Last time I was talking about the inspiration for my version of St Mary. This seems to be the only downloadable picture I can find. I do have a clearer picture, but for some reason WordPress, is not having it.
Now BOOKS…
Much to my own surprise, I am going to start on a positive note. You can begin in a worse place if you find the name Rolf Furman on the front cover. He gets stuff wrong, but I cannot be but charmed by the layout and breadth of his studies into the Teutonic Knights. His titles are profusely illustrated, indeed had he found a picture of one of the garderobes at Marienburg castle I am sure he would have included a drawing of a knight having some personal time. Apart from two grievous errors (in my opinion) the only thing I can really criticise is he adds the name ‘brother’ after every job in the order. So we have servant brother (dienende bruder) or seargent brother whereas the title was really only meant for the two classes of Knights- the Bruder themselves and the Halb- Bruder and the other thing is the illustrations of these Sergeants, who are very grey.)
There are lots of coats of arms of Crusaders, reproductions of 14/15 century drawings, and Rolf goes overboard with Grand Master shields. He has a fixation with the cross fleury, which really was not common.
The main issue is the orientation of the banners.
and …
THE WEDGE
So taken is Rolf by the idea of it, he does a number of drawings showing how the Knights formed it, the locations of the Grand Master within it and his banners!
Alas, it is bunkum, it is simply made up. It is based on imagination, I am sorry to say.
I have finally just enjoyed an email conversation with Bill Urban and neither of us could identify any document produced by the Knights that mentions the KEIL or wedge. Nowhere at all is any such thing claimed or described. Professor Urban says that in his opinion, they must have been familiar with it, but that is not the same as training to use it. Sure, the horses would have been more than capable of handling the complex instructions required (see Sven Ekdahl and Maria Saraiva Morais), but there were simply not enough Brothers available to fill out the formation, and they would have needed a fair few half brothers to make it work. Hans Delbruck describes some German knights using a KEIL, but it is unlikely that they would have made it to Lithuania to join the fun.
Apart from the lack of evidence, there were really no opportunities for the knights to use such a cumbersome formation. Their regular enemies, the Lithuanians, who could disperse as quickly as they arrived, would decline to resist. To be effective, a KEIL would require a self-confident target determined to resist, for it to be effective – the assumption being that ultimately no formation could resist the KEIL. It makes no sense to me at all.
At Grunwald, Jungingen chanced his last roll of the dice with a direct attack on the Polish King. The Polish knights surrounding the King, as brave and skilled as any in Europe, would have surely made a stout resistance, which many ‘experts’ would argue was a sure way to guarantee the success of the KEIL. But no…
Jungingen died miserably, and the knights were crushed.
Neither Jan Dlugosz nor the Chronicus Conflictus mention the failure of this special formation. It did not happen. It never happened. Of course, if you have information that would embarrass me, please let me know (and not the Chronicle of Novgorod- that does not work!)
Back to books! Rolf’s two books are a fantastic place to start. In my opinion, Osprey’s in general are not. The text is ok, but the pictures they use are dire. 16th-century woodcuts are no way to illustrate medieval military history. The latest title ‘Teutonic Knight versus…’ is quite crap. Really, it is. Quite crap.
Proper books to be read need to have the names Sven Ekdahl or William Urban as the author.
Urban’s writing style is entertaining and informative, perhaps unusual for an Emeritus Professor of History.
With Sven, you can almost smell the dust and feel the cobwebs from spending time managing the archives of the Teutonic Order themselves.
There are quite a lot of academic papers out there to be recommended. But be warned, these take you far, far away from ‘wargames research’…
Let me introduce Friedrich von Wallenrod, Grand Marshal (killed 15 July 1410)
The Marshal of the order was in charge of horses, their allocation and training. He was also in charge of recruiting and organising mercenaries and crusaders, and organising the army of the order into ‘banners’ or battle formations. He would deputise for the Grand Master during times of war.
In this model, he bears his own arms. He was entitled to wear a simple round crest -white with a black cross.
He is accompanied by two banners, both of the golfannon style, indicating their religious status, and both were always assigned to the vanguard of the Ordenstaat’s army.
The larger of the two is the ‘Great Banner’ of the order.
The smaller is a tinier version of the Grand Master’s personal standard and is called the ‘Rennefahne’ or ‘running or pursuing’ banner. This was to let everyone know that the Big fella was not far away and that the Marshal was acting on his authority
So last time we looked at silly hats and why they did not exist for the Teutonic Knights. This time we will look at a subject which is perhaps even more infuriating- Heraldry.
Heraldry was probably the first Europe – wide technical language. It is both clearly defined and artistic. Its language is precise – it says what it means and means what it says’
Though today we see it as rather arcane, occupying the minds of folk with really silly job titles (Otter Pursuivant anyone?) and dress up in it has to be said. rather daft clothing. In its day however, it was very important, occasionally leading to fatal duels and expensive legal disputes.
