Early Swiss some more

Early Swiss Army Approaching

Here we go! And if you got a large monitor-screen, double-click on the pics and blow them up to 100%, the pictures are huge! use them as your desktop background or screensaver. Enjoy!
Early in the morn', before I rose for travel, up came 10'000 footmen...



MushaRing Dabadu Dabadah...

Whack-foul-the-daddio... Whack-foul-the-daddio there's whiskey in the jar!
more pics coming up, that's all for now...my eyes hurt :)

Pikes from Freiburg Late 14th c.

The DBA-Armylist says something about 2x4Pk for Medieval Germans IV/13b. I've got no idea what they're supposed to be. IMO they're too early, pikes in the 14th century?! But anyway, I like the figs.

Early Swiss Project continued

All Elements are painted but the bases and banners are still uncomplete. But here are a couple of pictures of the "Beta-"Early Swiss. Here we go:

Bern, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Glarus. Zürich, Luzern, Zug. The Bernese Guild of Ober-Gerweren. Uri and Obergerweren Uri with Urisstier Crossbows (=Psiloi) Unterwalden Schwyz Bernese Troops (General) Glarus

Early Swiss Project: 3 Elements done

Two blade elements finished with camp followers (musicians). There's still a long way to go. I intend to paint an element for each of the eight confederate cantons of the 14th and 15th century plus the general (9x6Bd). That is: Uri (black + gold); Schwyz (red + white); Unterwalden (red+white); Luzern (white + blue); Zurich (white + blue); Zug (white + blue; Glarus (white + red); Bern (black + red).

Warriors of Ifriqiyah: Ghulam Skirmishers

As early as the 9th century muslim armies made good use of trained warrior slaves called "abd", "mamluk" or "ghulam" who could attain freedom after some years of duty and achieve the status of an officer. In the Maghreb and Spain they were mostly of slavic origin, so I decided to give them lighter skin and various hair coulours. I will use the minis on the pictures as psiloi in the following muslim DBA-Armies:

III/34b Andalusian
III/74 Fanatic Berber
III/34 Early Muslim N.Africa and Sicily.

All are Foundry miniatures and actually labelled as "early germans".

Old Paint

The banner is the first I ever painted, maybe 12 years ago. Explains it's fantasy character... Back then I was using a ruleset (I can't remember it's name) which made you spend 2hours to set up your armies, 3 evenings to finish a game and still only get six rounds through at best. Absolutely unplayable. I doubt it got very popular. I dumped it.

Crusader Knights with St. John Order Foot

A French Horde...

A peasant horde for the feudal european armies. Seven fine figures from Foundry. The banner shows a shoe with loose laces, an emblem used by rebellious german peasants since the 13th century (german: "Bundschuh"). I use them for the medieval french army IV/4 a+b.

Norman Blades

Some Norman Blades 25mm (Foundry miniatures). They can figure in any norman or frankish army of the 11th or 12th century, even as crusader knights (after eating their horses). Historical evidence for early heraldry is scarce. I imagine these footknights to be of a lesser status then their mounted comrades. To show this I paint monochrome heraldic devices on a simple eggshell-colored background (wood and parched leather). They probably painted their shields themselves. The heraldry is made up except the blue one with the six golden lions: this is the coat of arms of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou (1130-1151). It reappears on the tomb of William de Longspee, Earl of Salisbury , bastard son of Henry II Plantagenet and his maitresse, Rosamund de Clifford. I will probable stick this shield on a rich mounted knight later on and give this guy here a simpler design.
Geoffrey d'Anjou Le Beau Funeral plate 12th century

Norman Spears

Here are some Foundry Norman spears 25mm. I painted the heraldry for the heck of it, I think the crisscross patterns are quite familiar. The gold lion on blue is made up, too.