Heading Overseas with the Baron’s War

An addition of a bit of terrain to this project. Oshiro Model Terrain ran a Kickstarter earlier this year for a modular Arabic shrine. It arrived a bit late for Terrain Fest, but done now.

It’s quite a nice set of resin, accompanied with a little tomb inside and a stone well. The painting won’t win any awards, but the end result looks okay enough.

Last but not least for this project is the Islamic banner bearer. This chap was painted at the same time as his commander, but I then had to tackle his flag.

This flag has been probably the most intimidating part of the whole project. Looking at images of designs from the period, they are very much based around intricately stylised text forming elaborate patterns that quite frankly is beyond my skill to replicate, particularly as I would need to repeat the design four times (two identical flags, with the design repeated on both sides). I did consider buying a premade flag, but felt that it would be a bit disappointing if I  didn’t try to make something myself considering all the freehand shield designs etc.

I decided to completely ignore any historical sources and designed a relatively easy to replicate geometric pattern that fitted well with some of the shield designs I had painted.

And that’s the end of my project (at least until more figures get made for the range…).  I’ll look to get some full army photos taken soon, but thanks to everyone who has followed along and provided extra motivation with kind comments and positivity. It has certainly helped keep me on track and not get too sidetracked with other things.

Considering how bright and colourful my Islamic forces have turned out, I wanted their leader to be suitably attired. The yellow cloak isn’t quite where I want it, but I’m pretty happy with the end result. I decided to decorate his shield with the colours of the mat I’ve been photographing everything on as a reminder for my later self.

Four medium cavalry, more armoured than the light cavalry, but without the bows to harass and skirmish against the Crusader States.

One of things I really admire about the Baron’s War range is the dual character packs, which have both on foot and mounted versions of the same figure. This Imam is no exception, and it’s quite enjoyable to try and match the painting on both models.

Second batch of six spearmen all finished, with the end of the project firmly in sight – just ten figures left to go now.

First batch of Islamic spearmen are done. I probably went overboard on the shields considering these are essentially just levy troops, but it was quite a lot of fun finding some interesting designs and practising some freehand details.

A few Islamic light cavalry to harass and skirmish around the heavy Frankish knights. Whilst they’re all armed with bows, there’s a nice mix of models both shooting and engaging in melee.