A.C.A.B

The heavy Infantry set from the  RedBox / Alliance range of Cimmerians.
10 bod poses, very Little Flash

A.C.A.B ? One sees this set of letters all over the place and until recently,  I had absolutely no idea what they stood for..until now. Obvious when one thinks about it.
Amazonian Cimmerian Alliance Battlegroup.

30 mounted and 50 foot Bods and Bodettes

Archers and mobile long range weapons screen

Are they on the side of the light or the dark ? I reckon they could form an independant force who would tend towards the light side but under certain circumstances, with a bit of Persuasion, join the dark side. 

Vikings - Stamford bridge - Strelets

This lot come from  the two big box set, Stamford Bridge . As noted in the review, they could work as either Vikings or Saxons but I´ve employed them as Vikings.

14 poses, a Tiny bit of Flash.

Three I´ve painted the shields with Lagertha´s Colours and...

.. another three in the Colours used in the Vikings series for Harald Finehair´s faction.

Half the set use axes as thier main weapon, and at least half the set could be Bondi. They can´t be formed up to create a Skaldborg (Shield wall) but can be added to the Strelets Vikings set which has all the bods posed with thier shields facing front.

The bod on the Right, his fur cloak is interesting as it has a wolf´s head over his shoulder..or have I interpreted it as so?

Shield Maidens

Lagertha, Webiorg,  Rusla and Hervor.

No Bodettes with "big fronts"  here. They are wearing protective clothing,  mainly chainmail,  so the female form would be "suppressed" to a greater degree than protrayed in most "historical" portrayals such as the Vikings series.
Ok, they may well have worn helmets* but to show they are females and not just any Viking bod re-classified as a Shield maiden,  I´ve left  them helmetless.
Heads from the Alliance  Amazons set and bodies from the Zvezda Vikings set.

The Shield pattern is shown on the shields carried by Lagertha and her  Shield maidens in the Vikings series, which I´ve used here.   It looks like it´s loosely based on the  Algiz (Elhaz) rune.
Lagertha´s Shield has the design shown later in the series, two areas coloured in red.

*Ok,  Birka, wasn´t buried with a helmet, probably why she ended up with a big cut on her forehead, but it doesn´t mean other Shield maidens didn´t wear them.
Were there Shield maidens?   IMHO, yes.

Saxon Fyrd

Still in a Dark ages Phase.

One of them, the boss, appears to be the Body of one of  the Tumbling Dice War of the roses bods with a Viking/Saxon head swop. I don´t know 100% as I got these as part a Job lot.

Spears made from florist wire, Shields from various Sources, including Emhar´s Saxons set.
Wether These are actually Vikings or Saxons I don´t know. There´s no pics of the sets over at Tumbling dice´s website. They work  for both sides, Saxon Fyrd or Viking Bondi.

Viking Commanders

..and cavalry.
Bods and nags from Tumbling dice, the shields are from the Zvezda Vikings set.

I´ve been watching the Vikings series so ..I got a bit influenced to paint some more😊

Knights of the round Table (Pt 6) Arthur

Arthur Pendragon
A difficult one as he´s got s few different C-o-A´s attributed to him;
1. Azure, thirteen (or ten) crowns or. 
2. Three gold crowns (2 and 1, or in pale), usually on azure but sometimes on gules,  
3. Vert, a cross argent, standing on its dexter arm the image of the Holy Virgin and Child     also argent.  
4.Quarterly; 1 and 4, Quarterly or and vert, a cross argent; 2 and 3, 
5 . Gules, three crowns in pale or. 
6. Azure a cross or.
7. A golden Dragon which was also borne by his father, Uther Pendragon and the dragon also formed his Standard. 

I went for three crowns (in pale) on a red Background.
His nag. I could find the possible names of it, Llamrei, Hengroen or even Passelande but as to it´s Colour or markings...Nothing. 
Degore or Sir Tegyr. Not a lot of info on this guy.  Gules, Hart Passant or

The whole gang (so far). Bedivere, Brunor le Noir, Bors de Ganis, Galahad, Gawain, Hector de Maris, Kay de Seneschal, Lancelot du lac, Percival de Galis and Tristram de Lyons.  

