The Brotherhood of the Poor Knights of Christ at the Temple in Jerusalem

 

The Brotherhood of the Poor Knights of Christ at the Temple in Jerusalem

My current project takes me to Palestine and the late 12^th century, and I am building two very different Retinues, Templars and Nizari Shia -the Assassins. One thing I love about this hobby is learning about the history as I build a force to represent it, to this end I build a small collection of reference books to extend my ever growing library and immerse myself in the period.

The book I am just finishing now is a real gem that I would recommend to anyone with an interest in this period. Professor Tibble writes with an easy style and a descriptive flair that feels more like story than history and provides a vivid insight into the real reasons for these constant and seemingly interminable wars. Steve is a wargamer as well as an historian and this shows in the details of his writing, he brings battles to life and demonstrates a thorough understanding of the strategic and tactical aspects of war illustrated with some excellent maps. A must have for all who have an interest in the Crusades.

The were only ever a few Templars and a Templar Retinue should only have one true Templar knight. Mine is from Footsore.  The white linen is my usual “warm white” recipe of Citadel Screaming Skull, washed with a very dilute Citadel Zandri Dust and highlighted with Vallejo Ivory, I rarely use pure white. The blue head scarf is Citadel Thousand Suns, odd name for a blue, Highlighted with Ahriman Blue and Baharroth Blue. Washed and glazed with Citadel Tyran Blue 

The pied shield seems to have been an actual thing, I thought whenever I saw anything like it in an illustration that it was a bit of artistic licence but apparently, they actually had such things. Rule of cool and all that. The shield is my “cold” recipe for white a pale grey, Citadel Administratum, lightened with Vallejo Stone Golem and very lightly glazed with a very dilute Nuln Oil

The cloak has the warm white recipe the soiling at the bottom of the cloak is a wash of a very thin mix of Zandri Dust plus a thin glaze of Vallejo Flat Earth 

Religion and the worship of God was a massive element of these Warrior Monks lives, every aspect of every day carried a blessing, furthering the Glory of God was reflected in everything that they did, and thanks be to God was breathed after almost every sentence. These people were fanatics of the highest order.

 And so, they must have a Cleric…

…and that is this fellow with his piously covered head! The red used throughout is Citadel Mephiston with its highlight bedfellows. I shall use all my Citadels up soon, my steadily growing collection of Army Painter Fanatics will become my go to paints

 This is another Footsore metal figure

A Brother Serjeant! Not a Knight and so not dressed in the white tunic. This is another Footsore and this guy oozes character! You just know that some figures have a story to tell and I believe this is one of them, he is always going to be in the thick of the action. The Brown is Vallejo Flat Brown highlighted with Citadel Deathclaw and Skrag. Deathclaw and Skrag sound like divorce Lawyers or possibly the lowliest super villains Henchmen ever to grace a graphic novel. If I had cats, I might call them Deathclaw and Skrag

His shield has taken a few blows, a bit of fore shadowing perhaps. These cuts are painted with Zandri Dust and then the central dark line is picked out with a mix of black and brown ink that I call Armour Wash as I use it on all my armour. I am never quite sure whether I have over done it until I overdo it!

I am pleased with the cloak, I used to hate painting white but I think I have just about got this now.

The second Brother Serjeant, this time in black. Oooh… I am itching to take these guys to the table! Look at him! He’s just spoiling for a fight. The more Infidels he kills the more pious he feels, and he is as pious as f…!

He is another Footsore and quite lovely. I think the red cross on the white shield would get a monotonous as a look so I am scouring as many pictorial references as I can to justify a wide variety of cross types and depictions 

Only the knights wore the white Robes, the Sergeants wore Black or Brown, but does that extend to the cloaks? I don’t know, but as I tend to create Retinues for skirmishing rather than units for battles, I am all for variety. 

I am not entrely convinced by the muddying of his cloak maybe a drier looking colour?

“Do you have a moment to talk about our Lord?” I think it would be difficult to refuse these four if they came knocking at your door! 

A significant part of any Templar force were the Turcopoles which means “Sons of Turks” These Horse Archers, initially recruited from locals, were an essential element in any Templar force, protecting the otherwise vulnerable flanks from their very mobile enemies.

