"I would rather go to Hell, where there are fine clerks and knights, who have died in tournaments and noble wars, brave soldiers and noble men. These are who I would go with. And there, also, are the beautiful and courteous women who have two or three lovers in addition to their husbands." (Aucassin et Nicolette)
The Albigensian Crusade had implications that went well beyond the military, religious and political -- in fact it can be argued that the crushing of the culture of Occitania marked the end of the high age of Medieval Romance. Thus for my submission for the Romance section of the library I offer a stand of Cathar Mounted knights and a stand of heavy infantry.
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| Cathar Mounted Knights |
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| Heavy Infantry Spearmen |
The figures are once again Khurasan 13th Century and after my leader bases a few weeks back these are the first couple of full unit bases. One of the great things about Impetus as a rule set is that it requires the use of large, often vignette like, bases. In 15mm these bases are a manageable size and it is good fun to try close basing and creating little scenes within each base.
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| Bertrand de Porcellet |
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| Cute Pigs! |
The first base is five 15mm mounted figures -- actually Bertrand Porcellet Comté de Provence and Lord of Arles and his retinue as I couldn't resist painting a pig as heraldry! While the heraldry on the other figures is made up I really enjoyed working on them, especially the harlequin like caparison and the red and green quartering (which turned out a really great colour combination). My one SNAFU was to varnish two of the figures in gloss -- I've tried to damp it down with several matte coats but they're still rather toy soldierish, especially when photographed!
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| A Shiny Pair of Knights! |
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| Boar to the Rescue! |
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| Seriously? You fought dressed like this! |
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| My Favourite Colour Combination |
The second stand is more prosaic - 14 heavy infantrymen, twelve spearmen plus a commander and signaller. These figures actually required more work then the knights with exposed flesh, need for hand painted Cathar Crosses on every shield and general need for a consistent approach across them all. I chose to paint them in the colours of Raymond VII of Toulouse so represent one of the units in his service.
For this project I have selected 3mm thick bases (courtesy of Warbases) and I think this really adds a nice heft over the 2mm I was using for my prior 28mm HYW Impetus project (and which the command stands previously submitted were on). It also helps the colour coding for Cathar (red) vs Crusader (blue) stand out. Anyway I'm pleased with the result and the little scenarios created within the base.
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| En Garde! |
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| Rallying the Troops |
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| Do You Know What's Going On? |
As far as points go that should be 14 15mm figures for 28 points plus 5 15mm mounted for another 20 and the 20 point bonus for the romance section for a grand total of 68 points -- my target vanishes further into the distance but I'm enjoying working at this scale!
Sylvain: Aucassin et Nicolette was part of the curriculum in my Medieval Literature class during my time at the university. Indeed, a great love story. However, I have to rule that charging knights might not have love on their mind and disqualify your claim for "romance". The miniature or the project, by themselves, should say: "romance". Your knights are super detailed, especially considering the scale is 15mm. And your colorful spearmen look ready to join their "Seigneur" in battle. Great job on these minis!
Lovely work!
ReplyDeleteMy gosh those are wonderful, love the heraldry (and in 15mm). Boo hiss on thaw minion ruling however. I feel that this post is in perfect keeping with the romantic tradition of the Chanson de Geste. The fact that I might claim a unit of Sub Roman Heavy Cavalry under the umbrella of Arthurian Romance has of course nothing to do with this opinion. Despite the fact that you esteemed Minion teaches courses in this stuff, I maintain that you wuz ripped off man.
ReplyDeleteFYI I recommend the novel Song for Arbonne by Canadian Guy Gavriel Kay for some flavour of the Albigensian Crusade.
Sylvain, you have a cold, cold heart, mate. :)
DeleteAll I can do is accept the verdict of my superiors and trust that he read the references I provided 😛 And thanks for that recommendation Peter, I'll be sure and check that out
DeleteThat's a nice group of figures with good detail
ReplyDeleteThanks Kerry -- I'm quite pleased with the Khurasan figures although the bendy spears less so
DeleteGreat post and fantastic painting - I keep thinking they are 25mm. I play Impetus so agree with you about the rules and basing format. Think you did a great job with these.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jez -- this is my second big Impetus project after my HYW (and I have the third jewish wars one on the go as well) so I'm quite sold on this rule set
DeleteGorgeous! Such amazingly detailed work on the heraldry and at 15mm too!
ReplyDeleteThanks Millsy -- heraldry maybe a bit kawaii but it looks good at this scale and en-masse!
DeleteGreat work on these, such a treat!
ReplyDeleteThanks Barks, glad you appreciated them
DeleteBeautiful work. To get that detail at that scale is not easy.
ReplyDeleteI must admit that my relatively new magnifying headpiece proved very useful!
DeleteWow, these look absolutely fabulous Simon. What a treat.
ReplyDeleteThanks Curt, and I'm taking tips from you on how to photograph figure bases!
DeleteThose are some worthy knights.
ReplyDeleteThanks Pete, they are ready for battle now!
DeleteWonderful work. Really amazing how far 15 mm figures have come in the last couple of decades.
ReplyDeleteThere was an excellent survey of about a dozen manufacturers in a recent issue of Slingshot which shows how wide a variation in quality there still is. Thanks for the kind words on my efforts however
ReplyDeleteFabulous brushwork Simon
ReplyDeleteThanks for that Matt -- working at this scale is making me more fussy about my 28mm as well!
DeleteNoooooooo, Simon you cannot be serious - 15mm and aaaaarghhh, Khurasan miniatures into the bargain. Handpainting medievals to my mind is indeed a noble act. I take my hat off to you for figures that some people might assume to be 28mm and their magnificent artwork!
ReplyDeleteThanks Norber -- the figures are pretty easy to paint as the detail is there and so it's just a question of taking a little more time and having some decent close up vision set up, but glaf you appreciate it!
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