605th Anniversary of Agincourt 1415

A Henry! A Henry!  

A Oxford! A Oxford!

It was one of those days. From a French perspective, everything that should have happened did not. Ditto from the English perspective. It is safe to say neither Jean II le Meingre Boucicaut nor Henry V were expecting the battle to follow the pattern illustrated in the popular Agincourt Hymn written sometime in the early 15th Century. We now have Jean II le Meingre Boucicaut's plan for the battle which included two attacks by Mounted Men at Arms on the flanks of the Archers. A plan foiled on the day by delays and Henry V taking the initiative and marching forward to a point on the battlefield where his flanks were protected. Or that is the assumption. We do not know if Henry marched forward in an attempt to goad the French into attacking and guard his flanks. That argument will go on for many years to come. That is the way of things.

A Camoys! A Camoys!

Suffice to say:

Deo gratias Anglia redde pro victoria!

[Give thanks, England, to God for victory!]

Owre Kynge went forth to Normandy

With grace and myght of chyvalry

Ther God for hym wrought mervelusly;

Wherefore Englonde may call and cry}}

Chorus

Deo gratias!

Deo gratias Anglia redde pro victoria!

He sette sege, forsothe to say,

To Harflu towne with ryal aray;

That toune he wan and made afray

That Fraunce shal rewe tyl domesday.

Chorus

Then went hym forth, owre king comely,

In Agincourt feld he faught manly;

Throw grace of God most marvelously,

He had both feld and victory.

Chorus

Ther lordys, erles and barone

Were slayne and taken and that full soon,

Ans summe were broght into Lundone

With joye and blisse and gret renone.

Chorus

Almighty God he keep owre kynge,

His people, and alle his well-wyllynge,

And give them grace wythoute endyng;

Then may we call and savely syng:

Chorus^[5]

Facsimile of the Agincourt Carol in the Trinity Carol Roll (Trinity MS O.3.58)

Early Byzantine Skutatoi and Command Base Shots

A couple of shots of the Armoured Skutatoi Shieldwall with the command base specific to that unit.

I would have got more dynamic results if I had been able to set the unit up against a background of suitable terrain but as it is not yet painted up that is a no-no at present. I've got a few Grand Manner pieces that remain unpainted that will stand in as background terrain ASAP but for now I am going to have to make do with a 'blue' background piece of card. The Late Romanesque buildings were originally purchased when the Warhammer Ancient Battles Age of Arthur supplement was released and it is great to know that they will, once painted, now see the light of day!

Skutatoi Shieldwall with Command Base

Skutatoi Shieldwall in Action:

I also took a couple of close up shots of the miniatures that hopefully show the dynamics of the unit; the way in which they appear to be collectively working together in defence. 

Early Byzantine Skutatoi Combined Unit Command Stand

This is the command base that will go with the first of the Armoured Skutatoi unit, The officers have been painted up with the same matching colour scheme the unit they will take charge of. Thanks to the wealth of extra Officers available in the Aventine Miniatures Early Byzantine range each of the units in my army will be officered with a similar command base thus have their own command stand. This is not really necessary in any of the rules I play but hopefully it will be a nice visual touch which will add to the aesthetic. When all this current craziness is over and the army can move out into the world, a bit like a newly born baby (lol), I plan to put on few display games at various local and national shows. More about that later. Battles will include Dara 530 CE, Solachon 583 CE, Taginea 552 CE and Casilinum 554 CE and most likely, others too!

I decided quite early on that the command stands would mostly just have the Draco as a standard. The reason being that they will be moved around the table a lot with the unit they command and unlike the the hand painted cross sectioned banners which benefit from being nice and safely in the middle of a unit and less likely to be broken. This way I hope to prevent some anguish and tears!

The shield transfer is from Little Big Man Studios.

Early Byzantine Skutatoi Combined unit

I have included one model from the Dismounted Bucellarri acting as a Doruphoroi (literally 'spear-bearer') acting as one of the picked men from the Comitatus/Bucellarri being sent off to 'officer' and stiffen the resolve of units when necessary. I thought it a nice little touch and a good use of a spare mini.

Being a line infantry regiment from the lower echelons of society, farmers, craftsmen that sort of thing, I decided that rather than give them a elaborate and colourful Icon style banner it might be more appropriate to give them a simpler Chi Rho. I want to preserve the more laboured and ornamental banners for the elite units in the army, be they infantry such as the Dismounted Bucallarri and the Cavalry Units.

The miniature are again, all from Aventine, are beautifully sculpted and cast in very high quality metal. Very minimal work need to be done on these miniatures except a miniscule amount of filing. 

Despite any reservations I had about basing the miniatures once the pinned shields were attached with the Shieldwall pose; what with the preponderance of shields and spears all facing frontwards, the basing and overall effect has worked out beyond expectation. They really do look like they are steadfastly trying to defend the ground they stand on. Full marks to Adam the sculptor! 

Byzantine Skutatoi Third Rank inc. Command

Not much by way of text in this post but here are a few quick painting table shots of the Third Rank of the Byzantine Skutatoi unit and how they relate to the first two ranks.

The eagle eyed among you might notice that I have used a miniature from the Byzantine Heavy Infantry/Dismounted Bucellarri pack as a Doruphoroi detached from his unit to stiffen up the infantry. For the short of sight among you he is the chap holding the cross section banner lol

Afghan Tribesmen Medium Pace Painting!

This little lot should have been based up a few weeks ago but.... well,  I could not find them! I had individually bubble wrapped each mini, carefully places them in a box with extra bubble wrap then proceeded to lose the box! I suspect that I might not be the first wargamer who has made such an error; answers on a postcard please.....

The first four bases of what will eventually include a very large number of Afghans, including Regulars, were painted at what I referred to in a previous post as "medium pace". My original intention was to speed paint them, however, they took a little longer then I had anticipated so it is back to the drawing board and an attempt at figuring out a swifter method but one which complies with what I would call a good wargames standard.

They do look a little better now that I have them based up but I do feel like I have to figure out a way in which to get a similar standard but at a faster pace.

Group Shot:

Base 1:

Base 2:

Base 3:

(Yes, some idiot forgot to take one of the pics)

Base 4: