Author Topic: Middle Ages  (Read 4420 times)

Offline PMatt

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Middle Ages
« on: September 13, 2019, 07:30:17 »
I never got around to watching Kingdom of Heaven, but upon seeing some scenes on YouTube I was immediately fascinated by the costumes and the overall aesthetics (the shots with tons of banners and flags waving in the wind are nothing short of gorgeous). This, in turn, led to me assembling some crusaders.



Three military orders are on show, the most famous ones: Knights Templar, Knights Hospitaller, and Teutonic Knights. All warrior monks display luscious beard, as was (unless I made a serious blunder) customary.



Mounted upon his horse a secular knight, a noble maybe, can also be seen.



Though he does not belong to any order, he too sports the cross on his shield.



Now, knights are the fanciest part of crusading armies, but one should never forget the common footmen. This is my take on Genoese crossbowmen, who played a significant role during the crusades.




You might notice all knights look the same with regards to both the clothes and the helmets. I wanted to stick close to a late XII century look: mail hauberk, mail chausse, mail coif, and tabard, with no additional armour. The norman helmet and the kettle hat are the only suitable helmets I could find for the time period: the great helm looks funky I think without any additional shoulder/arm armour, so I ditched it (at least for now).

I have some plans to expand my collection: I purchased some decals (but have no parts to apply them to yet). If everything goes as intended, sooner or later I'll be able to show you Knights of St Lazarus, Jerusalem militiamen, some variation on Templars, and XV century Teutonic knights. Stay tuned!
« Last Edit: September 13, 2019, 07:38:28 by PlaymoCollector »

Offline Klickteryx

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Re: Middle Ages
« Reply #1 on: September 13, 2019, 10:33:26 »
Nice, by great helm are you referring to the 'sugar loaf' helm? The one with a slight point on it though there is one with a crown like top too isn't there? Also good catch with the green jouster, never thought of him as a crusader but he has that cross on his shield and horse's caparison.

Offline tahra

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Re: Middle Ages
« Reply #2 on: September 13, 2019, 12:10:50 »
Nice soldiers :)

Offline PMatt

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Re: Middle Ages
« Reply #3 on: September 13, 2019, 14:01:56 »
Nice, by great helm are you referring to the 'sugar loaf' helm? The one with a slight point on it though there is one with a crown like top too isn't there?

My bad Klickteryx, I really wasn't specific enough. I was referring to the flat-top great helm: https://playmodb.org/cgi-bin/showpart.pl?partnum=30-24-4362

As you rightly pointed out, both a sugarloaf https://playmodb.org/cgi-bin/showpart.pl?partnum=30-07-6470 and a "crowned" https://playmodb.org/cgi-bin/showpart.pl?partnum=30-28-4470 version exist too. Unfortunately the sugarloaf wouldn't appear till the end of the XIII century.

What I am hoping to see in Playmo-form sooner or later is more along the line of this https://images.propstore.com/106575.jpg or this https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b4/a8/1d/b4a81d3457fcffd65ecdcebe63c51d36.jpg, the latter either with or without face protection.

Offline StJohn

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Re: Middle Ages
« Reply #4 on: September 13, 2019, 17:27:23 »
Wow, you're a master, PlaymoCollector - such nice knights! Simple yet original. Very creative. And with some historical background, I'm loving this :love: Thanks for sharing!

Best wishes
StJohn

Offline PMatt

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Re: Middle Ages
« Reply #5 on: September 13, 2019, 18:28:07 »
Thanks for your nice words, I'm glad I finally have someone to share with!

Assembling these customs is what prompted me to do some research on armour. That did not make me an expert by any means, but it was great fun, and now I'm striving to create klickies from different centuries with period-appropriate gear. I hope I'll have more to show in the near future!

Offline Macruran

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Re: Middle Ages
« Reply #6 on: September 14, 2019, 03:45:26 »
Great stuff! I love Crusader klickies  :knight: ...can you imagine an entire Crusader theme?  :cloud9:
"We like things in little." - G. Stein  
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Offline PMatt

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Re: Middle Ages
« Reply #7 on: September 14, 2019, 08:45:25 »
...can you imagine an entire Crusader theme?  :cloud9:

You bet I can, but I'm under the impression it is highly unlikely – though it would make for some great new parts and klickies, even more so for the Muslim side than the Christian. One can only hope!

Offline Macruran

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Re: Middle Ages
« Reply #8 on: September 14, 2019, 16:24:44 »
True, there's little chance of one...in the meantime the "Graverobbers" subtheme of the original Egyptian theme make decent enough soldiers of Mahomet!
"We like things in little." - G. Stein  
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Offline PMatt

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Roland
« Reply #9 on: October 06, 2019, 07:20:35 »
When I saw Marla's torso from 70076, I immediately knew I had to do something with it. After some thought, I decided to venture into the Carolingian era.

Without further ado, here's Roland, Charlemagne's paladin.



I was uncertain whether a morion or a kettle hat would better approximate the so-called Carolingian helmet. In the end I went with the kettle hat, and the more I look at it the more it grows on me.



During his last stand at Roncevaux, Roland brandished his two most prized possessions: the sword Durendal, said to have belonged to none other than the Trojan hero Hector, and the oliphant, which he blew to alert Charlemagne's army.



I based Roland's look on multiple depictions of Frankish armour, which you can see below.