As already explained here a few weeks ago (https://rulesforcommonman.uk/index.php?topic=5306.0), I've been commissioned to paint a Carolingian Army. Ever before I had painted a Dark Ages army, but I eagerly took the challenge out of genuine curiosity.
Unfamiliar with the period, after some reading I decided to give a first try to the lightest troops in that army; with the aim to get familiarized with the figures' style as well as to extract some lessons and a suitable colour palette.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_arquers_1.jpg)
So I started painting a unit of 16 archers in open order, placed in 8 regular stands. As the army of my commissioner did include a dozen or so different spare figures (not forming part of any unit, but with a defined purpose nonetheless) and there were a few stadard bearers in that lot, I replaced one of the archers by one such standard bearer. In my humble opinion, even a humble archer unit deserves a standard to be proud of - and it adds a lot of colour to the ensemble!
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_arquers_2.jpg)
As for clothing, I tried to simulate as much variegation as possible with a limited set of paints; no more than six, all of them in mild shades: 70.904 Bluegrey pale, 70.967 Olive green, 70.879 Green brown, 70.983 Flat earth, 70.873 US Field drab and 70.976 Buff (Vallejo range) . For accessories, on the other hand, I've used a single majority color, tringy to reflect a homogenous equipment source: this way, quivers, belts, sandals and weapon holsters are essentially 70.816 Red leather. And with regard to hair shades, there are four or five variants ranging from black to blonde.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_arquers_3.jpg)
Some last words abut the standard itself, which has been designed by myself on my home computer; using tools as simple as MS Paint or XnView, on the basis of drawings and patterns found at Internet.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_arquers_4.jpg)
Cheers,
Lluís
Very nice, Lluis.
And I'm glad to hear of your colour palette approach - I always find this the toughest thing when starting on a new force. I agree that pale but varied colours, and a good degree of uniformity in equipment colours, is the way to go!
Simon
Thanks Lluis
They look absolutely fantastic, really excellent work.
Stewart
Well, turned out well.
martin :)
Lovely stuff.
May I ask, are they for a forum member?
If they were, surely a man of outstanding taste and quality. So that is me out for one.
martin :)
They look great... The standard is cool nice as well. I would have 'borrowed'. a image from the net as making it from scratch needs a real artist.
That's a great looking start to that army, and I agree about the standard. Good standards, flags, shield designs and basing can really set off an ancient or medieval army.
Right after the archers, I plunged into building a unit of Carolingian foot levies; which, according to the instructions received, was to be mounted on six 30mm square bases, at a rate of 5 figures per base. The result is a dense and tight unit, quite photogenic in my opinion.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_lleves_1.jpg)
I've kept the color schema first applied to the archers above, albeit with a limited number of variations - essentially, trying to replace some color that wasn't quite weighing on me. So tunics and breeches have been painted using 70.903 Intermediate blue, 70.967 Olive green, 70.921 English uniform, 70.983 Flat earth, 70.880 Khaki grey, 70.837 Pale sand and a mixture of red and neutral grey, that gives a sort of dull purple or "musk".
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_lleves_2.jpg)
This time I've changed the color applied to leather accessories. Since the one previously used (70.816 Red leather) had too much of a raw leather effect to my taste, I've replaced it with 70.940 Saddle brown, more reminiscent to me of treated leather colour. As for hair, there are again four or five variants.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_lleves_3.jpg)
By the way, while watching the pictures just taken, I've noticed some odd glowing dots on black hairs that shouldn't be there, because of having matt varnished the whole. I've realised this odd effect is due to having touched up these hairs afterwards. Later I shall fix the mistake, matt varnishing again these heads by brush.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_lleves_4.jpg)
Shields are following a predefined palette of their own too, consisting of always alternating a pale background color (70.918 Ivory , 70.912 Tan yellow or 70.906 Pale blue) with another more intense one (70.967 Olive green , 70.964 Field blue , 70.995 German grey , 70.908 Carmine red or 70.810 Royal purple). In a couple of cases I've applied three colors there, instead of just two.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_lleves_5.jpg)
Just some last words about the unit's standard, drawn up on my PC from illustrations found on the Internet referring to common Carolingian iconography.