It is both simple and ridiculously complex. Here we are going to look at one of the most simple examples, far beyond (you would think) the chance of unreasonable fuck-ups and yet so many wargamers fail to understand it or feel perhaps because we are talking about the medieval period, it does not matter. But what would you think if my Imperial Garde sidled up in puce tunics and jaundice-coloured pantaloons? You would not dream of painting Napoleonics in the wrong colours so why do you put your lazy hat on when it comes to the Medieval period?
And yet folk produce Teutonic Knights with really stupid (also known as ‘wrong’) heraldry.
The arms of the Teutonic Order are (for the sake of absolute clarity) ARGENT, A LATIN CROSS SABLE or white with a black cross (and not just any cross) let us take a quick Look at the absolute bollocks that is peddled to gamers.
This is from Gripping Beast by Little Big man Studio. Please remind yourself that I am in awe of the skills on show to produce heraldic decals and wish I had half the talent, but the knowledge and research is is very poor.
Two are spot on, but it goes rapidly downhill from there…
ARGENT, A LATIN CROSS SABLE – and nothing else…
Two bear the TAU cross. I will concede this is an honest mistake to make, but no knights(or any other soldier’s shield) bore, to give its proper name, St Anthony’s cross -called the Halb kreuz by the Order. (and I bet you will be surprised to learn that I will give an expiation in a later episode!).
One is supposed, I guess, to be the shield of the Grand Master. You can only ever use this shield on one of your models (bollocks! to you Osprey!). One has a cross potent, with the flared ends. Wrong! Having said that a quite unrelated foot soldiers hand pavise does exist in real life which does have a cross with slightly flared ends, But I am certain the designer did not reference this.
As to the other six I have no idea where the designer was going with these. How do you get from ARGENT, A LATIN CROSS SABLE, to fantasy shields I do not know.
Where the inclusion of the Ritter Kreuz, beloved of World War 1 Flying Aces comes from I know not. It is in general far too ‘Baroque’ for the medieval period. From the Sixteenth Century it does take centre stage in pictures produced by the Order- and indeed is today completely incorporated into the Orders insignia, but never appears in contemporary illustrations There is one (I think) stone carving with something that looks like that, but I cannot remember where it is-but not on shields!
In the last episode I told you that on accession to the order a knight had to give up his rights to all his family heraldry (contradiction alert ahead!) and could not bear any article that singled him out as being anything other than a Knight of Christ. No one could have a shield that was ‘stand outish’ in any way.
The rules were rigorously upheld.
Everything said above is equally applicable to pictures here, There has been no thought and certainly no research (I am not talking about ‘wargamer research’ here I mean proper history research) What I do see is one decal maker copying another so we get to a situation where you see the same designs appearing onlots of different products with the suggestion being that these wrong designs are in fact correct.
Once again unless it is ARGENT, A LATIN CROSS SABLE, it is wrong.
Oh and of course there is this gem…
This is the ” Official” Fireforge decal sheet which makes everything good!
Almost but not quite… Well, actually not even almost.
AND HERES ULRICH(ka ka ka ka…)
This is my reconstruction of Ulrich von Jungingen, Hochmeister died 15 July 1410.
Ulrich bears his own arms (quarterly argent and azure) in complete contradiction to what I have said and he is accompanied by two banners , only one of which is completely correct in every respect- the other is NOT speculative but based upon some evidence which I can argue for.
So – he is a converted Front Rank figure, given a beard and tonsure and a cloak his sword is attached by a chain and his helmet hangs behind his head. He has an added shield. The base is static grass with some cork bark serving as a rocky outcrop with etched brass planting. You will no doubt read somewhere that he wore golden armour. That is nonsense. There is an amazing document ‘Das Marienburger Tresslerbuch der Jahre 1399 – 1409‘ basically the account book of the Knights at Marienburg detailing everything bought or paid for by the order or its agents. It’s a fascinating read and no gold armour for Ulrich! It would have been way too expensive
“So Mr Atelier- why has he got his own shield?” I am glad you asked. Normally a knight remained anonymous in his service with the order. Until that is, he was elected to one of the five (possibly six) high offices. Then he was named in full with the emphasis on his landed title, the only way in which he could claim his name is by bearing his own arms. There is a painting in Marienberg castle. It’s a fairly dire 19th-century attempt at restoration but has elements that suggest some originality remains. It shows St George presenting the council of the Order to St Mary enthroned(see below) Their flags and their arms are quite clear as are those of other members of the order in the background. All five of the leaders died at Tannenberg and so I am inclined to believe that it is accurate and contemporary.
If I could remember where I had saved the picture I would have posted it here!
The banner of The Grandmaster. This is a copy of the principal banner of the Grand Master (he had two!) it is taken from Banderia Prutenorum by Jan Długosz and illuminated by Stanisław Durink. In his text Dluglosz clearly describes this and several other banners as being golfannons, that is, a religious type of banner fixed to a horizontal pole which in turn is fixed to a vertical staff by cordage and usually surmounted by a cross or other religious item. The flag can move quite freely and easily flows out behind the bearer in a moderate wind or movement. I regret to say many commentators do not understand this. We have therefore a myriad of pictures indeed great paintings, showing this banner incorrectly.
We are actually faced with a dilemma. Do you actually believe that a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire would permit his arms to be displayed sideways on, with everyone having to cock their heads to recognise him? How would such a display be described in heraldic language? And yet from Jan Matejko’s iconic painting to guides produced for wargamers/ model painters via bloody Ospreys and ridiculous re-enactors, we have half-cocked versions of this banner. The late, great Ian Heath understood and said so, but none of the above seem to have read his stuff. But now you know.
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT MARY
The other banner presents another problem. We are told by Die Livländische Reimchronik (the Livonian Rhyming Chronicle) That the Order ALWAYS marched under the banner of St Mary (though this could equally mean under the protection of…) and indeed gives several examples of battles where the Banner was given a prominent position. For example
“Now the Brothers had fought bravely in the battle, but they were outmatched. The huge heathen army rallied, and there ensued a melee of Christians and Lithuanians. There was hacking and stabbing and rivers of blood spurted through the steel rings of armour. The Brothers were defeated. The flag of Our Lady was cut down without mercy, and the knight who held it, whose name was Johann, was killed. (…) Even after all these men had been slain, the Master and his Brothers remained undaunted. They suffered great and unbearable agony and fought a losing battle. The Semgallians fled and left not one of their men behind. This dismayed the Christian army, and when the heathens became aware of it, they advanced with their forces. The Brothers’ flag was down, and that was a blow to the Christians. Master Ernest and seventy-one good Brothers died in the battle. They shed their blood for God.”
However, there is no description of it. If you google it the modern Order directs you to this picture
This is not right. Obviously, it is St Mary with baby Jesus. But it as Dluglosz says translated by Teresa Bałuk-Ulewiczowa
“Banner [obverse] of the Grand Master of the Knights of the Cross of Livonia, for the company which Theodoricus Croe, Marshal of Livonia,* led in the battle fought in 1431 near the village of Dambky on the River Wyrzscha near Nakiel.* Jodocus de Hogyerkyerche,(Jost von Hohenkirchen) Knight Commander of Tucholia, who knew the area very well, served as his guide.”
The other side looks like this
“Banner [reverse] of the Livonians, whom Theodoricus Croe, Marshal of
Livonia, commanded in the battle fought in 1431.The unit serving under this
standard, with two charges and images painted on it, that is of the Blessed Virgin and the Blessed Maurice, and two crosses sable [black], comprised three hundred select mounted spearmen, apart from infantry. All of these men were equipped with glittering armour and were trained in warfare. This Theodoricus Croe, Marshal of Livonia, was captured along with sundry other commanders and his own and foreign knights, and for a long time endured the narrow prison confines of the tower opposite the [Observantine] Church of St. Bernardino in the Castle of Kraków, but eventually was released thanks to the clemency of Wladislaus II, King of Poland.”
So the original source is clear and I have no idea why the modern Order thinks this is the banner of St Mary
There are lots and lots of Marys. The Annunciation (not particularly useful as a patron saint, she has only just found she is pregnant) Just after birth with baby Jesus (she is far too busy being a mum, though new mothers might find comfort there) The Crucifiction (frankly that’s a big NO) The Pieta, again not great (but love and sympathy to all bereaved mothers), Mary Mother of God, enthroned at the right-hand side of God – that’s the one!
There are lots of paintings of this scene in Marienburg and once again I let you down by being unable to reference my copies, However I can show you the seals of the Grand masters.
All three images are from the internet. This image is consistent throughout most of the Grand Master’s seals .
So together with number of paintings which are similar on the walls at Marianberg leads me to opine that it would be reasonable that it would be this version of Mary that would provide protection on the battlefield.
As an end note. You will read that the Banderia Prutenorum catalogues all the banners taken at Grunwald. But it does not. It only contains the ones kept by the Poles and placed in Wawel Cathedral. There was another army there who had an equal claim to trophies. King Władysław II Jagiełło gave Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania 10 standards (recorded- but the Lithuanians were free to pick up plenty of discarded banners from the field). I believe that the banner of St Mary was among these to balance age Poles keeping the banner of the Grand Master. As I understand it these trophies were destroyed by fire and never recorded.
My God that was a long one. Next time if we can both stand it I will look at some books that you might come across and introduce you to Friedrich von Wallenrode Marshal of the Order.
As ever l welcome your thoughts. In particular, I would welcome any evidence that disabuses me of my opinions (these can always change!)
I am of course still painting and messing about with history. I had planned on writing a book about the Battles of the Hook(1952/53) which certainly taught me that I was no writer (great in my head, lousy on the page), but the research was a great experience, and you never know, I might re-visit that subject along the way, which will be fun (?)
