From NicolasC: 28mm Franks of the First Crusade (170 points)

From Nicolas:

Now, here comes my last submission:

'Franks and Pigs.'

Here you have 3 pts of warriors (3*8=24) and a Warlord with his banner bearer to accompany and lead the knights which I presented in my previous submission.

The warlord is of course Raymond de Saint-Gilles count of Toulouse, one of the main leader of the First Crusade, who first practiced against the Muslims in Spain, before he headed to The Holy-Land. I bet he will be an interesting match up for John's superb bunch of Andalusians and North-Africans. As a Count of Toulouse Raymond wears on is shield and banner the distinctive cross of the city of Toulouse, a symbol for all today's South-Western part of France, better known as the Occitan Cross.

The warriors of Raymond are lead to combat by one of his provensals vassal, the Lord of Baux-Orange, Guilhem-Uc, who is said to have accompany Raymond to the Crusade and died in Tripoli in 1105. His shield and banner bears the twelve-branched star of the Baux-de-Provence that symbolise a comet.

The warriors devide in a group of 16 armed with a mix spears, sword, axes and shields (2 SAGA pts), and 8 armed with crossbows (1 SAGA pt) . I went for simple shield patterns for the warriors to reflect their lesser condition compare to the more sophisticated mounted knights. I also tried to make the distinction among them, between the poor knights or knights simply obliged to go by feet and the actual villeins who carry shields that merely ape the designs of them of their lords. There's nothing much to say about the crossbows except that I hope John's light troops will suffer from their spiny projectiles. 

Again, it took me a while to work on the shields and banners, but I think the result worth the pain. Overall, I am quite please with the aspect of this group, they came out clearly better than I first expected and they do look very in period, from my point view.

Now what's with those pigs? I painted them a month ago or so, and did not really consider to throw them in the contest (you decide what it worth). But it has suddenly strike me that they would do great marching in front of my crusaders towards the infidels. I hope the filthy creature can give the creeps to one or two of John's Soldiers of God. Ironically enough, John gave away those pigs to me. I recall he said: "I know you like this kind of s**t. You'll surely find a way to use them". Well... I have found one!  

Thank you very much Curt for all the great job you did during the last three months!

You're very welcome! 

That is one beautiful warband, Nico. I really admire the work you put into researching the heraldry of the commanders - very interesting stuff and, once again, you've done a gobsmacking job on the shields and banners. Gorgeous work.

The pig sitting on the right reminds me of Wilbur in 'Charlotte's Web' (I'm getting all misty here...).

This warband with all its glorious banners and heraldry (plus its family of pigs) will give Nico 170 points. Well done and thank you very much for participating in the Challenge!