Cheers,
Lluís
Very lovely.
They might not stand up to my Viking warriors though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDs7t26nnd8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gays7kImkT4
martin :)
Don't get overconfident face to these poor levies, while the Carolingian Horse quietly flanks you ;)
They look fantastic Lluis,
Stewart
Very nice, Lluis. I think your approach to painting these is spot-on.
Simon
I see that the levies do have an experienced looking commander to boost their confidence. They do indeed look very good as an advancing crowd.
Splendid and a useful resource for those of us planning on painting some Carolingians in the future!
Here it comes the third installment of the Carolingian army I was commissioned to paint. Now I've focused on their medium infantry, mounted on ten 30mm square bases, at a rate of 4 figures per base. In my opinion, the result conveys quite well the effect of being a reliable and well equipped unit, fearsome to the enemies.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_inf1_2.jpg)
Again, the previously established colour palette has suffered a few variations, both to suggest a more homogeneous equipment as well as a better clothes quality. Thus, tunics and trousers have been painted using only 4 colors: 70.903 Intermediate blue, 70.967 Olive green, 70.908 Carmine red and a mixture of red and neutral grey that I call "musk". Also, a few trousers have been painted 70.879 Green brown instead of musk . Most tunics (but not all) have a white, yellow, pale blue, or light green trimming. As for the accessories, I have kept the colors already used for levies: 70.940 Saddle brown for leather elements and 70.874 Tan earth for spears and flag pole.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_inf1_3.jpg)
Shields own colour palette has undergone some changes too, with the pale background colors being 70.918 Ivory, 70.906 Pale blue, a mixture of yellow and ivory, and another mixture of pink and white; being the alternate intense colors 70.891 Intermediate green, 70.962 Flat blue, 70.908 Carmine red and 70.810 Royal purple. In a couple of cases I applied three colors instead of just two; and, as a novelty, in a couple more shields I have experimented with painting them in a single color.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_inf1_1.jpg)
As for the unit standard, its central motif is a pantocrator (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_Pantocrator) obtained from the internet (from some Catalonian Romanesque mural - I can't remember exactly which one now). Its design is directly inspired by a historical standard originally stored at La Seu d'Urgell cathedral (https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catedral_de_la_Seu_d%27Urgell) and currently preserved in the Barcelona Design Museum, wich is known as Penó de Sant Ot (=St. Odo's Standard; no English Wikipedia article on it, but I've happened to find a French translation here: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drapeau_de_saint_Odon (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drapeau_de_saint_Odon)). Being from the first third of XII century, perhaps we should consider it a proto-Catalan standard, rather than a strict Carolingian one; but it is certainly of Carolingian inspiration.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_inf1_4.jpg)
Cheers,
Lluís
They look wonderful Lluis!
martin :)
Excellent work.
They look really excellent and ready to take on comers
Stewart
There's some lovely painting there, Lluis - nice work!
Simon
Love the shields. Great work generally.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_inf2_2.jpg)
Here it comes the last foot unit of my current commission - An eight stands heavy infantry.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_inf2_1.jpg)
Colour palettes have experienced significant changes, with regard to the standard applied so far. Shields for instance are majoritarily monochromatic with golden 'sunrays', being red the most prevalent ones - with a few in blue or purple, as well a a few showing bicolour combinations of these. Colours used are 70.908 Carmine red, 70.962 Flat blue and 70.810 Royal purple.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_inf2_3.jpg)
For the tunics I've used just 4 colours: 70.951 White, 70.953 Flat yellow, 70.891 Intermediate green and 70.908 Carmine red. Since nearly all the warriors are clad in chain mail shirts, so showing little tunic surface, I haven't painted there any distinct edges, so as not to confuse the view. Instead, trousers have been painted in 4 colours different to those of tunics: 70.809 Royal blue, 70.908 Carmine red, 70.921 English uniform and 70.922 USA uniform, with the intention of accentuating chromatic variety and vividness.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_inf2_4.jpg)
As for their standard, it also tries to reflect the unit's members presumably higher status by means of an elaborate design showing the Eagle of St. John. It is based on a Carolingian bas-relief.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_inf2_5.jpg)
Worth to note that, as an exception, this unit is not 100% Peter Pig, but does include the two figures from Essex you can watch in this picture. These come from my own odds and ends shoebox - most probably, remains of an old project abandoned decades ago. I thought it better putting them to good use than letting them rot in my shoebox. The commissioner did not ask for this, so those figures are free of charge.
Let's go now for horse units!
Lluís
Brilliant as always Lluis
Thanks for the pictures
Stewart
Those are rather nice, Lluis. The metallic paints on the shields worked out very well.
Simon
Very Impressive :)
I will fight them.
martin :)
You might win Martin,
They wouldn't want to get their nice uniforms dirty
Stewart
Lovely troops Lluis.
Nice!
I promised to my customer a further update on his commission before the end of May, and now I see it won't be possible yet. Apologies for it.
Among the delay reasons there was a sudden increase of large orders in Minairons, that forced me to alter priorities; but there is a second reason for the momentarily slow progress...
...and this is a ridiculous traffic jam on my painting workbench!
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/m_car_cav1_1.jpg)
On the bottom left tray, you can see a WSS 20mm Bourbon Spanish sample for Minairons' website, three pit boxes for a projected Grand Prix demo game and a bunch of Ottoman infantrymen; besides this one, there is another tray with a further batch of Ottoman horse and foot, two Ancient Greek galleys, a 20mm SCW tank and a civilian bus for Minairons' website samples. On the newspaper serving as tablecloth and next to it, a Carolingian cavalry unit, some Ottoman sergeants as well as a handful of Catalan and Ottoman command sets for XVIII century gaming...
Beyond the camera lens, a 1:144 SCW dive bomber for Minairons again (guess which one?), a handful of PP ships and boats, and a few scenery items.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/m_car_cav1_2.jpg)
However, at the end of today's painting season I've been able to nearly complete those Carolingians I've mentioned before. It's just matter of basing them adequately now, checking for hidden mistakes, adding their standard and varnish them. So this weekend I'll be able to show pictures on the unit here!
Apologies again for the delay,
Lluís
Thanks for the update Lluis, you are indeed a busy boy.
Stewart
Those Ottoman sergeants will look good in the Carolingian army, Lluis ;D
Seriously, they look great. The green / brown combination on the cavalry shields works particularly well.
Simon
Jolly nice.
martin :)
Here you have at last a new installment on the Carolingian army I was commissioned.
Now it was the turn for a first medium cavalry squadron to be painted. As I suspected, mounted units do require more effort than foot ones, despite being less figures there. This has likely had some impact on my painting speed - besides of already mentioned factors.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_cav1_3.jpg)
As a start, I painted helmets and chainmails first, as I always do when such elements are present in a figure (due to metallic paints drybrushing usually staining unwanted neighbouring surfaces), and then I went for horses. I configured a wide palette for them, mostly consisting of 70.950 Black, 70.984 Flat Brown, 70.871 Leather Brown, 70.983 Flat Earth, 70.874 Tan Earth and 70.951 White, with random leg markings and head markings also in white.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_cav1_4.jpg)
Only when horses were finished I started painting the non-metallic surfaces of riders, using roughly the same palette previously used on medium and heavy infantries. Willing to give a (fake) impression of uniformity to eventual viewers, shields were painted using only three colours - mostly 70.891 Intermediate Green, but also a few 70.940 Saddle Brown and 70.912 Tan Yellow.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_cav1_5.jpg)
The standard selected for this squadron is one of the Oriflamme variants one can find on the Net, deliberately chosen to match in colour with the shields.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_cav1_6.jpg)
Please note that flag edges have been masked with green paint. I do highly recommend to always mask those annoying white paper edges. The difference is spectacular, even if your paint shade does not match 100% with flag's own.
Hope you like them,
Lluís
Very nice again, Lluis.
And I completely agree on painting the edges of the flags. As you say, the colour match doesn't need to be spot-on, and it makes a huge difference.
Simon
These keep looking nice Lluis!
martin :)
Great Lluis, that look stunning as always.
