SAGA - Normans with a difference!

[delbruck]

The Gripping Beast "Arab" cavalry should prove to be very useful.

It appears you can never have too many plastic kits.

A couple weeks ago I got the idea of snipping some heads off Foundry Arthurians and replacing them with GB plastic Saxon hirdmen heads (in late Roman style helmets). I have to say I am very happy with the results. Of course, that minor conversion was nothing campared to your Sicilian Normans. I am really impressed by your work.

[Admiral Benbow]

Great conversion work! 

[area23]

Excellent! I'm living for ten years now in southern Italy and I'm becoming more and more obsessed with the Normans.

[duivelindoosje]

very nice conversions, love to see them painted

[Shirer]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! Hoping to get some more pics up later - I'm now up to the 5 point mark, although as yet I still don't have my warlord sorted.

The Gripping Beast "Arab" cavalry should prove to be very useful.

Definitely, I'm getting a box of the heavy cavalry ordered as soon as they're up on the webstore. They're going to become my Byzantine hearthguard, I think.

Great idea. I always particularly loved that Angus McBride painting of the Normans splashing ashore in Sicily.
Nice kitbashing too. Some good creations there.

Thanks - that picture was the inspiration behind the whole force really! It sums up the potential variety of the force with the Muslim archer on the ship, too.

Excellent! I'm living for ten years now in southern Italy and I'm becoming more and more obsessed with the Normans.

It's a fascinating topic. I was reading the other day about Harald Hardrada's interactions with the Normans in Italy - first as allies, then as enemies. Opens up more possibilities in terms of how I put the Byzantine army together, too!

[Shirer]

Here are the mounted warriors and second hearthguard for the Normans. I'm going to add another unit of mounted warriors eventually to make the complete 6 points - giving me 2x hearthguard, 2x mounted warriors, 1x crossbow warriors and 1x levy archers.

[Hupp n at em]

Great conversions!  Really looking forward to the rest of the forces. 

[Shirer]

Great conversions!  Really looking forward to the rest of the forces. 

Thanks! Going to get myself another sprue of Conquest Norman knights to build as 4 more hearthguard.

The list for 6 points I'm going to start out with will be:

Mounted Warlord
8 Hearthguard
4 Hearthguard
8 Mounted warriors
8 Crossbow warriors
12 levy archers

We'll see how that gets on! Looking forward to getting started on painting these now.

[DrunkenSamurai]

Those are some really great conversions.  These ideas would work for Spanish El Cid armies.  THis is why I love plastic models.  This is so much easier to do now.

[Miantanomo]

These are really good looking! I cant wait to see them all painted up!

[Sendak]

Normans in Sicily is a fascinating history.  I have two armies one a Sucilo-Norman army and a rival Sucilo-Emirates army. 

It is intriguing to consider a Byzantine army that would 'force' an Sucilo-alliance to oppose the 'Greeks'.

[Atheling]

Great conversions! 

As I said earlier, this is of great interest to me as I have a substantial Italo-Norman army and the adventures of Robert Guiscard are of great interest too. It will be interesting to see what scenarios you decide to use with this smaller force.

Regards,
Darrell.

[Shirer]

Those are some really great conversions.  These ideas would work for Spanish El Cid armies.  THis is why I love plastic models.  This is so much easier to do now.

Yeah, me too! I did think that these would be pretty interchangeable in terms of using them for a Spanish warband, but I think I'll wait before attempting to play them as their battleboard seems fairly complicated!


I'm hoping to get some of the models painted over the bank holiday weekend - in the meantime I've made up another unit, who could pass for either warriors or Flemish mercenaries. I think I'd use them as the latter - I've read that the Normans used Flemish mercenaries in their Italian campaigns, and they could always count as another heavily-armed unit of mercenary spearmen recruited elsewhere.

[fred]

Very nice work.

I think I need to get a box (or two) of Fireforge figures, as they seem to work very well with the other plastics.

[rumacara]

Looking very good.
With imagination almost all the plastic kits are interchangeable some times with help of green stuff.
If you dont know these books do please read them. They are a most for your project:

Mercenaries, Warriors, Conquest from Jack Ludlow.
About the de Hauteville family.