A Carolingian Army, step by step

[Colonel Kilgore]

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...) 

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

[Lluis of Minairons]

"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

[mellis1644]

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.

[Lluis of Minairons]

Yet another medium cavalry squadron here - this one using red as dominant color:



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.



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.



The standard I've chosen for this unit is another Oriflamme common variant, conveniently red too 



Hope you like them!
Lluís

[martin goddard]

Yes Lluis I do like them very much.

martin

[Colonel Kilgore]

These are all very nice, Lluis. I do appreciate you sharing the colour codes - and those flags are fab!

Simon

[Stewart 46A]

Thanks Lluis
They look outstanding

Stewart

[mellis1644]

They look great.

[Lluis of Minairons]

I've just finished another Carolingian unit, now a Scara heavy horse squadron.



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.



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.



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!

[Colonel Kilgore]

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

[Leman (Andy)]

Excellent figures. A really outstanding looking unit.

[Stewart 46A]

Thanks Lluis
It's going to be an outstanding army when completed

Stewart

[Lluis of Minairons]

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:





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

[Colonel Kilgore]

That red flag works so well against the relatively drab colours of the men - a lovely base!

Simon

[Lluis of Minairons]

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.



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).




Lastly, the multi-coloured banner was designed by me on the computer, based on an illustration from a Beatus codex.



Also, I've taken advantage of this painting batch for working on the Big Boss himself, and here you have the result:



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...



The standard used here can be found on the Internet, and is the one often attributed to Charlemagne himself.



Hope you like them!
Lluís