 The Templars are of course essentially a mounted force, and I shall create mounted equivalents for all these figures over the next week or so.

This figure is a kit bash. His legs are WGA Serjeants, his trunk is GB Light Arab Cavalry, his head and arms are from Victrix Medieval Islamic Warriors

The scabbarded sword is from WGA Sergeants, the bow case is Victrix as is the quiver

He painted up quite nicely! The head scarf thing is Citadel Steel Legion Drab, Tallarn Sand and Karak Stone

His coat is Citadel Incubi Darkness, Kabalite Green, Sybarite Green based and washed with Coelia Greenshade -didn’t I go to school with her?

His leggings more Citadel (I wish they had simpler names) Jokareo Orange, highlighted with Trollslayer and Fire Dragon Bright. Washed and glazed with Fuegan Orange 

Initially recruited from local Islamic Turcic Archers the Turcopoles evolved into a position held by Westerners who used the same gear and tactics but were never the equals of their Islamic foe. Eventually a rank was created, Turcopolier, a Templar Brother serjeant to command them all. It would be ok to paint these guys with Caucasian flesh later in the period but mine are done with the Foundry Dusky Flesh Triad.

And shield completes him! I am useless with transfers/decals, they stick to everything but the figure and if I get them on, it will be in the wrong place or worse… they fold! So, I free hand everything. I won’t describe the various colours used on the shield except to say it was all far too bright until I gave it a heavy, patchy glaze of armour wash

Another Turcopole, another kit bash. This one is very similar to the previous figure WGA legs, GB torso, Victrix arms and head. The shield is a GB metal one.

His boots are Foundry’s excellent Buff Triad.

His coat is Citadel Kantor Blue mixed with black and highlighted with whatever Citadel blue goes with Kantor

The shield pattern is something made up as I went along, you never know how these things will come out until they are done but I am happy enough with this.

His bow case is done with the lovely Citadel Rhinox hide trio and washed and glazed with Flesh ink. You can use a red ink or a brown ink or a combination to change the basic hue of these paints with great effect. Stippling the paints and edge highlighting with some Vallejo Dark Sand in the mix hopefully produce the effect of some quality red leather 

The last of my Turcopoles is the metal Turcopole Guide from Footsore. I can’t quite decide from his gesture and his facial expression if he is being helpful or sarcastic. “After you, my Lord!” but with what inflection?

  His lovely bright shoes are Citadel Caliban Green and its constituent Highlights, his Aketon is Citadel Zandri Dust, Ushabi  Whatnot and Screaming Skull. His tunic is the same recipe as the Templars head scarf

His shield is a direct copy of a LBM transfer, I have no idea what the text says, I hope its not disrespectful…

I am quite pleased with him

The rest of the Retinue is made up of poor foot soldiers. These were recruited from local Christians, Pilgrims who have completed their journey and ex Crusaders who have stayed on. This chap is a Westerner, his cross may be from a Crusade or from being employed by the Brotherhood

I like this guy! He has a cheeky air about him. Local Christians would of course have a local ethnicity. He might be one of the Maronites or an Armenian or any of a number of different groups that had chosen to follow Christ many hundreds of years before a white man ever trod the dust of Outremer.

He is basically a Fireforge Serjeant with a GB Arab head

His Aketon is Citadel Balor Brown thru Zamesi desert, His legs are Citadel the Fang et al

This Character is of the same ilk and is pure Fireforge

A failed Crusader? A Westerner for sure. He is all WGA Sergent and is a “Shootist Armed for Combat” in Ruckus terms.

Another local- a WGA figure with a Fireforge head

 

another failed Crusader maybe a survivor from a lost battle by the look of that shield

He is all WGA

WGA crossbow

The armour is a very simple job, AP Fanatic Gun metal with Armour wash

More WGA Another Crossbow “Armed for Combat”

Another battered WGA Crusader. This chap is equipped as the majority of medieval warriors would have been, very simply, with a spear and a shield. He is actually better protected then the vast majority, having mail. In the early period only the highest in society would have been so well equipped.

