Monday, July 5, 2010

The First Crusade

Earlier in the year I purchased some Crusader miniatures 28mm Norman crossbowmen and spearmen, which were to be used as the start of the Norman force for my 1066 armies. However, painting up the Numidians got me inspired to carry on the desert theme so while waiting for the next batch of Numidians to arrive decided to paint up the Normans as the start of a First Crusade force.

I painted these up last night and will paint up the 2x units of spears tonight. Of coruse this means I've had to order the knights (Crusader and also Black Tree design- which I've never tried but are on special so thought I'd get a few packs to sample this line) and also some Syrians to oppose them,.

The Syrians (IV/6) are one of my favourite DBA armies and I've enjoyed using my 15mm version but have decided to upsize them to 28mm. So I've another couple of projects to add to the ever growing list. For the Syrians I'm using a mixture of Perry figures and Old Glory (mainly for the Cavalry units), we'll soon know how well they mix. I have never bought Perry but decided their infantry figures in their Crusades- Muslim Armies range exactly what I need.

I've designed both armies to start with 250 pts for Impetus but that is also similar in size to the DBA army and tried to keep closely to the units in the DBA list as well so that I can use them for either ruleset. I do prefer Impetus these days (and will be having a game of Numidians vs Imperial Romans using he full rules this Wednesday night at the club) but want to be able to sue them for either.

Here are the first two units of Crusaders.








Craig

4 comments:

  1. Looking good Craig. I have good things about the Crusader line as a good balance of quality and value.

    We will be expecting a review of full Impetus in action. :)

    Cheers

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  2. Kent and I enjoyed our game of BI a couple of weeks back and I'm looking forward to adding skirmishers etc this week and see how it goes.

    I do like the Crusader figures I've bought but at about twice the price of OG still aren't convinced that they are the best value. OG gets some bad press but was pretty happy with the Welsh and Scots so hopefully the Muslim(Syrian) Cav looks alright.

    It is usually a bit of a punt the first order to see if you like the look of the figures range (as well as ensuring they fit the other ranges you've got).

    Craig

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  3. Looking like a good start :-)

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  4. I've been using your army on the WAB forums (amongst others) for inspiration. I painted 2x units of spears last night, now just have to wait for the spears to arrive for them, and am working on the shields.

    Craig

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