Stephen and Matilda - hive mind advice needed

[Shaun1969]

Hi all,

I'm looking for any links to useful information to the forces involved... I have been given a mix of crusade era troops, war of the roses and agincort troops with a brief of Stephen and Matilda era colours/liveries in groups of 4 MAA and archers, crossbows and a mix of FMH cavalry and chainmail spearmen...

I've a feelin it's a very wide period range ( and inaccurate mix ) of troop types and will be more a Dragon Rampant warband affair...

But the brief is Stephen and Matilda... So anything that gives me a chance

Yes I have googled but there doesn't appear to be any pictorially useful offerings

Cheers

Shaun

[fred]

Claymore castings would be worth a look.

[julesav]

I wanted to game this era and found that it is rather poorly represented amongst figure ranges. The WotR and HYW figures you have are very anachronistic for an historical project. That said, if it's a commission, then 'the customer is always right' applies!

[westwaller]

Shouldn't your client provide you with some material? I was going to recommend Jim Bradbury's book on the subject, but I guess you probably don't want to read a whole book for a bit of info, so iirc their is a French website called something like Early Emblazon? that I seem to remember I looked at a few years ago and it had some info on this period.

I remember it was a bit 'buggy' so maybe make sure all your internet security what nots are up to date, before embarking...

If you use the lead adventure search facility, you may find that you can get more info on the site, as it has been mentioned on here a few times

Sorry I cant be of more help, best of luck with your searching 

[westwaller]

Correction...its called earlyblazon 

[A Lot of Gaul]

The Anarchy, i.e. the civil war between Stephen of Blois and Empress Matilda/Maude took place from 1135-1154, so the combatants would have looked like a mixture of later Norman and early Crusader warriors. No men-at-arms from Agincourt or the WoTR, and no household badges or liveries.

Here is a near-contemporary image of King Stephen and some of his warriors at the Battle of Lincoln in 1141:



Here is a modern-day stamp that was issued to commemorate the conflict between Stephen and Matilda:



And here is a link to a PDF of a series of 2010 Wargames Illustrated articles about wargaming three Norman battles from 1141-1143, including the Battle of Lincoln:

http://www.flamesofwar.com/Portals/0/Documents/WargamesIllustrated/Three-Norman-Battles.pdf

Not much to go on, I agree. But then, your client has presented you with quite the challenge!  

Cheers,
Scott

[emosbur]

This pack from Black Tree miniatures may be useful to you:

http://eoeorbisuk.com/collections/feudal/products/fd1010-king-stephen-queen-matilda-henry-ii-and-thomas-abeckett-4?variant=4539106563

[Shaun1969]

Cheers guys

I've sourced some figures myself for the client and have gone with perry crusades as near enough period accurate

The ones provided that are out of period... I'll paint as they should be, knowing they are time travelling and wearing state of the art equipment ... Probably european mercenaries

Have some liveries and coat of arms diagrams from 1280s that I will dumb down to use for warbands

Been given a bit of Franken-project I feel... Still they ain't elves or formor.... Oh wait that's for my other customer

Thanks all

[Captain Blood]

Claymore castings would be worth a look.

I think they are a couple of centuries out, nice as they are. Stephen was born only a couple of decades after the Norman Conquest. His war with Matilda is basically a late Norman affair. Bannockburn era knights and infantry would not be right. If you think of classic crusaders - Richard Lionheart at the Battle of Arsuf - well Stephen is a good 50 years before that even...

[westwaller]

Blacktree designs 2nd crusade range are the right period 

[Garanhir]

You'd probably be all right with some of the Curteys figures, too.