This project has been waiting to happen for some time! Having bought a load of books and some Crusader Miniatures over a decade ago, they sat dormant until I read Ian Ross‘s superb trilogy set in this period.
With the release of five boxes of suitable plastic miniatures from Wargames Atlantic, chum Scrivs has been busy painting like a madman so it was about time I pulled my finger out and got on with it.
Here’s my first leaders and units so far.
Why not start with the king? Here’s Henrv III in two versions – horse and foot (all Crusader Miniatures 28mm metal. If you’re looking for this range, it’s listed as ‘Later Crusaders’ on the Crusader Minis website). His attendants are also from this range.
Shield and tabard transfers were by Four Ways Designs, sold by Footsore Miniatures. These were rather indistinct, even when applied over the recommended white undercoat, and I ended up overpainting them a little to bring out the designs.
Realising that I’d need some horse caparison transfers as well, I found some by Battle Flag on the First Corps/ Curteys website. These had much better definition and I used the Battle Flag banners as well with a few added highlights.
My first two foot leaders are both rebels against the king. Peter de Montfort (a neighbour of Simon de Montfort but not related) has a rather sharp yellow and blue heraldry. His shield and banner are both by Four Ways Designs from Footsore with some overpainting. Peter was captured at Northampton in 1264 and died in the Battle of Evesham the following year.
Next up is another rebel, Baldwin Wake. He is a very likeable character in Ian Ross’s books so I just fancied painting him up next, even if he was captured twice during the wars at Northampton in 1264 and Kenilworth in 1265! I couldn’t find a commercial banner for him so I made my own as his heraldry is all geometric, then painted his shield to match.
Added to that, I’ve combined some Crusader metals and kit-bashed plastics to create my first four units.
As with many of my collections, I’ve gone for single magnetically-based figures with a steel paper movement tray for battle gaming using Midgard Heroic Battles. Scrivs has done his collection on 20mm round bases, so I’ve followed suit. This will be handy for photos and skirmish games as well as allowing us to change the composition of units while we play around with various rule sets.
Crossbows were very popular in the thirteenth century so I definitely needed a unit of these! These are entirely plastic with mostly Fireforge Games parts, though I used a few Wargames Atlantic heads and arms. Red and yellow was the broad theme to fit Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester’s heraldry. De Clare changed sides multiple times during the wars and is therefore ideal for these chaps who can fight on either side.
I also worked on a couple of units of sergeants, again using mostly Fireforge Bodies with some Wargames Atlantic arms and heads. The WA spear/ polearm sprue deserves a mention here as it’s incredibly useful for conversions and is full of handy spiky implements!
These units were bolstered with some Crusader metal foot knights that I had painted years back in non-specific heraldries.
Finally, I returned to the half-dozen mounted knights I had painted back in 2013 when Lion Rampant first came out.
The fashion in our club at the time was to try to go for family heraldries and likenesses, so I found a Morris coat of arms on the internet and used it for my leader and banner bearer. The others have a mixture of hand-painted and transfers that I had kicking around in my spares.
While I have a mere four units now, Scrivs has painted the best part of twenty, so this project is most definitely go!
mogsymakes 