15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: March 22, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
Here are some more Norman/Frankish knights! In this element though there is a distinctly eastern dressed Frankish knight on the left side of the element! Perfect for early crusaders, Siculo-Normans, eastern Franks, and even Romanian Franks. Pretty nice fig, and although the sheilds didn't work out as well as I had hoped, I am pretty happy with this element!.

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: March 22, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
Some Frankish cavalry here. I used the same riders as light horse before, and with these horses, they play the role of cavalry quite well also! Usable for east Franks or Breton cavalry, they help me morph my Normans into Franks of all types! They turned out very well for me.

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: March 22, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
These are some Islamic levy for the early Sicilians or Siculo-Normans. Pretty nice figs, which could easly be used as Early Muslim North Africans (EMNAS) or even Fanatic Berber. In Sicily they would be pretty poor compared to their EMNAS or Andalusian counterparts, but they painted up nicely despite the lack of fine silks!

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: March 22, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
Along with the Greek skirmishers for the Sicilians, there were a number of Islamic levy or mercenary skirmishers in the Sicilian armies as well. So, here are the first two, making up the first of four elements of these psiloi types. They are pretty much the standard bow-armed islamic types in the region/period, and could stand in as any number of troops, including Andalusians! These guys, especially the levies, wouldn't be quite as well to do as their Andalusian counterparts though, so I painted these guys with less-rich outfits compared to my Andalusians. Still, a little patterned silk is certainly in order!

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: March 22, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
More Sicilian Islamic levy skirmishers. These Khurasan miniatures are pretty nice over all, with good pose variation and character! The leather shields are a nice touch as well, although perhaps a little bit deep they still work quite well!

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: March 22, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
I used a wider range of colours on these skirmishers compared to my Andalusians, since I wanted them to fit in the with Franks that they will be feilded with to make the early Sicilian army. Overall, I think they turned out pretty well!

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: March 22, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
And the last element of skirmishers for the Sicilians. This army has 6 elements of skirmishers, which makes them on par with the later Andalusians! Could be a tough army to field against knight-heavy armies, but certainly a fun one!

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: March 22, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
And the last elements for the Sicilians, but certainly not the least are the spearmen! I am happy to say that they could have simply used the Norman spearmen with modified shields, but they didn't! Some extra facial hair, different style helmets, and characteristic shields make these great and authentic Sicilians! A nice addition to the early Sicilians!

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: March 17, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
These figs are Greek Gryfon javelin types that fought for the Normans in Sicily during the 11th and 12th centuries. Some pretty cool psiloi figs here, and could play the role of any number of skirmishing types, including Basque javelinmen in Spain during the period! I'm pretty happy with how they turned out!

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: March 17, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
The second element of javelinmen. They will ultimately help morph my Normans into Siculo-Normans, or the early period of Norman dominated Sicily!

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: September 16, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
Some Breton light horse to march with the Normans! Some simply fantastic figures from Khurasan miniatures. Not only is the detail nice, and the poses realistic, but I really like the way the hands were executed. The spear/javelin hand is actually cast as a round hole that the spears simply slide through. Overall, I am pretty happt with the way these figs turned out!

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: September 16, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
A view of the two light horse figures seen previously when they were on their round bases. Give a bit of a more detailed view of the fantastic figures from Khurasan!

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: September 16, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
Some Norman/Frankish crossbowmen ready for battle. These are also excellent figures, and the variation is great. These will help expand the DBA Norman army into a Crusader army.

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: September 16, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
Fantastic figures here, with a lot of zeal! All rock/stick/club/pitch fork armed and ready for a scrap these are crusading pilgrims! Or simply village folk called out to fight. The blue turned out a bit bright perhaps, but overall I like the look!

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: September 16, 2009
A set of dismounted German knights, just as they were transitioning from being part of the East Frankish realm to becoming the Holy Roman Empire. Overall, in dress and armour they are very similar to their western relatives, and pretty much everybody else surrounding them during this period. For DBA, these will serve as the dismounted knight blades for the IV/7 Early Crusafers.

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: July 23, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
Here is a collection of most of the snazzy shields I painted for this army. Keep in mind, these are 15mm scale shields, so they aren't perfect.

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: July 23, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
The army assembled. The weight of all those cavalry is quite imposing. I am very happy with the way the army turned out.

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: July 23, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
The Norman general rallies his troops for another charge! The banner is based somewhat on William's banner when he invaded England. I am quite happy with all of the shields on this element, as I went with slightly more uncommon Norman shield designs and they turned out very well. .

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: July 23, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
Another element of knights. With such a knight heavy army I had a lot of opportunity to do all kinds of great shield designs. I am quite happy with these more medieval looking dragons done in the Norman style.

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: July 23, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
The last element of knights I painted for this army (8 in total), I went for a black, white and red scheme on one, and I think it was quite sharp. I am happy with all the shields on these figs, as well as the horses and riders. All in all, excellent stuff the Khurasan figures, lots of character.!

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: July 23, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
Norman levies march to battle at the will of their commander. Overall I stuck with simpler shields designs that kept the bright colour scheme of the rest of the army. Also, a lot of round shields inherited from older generations. Overall, as very spiffy set of figures.

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: July 23, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
These I imagine are knights whose horses failed ot make the journey (accross the channel?). So, they fight on foot. The round shielded figure there is sporting his grandfather's shield (inspired by a picture from the Osprey Normans book). A bright and imposing element of spearmen.

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: July 23, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
With a knight and spear army, there is definitely a need for light troops to hold the forests and craggy hills. So, a couple of elements of skirmishers (2Ps in DBA speak). These schemes were based on the pics in the Osprey Normans book.

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: July 23, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
The final element that was finished for the army, this skirmisher unit has paint schemes based on the Osprey Normans book. In particular the red-tunic wearing archer. The cuff and fringe pattern is hard to do well on such small figures, but I think it turned out okay. Also note the positioning of the figs; not the standard equidistant positions, which turned out well I think.

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: July 8, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
These Normans were very nice to paint. Khurasan Miniatures is quickly becoming a major player in the historical 15mm market. The Normans are one of my favourite lines.

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: July 8, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
The dragon on the centre shield turned out extremely well. I like the crosses as well; these Normans are one of my only Christian armies! This element is meant to play both the Knight and the Cavalry role in DBA. The Normans allied with the Bretons at Hastings; while the Normans fought as knights, the Bretons fought as more of a loose order cavalry that could charge or fire missile weapons. Unfortunately for DBA, the Normans and the Bretons looked practically identical for wargear. So, to show that this element could be a Cavalry element, I made sure all the figs had arms up, skirmishing and not charging and I also put a light gray stone on the front of the base for my opponent's reference.

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: July 8, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
The shields are certainly one of my favourite parts of painting Normans, and these guys are no exception. Also, note the light gray stone on this base. This element can also play the role of a knight or cavalry element in DBA.

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: July 8, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
The dragons on the shields turned out well, but not super... I am not sure why, but I will have to figure it out before I do the next batch of knights. The cross on the figure on the right though is one of the best shields in the army so far. It works very well on the split colour background.

15mm Norman and West Frank  -  Posted: July 8, 2009  -  Manufacturer: Khurasan Miniatures
I really like the speed of the horses in these sculpts; it gives the element a real sense of momentum. Again, the shields were fun to do on these figs.