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