Much of what follows will involve me showing off the toy soldiers I have painted together with a fair amount of History. I have won various prizes round and about and I have plenty of favourable comments for my models, which is very nice. There are still painters out there who are better than me, but I feel I can hold my head up. I now specialise in vignettes representing command stands for gamers both in 15mm (principally AB Napoleonic’s) and in 28mm Medieval/17th C/and more bloody Napoleon’s! and individual Medieval figures which I really enjoy doing.
Do I take commissions? Well yes and no. I will not paint armies in any scale and I have to insist on choosing the figures I paint. I will not paint plastic or resin and I am quite slow. But if you do have a general in mind I am happy to talk. Prices are reasonable, but high.
I am happy to paint the following- Assault Group, Claymore, AB. I quite like Old Glory, but boy do they need a lot of work, Footsore are good. but everything else needs looking at. I am pretty good at basing.
I do rather insist that what I produce is Historically accurate and I pride myself on the accuracy of my research, I am a heraldry and vexillology enthusiast- because frankly there is a load of bollocks out there.
And now to begin…
A subject that has been ‘bubbling under’ for many, many years has been the Teutonic Knights
The Teutonic Knights
There is more bollocks than you might think written about the Teutonic Knights. Mostly this down to laziness by people who want your money. Here I will try to clarify some issues, possibly in a bit of a cack-handed way, for which I apologise, and hopefully without coming over all superior. I can only assure you that I have done a fair amount of research over the years and invested a lot of my remaining intellect into this subject. What I will not do though is give endless bibliographies and references- this is not school and to be perfectly honest, if I can find the information, then everyone can. I have a terrible feeling that essentially warmers and modellers like to be spoon fed, they see one ore two pictures and call that ‘research’, However no amount of enthusiastic modelling and lovely painting can cover the fundamental errors.
Let us start with a quiz…
Which of the following following photo’s from the web properly represents an accurate picture of a Teutonic Knight?
Obviously, I would not have put these pictures up If I was not about to pour scorn on them. And please believe me that I admire both the sculpting and the painting and I agree they do look rather cool. I have no idea what ranges they are from or who the sculptors are (I think perhaps the same sculptor may be responsible for all) The one thing they all have in common is that they are wrong!
No Teutonic Knight EVER(!!!) wore such an article as a helmet with a crest on it. In particular I am sorely disappointed with Northern Crusades Miniatures. They are beautifully done and full of character, but you would think that a group that specialises in the Baltic Crusades would have developed a superior level of honest research, which is sadly lacking.
There really is no evidence for it.
‘Oh come on Mr Atelier,’(I hear you shout!), ‘Mr Clever legs, how can you make such a claim, these are produced by reputable miniatures companies..’ Our answer lies in history and art
Upon joining the Order a knight had to agree to many strict rules one of which was lose any right to any family heraldry and fully adopt the heraldry of the order in addition to this he was forbidden to wear any article of clothing that was un-Godly, appealed to vanity or made him stand out in any way – arguably the principle purpose of a crested helmet.
None of the regulations regarding the heraldry of the order make mention of the crest. What ever his worldly status, he became a simple Knight of Christ. Generally a crest denoted a knight of some high status, and the brother has left all of that behind. If you check for yourself in various Wappenbuch you can find online you will find some knights with crests and most without. And in every example the colours and occasionally the shape of their crest refer directly to their personal arms.
The next picture is often cited as proof that the Brothers did wear crests and is quite wrong for a number of reasons. It can often be found in Osprey books for example, but I am dammned if I know the origin of the claim that the person depicted was a Teutonic Knight at all.
This picture from the Manesse Codex is of a bloke called Tannhauser. He is sort of a founding legend of Germany, certainly he is the exemplar of the best of German knighthood. (See Wikipedia for details.) Yes he wears a white cloak. No, he is NOT a Teutonic Knight. Article 11 of the Rule of the teutonic Knights does state ‘Brother knights shall wear white mantles as a sign of knighthood, but their other garments shall not differ from those of the other brethren. We decree that each brother (knight) wear a black cross on mantle, cappa and armour surcoats to show outwardly that he is a special member of this order’ The rule does not specify precisely where the cross should be place, but it has been generally accepted for several hundred years the it was over the left chest of the cloak.
This is a copy of the tomb of Luther von Braunschweig(Grand Master 1331=1335- we shall meet Luther again…) The Tomb was in Konigsberg Cathedral see below. Showing the cross, as it should be on the left shoulder of his cloak.
Obviously Tannhauser has it on his right. Also the cross is the wrong shape for the period. Given his historical and mythological status, don’t you think the Order would have leapt to claim him as one of their own? They do not.
Take a close look at his crest and arms, often taken as proof of the Knights wearing crests. They crest reflects the colours of his arms (in this case black and gold), since as a Brother Kight he cannot show these colours, he cannot be a Brother Knight. (exception warning! He is auite obviously depicted as being alive)
And now – Hey! I have caught myself out here don’t you think? Knightly arms, white with a black cross, and a splendid crest, proof that the Teutonic knight could and did bear a crest. Yes?
