28mm Dark Age Goth-Alani cavalry I

Gothic Alani Cavalry I

Next unit to join my Breton army are some Alani-Goth cavalry from the Footsore range. These. Will be for my later 5th century Armorican army, but I will possibly also use them for Goths, Visigoths or Burgundians.

The Vandals, Alani (including Sarmation confederation tribes) and other confederate Germans crossed the Rhine in 406AD pushing far into western Roman territory. Alan tribes settled along the Loire and up the Sarthe river beyond Le Mans and west to the Mayenne river. Many place names in the Pays de la Loire region still relate to this period of 40 odd years of occupation. This I believe also lead to the unique horse breeds in western Pays de la Loire

The Alani leader Goar agreed with the romans to ally with them and in 440 the Alan's were gifted Orleans and the lower And Upper Loire to act as a buffer in the west with the Bucaudae of Armorica, and to the south the Visigoths and Burgundians. The Alani also played in the internal politics of the western empire supporting Jovinus as emperor 411-13. The Alani had contingents in the Roman army at Chalons against the Huns and again at at Orleans against the Visigoths. Contingents were still with the Roman army at Soissons, and retreated to Armorica after the defeat, coming to terms with Clovis and the Franks, becoming part of the Merovingian and Carolingian empires.

Ammianus Marcellinus writes their military customs resemble the Huns "they enter battle drawn up in a wedge shaped masses, while their medley of voices make a savage noise". The Alans like the Huns disliked fighting on foot, and unlike the Huns they seemed to have utilised armour for themselves and their horses.

References
Alans in Gaul Bernard S Bachrach.
The History of the Alans in the West Bernard S Bachrach 
Long Haired Kings JM Wallac-Hadrill
Rerum Gestartum libri qui supersunt XXXI 2,21. Ammianus Marcellinus. 

"walk the battlefield in the morning, wargame in the afternoon"™

cheers

Matt

TTSFN part five and six

Total Terrain System For Now 

Part 5 added tree stumps and drybrushed some more, then taped the edges of the board

Part six

Sacrificed several teddy bears, clipped, cut and hot glued down the fur, more clippings, then some airbrushing, quite happy with my results so far, loads more to do yet though 

Cheers

Matt

TTSFN part two modular terrain

Total Terrain System For Now 

Modular Normandy Table part two

More work today on the table, of my Normandy Bocage modular table, lots more to complete before I finish. 

Cheers

Matt

TTSFN modular wargames table

Total Terrain System For Now.

Building a modular wargames table. 

We are having a rest break at the moment as we have had back to back visitors at the B and B for the last two weeks. I decided to finally get myself sorted out and add some more terrain tiles to my collection, these are specifically built for Normandy and Mayenne Bocage for 20mm and 28mm games, but more suited for 20mm. I have a table just over 5 meters in length and 1.8m wide to complete over the next month or two. So to begin with I am doing four 1200mm x 600mm tiles of ww2 specific + a number of 600 x 600 ww2 specific before I move onto adding a few pieces for medieval and ancients specific table.

All of the tiles were made on mdf board with timber edging, polystyrene centre and hills, then paper plaster mix to smooth out the hills. I will be adding magnets and door strips to make the joints more seamless. On top of the table tile grout was used as the road base, which I will paint and add roadside bits. The bocage edge is permanent on these four tables but the hedges and fences will be removable. My 20mm and 28mm buildings were laid out to achieve maximum flexibility.

Hopefully all going well be playing on them this weekend

Cheers
Matt

28mm Royal Catholic Army Chouan skirmishers

While I wait for the Revolutionary Armies Vendee range to release I dived into my figure stash and pulled some Perry AWI skirmishing southern militia figures, sculpted feathers and cockades and the odd Vendee heart badge. Then painted them in two batchs, and based them. I have completed the first 12 with a further 12 on the table at the moment. These will act as a stand alone skirmish line  for British Grenadier rules until I complete mine.

The Mayenne (old Maine) Department of Pays de la Loire was the hotbed of the Chouan revolt against the Revolutionary government. We have 63 skirmishes and battles within a hour of the Maison. After the defeat of the Vendee the Chouan kept up the fight against the revolutionary government and then Napoleon tying down several divisions in western France.

We conduct tours of a number of the battlefield sites and visit the museums and a private collection as part of our "walk the battlefield in the morning and wargame it in the afternoon"© our French tour and wargame holiday packages.

28mm Royal Catholic Armee Vendee rebellion

Another current project is to increase the size of my Royal Catholic Armee for the French Revolution.  My current Vendee/Chouan collection is quite small, mostly because of the lack of suitable figures, I have all of the Foundry sculpts but they are quite limited and small true 25mm compared to current 28mm miniatures. I have been helping the guys at Revolutionary Armies range to complete a better and wider range of miniatures for the Vendee war. Excited to say that the initial sculpts are completed and at Griffin moulds being mastered at the moment a total of 72 individual miniatures, armed with muskets, swords, assorted pikes and farm implements will be produced for the Revolutionary mob and the Royal Catholic Army.

My plan is to build my army for the big battle of Entrammes which is 35klms away from our Maison. The battlefield is largely unspoilt so it can be walked, as part of our "walk the battlefield in the morning, then Wargame it in the afternoon"© tours, plus two other large skirmishes at  Croix-Bataille and the city of Laval.

The 28mm Revolutionary Armies range is now available from the Emperors Toad Emporium  and includes a wide and complete range of armies from early Revolution through to 1806.

Firing line