A Carolingian Army, step by step

[Lluis of Minairons]

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.



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.



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.



As for the unit standard, its central motif is a 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 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). 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.



Cheers,
Lluís

[martin goddard]

They look wonderful Lluis!


martin

[Leman (Andy)]

Excellent work.

[Stewart 46A]

They look really excellent and ready to take on comers

Stewart

[Colonel Kilgore]

There's some lovely painting there, Lluis - nice work!

Simon

[mellis1644]

Love the shields. Great work generally.

[Lluis of Minairons]

Here it comes the last foot unit of my current commission - An eight stands heavy infantry.



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.



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.



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.



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

[Stewart 46A]

Brilliant as always Lluis
Thanks for the pictures

Stewart

[Colonel Kilgore]

Those are rather nice, Lluis. The metallic paints on the shields worked out very well.

Simon

[mellis1644]

Very Impressive

[martin goddard]

I will fight them.


martin

[Stewart 46A]

You might win Martin,
They wouldn't want to get their nice  uniforms dirty

Stewart

[Leslie BT]

Lovely troops Lluis.

[Leman (Andy)]

Nice!

[Lluis of Minairons]

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!



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.



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