Your painting techniques are beautiful
Stewart
You mention this is a commission. I am hoping it's smeone that I know and get to play against, because this is a beautiful army!
Sean
The army will be in attendance at the Weymouth War Weekend in November
Stewart
I might just sit and watch, and marvel :)
Simon
Mmmmh... After some time inspecting my own pictures, I've noticed something I deeply dislike.
And I hate delivering something I'm not happy with.
I'll get to mend it, while I start working on the next batch.
Quote from: Stewart 46A on June 04, 2023, 09:13:56 PM
Sean
The army will be in attendance at the Weymouth War Weekend in November
Stewart
I was hoping you'd say that!
Quote from: Lluis of Minairons on June 04, 2023, 09:30:18 PM
Mmmmh... After some time inspecting my own pictures, I've noticed something I deeply dislike.
And I hate delivering something I'm not happy with.
I'll get to mend it, while I start working on the next batch.
Well, the thing annoying me was the overall look of horses backs - I mean, their groins as seen from the rear.
While still working on a second cavalry squadron, I've mended those odd to me looking backs. This is what these look like (compare to the third picture of my latest installment):
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_cav1_7.jpg)
As said, I'm already working on a second horse squadron. This is their current status:
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_cav2_1.jpg)
All the best,
Lluís
Thanks Lluis , you are a perfectionist
Looking forward to leading these in battle
Stewart
This really is turning out to be a very impressive army. I also agree about painting flag edges. I quite often see a beautifully painted unit with a spectacular commercial flag tarnished by leaving the flag edges as white paper. Such a pity.
Your horses rear ends are looking a lot better now, Lluis (and there was me thinking that you feared that you'd not quite captured their nasal hairs correctly...) ;D
I try to file away any such "filler" between the rear legs. "Pigsticker" Ray shared a great tip with me a while ago: use a mini-drill (with an old bit - don't ruin a new one) as a rotary file to eliminate something sizeable like this. It works quite quickly and is very satisfying.
Simon
Quote from: Colonel Kilgore on June 20, 2023, 10:51:07 AM"Pigsticker" Ray shared a great tip with me a while ago: use a mini-drill (with an old bit - don't ruin a new one) as a rotary file to eliminate something sizeable like this. It works quite quickly and is very satisfying.
Pretty useful tip there! Thanks for it!
Lluís
Great stuff and as always wonderful paint jobs.
But I hate to say it. Your painting desk isn free and clear compared to mine. I have trouble finding space for even a single extra base on it at present.
Yet another medium cavalry squadron here - this one using red as dominant color:
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_cav2_2.jpg)
Both horses and men colour palettes are basically the same ones already used on the previous squadron, with a few exceptions - i.e. a grey horse with some white dots scattering, or a couple of pink tunics.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_cav2_3.jpg)
As for shields, this time most are 70.908 Carmine Red , with a few exceptions in various 70.940 Saddle Brown , 70.912 Tan Yellow and 70.918 Ivory combinations.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_cav2_4.jpg)
The standard I've chosen for this unit is another Oriflamme common variant, conveniently red too ;)
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_cav2_5.jpg)
Hope you like them!
Lluís
Yes Lluis I do like them very much.
martin :)
These are all very nice, Lluis. I do appreciate you sharing the colour codes - and those flags are fab!
Simon
Thanks Lluis
They look outstanding
Stewart
They look great.
I've just finished another Carolingian unit, now a Scara heavy horse squadron.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_cav3_1.jpg)
The particular colour palette for this unit has been predetermined by the standard I was going to give them, a purple variant of the Oriflamme that can be found on the Internet. Thus, shields have been painted predominantly 70.810 Royal purple, with a few exceptions in 70.908 Carmine red, 70.962 Flat blue or a combination of these with purple.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_cav3_4.jpg)
The vestments also offer a fairly uniform appearance, with a predominance of 70.908 Carmine red and 70.962 Flat blue mostly, with a few exceptions in green or white. As for the accessories, I have kept those same colours used before: 70.940 Saddle brown for the leather elements and 70.874 Tan earth for spears and flag pole.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_cav3_2.jpg)
Worth to be noted that I've used for once an Old Glory 15s figure as flag bearer, in order to save the Peter Pig flag bearer left for the next and last unit in this army - a light horse squadron. That Old Glory 15s Carolingian is a leftover from a long ago abandoned project, so I'm pretty happy to have given it a purpose at last! His horse is from a no longer existing German brand named Metal Magic, that I used to love. Both horseman and mount do look awesome and compatible to the rest.