This lot, with the other recently painted mounted bods, makes another 25 to add to the Massed Medieval Cavalry, which gets  Pretty close to 500 mounted kniggits and sergeants.

Castle Seige

My contribution to the Airfix Civil War Group Build over at the  Airfix Tribute Forum.
Rules are that at least 51% of the build, in this case the bods, should be Airfix and as i Chose a medieval theme the Airfix Robin Hood and Sherrif of Nottingham sets were front and centre.
I decided that all Bod related stuff, Shields, weapons, headswops etc should either be Scratch made or come from withing the Airfix range of bods.

I went for the The Anarchy, 1135-1153. This limited the use of the Sherrif of Nottingham set as the arms and armour are more representative of later medieval period troops but that´s part of the fun, make do or re-do. Also, I can use Maid Marion as Empress Matilda and the Sherrif as king Stephen.

The Castle under seige? After a bit of Research I found one that not much is known about, Bampton Castle. There´s not a lot of info About it during the period of the Anarchy but it´s mentioned as being built by Matilda´s Forces in 1142 and being beseiged by Stephen´s Forces at the end of the same year.
It´s described as being a motte Castle which, seeing as there´s no info on the actual construction it gives me a bit of room as to it´s size. If it was built early in 1142 and besieged a couple of months later it would have to be a wooden construction rather than Stone...unless they were very busy Little bees back then.
Aerial view

The attackers in the Colours of Henry of Blois

The Defenders in the Colours of Geoffrey de Mandeville II

 Reception comittee.

 Egbert running to put out the fire.

Bit on the Wall etc

Made from coffee stirrers. I know, as far as any historical stuff tells, it ain´t historically accurate but it was quick, cheap and serves the Purpose. 

Seige mantlets

Easy. Coffee stirrers, bit of PVA and some paint. Arrows made as described in the Bod Conversions Post.

Battering Ram and Catapult.
Both scratchbuilt. 
Build for the Catapult HERE and for the Battering Ram HERE .
The Ground work is potting compost….easy and can be recycled :-)

Jeanne d’Arc la pucelle (Pt2)

You live and learn and when you do, you can, hopefully,  alter mistakes or small Errors.
She was the Standard bearer so her holding a Sword, while ok, still means the previous Version of the bodette isn´t as correct as she could be.

What did her banner look like?
Extract from her Trial of Condemnation, Fourth public examination, Febuary 27, 1431, at Rouen;

Question. When you were at Orleons, you had an "ensign" (Normally translated into English as Standard) What Colour was it?

Answer. I had a Standard whose field was sown with lilies. There was a figure of Christ Holding the world and on each side of him was an Angel. it was made of a White fabric called "boucassin*".
Written above, Jhesus Maria, as it seems to me, and it was fringed in silk.

*As a direct Translation ; A Course Cotton or linen Cloth stiffened with glue. Fine for bookbinding but not for a battle Standard.
In the medieval period it was called "Bokeram", "Bougran" and Boucassin"  and was used for flags, Banners,  pennons, clothing and bedding and   would just have been a fine Cotton Cloth and not stiffened.

Here´s a really good (unfortunately not updated) blog on the subject
"A Commonplace Book".

Amazons "Daughters of Ares" set 1

"Daughters of Ares and Harmonia " to be correct.

12 poses, absolutely Zero Flash, excellent sculpts...IMHO, 10/10
I really like them and they are a welcome addition to the   Amazonian Cimmerian alliance Battlegroup.

I´ve painted them up in the same Colours as The Alliance Amazons, except I did the helmet deco in   blue not red.

The seated one and the one with the Whip? There´s a set 2 proposed so could it include a chariot?

Ranged weaponary

"Nice day for a walk? Wash day tomorrow? Nothing clean, Right?"*

Size and style wise they fit well to the Alliance Amazons

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 2. 989 ff (trans. Rieu) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) :
"The Amazones of the Doiatian Plain were by no means gentle. well-conducted folk ; they were brutal and aggresive, and thier main concern in life was war. War indeed, was in thier blood, daughters of Ares as they were and of the Nymphe Harmonia, who lay with the god in the depths of the Akmonion Wood and bore him Girls who fell in love with Fighting" 

The Sisterhood (minus cavalry) together

There should really be a complimentary male set. Virtually all,  Ares, Aristaeus and other Greek gods, are  shown with  thier bits on Show. Would also make a usefull set as  early Greek Warriors.

