Heading Overseas with the Baron’s War
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About the Project
Painting up all the figures for the Baron's War: Outremer.
Related Game: The Barons' War
Related Company: Footsore Miniatures and Games
Related Genre: Historical
This Project is Active
Getting Started
Back in May last year, the latest iteration of the Baron’s War was Kickstarted, featuring lots of fantastic sculpts by the very talented Paul Hicks. The Baron’s War range had been tempting me for a while, and this new setting seemed like a great jumping on point. I quickly moved from a smallish pledge for a handful of models to jumping all in, figuring that this would make a great new project for 2023.
At the start of Feb a big cardboard box arrived packed with models. The plan is to get them all painted this year. There’s roughly 100 figures all told, about a third of which are mounted, so theoretically a manageable amount if I don’t get too distracted by other things…
Broadly speaking there’s two core factions, Christian Military Orders and Muslims, although there’s a bit of other things for the period of the Crusader States such as Turcopoles and pilgrims. I’m leaning into Knights Hospitaller for the Military Order models, and will probably tackle them first before getting stuck into the more colourful options for the Muslims.
Work in Progress Pilgrims & Knights
I’m waiting for some basing material to arrive, so frustratingly cannot finish any models yet. However I have been cracking on with painting.
First up were the armed pilgrims and a pilgrim monk. I tried to keep the colour tones fairly muted and plain, and I’ll likely weather them up a bit with dust when basing.
I’ve also got half a dozen Knights Hospitaller on foot finished (again bar some likely weathering with the basing). I wanted to make their black robes look a bit worn, but avoiding making them too grey, and I’m quite happy with the end result. I’ll write up more details about the process when they’re finished, as painting black can be a pain (although I find it easier than painting white, which is why these are Hospitallers rather than Templars or Teutonic Knights!)
Paint it Black
When I start a new project, I normally try to find something within it that is a bit different to challenge myself. For this project, it was either going to be painting white or black in a consistent and relatively easy way, both potentially challenging colours to paint. I decided I wanted my knights to be Hospitallers, so black is flavour of the moment.
This is a quick step-by-step of my method, more to act as a memory aid than anything else. I use four paints:
- Vallejo model colour Dark Sea Blue
- Vallejo model colour Black
- Vallejo Black wash
- Citadel Deepkin Flesh
I think this worked quite well to give some worn looking black robes, without them looking too grey. If any of the highlights ended up too jarring, a black glaze can knock the colour back. Painting under good light is fairly important for the highlight steps.
Finished Pilgrims
Finally got these finished. Went with a really fast and simple base scheme, with just the odd dry grass tuft or bush to keep them looking dry and arid.
Finished Foot Knights
Got these chaps all based up and finished as well. Pretty happy with the end result, and they should contrast quite starkly against the more colourful Islamic figures.
Mounted knights are next up on the painting table.
Mounted Hospitallers
Just finished up the first batch of the mounted counterparts to the foot knights. Almost getting bored of painting black now, but very happy I didn’t go for the white of the Templars, as I would probably be struggling even more. Luckily, there’s not many more knightly order figures left now – a few more mounted Knights plus some characters.
More Mounted Hospitallers
Another three Knights Hospitaller done. I had a week away on holiday, so found a bit more enthusiasm for finishing the black on these chaps after some time away from the painting table. A nice reminder that a break is sometimes just what you need to make progress.
Knight Commander and Gonfalonier
The Holy Relic
Turcopole Guide
Islamic Archers
With the Hospitallers done, it’s time to break out the colours for the Islamic forces. I had a look at quite a few pictures and paintings, and got a sense that I could pretty much get away with whatever colours I wanted, as long as they leaned towards being bright.
For these archers, I did my usual thing for non-uniformed troops – pick 3-4 colours, varying which item of clothing got painted with each colour, whilst keeping equipment like quivers and bows consistent. I think it provides some degree of coherency without uniformity.
Islamic Archers II
Another six archers finished, following the same approach as in the last post. Quite a colourful end result, but with a degree of coherency across all 12 figures.
Mounted Sergeants
I had completely forgotten that there were a pair of mounted sergeants in the Outremer range, so I hadn’t quite managed to get all the Hospitallers done after all. I gave these two slightly more colourful attire than the full brothers of the order, but trying to keep it more restrained comparative to the Islamic forces.
Turcopoles
The Frankish Crusaders came from a culture that no tradition of mounted archers, primarily due to the broken and wooded terrain that characterised Western Europe. This is in stark contrast to the open landscape found in Outremer, and the Crusaders were presented with a formidable enemy in the harassing horse archers and light cavalry that they struggled to counter.
The Franks realised their need for light cavalry to screen their heavy knights and to conduct reconnaissance and scouting, and quickly remedied this, with reference to Frankish light cavalry in primary sources already by 1109.
Frankish mounted archers are misleadingly but consistently referred to as “Turcopoles” in the primary sources of the period. Despite the name, which was borrowed from the Byzantines, the term “Turcopole” in the context of the crusader states refers not to an ethnic group but simply to “mounted archers” — of diverse ethnic character.
Based on numbers at 16 different engagements and other references, research has concluded that the Turcopoles made up on average 50% of the mounted force fielded by the Franks. Furthermore, both the Templars and Hospitallers had Turcopoles integrated into their organizations and their Rule carefully accounts for them.
These six are representative of these light cavalry, used to compliment the heavy cavalry of the Hospitallers.
With these six finished, I’m also exactly halfway through painting up the Outremer Kickstarter models.
Assassins
A pair of sneaky individuals belonging to sect of Nizari Ismailis Shia Muslims led by the mythical Old Man of the Mountain. Orginating from Iran, the Assassins held a chain of forts in the Syrain Coastal Mountain range, forming an enclave between the Crusader States of Antioch and Tripoli on one side, and their Sunni Muslim neighbours on the other.
Famed for their use of political assassination, they also engaged in regular warfare, striking alliances with both Christians and Muslims.
Naffatun
Naft (pitch) was often used by Middle Eastern armies. Examples of the ceramic jars that could be lit and thrown like grenades have been found, and were more common than the rarer and more exotic siphons. Although there are historical records of the siphons used to project burning liquid (Greek fire), including depictions in illuminated manuscripts, none have survived.
Islamic Infantry
The first few of the Islamic infantry, these four armed with swords as opposed to the spears the majority will have.
Quite happy with how the shields turned out. Future me will likely be cursing when faced with more shields needing freehand to match later down the line, but that’s a problem for another day.
Mamluk Cavalry
Moving onto the elite of the Islamic forces, the Mamluk cavalry.
Leper Knights of St. Lazarus
Two knights from the Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, also known as the Leper Brothers of Jerusalem. The military order was founded in around 1119 at a leper hospital in Jerusalem, named after its patron saint, Lazarus. It was recognised by the King of Jerusalem in 1142 and canonically recognised as a hospitaller and military order of chivalry in 1255.
Painting this pair reinforced my earlier decision to paint the majority of the knights in Hospitaller black rather than as Templars – white continues to be a challenge for me. I’m not unhappy with the end result, but I would have hit a mental barrier if I had another twenty odd models predominantly white in colour.
Mamluk Champion
Another great character sculpt by Paul Hicks.
I got a bit lost when painting the shield, having to start over a couple of times and having a few moments of doubt about what I was trying to achieve (essentially I needed to brighten up the colours to get good contrast between them). I’m very happy I ploughed on, and although it’s not perfect, I’m quite pleased with the end result.