and Tripoli on one side, and their Sunni Muslim neighbours on the other.

Famed for their use of political assassination, they also engaged in regular warfare, striking alliances with both Christians and Muslims.

The Frankish Crusaders came from a culture that no tradition of mounted archers, primarily due to the broken and wooded terrain that characterised Western Europe. This is in stark contrast to the open landscape found in Outremer, and the Crusaders were presented with a formidable enemy in the harassing horse archers and light cavalry that they struggled to counter.

The Franks realised their need for light cavalry to screen their heavy knights and to conduct reconnaissance and scouting, and quickly remedied this, with reference to Frankish light cavalry in primary sources already by 1109.

Frankish mounted archers are misleadingly but consistently referred to as “Turcopoles” in the primary sources of the period. Despite the name, which was borrowed from the Byzantines, the term “Turcopole” in the context of the crusader states refers not to an ethnic group but simply to “mounted archers” — of diverse ethnic character.

Based on numbers at 16 different engagements and other references, research has concluded that the Turcopoles made up on average 50% of the mounted force fielded by the Franks. Furthermore, both the Templars and Hospitallers had Turcopoles integrated into their organizations and their Rule carefully accounts for them.

These six are representative of these light cavalry, used to compliment the heavy cavalry of the Hospitallers.

With these six finished, I’m also exactly halfway through painting up the Outremer Kickstarter models.

I had completely forgotten that there were a pair of mounted sergeants in the Outremer range, so I hadn’t quite managed to get all the Hospitallers done after all. I gave these two slightly more colourful attire than the full brothers of the order, but trying to keep it more restrained comparative to the Islamic forces.

Another six archers finished, following the same approach as in the last post. Quite a colourful end result, but with a degree of coherency across all 12 figures.

With the Hospitallers done, it’s time to break out the colours for the Islamic forces. I had a look at quite a few pictures and paintings, and got a sense that I could pretty much get away with whatever colours I wanted, as long as they leaned towards being bright.

For these archers, I did my usual thing for non-uniformed troops – pick 3-4 colours, varying which item of clothing got painted with each colour, whilst keeping equipment like quivers and bows consistent. I think it provides some degree of coherency without uniformity.