Medieval Scandinavia

[Engel]

I have started to paint some medieval Swedish troops but had the intensions maybe include soldiers from Norway and Denmark later on. We will see exactly how this thread will develop.


A friend of my told me he had just ordered a box of Norman infantry from Conquest Games and that he always wanted to do a sort of skirmish game and paint some Danes.

I thought to myself: -Hang on; I got some of those lying around at home as left over bits from my Norsemen project. These could work perfectly, and this time I don’t need to convert them so much.

And with some troops painted I think its time to reveal them to you all.
And I started painting. I have to admit it was kind of fun to paint these.


I started to paint some casualties marker as I wanted to try out some new bases I got.



More picture at http://kampgruppe-engel.blogspot.se/2013/09/casualties.html


These were fun so I continued with some cavalry.



More pictures at http://kampgruppe-engel.blogspot.se/2013/09/swedish-medieval-light-cavalry.html


And later some mixed infantry.



More pictures at http://kampgruppe-engel.blogspot.se/2013/09/medieval-infantry.html



For the painting I thought that I would try to keep it as brown and dirty as I could but still include some colors.
The color choice of blue and white are meant to represent Swedish troops from the House of Eric .

My initial plan is to paint up some Sverkers, Folkunga and troops from Denmark and Norway but we will see how good I can follow that plan.
Another idea I have is to get a later force and instead focusing on say Northern Crusade or something like that. The plan is to keep much of the miniatures rather generic so I can use them for different factions or settings.


Some quick wikipedia links for those of you that want to catch up on history.
Erikar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Eric
Sverkar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Sverker
Folkungar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Bjelbo


I had these Brettonian archers that Ive painted previously and they were added to this project.



More pictures at:
http://kampgruppe-engel.blogspot.se/2012/11/archers-ready-aim-fire.html

http://kampgruppe-engel.blogspot.se/2012/11/medieaval-archers.html


For rules, I’m not sure yet. I got Hail Caesar at home so that could be an idea for larger games later on, but for skirmish games I’m rather open. I had an idea of trying out Songs of Blades and heroes but skipping all things magical or fantasy.



Here are my whole collection at the moment.



More pictures at http://kampgruppe-engel.blogspot.se/2013/10/medieval-force.html

[pocoloco]

Mighty fine looking collection already! 

Your chosen colour palette looks good, spot on for the grim North, nothing too fancy and colourful what the pansy Middle Europeans had

Keen to see this project to expand, keep 'em coming and your sword blade... erm, brush edge sharp.

[galvinm]

Looks great. When can we expect to see Arn Magnusson?

[Engel]

Thanks.


Galvin> Ohh I´ll try to keep this alitle more historical then that. I didn´t know the Arn movie was known outside Scandinavia.

Nice inspirational movie atleast. Very good movie props.

[DoctorPete]

Nice looking group you have there.   

[janner]

What a great little project 

[Druzhina]

12th century Scandinavian Knights
The Baldishol Tapestry, 12th century
The Scandinavian knight on the Baldishol Tapestry


The upper knight on the Valthjofsstadir church door, c. 1200 AD
The lower knight on the Valthjofsstadir door
Scandinavian knights by Ian Heath based on the Baldishol Tapestry & Valthjofsstadir door

Sigurd kills Regin, a carving from a stave church, Norway, 12th century
& a detail of the helmet worn by Sigurd
Scandinavian Militia by Ian Heath based on Sigurd kills Regin

Druzhina
Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

[galvinm]

Arn is on Netflix. That is how I saw it, then bought a copy from my local Walmart.

Very good movie. Highly recommended.

[commissarmoody]

Yeah Arn is a pretty good movie.

[Bugsda]

Excellent! Love the Arn films, even read the books.   

[Dr. Zombie]

A friend of mine supplied all the weapons to the Arn film.
http://www.albion-europe.com/search/model.aspx?model=156
There is a scene in the movie where all the Templars kneel to pray before battle and the camera pans over them showing off pretty much the whole Albion sword product line.

And I was actually an extra in the movie. Unfortunately I could not go to morocco to take part in the battles in the holy land who were actually filmed on the same set as Kingdom of heaven. But I took part in the Scandinavian battles.


Oh and so as to not derail this thread completely. The painting is very good I have long been tempted to do something similar.

[von Lucky]

Lovely painting - this looks like it'll be as good as yoru other projects. I will eagerly follow.

Also notch me up as another fan of the Arn books and film. A Swedish friend got me onto them.

[Engel]

A big thanks to you all for those encouraging words.

And a special thanks to Druzina for those links and references.
Ive seen some of those before but that is some excellent references and Im sure some of them will help me in this project.
Thanks for taking the time to post them.

[Druzhina]

12th century Scandinavian warriors:
Wood carvings of the Saga of the Volsungs: The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer, from the portal of Hylestad stave church, Setesdal, Norway, 12th century
. Sigurd and Regin forge the sword Gram
. Sigurd slays Fafnir the dragon
. Sigurd roasts the heart of the dragon
& a Scandinavian Militiaman by Ian Heath based on Sigurd the Dragon Slayer

There is also
'Massacre of the Innocents' on the Altar from Broddetorp Parish Church, 12th century, Västergötland, Sweden
on which Ian Heath based a Scandinavian lamellar corselet, but David Nicolle doesn't think this is a useful source.

Mirror site
Wood carvings of the Saga of the Volsungs: The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer, from the portal of Hylestad stave church, Setesdal, Norway, 12th century

Druzhina
Illustrations of Scandinavian Costume and Soldiers

[Engel]

Thanks for the links Druzina.


I converted and painted a new small group of mixed infantry. The minatures are mix of diffrents parts and makers.

More pictures at: http://kampgruppe-engel.blogspot.se/2013/10/medieval-infantry-of-folke-jarl.html





They are painted with the intension of belonging to the troops of Folke Birgersson, one of the sons of Birger Jarl and belonging to the house of Folkunga.

After the battle of Lena 1208 where his brother Knut Birgersson the current Jarl of Sweden fell, the victorious Erik Knutsson elected him to be his Jarl. An appointment that should be short lived as Folke Birgersson died at the battle of Gestilren 1210.