More news coming right tomorrow!
I think you need to finish this army and do something else instead, Lluis - every time you post a new unit it makes me jealous :)
Simon
Excellent figures. A really outstanding looking unit.
Thanks Lluis
It's going to be an outstanding army when completed
Stewart
Taking advantage of the fewer number of figures in this latter unit, I've also painted a first command stand altogether.
This is what it looks like, on their 4 cm square base:
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/m_car_gen2_1.jpg)
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/m_car_gen2_2.jpg)
There is still a further cavalrymen unit left - a light horse one, Charlemagne's own stand and a few odds and ends (casualties, half bases and so).
Cheers,
Lluís
That red flag works so well against the relatively drab colours of the men - a lovely base!
Simon
I believe this one is going to be my penultimate posting in this thread :)
The last formation of this Carolingian army is a 6 base light cavalry squadron. If I'm not wrong, the unit had to be 4 bases large according to commissioner's specifications, but I realized it could be easily expanded by using a few figure leftovers. I had enough spare stands for doing so, too.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_cav4_1.jpg)
This new squadron has been painted using the colour scheme already used for light infantries, mostly consisting of khaki and green shades. As for shields, these have been also painted in rather discreet colours (70.912 Tan yellow, 70.903 Intermediate blue, 70.918 Ivory and 70.857 Golden olive, or a combination of these).
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_cav4_2.jpg)
Lastly, the multi-coloured banner was designed by me on the computer, based on an illustration from a Beatus codex.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_cav4_3.jpg)
Also, I've taken advantage of this painting batch for working on the Big Boss himself, and here you have the result:
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_gen1_2.jpg)
As you can see, Charlemagne's retinue is slightly larger than forecast (a bodyguard besides of the standard bearer). I believed the 4cm square base had enough allowance for doing so, and I had a spare cavalryman seeking a job...
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_gen1_1.jpg)
The standard used here can be found on the Internet, and is the one often attributed to Charlemagne himself.
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_gen1_3.jpg)
Hope you like them!
Lluís
Lovely work, Lluis!
Simon
Lovely. Cant wait to see it on the table.
Excellence
Lluis
Stewart
Lovely brushwork again.
Carolingian Army is complete now, after adding some odds and ends.
I was requested for instance to paint a handful of casualty markers. There are 16 of these, all mounted on 25mm diameter, 2mm thick magnets - duely flocked likewise the rest of the army:
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_marcadors_1.jpg)
I was supposed to build 13 "half bases" too - these consisting of 30 x 15mm stands with a single figure on each. They can be used as skirmishing vanguards or alternative casualty markers (by replacing a regular base by one such "half base" to visually indicate progressive depletion).
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_marcadors_2.jpg)
As you can see, there are 14 instead of 13, because I added to the lot a spare cavalryman on a "half cavalry base" - that is, a 30 x 20mm one).
(https://www.wargames.cat/soldadets/Stewart/g_car_marcadors_3.jpg)
Now it's time to set them sailing (flying, rather) to gamefully invade the Islands!
Lluís
Great work Lluis
They look fantastic
Brilliant, well worth the wait.
Stewart
This is a lovely army - great job Lluis!
Simon
Lluis has done a good job here.
His ships were great and these will join that pantheon of paint perfection.
martin :)
Stewart
Is this army at the WWW??
martin :)
Quote from: martin goddard on November 23, 2023, 10:30:27 PMStewart
Is this army at the WWW??
martin :)
Isn't this really why we're all coming along, to see Stewart's new army? :)
Simon
Yes. But Only as allies to my Romans. They're to scary to fight against.
Quote from: Sean Clark on November 24, 2023, 07:37:45 AMYes. But Only as allies to my Romans. They're to scary to fight against.
Is that a scenario taken from another Ridley Scott film, Sean? ;D
Simon