No! Take a close look and you will see that these are the arms of the Archbishop of Cologne (or Colon).
I cannot find much evidence for the Archbishop actually prancing around in this get up but if he did go to war, this is what he would wear. His claim to ‘Argent, a latin cross Sable’ predates the orders grant of arms by some years. Unfortunately the modern Order has posted pictures of murals from inside Cologne Cathedral on their website claiming them as their own so no-one is fool proof. This page is from The »Bellenville« armorial. One of the very best and clearest available The accompanying arms are of vassals of the Archbishop and therefore do not have crests. Essentially vassels couldn’t be “of” anywhere, their knighthood was dependent on thier lords grace The Order did have a convent in Cologne but had no connection with the cathedral.
Yes! These are Teutonic Knights and yes they are shown with crests, but you have to understand why. These are wall paintings from Juditten Kirche in the former Teutonic stronghold of Konigsberg (now Kaliningrad), they are destroyed. This Church, along with Konigsberg Cathedral, was a centre for the celebration for Knights killed in service, either brothers or Crusaders. As you can see they are definitely members of the order The heraldry on their chest confirms this, but the fact that they are shown with their own arms and crests tells us something. Either they are dead or that they are possibly Halb Bruder (I will talk about them later) One of them clearly bears the arms of Jungingen= the blue and white squares. And I really don’t know who he is supposed to represent. He could be Ulrich (killed 15 July 1410) or an unknown younger brother. The elder brother Konrad died in his bed and would never have been celebrated like this But coming back to my original point the crests reflect the personal arms and could not be displayed by a brother knight under normal circumstances. The present order has in its collection many examples of ‘joining’ plaques dating from the later fifteenth century and apparently recorded the arms of every brother with their crests, sort of as an ‘in memoria’ of the life they had left. What it does not show however is that Teutonic Knights could wear crests, these would have had to reflect the arms of the order.
Unfortunately Konigsberg Cathedral is of no help, There were a lot of paintings and stained glass and presumably written records about Crusaders in particular in situ. There were tombs of English. Scottish and French knights in the cathedral itself.
On the night of 29/30 August 1944, in an act of apparent revenge for the Teutonic Knights refusal to allow English Crusaders to display the Cross of St George, the RAF destroyed it. The Lancs did not spare the castle either, burning it to the ground, leaving it to Leonid Brezhnev to destroy it completely in 1968.
So I hope I have made the case for no crests. I have never seen any contemporary pictures of Brother Knights sporting crests – If any of you have and to render my years of passionate research to ridicule, I would be grateful if you can show me.
I said that there were exceptions. Two members of the order were permitted to wear crests. The Hochmeister who was a prince of the Empire and the Oberst Marschall who was the Grandmaster’s principal representative on the battle field. Some contemporary pictures will illustrate.
This is often described as the parade shield of the Grand Master (Karl von Trier?) around 1320 . It could equally be his funery shield. The inscription states “Shield with the helmet of the Master of the Order of the Teutonic Brothers.” It seems odd that the actual inscription tells us that this is a pictures of his helmet.
We will come back to Karls shield later as it does give Mr Atelier a problem that he has difficulty talking his way out of (but not about Crests)
Now this is a real treat. This is one of the illuminated pages of The Apocalypse of Heinrich von Hesler This was composed in the 13th century (Often now called the Torun Apocalypse as it is held by the Nicolas Copernicus University Library in Torun, Poland). Its exact period of origin remains unclear to this day. The heady work is a German translation of the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament. The text of the manuscript is in rhymed prose (a surprising number of documents were) and its stunning illumination, richly embellished with gold, makes this Apocalypse manuscript one of the most interesting works of medieval German literature. It was gifted to or commissioned by the order presumably to be read at meal times.
The picture above shows the Grandmaster in the final battle of the Apocalypse, note his crest. I have no idea who the fellow in front of of him is with the red horse caparison and fancy helm crest, but he is certainly not of the order.
Two seals follow both of the Oberst Marschal (Grand Marshal) one from 1344 and the other from 1416. No Brother could display on his seal any mark that he was not permitted display by his right as an officer of the order
Also of interest is the lack of a horse caparison.
The final picture is literally the only picture of a brother knight wearing anything on his helmet.
Two little pennants or banderoles.
It is a picture of a monochrome painting at Bunge Kyrka (church) on the northern end of the island of Gotland, The island was conquered in 1398 and occupied until 1407 by the Teutonic Knights. The Bungye Kyrka is said to have been refurbished at this time and has a good number of colourful wall paintings, in particular the Martyrdom of the Theban legion. As with all medieval paintings they were done in a contemporary style so it is logical that the soldiers of the Orderdenstaat were used as models- certainly the ‘good guys’ sport white and black heraldry. As I understand it this little fella is long gone however.