*Ok, originally it was "Nice night for a walk" and the whole thing wasn´t said by only one of the characters but it fits.."I´ll be back"

Usually, I would put up a new years post with what´s been done and what´s planned but the planning part never goes to plan. I get distracted by other Projects and/or new stuff appears on the market that needs painting ASAP, which makes a mess of any list.

Recently (HERE) I saw a WAY better method of "planning" over at Geordie´s Big Battles.

Happy new year

Knights of the Round Table (Pt5)

The Arthurian bods haven´t been forgotten

Sir Brunor le Noir. Argent Lion rampant gules
His C-o-A is also describes as having White Background but the Lion is chequered in black and red. Not only is this very difficult to paint (as my attempt Shows) but the colours won´t show in this scale

Sir Gawain Purpure two headed eagle or

Bods and Gawain´s nag from Tumbling Dice, Brunor´s nag from Italeri.

That makes ten Round Table knights..boss and another yet to come to complete the main 12 but more are planned.

British Infantry in Advance 1701-1714 (Strelets)

I had to get them and they were to be drafted into  Colonel Jerimiah Coleman´s Fusiliers but they are a wee bit smaller than the bods already used , ie; From Zvezda or Italeri.
Still, they are lovely sculpts and as  Bodstonia could do with some sort of foe to keep them on thier toes,  they have been re-assigned as troops from Zvezdonia, a principality on the mainland of Plastasia.

The 1st Regiment of the Zvezdonian Imperial Army

44 bods, 4 sprues of 10 inf per sprue and one command sprue with 4 bods.
Pictured are Just the marching poses. The rest will get used up on another Regiment as and when the other sets appear. 

The molded Flags I removed. Easy enough in this case with minimal Damage to the bods but, I´ve said it before, why do manufacturers even bother to add them? At least this lot don´t have a molded pattern on them but still, painting them, even flat ones without a molded pattern,  is a complete pain. Even simple patterns are difficult, as shown on the painted versions over at PSR (HERE)
Easy rules;
1. Just label the bod as a Standard bearer and give him the flag pole without any flag or just a ring Hand so a flagpole can be added.
2. Don´t drape the flag over the bod making it difficult to remove or paint.
3. Have the flag, wether flat, draped, with or without a molded design,  seperate from the bod so the flag can be easily removed by cutting the flag pole.

The designs. I went for something  with a bit of an  "Imperial" and mildly menacing look and  Fitting  to the mid 18th Cent. IMHO, two headed eagles fit the bill.
The yellow version will be the Zvezdonian Imperial flag. The green one is the regimental one  to match the Cuffs.
I know. The flags are actual ones but now they are Zvezdonian
The Cords were made with the  thread that is used to hang up the  X-Mas tree chocolate decoration Things.

The officer sprue,which includes the two Standard bearers,  had a lot of Flash and removing it was not that easy, leaving the bods with a "bitty" appearance

Grenadiers

The Colour scheme I picked is a bit X-masy which fits to the time of year. The basing won´t stay like it is. 

Oh!..and happy X-mas :-)

Jeanne d’Arc la pucelle

I knew I´d painted her but pics of her are hidden in the depths of the blog (or gone with the demise of TinyPic.*)  and only recently did I find her again in the depths of one of the storage boxes.
She deserves her own post so here it is.

Of Course she gets added to the Medieval Lords and Ladies list, and she brings the females represented up to a total of 4 from 124 personalities.
Shamefull state of affairs really, considering how many (in thier own right) successfull, influencial and powerfull females there were in the medieval period.

She was, even taking some of the stories with a pinch of salt, an amazing Person.
The site  Jeanne d’Arc la pucelle from which I´ve borrowed the titel for this post,  is an exceptional Collection of stuff about her. Well worth a look if not a read.


*A Problem I am slowly but surely rectifying by replacing the downed links from back up files..a laborious  Task. Some Posts will eventually be deleted due to minimal or irrelevant content, 10 or more have already gone.
Oddly, the pics still Show up on searches, just Nothing to see when linking to the blog.