From SimonG: Some Heretics and a Hellion (45 points)

Wow, my third submission already and time is flying by (my target somehow appearing to move equally quickly in the opposite direction). Anyway this week I'm returning to my 15mm Cathar Crusade project with a stand of five mounted Cathar knights from Khurasan Miniatures.  

Obviously being supporters of the heretical Cathar's this contribution fulfils the requirements for the Sixth Circle of hell, the heretics. I will however require some transport to this location and have called upon the services of Malebranche to give us a lift!

Malebranche, or "Evil Claws" [1]

This is once again a Black Rose Wars Inferno supplement figure in appx. 28mm. He's a rather ancient Egyptian inspired devil and not a particularly well cast plastic figure with rather soft detail and some obvious mold lines that I should have removed. Anyway it was a good chance to experiment with a red wash on a corpse like skin to get the devil tone I wanted. I also enjoyed his colourful eyes and claws -- plus of course his bright necklace!

The knights are really neat sculpts and paint up very well. The principal on this stand is Isoard de Die d'Aix-Artaud [2]. 

I rather liked how his hand painted/sketched (0.03mm black pen) heraldry came out. Less so my attempt at a sillitoe tartan (the blue and white one) -- quite effective on the pleats at the skirt level but a bit of a mess above!

My favourite when doing knights is always the horses, giving each one a distinct character and look, and of course those deep brown doey eyes!

So that's all for this week I'm afraid -- my pace is sorely lacking, far from getting quicker I seem to be taking more time with each figure every year! I will struggle on however and strive to achieve my target.

For this week my contribution is only 45 points -- five mounted 15mm at 4 points each plus the 20pt sixth circle bonus, then another 5 for one 28mm devil that I used to get me to the sixth circle. I may have to skip a week dealing with some family issues but hope to be back soon with some more Jewish Wars Romans with some fearsome war machines!

[1] The back drop for our little devil is Sandow Birk's illustrated Inferno, very apposite with fires where I used to live in LA. It's a re-intepretation of Dante in modern slang with illustrations that tip the hat at Doré but set in a mash up of the major cities of California -- really worth a look if you have the chance.

[2] Isoard de Die d’Aix-Artaud (c.1190-1243), Lord of Montmaur. Isoard was the son of Guillaume I d’Aix-Artaud de Die (c.1165-1230), who also fought in the campaign, and Raynaude d’Aix. Their holdings were in the County of Diois in Provence. Isoard was present at the siege of the Château de Beaucaire, a siege remarkable for the fact that Simon de Montfort was both besieged and besieger (some of his troops were in the castle under siege while he in turn gave siege to the besiegers!)

TeemuL: Excellent knights, Simon. I'm not sure if tartan and other complex designs in 15mm would be anything else than a mess, but you have proved it otherwise. Your horses look great, as well as their eyes. I personally struggle with horses, trying to close my eyes when deciding they are done... I'll score your devil as a cavalry model, because he is rather big and has wings etc. And he is pretty, too, in his own devilish way.

From SimonG: Wrap Up, Or A Mixed Bag (In Many Ways!)

It's once again time for my wrap up post and the one time a year I have to struggle with taking a selfie without holding my stupid phone at arms length (which btw always gives terrible results). It's also rather a shock that the picture that comes back is one of my father (but that's another story!)

Who is that guy? And why does he smile so oddly?

The Final Array

Anyway this is now my fourth challenge and while not a terribly high scoring excursion it has allowed me to embark on two exciting new projects. The first is the expansion of my existing Jewish Revolt 28mm skirmish project into a full scale Impetus based large battles setup with figures from Victrix.

I though it would be nice to show the figures alongside some key references. In this case they are of course Josephus' "Jewish Wars" but also Jodi Magness' recent study of Masada and how this has echoed down the centures, and finally Martin Goodman "Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations".

My other and completely new project was another Impetus army but in this case in 15mm for the Albigensian Crusade. All figures are from Khurasan.

The references here are Jonathan Sumption's first publication "The Albigensian Crusade" plus "The Perfect Heresy" by Simon O'Shea and Sophie Thérese Amblers "The Song of Simon de Montfort" to show how the experience of Simon the elder influenced the younger.

Finally I am close to finishing up my 10mm 1980s Cold War project with figures from Timecast.

In this instance I've shown the figures alongside two rule sets for the period -- Sabre Squadron and Battlegroup Northag -- all I need now is some terrain and I am ready to go.

Finally I wanted to share my secret for detail work at all scales -- a really good set of magnifying visors -- and I can heartly recommend The Donegan Optical OptiVISOR - I use the 2.75X No 7

So with no more to say I will offer up invocations and thanks to the lord and lady of the challenge -- Curt and Sarah, to my scholarly minion Sylvain (I hope my errors in erudition didn't embarass you too much), and all the others in the Monday crew who seemed among the most valiant posters and commentors and a great group to work alongside.