And finally… The Albert von Prankh Great Helm in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
Someone has decided that the dead bloke who owned this was a Teutonic knight. There is absolutely no evidence for this at all.
This is his funery helmet and it commemorated his life at the monastery of Augustinian Friars at Seckau in Styria, before being gifted to the Imperial collections.
So there you have it, all there is on Teutonic Knights and helmet crests. I am very happy to entertain any evidence that anyone can supply to prove me wrong- its all about learning is’t it.
If your blood pressure can stand it the next part is all about heraldry, shields and flags
Last August I had a dreadful wargaming/model soldier experience. I had engaged in an agreement for someone to produce some figures. It was fully funded and the figures (are) were awesome.
Then an unexpected change of fortune – and my family were left without a financial safety net. The only decision I could take was to let the other party down. I am deeply ashamed at that, even though it was the only course of action I could take.
The experience has left me quite shocked and discomforted and my partner in the venture did not deserve this (neither did I to be fair) and I have been through quite a bit of soul searching as to whether my hobby of more than 35 years was actually giving me anything any more.
I only picked up a paint brush again in April 2016.
With great irony, it was to paint some of those ubiquitous multi part plastic figures which I hate with a passion and World War Two, which I am not sure is a viable area for gaming, being both impossible ‘model’ as a tabletop experience and having two morally compromised opponents which need to be included in any game (three, I suppose, if you include the Russians) I wonder if anyone else struggles with the morality of it all?
Anyhow.
Late war British –
I did a 30 infantry on single bases. but didn’t take photographs as they are quite dull. and some larger bases as below
and yes he is in an allotment! there are cabbages and some onions in there which gave me an idea for an element on this base
Command stand
Notice the trooper holding ‘tea’. And the two Huns. I imagined the British officer holding them at gun point as having no concern at all about the rules of war.
There is an abandoned German lmg position on there as well.
Basing is from all sorts of sources with etched brass trees.
And two Tanks
Churchill Croc
AND finally a Sherman Firefly
The burlap cammo was done using a gauze bandage soaked in old tea and coffee grounds to colour it. Then in a mixture of water, acrylic flow improver and white glue to give it a little bit of stiffness – don’t skip this step. it makes the modelling bit so much easier. then cut this into scale size strips portions (whats the biggest piece a crew of 28mm tankies could handle sort of approach). and fix strategically around the tank.
The cloth strips are, well…cloth strips. Its called bias binding and its available from all good haberdashers. I used three colours brown, green and a beige. Its fragile stuff and once again the old water /flow improver /glue mixture is brought into play to give it some stiffness and stop it disintegrating. This is the cut into tiny tiny strips and glued one at a time onto the netting. Start at the bottom and make clumps of same coloured binding leaving small gaps between clumps.work your way around the tank. When you have a ‘row’ paint the clumps of strips in the old glue mixture. Then using the colour of the binding as a guide paint the clumps. (I used chocolate brown, Russian uniform, and English uniform)
Then repeat for another ‘row’ once its all on. I gave a wash of burnt umbar oil paint and then (does the process never end?) painted a variety of differences in colour on individual strips. Finally I made some twiggy- foamy things to act as foliage and glued on here and there.
One problem that never occurred to me when I started though. Underneath all the netting and stuff I had carefully made quite a bit of track armour especially on the Firefly which is now covered over. When the model is in you hand , you can see it and you can see the detail behind the netting, but the extra detail is sort of lost in photographs.
I guess that all means I am back.
I am doing some more Berg Light Horse as a commission. and after that who knows?
In a few days I will post some pics of Jerries that just happened to be painted at the same time as the Brits.
Finally finished the Berg light horseOnce again technology has the better of me the photographs really are crap and really they are quite bright and breezy. They have turned out very nice. I think it is the combination of green and grey and then that pink that the French were so fond of.
They took some work. Originally they were Vistula Uhlans because the troopers and trumpeter had the sheepskin saddle coverings and the officer the Polish style shabraque. Which was a big tick. The lances were removed and replaced with brass wire and the end filed down to a point. They are depicted with their pennon covers on. All czapkas were covered, and all were given a blanket roll over the right shoulder. I only had to move the trumpeters riding arm slightly to accommodate this. A piece of fine wire was wrapped over the trumpeters roll depicting the trumpet cord. The officers shabraque was cut and modelled in the fashion apparently favoured by very many light horsemen. Presumeably this stopped the ends flapping about and annoying the horse. All additions were done with a Milliput/greenstuff mix.
I have started work on Austrian generals (when in fact I still have some Russians to finish!) and here are some test shots.I seem to have misplaced some. They have some out slightly darker than they actually are. The plan is to do an ‘Archduke Charles at Aspern’ model with him rallying IR Zach. Then do a few others of 1809 vintage and then move on to 1813, but I am struggling for inspiration.
