Friday 20 January 2017

From SanderS: "For Saint Odilia!" (115 Points)

Hoi,

For today's entry I have promised you some more Dark Age figures, the foot of my Carolingian (Frankish) force for DB is now done. Well I say this, but while writing I am thinking of converting GB plastic troops into heavy infantry since I lack those in my Frankish force.

The force I own for the Franks, is the Gripping Beast starter set with some Artizan Designs characters mixed in for good measure. When starting to paint Norsemen and Anglo-Saxons, I had never pictured myself collecting and painting Franks, but events unfolded which made me do so. Some time ago I stumbled along a tale about a Norsemen invasion pretty nearby where I live today. They took over a Royal residence and camped there for two years while plundering all through the region even as far as Northern France.They were actually besieged in their camp by the Franks but to no avail and their leaders were offered titles and lands. They agreed to this but in true Viking fashion still kept plundering and even got caught up in Frankish dynastic and political scheming. The new Frankish king eventually called his vassals to muster and drove the Norsemen off killing their leader in a sneaky and treacherous way. The same chronicles that tell about the exploits of these Norsemen, also mention a monastery even closer to where I live, I can see it from my study's window if I care to look out. This monastery was given to the Bishop of Utrecht after he had to flee his city for the Norsemen as a form of compensation. The monastery is now called Sint Odilienberg (Saint Odilia's Mountain). At that time it was not yet dedicated to Saint Odilia, but probably to Saint Peter, but it was rededicated to Saint Odilia (it is not known to which of two possible ladies Saint Odilia of Cologne or Odilia of Alsace) somewhere during the 11th century. That's close enough for me and with some artistic license, I can see the troops from my village and Saint Odilia's village (then just called Berghe i.e. Mountain, but "hill" is a better name) gathering under the Saint's banner to wreak havoc upon the invading Danes.

Anyway without further ado here are the figures.

The entire force:



Some close ups of the general:




I was able to find only one picture depicting Saint Odilia (of Cologne) wearing red and black and with a palm branch in hand.


The spearmen:





The troops armed with handweapons:


The captain, I specially like him:




Also included in this bunch is a Viking hero, I think he's of GB or possibly Foundry stock.



There's a lone warrior with red and white shield in amongst them. He is a test-figure for a unit I am comprising by giving Artizan Design Frankish shields to GB plastics.
Painting these figures was great fun, it was rather a chore to find and decide on a good paintscheme and shield-design. Once found though I had a blast.
On to more 80's Pulp now for me.

Cheers Sander


Fantastic Franks here Sander! I like the simple colorus on the troops, contrasted with the bold colours on their champions, and the shield designs tying each unit together. The general and standard bearer look ace, with very fine freehanding on his tunic and cloak. And I really appreciated the story behind this little force. What ruleset were you going to use these with? 
I count twenty one 28mm miniatures here, plus a smattering of bonus points for the banner and hand-painted shields. 
Phil 



    

40 comments:

  1. Lovely looking franks, really nice shields, banners and leaders.
    Best Iain

    ReplyDelete
  2. We don't get many people painting Carolingians these days, so these are a welcome entry indeed - well done!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, I actually am surprised at how much I like them myself!

      Delete
  3. Really nice! what a good idea to put them in historical perspective and great paintjob - very evocative of the period.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Jamie, as my project progressses I will probably tell more about the background that I discovered.

      Delete
  4. Nicely done Sander some great looking troops there.

    ReplyDelete
  5. these really are my sort of thing.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Great work Sander. I really like your work on that general!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Rod he really was a work of love.

      Delete
  7. Lovely, the captain and the general are ace

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Iannick, they were a load of fun to paint.

      Delete
  8. Excellent brushwork Sander and love the flag too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Ray, it's not as good as yours but I learned a lot from painting it.

      Delete
  9. I'll echo Phil, I love how you've differentiated the rankers from the champions/leaders. Wonderful flag and embroidery. Bravo!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Curt, it was my first attempt at embroidery and I will certainly try to get some more practice.

      Delete
  10. Wonderful work all around Sander, one of my favourites this year. I love everything about this force - the figures (love those Carolingian helmets), the painting, the basing and most of all the back story. This is what early medieval wargaming is all about. Bravo!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Peter, that's grand oc you. I really like my forces to have a basis in real history and proceed from there. I have never had much interest in Early ME history excepting Arthur, but since I discovered what happened near my hometown I was sucked in... will be continued.

      Delete
  11. Very nice Franks and a great background to how you came to do them Sander :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. One of the best entries so far, yep that good :-)

    Ian

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not dure I deserve this compliment but I'll cherish it anyway! ;-)

      Delete
  13. Cracking Carolingians Sander! That banner is amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Lovely work! One doesn't see much Carolingian Franks around the blogosphere, especially painted to such an excellent standard. The banner is a nice touch too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for that! I am not sure my painting will stand up to close scrutiny, but all the same I am quite happy with these anyway.

      Delete
  15. I predict (and certainly hope!) that this entry gets a lot of love when the final votes are cast, it is quite lovely.
    The Franks are interesting, there is something late Roman in some of the shields and helmets, but they still look early medieval. Lovely work.
    Those buildings make a perfect backdrop!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Michael, there are still some cavalry figures in yhe works, together with a mounted version of the captain.

      Delete
  16. Very fine work, Sander!
    I love the braided trim on the boss man and his standard. The little color detail and sheilds are excellent on the troops too!
    I rather like that "one in every unit fella" the one with the checkered shield. He just HAD to be different! ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. David you're right he just HAD to be like that. I tried to do all of them up in this chequered pattern but his was the only shield that really worked out well, so when I applied the present pattern to all the others I could not for the love of me paint over his shield...

      Delete
  17. Magnificent! I'd be proud to have those under my command.

    ReplyDelete