Saga: Crusaders and Crusadees

 

I’ve added more models to my growing Polish force for Saga: Age of Crusades. The militia were the Levies for the Polish forces, the serfs and city guard of the commoners. They’ll serve a defensive role alongside the strelzcy Men-at-Arms.

Units of Levy are groups of 12, so I’ve done up a dozen soldiers. Each bares the heraldry of their szlatcha masters, found via some research. I like that Polish heraldry has both Western medieval symbols as well as Slavic tamgas (the runic symbols). Like their Warrior counterparts they have a mix of gear, one with a very Eastern armor set leading the unit. Another leader-type is the one wearing the colors of the the Order of Dobrzyń, the Polish military order during the Baltic Crusades (he’s the one in white with the red cross and sword symbol on his shield). While it’s a bit odd that a Levy would be wearing the Order’s colors, he could be a commanding role or a Warrior for other armies.

I love the red squirrel; it’s real I swear.

The spearmen here can also be used in a Crusaders force as Warriors, in which case they get pared down to 8 men.

I’ve also finished 8 Crossbowmen, for use with a Crusaders, Spanish, or Milites Christi force.

Last up are a few fighters for the Pagan Peoples faction. I’m working on those alongside the Polish to give both a proper counterpart enemy. The factions would see fighting during the Baltic Crusades in the 13th Century.

The Pagans here are Balts and Wends, possibly from Latvia, Prussia, Pomerania, etc. I kept it pretty vague, and those areas have less visual references to fall back on. They got duller, darker colors to make them stand out from the brighter Poles/Crusades. I’ve already built enough for a full 8-man Warrior unit, and they can used alongside my Anglo-Saxons models (avoiding the ones with overt Christian imagery obviously). The Pagan models favor older round shields or the small tear drop shields more common to 10th-11th Centuries to represent their ‘backward’ status compared to the Poles.

More to come.