I picked up a load of Minifigs waggons recently. They have stood the test of time well and only really needed new whells for them to be brought up to 18mm standard which they now have. Currently they are having extra detail slapped on. I have a plan…
Here is a bright and breezy fellow indeed
Some sort of drum major – not sure which regiment. The Emperor spoiled things with his Imperial livery. Apparently, I am getting some actual drummers to go with him. Apparently!
I have really struggled with the latest batch of ‘Explosions!’ They have taken an age, and to be honest really should not have. Somehow, I had a complete panic when I had nearly completed them, and ripped them apart (how appropriate). Now rebuilt they look fine and I don’t know what the fuss was.
I am having a bad time with 28mm at the moment. I have been trying to do Front Rank’s General Lasalle. I know FR are popular and and cannot fault the cleanliness and crispness of the casting.
BUT…
Everytime I picked the man up, I was disapointed at the the lack of detail. He was famous for his flamboyant dress and yet there are no distinctions of rank on the model – nothing on his sleeves, nothing on his legs. His shabraque is completely plain with no detail and his scabbard and sabretache are straight up and down as though the man was stood completely still and yet his horse is preactically flying and so is he! It is the same with his Adc – dynamic pose and horse, but from the waist down nothing. AND the arms have come off both the Adc and the accompanying cuirrassier officer (ditto comments about his scabbard)
I cannot sculpt for toffee, but there is something really disappointing when an artist (Front Rank) sort of only does half a job. Had more imagination been put in to match the vision it would have been an utterly outstanding model. When I started I was determined to do a good job and I am dead pleased with my painting (having said that FR sculpting style does help very much) but have got to the stage wher I have to give up. Its ‘doing my head in’ as young people say. AND no matter what I do I am never going to get a seem -less join on the AdC’s sword arm. Bin or if anyone wants him pay postage and you vcan finish the model at your own leisure.
In this mood I picked up Perry’s General Uxbridge and his light dragoon escort. They have already been through the paintstripper process once. And I thought …No! life is too short.
And I have a dark ages general dude on my table. He is fine but I cannot get his shield right. And I aint paying for decals!
So I am not in a good place as far as my own 28mm figures are.
What I have retrieved from this debacle is this little dio. But I really had to work through some dark places to get it finished. I thought only writers suffered with block…
I have had it in mind to convert something AB into the Light Horse Lancers of Berg for quite a while and so I picked up half a dozen Polish Uhlans for that very job. The Lancers of the Guard would not work as the troopers all had pointed shabraques, whereas the Berg Light Horse rode with light horse saddlery the same as the line chasseurs and line lancers.
The officers may have had either.
Also none of ABs lancers are dressed in campaign dress with rolled overcoats and pictures of the Berg regiment with blanket/overcoat rolls have always caught my eye.
So 4 Vistula Uhlans, a trumpeter and an officer.
All epaulettes and fancy lace and cords were removed from all the figures
All needed Czapzka covers. Off came all the detail and a thin film of milliput and/or greenstuf applied. I tried to ‘suggest’ the folds etc in the putty but it was a difficult job. Another problem was not to increase the size of the head gear which looks fine to me though painting might reveal a horror.
More putty was used for the blanket/overcoat rolls over the right shoulder and under the riding arm with the ends over the hilt of the sword. I think that these ‘roll’s were very much more substantial as to simply be flattened by the left arm, but there is really nothing I could do short of lifting up that arm from the body for it to rest on a ‘bulkier’ overcoat. This would have caused much buggeration (sounds a lot like a certain Russian General!) so was not done. I can live with the result.
Cast lances were removed hands and lance buckets drilled out and replaced with brass rod which had had lance points cut and filed. The pennants were enclosed in the little cover, and the lance grip modelled in putty.
The trumpeter got a new trumpet cord to go over his overcoat roll.
The Officers shabraque had its rear corners removed and remodelled with them folded as would have been the case in action.
In the photo you get the idea of the areas worked on. I may have to revisit the czapzka covers and the ends of the rolls to make sure that they are straight.
I have had a number of enquiries about explosions both as commissions and as a ‘how to’ with photo’s. I will try to remember to do this.
I think I have nailed the process of doing ‘air-burst’ explosions and am in the process of modelling an exploding tree (!) – beloved of Hollywood I know, but confirmed in eye-witness accounts. Another explosions will also feature a fence or something along that line.
Here are three versions of the same of thing more or less. I had these boys knocking around for a while whilst the inner workings (of the part of my brain that actually works) did a bit of imagineering (huh?) about how to do the explosions.
Looking at paintings of troops in battle and to a lesser extent film of explosions its quite clear that when a Napoleonic howitzer shell explodes it caused a lot of noise a great deal of smoke full of bits of soil, grass and chunks of iron – most of which seemed to miss people, and really not much else. Casualties appear to be knocked down rather than blown up into the sky.
Scary – very much, a hazard to most, but deadly to only a few. The conundrum was to model something that could clearly cause death or serious injury to the soldiers on the base, but looked fleeting or ‘wil’o’the wisp’ like – soon dissipated.
I think I have got it just about right with the skills I have.