I like this guy, he looks like another story to be told. His tunic is Citadel the Fang highlighted with its associated colours and washed and glazed with Tyran Blue

“’ave at you!” One of the great poses from WGA.This guys discerns to use his shield and dares his opponent to come on

Next up will be the mounted versions of these guys. I have bought some GB metal mounted Templars and for the Turcopoles I will be using the Victrix Medieval Islamic Cavalry , which I will review with the infantry in a future blog

Meanwhile , here is Footsore’s lovely Mamluk to be the first of the Opposition 

A fantastic figure to paint. I decided to keep it simple, such a lovely figure needs little embelishment… 

….although I did allow him fancy little Citadel Khorne Red shoes…

 

..and a few flakes of gold leaf to adorn his bowcase and quiver.

 

Next post…”to Horse!”

Wargames Atlantic Age of Chivalry Mounted Serjeants and Mounted Knights 1150-1320

 

WGA have added more wonderful plasticness to their Age of Chivalry range with these two new kits. Each creates 12 mounted figures suitable for the Barons War era, which makes them an excellent fit for the majority of the Crusades and are perfect to represent the Sheriff of Nottingham’s men and have arrived just in time for me to complete my Robin Hood project ready for Partizan. 

The Mounted Knights. There are three frames of “Barded Horses”. I would probably have referred to these as “Caparisoned” as barding tends to mean armour of some kind, that’s a small point, they look great. There is a lot of space to get creative with your livery on the flowing caparisons!

 Each frame creates four horses. There is some flexibility about how these go together but some combinations simply don’t work. I only needed a couple of these for my Sheriff and Sir Guy of Gisborne, I would have mounted all the knights like this, but I knew I would not have time to paint them all before Partizan. 

The horses fix together well with little overlap at the joints. I like the rather strange way WGA do the reins, it can seem a little fiddley to get right at first, but you soon get used to it and the individual reins look a lot nicer than the usual blocked out ones that we are so used to.

  The knack here is to fit the neck and mouth to the rein piece before fixing it to the body. It’s a good idea to pair up the right reins with the right head and clean up all the surfaces before attempting to glue them in place. A word of caution, it is very easy to snap the reins, rest them on a block before attempting to file them or trim them.

The mounted knight frame, rear view. There are three of these, each frame has the bits to make four knights. WGA are very generous with the parts, and each frame has four small and four large Heater shields, four scabbarded swords, four right arms holding lances, four with spears, four holding drawn swords in different postures and there is one holding an axe and one holding a mace. Quite a selection!

My only criticism is that some of the postures look a little awkward, the arm holding the axe for example, I could not find a position where it looked natural.

There are also four strange looking affairs which are the cantles for the saddles and are fitted into a slot between the riders’ legs. I thought it would be a good idea to fit these after painting the figures, but I was wrong! They should be fitted before adding the left arm to avoid fixing the arm in such a way as to stop the cantle going into its little slot

There are twenty one heads on this frame! That’s sixty three heads for twelve figures, WGA certainly care for your spares box. Four of these feature crested great helms sporting a bear, a boar, a bull and just to break the run of alitteration… a lion. These are nicely sculpted and not too huge or silly. There are also three more simple crests of torses, I chose one of these for the Sheriff.

There are three bare heads and ten heads in more simple helmets or Helms.

The four bodies feature mailed legs and feet, the torsoes are in slightly different poses to enable weapons  to be convincingly held over the head. One torso has the right shoulder twisted backwards  to further facilitate this

The Horned Bull!

As with the other figures in the range, the detail is good, the relief slight, the stature is anatomical rather than heroic, the faces are lifelike rather than characterful 

The Mounted Serjeants

There are four “Light Horse” frames each bearing three horses. These are my favourite WGA steeds, they look good, are a realistic size and both halves of all three can be fitted together with any of the other three to create nine different horses.

True, some bodging is needed and a small blob of green stuff here and there will hide any sins

There are four different heads and four tails so there is a considerable variety of builds 

There are four “Mounted Serjeant” frames in the box each with three figures, as with the Knights frame there are small and large heater shields, three of each. This frame boasts five  scabbarded swords, three of which are falchions.

