Early Medieval Magyar Heavy Cavalry - test fig

Because I don't have enough on my plate, I'm looking at putting together a Magyar army. This is a proof-of-concept using a Gripping Beast Heavy Arab Cavalry horse, legs and body, GB Viking arms, a Conquest Games Norman head, and plenty of greenstuff.

I think this worked out pretty well, the light cavalry and most of the infantry should also be convertible from GB Arabs.

here's a Mirza

The Tatars needed a commander, so I built one. The body and horse are Conquest Games Norman, the head is WGF Celt, the Arms are WGF Persian, and the bow+quiver is from Games Workshop High Elves. The helmet spire, helmet chainmail, torso plating, and bits of cloak over the legs are all greenstuffed.

The nice thing about only painting to a basic tabletop standard is that I can do so even if I'm pretty drunk.

Not so much variety here lately...

Guess what I'm posting today!

More WiP Pancerni (I'm on a roll!)

Six more normal Pancerni here.

And then, two unit leaders and a musician. The musician was easy, just a Warlord Games cavalry trumpeter arm. I will eventually make a kettledrummer for the other musician, that will be a bit more involved. The commanders are both wearing scale mail. At first I didn't know what to do with the one scale-armored body in the Normans box, but then I remembered seeing something about scale armor as a "Sarmatist" affectation for Commonwealth officers, something like this or some of these. So, I decided to use the scaled Norman after all, and a random Rohan guy too.

Now, these guys will probably need a little more embellishment before they look properly "Sarmatian", and I think the golden age of Sarmatism was during Jan III Sobieski's reign, not Jan II Casimir's which is the era I'm theoretically collecting, but I'd rather be slightly anachronistic than waste a couple perfectly good bodies.

some finished pancerni

These guys are the most fun I've had converting since I first figured out how to make Cossacks from Zouaves. More to come.

Pancerni WiP

I converted my first pancerni from Wargames Factory Celt cavalry with WSS arms and horses. I think I did reasonably well despite the soft detail and awkward posing, but I think this newer kitbash (with Conquest Games Normans and Perry Zouave heads, and obviously some greenstuff) is going to turn out much better. I still need to fill some gaps and add pistol holsters before painting, which will hopefully happen tomorrow.

another helping of Tatars

It's the holiday season, so seconds are encouraged!

Constructed as before, except that the unit leader has an ACW sword-arm and a Conquest Games Norman body. I believe the Tatars did sometimes wear padded/quilted armor, but the pictures I've seen show a vertical stripe pattern, not diamonds like here. Also the sleeves on the padded coat probably ought to be full-length.

Like a doofus, I forgot to take a picture of all eight Tatars together. Ah well, maybe tomorrow.

Horses comparison (version 2)

After some constructive criticism, I decided to redo the horse comparison. This time around I've limited myself to the ones that can be purchased on their own, without riders. I've also used scraps of cardboard to compensate for different base thicknesses. Prices in US dollars, unless unavailable.

GW medieval horse - $15.00 for 5 horses, available here

Warlord Pike & Shotte horse - $6.50 for 4 horses, available here

Conquest Games Norman horse - £3.50 for 3 horses, £10.00 for 9 horses, or £16.25 for 15 horses, available here

Wargames Factory "feral" horse - $3.60 for 12 horses (possibly limited time offer), available here. Note: no tack at all

Wargames Factory ancients pony - $3.95 for 3 horses, available here. Note: no saddles