It starts as a small ball of milliput drilled to take some small pieces of white pipe cleaner. This assembly is painted yellow with bits of black and mid grey. Once stuck to the base, with the pipe cleaners pointing in various directions I took some wool. This particular wool is actually Harris Tweed wool picked up last year. It has some lovely colours in it browns blues greens and off whites. These were glues around the base of the blast and teased out until the threads were very open and you could just see the ‘yellow’ of the explosion. Above and around this I put some stuff called Kapok which is very fine open weave cotton (actually I am not actually sure it is woven as such) Its sort of like teddy bear stuffing but much less dense. It is white or off white so I coloured it greyish in patches.Once fixed in place it was further teased out.
White glue was dotted around all over and used dried tea leaves scattered liberally over. Some catch the glue others find themselves stuck in the fibres.I tried to glue some lumps of garden earth on it took but they didn’t take.
I glued scatter and flock to paper painted brown, and cut very small bits off this and glued these on to the smoke to simulate disturbed clods.
The kicker is to work out how to do this in 18mm scale!!! and the pics together with some recently completed sacrifices to eBay.
A long time ago, in the early 80’s my wargaming life changed completely. At the time, I, along with most other gamers it seemed, was locked into WRG style rules. We were all masochists back then. We knew they were crap and badly written, the cause of arguments that could spoil a Sunday afternoon and they created an arms race every bit as financially draining as the Cold War.
Moreover, we could not stop inflicting these horrors on ourselves week after week.
Then at Sheffield Triples 1981, our poor sinner’s lives were illuminated by the golden rays of ‘Empire’ by Bowden and Getz.
I hadn’t taken too much notice of Napoleonic’s until that point. I had always been bowled over by the sight of Richard Lawrence’s immense Napoleonic collection, but trying to ‘game’ those wars didn’t work for me at all.
And then…
Suddenly I was in a gaming heaven. Stuff I had read about in Chandler or Petre or Lachouque could actually be reproduced with toy soldiers. Richard and I sold our souls, and our ancients and renaissance figures, and poured gold into 15mm Napoleonics.
Alongside of this was the requirement for more knowledge and at the forefront of this was a strange little magazine from the U.S. – Empires Eagles and Lions, written by the New Jersey Association of War gamers. Guys just like us!
These fellows didn’t use Empire, and perhaps didn’t even like it, but their little magazine was chock full of inspiration and information. Every other month or so we waited eagerly for EEL to come from the States (via Caliver Books?). It always had a good mix of information that we couldn’t just get hold of: – and these people were in New Jersey for Pete’s sake! It was full of humour, uniform information and genuinely entertaining battle game reports.
I think we were quite jealous that this small crew could produce so much. Our gaming group at the time consisted of three people who actually bought books on the period and half a dozen that were happy simply to turn up on a Sunday to have a laugh and a good game.
I used to daydream that one day everyone at our group would develop a deep interest in the period and contribute to our knowledge. Alas, this was not to be.
So why this little essay?
Well some generous soul has pdf’fed Empires Eagles and Lions and put them on line. I don’t know if it is Jean Lochet the old editor of EEL or what.
With the Russians more or less out of the way it has been time to revisit the Landsknechts. So two command stands follow.
As usual flags are painted. Both are made up. I dont know what flags they may have carried. However, I am bored with some of the specimens often shown. The Doppel Adler or whatever, and the usual few southern German city arms are fine, but I am not convinced that as mercenaries they would have carried these unless employed by those places. It’s an arcane subject area. I don’t doubt that there are good descriptions/illustrations out there, its just that the wargaming community (and me!) haven’t found them yet
The one for the chaps in white was inspired by Durer’s Ship of Fools they have a flag with the head of a “Narr” on it. The other is from some coat of arms I have a picture of. Its sort of Imperial, without claiming too much authority. I am sure it’s German.
The drummer has glasses on. Almost without exception I have seen these painted as blue with highlights, as though reflecting the sea. These tend to have been painted by foundry fanbois. They don’t look like this. Generally all you can see is an approximation of the wearers face – a smudge of pink. So this is how I have done mine. Wouldn’t look good on the front of a Magazine of course but I do try to keep things more or less accurate here at Atelier-Robin. (rant over)
I am both happy with and unhappy with the dudes in all white, perhaps the underclothing showing through the slits ought to have been lighter, or some sort of bluey- grey. I just happen to think that pale browns look fine.
The figures are from Pro Gloria and are rather nice. I am doing the vignette of the dice players at the moment.
The Company of fools
Next up appears to be some miscellaneous Napoleonic 28mm that I have had around for a while. It may be that they are straight to eBay releases rather than appearing here!
These two bases are for sale. I’d rather not do eBay so if they tickle your fancy contact me direct!
Once again technology has the better of me the photographs really are crap and really they are quite bright and breezy. They have turned out very nice. I think it is the combination of green and grey and then that pink that the French were so fond of.
Atelier-Robin 