There are three of the cantle pieces. Two of the bodies have mail coifs over close fitting tunics, its probably too early to call them jupons and they are not as baggy or as shapeless as tabards. The other body has a ribbed jack or aketon, again with a mail coif.

There are ten mailed right arms holding two straight swords, two falchions, two picks, three spears and a mace. There are six ribbed linen covered right arms carrying one axe, two maces and three spears, none are carrying swords. 16 weapons for three serjeants provides a few more extras for your spares box.

There are fifteen heads on the frame. An even split of acorns and kettle helms with two wearing padded arming caps.

  These are all compatible with the other figures in the range, it’s a kitbashers dream 

the usual tools…and some plastic glue

There are oval shaped bases provided with the kits but I prefer to use these oblong Renedra ones to fit better with my existing mounted troops.

I used my usual technique of newspaper and PVA to produce this standard. The horse is painted Dungeon Grey, Stone Golem and matt black with a combination of stippling and glazing to try and create a dapple effect.

I use Krautcover, Copious Earth, to base these, I have not used it before and I thought it did a good job of reproducing a country road or track.

The mane is layered up to Stone Golem Grey from Dungeon grey and then glazed with Seraphim Sepia

The dragon is done with Army Painters Fanatics yellow Triad, the red on the flag Citadel Mephiston and red of the harness is Citadel Khorne 

The Sheriff of Nottingham, I used the livery from Robin of Sherwood which is a bit out of kilter with the 1938 theme but …

the blue is Citadel Cantor and its associated colours, washed and glazed with Tyran blue 

The tunic is painted with Citadel the Fang and its associated highlights then glazed with Tyran Blue 

In the traditional tales, Guy is first introduced as an assassin , paid to kill Robin Hood. When we first meet him, he is dressed rather strangely , not at all like Basil Rathbone! Guy's outfit is described thus:

A sword and a dagger he wore by his side,

Of manye a man the bane;

And he was clad in his capull-hyde [horse-hide]

Topp and tayll and mayne

‘I dwell by dale and downe,’ quoth hee,

‘And Robin to take I’me sworne;

And when I am callèd by my right name

I am Guy of good Gisborne.”

the black is Valejo matt black highlighted by Citadel Dark Reaper and Thunderhawk blue and glazed with Nuln Oil

I matched the head with the same one I used for Sir Guy on foot, I think it comes from the foot sergeant box. 

And I used the same pointing downwards arm and sword that I used for Sir Guy on foot. I liked the continuity of the figures looking the same.

I think the caparisoned horses are slightly oversized, they are markedly taller then the light horses. Compare this pic with the next one which I think looks more realistic

This horse is painted using Foundry’s Buff triad glazed with Citadel Sepia

this horse is painted as a bay with black lower legs, mane and tail

I particularly like the pose of this horse, if I had thought to model the reins as tightened it would look as if he’s just been pulled up short.

A chestnut, this one is painted with Foundry Dusky Flesh

A grey, this one has two white socks up front and a pair of stockings behind 

Another chestnut, this was basically Mournfang Brown 

same vessel viewed from the port side

another job for Foundry Buff triad. I did half the horses as bays and the other half as chestnuts

White legs generally have light bone colured hooves, black lower legs produce black or dark grey hooves, if in doubt a mid grey is very common

The decision to use this rather dull livery was made for me by choosing to theme them on the 1938 film. It worked well for our game. 

One thing about taking pics and zooming is you spot the errors … note the string of Evo stick running from his leg to his scabbard! 

This dapple was created by simply stippling a pale grey over a darker one

I did a very simple job on all the metal, just gun metal washed with a mix of black and brown inks

The tunics are Citadel Steel Legion Drab, Tallarn Sand and Karak stone

 the rear view showing the coat of arms. I used Guy’s heraldry on all of them, sable a dragon or rampant

The spears!

The Knights! I would have them all on caparisoned horses had I enough time to paint them all but actually I prefer them like this and it’s nearer to the film 

the whole gang! Watch out Robin Hood ye may be fleet of foot but can you out run this lot? 

I was very pleased to get these all finished in time for Partizan, in the tradition of such events, I varnished the last of them on Saturday morning before leaving for Newark!

All in all an excellent set and a welcome addition to the range