I also wanted to say how much I appreciated the theme for this year’s challenge. Libraries are sorely under appreciated, especially here in the UK, and I wish I was still in Portland, OR which has a great program of building new libraries to serve all the local communities and where I was able to make a donation. 

My calendar is now marked for November 20th 2024 and I am already making plans for the next time -- see you all in nine months time!

From SimonG: Cathar Peasant Levies in 15mm (44 points)

Just a single submission from me this week as my next pieces takes rather more time than I had thought. For the week this is a further continuation of my Albigensian Crusade project in 15mm with a civilian levy stand for Impetus.

Arise and Fight Back!

Clearly a mix of figures wielding in most part farm implements but with a couple of fellows with swords, one of which at least looks rather rusty!  

One problem I'm still wrestling with is how to get true rendition of the shininess (albedo?) of the figures. In real life they are much more matte then they appear on photographs -- any advice from more experienced miniature photographers would be much appreciated! Maybe a more diffuse and indirect light source would help (currently it's a direct albeit line source light.)

I tried to get a good mix of dun greens and browns with the older woman as a focal splash of colour. Her son is also a nice little figure throwing a rock. It was also interesting to try and work variation given the limited range of poses in the set (which once again is from Khurusan Miniatures)

That Sword Looks a Bit Worn!

I will also use the lady with the saucepan to catch a ride on Sarah's library cart away from my abject failure in Romance to the hopefully more hospitable local history section where next week I can share some visitors to my neighbourhood! Until then all the best!

For points I have 12 15mm figures plus the 20 point library cart bonus for an easy 44 points and another tick towards the target I will not reach!
 
Sylvain: Again, very impressive brush work at 15mm scale. Did you paint eyes on some of these peasants? Unbelievable! It's a small step in points, but it's a big leap in demonstrating your talent. Fabulous job! 

From SimonG: The Death of Romance - 15mm Cathar Knights and Spearmen (48 points)

"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.

Cathar Mounted Knights

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. 

Bertrand de Porcellet

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!

A Shiny Pair of Knights!

Boar to the Rescue!

Seriously? You fought dressed like this!

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.

En Garde!

Rallying the Troops

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!  

From SimonG: Heretics and Heraldry: Cathar Crusade in 15mm (56 points)

For my second submission and next stop in the Analogueville Public Library I'm visiting the new acquisitions desk to share the first drop in my new wargaming project -- The Albigensian, or Cathar, Crusade in 15mm. For me this is not only a new period but also a brand new scale. Now I know that this wasn't a war known for its pitched battles (more a series of sieges and massacres) but I'm a sucker for the heraldry and after spending several holidays in the area I am very interested in the history and locations, plus I was led to Sumptions book on the period from his HYW series.  The figures in this first submission are a quartet of command figures for a pair of Impetus armies.

The figures are the 13th Century range from Khurasan Miniatures and are nicely modeled and cast, not too chunky with actually a choice of oversized or more realistic mounts (these are the more realistic).

15mm vs 28mm comparison

My technique for 15mm painting seems to be ...... my technique for 28mm painting (maybe I'm missing a trick here!). It takes just as long and heraldry is even more fiddly!

From the Albigensian side the two leaders here represented are Raymond VII of Toulouse (the Cathar Cross is fun to paint) and Bernard V de Comminges -- by far and away the most fun to paint heraldry here.  All heraldry is sourced from this site and the home printed flags were all made using DrawShield (a real boon and highly recommended)

Raymond VII of Toulouse

Bernard V de Comminges

For the Crusader side we have The Duke of Burgundy (remind me that bendlets are absolutely the worst things to try to paint!) and Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester (father of the Simon of Baron's war fame -- I imagine I could reuse this figure and in fact most of these armies for Barons war use as well!).

Simon de Montfort

The Duke of Burgundy

All in all I enjoyed painting these figures, horses, heraldry, caprisons and banners, what more is there to like! They were however very time consuming and as to the points per hour don't ask! Still I'm looking forward to more from this project over the coming months and it will be nice to be able to fit an Impetus army into a handful of KB boxes rather than dozens I need at 28mm.

Pesky fluff under horse's eye! Only noticed after all the shots are taken

 

One little touch for this project is to colour code the bases as, unless you remember all the heraldry, it can be hard to distinguish the two sides. Red for the Cathars and Blue for the Crusaders.

This should be 8 mounted 15 mm figures at 4 points each for 32 points plus the 20 point new acquisitions bonus for a total of 52 points and another drop towards my now increasingly far away target for the challenge!  Next stop fantasy en route to Overdues and Returns! Until the next time!

 

Sylvain: These are really good looking miniatures and I from your pictures I really thought they were in 28mm scale, not 15mm scale. You really put a lot of details in and your love for heraldry really shows. I'm going to throw in four more points for the flags. 

About adding color to the side of your base, I tried that with my 6mm miniatures, but from a distance it's very hard to see. I ended up bleeding the color on to the base itself. But test and trial will tell. Excellente peinture!

If you could provide a map of the Analogueville Library showing your progress, that would be appreciated.