Early Hungarians

Today's post features my newest army, Early Hungarians. The army list is: III/67bb (1103-1245), 1x3Kn Gen, 1x3Kn, 1x3Cv, 3x2Lh, 3x4Sp, 2x3Ax or 3Bw, 1x2Ps. I painted them on and off during 2008, finishing the knights and basing the army in Spring 2009. They had their debut at Cold Wars 2009 in the Midnight Madness tournament, going 1-1.

I built the army to depict the reign of King Andrew II (1205-1235). I wanted it to be contemporary with my Medieval German and Teutonic Order armies. Andrew II actually invited the Teutonic Order to Hungary during his reign, only to forcefully expel them in 1225. The army could also be used for the reign of Andrew's successor, Bela IV, who fought the Mongols.

I used a mix of figures from different manufacturers and will comment on them in the notes to each picture.

First is the usual shot of the whole army. The camp is a scratchbuilt piece made by my friend Mike Demana, campbuilder extraordinare, and given to me in 1995. Check out his excellent website at:http://home.earthlink.net/~mikedemanagames/index.html


Below is King Andrew II of Hungary and his escort. The king bears the royal arms of Hungary. The goat's head on the left-hand knight was taken from a list of medieval Hungarian emblems. Hungarian heraldry used a lot of stripes, and I used them throughout the army. The king and knight on the right are Gladiator/Black Hat, the other knight is Tabletop.

Next is a side view of the general's element so you can see the flag.
Next up are more shock mounted. The element on the left is Hungarian knights (1x3Kn). Their shields bear a crescent, more stripes and a bull's head. The left figure is Tabletop, the other two are Black Hat/Gladiator. The element on the right is Croatian heavy cavalry (1x3Cv); the right cavalryman is Essex, the other two are Old Glory. A side-shot of of the mounted.
The light horse make this army different from most medieval European armies. The center and right-hand elements are Magyar horse archers. The element on the left is Cuman light horse. The Cumans were used as mercenaries by the Hungarian monarchs. All of these figures are from Gladiator/Black Hat.

Next are the Hungarian spearmen (3x4Sp). These are a mix of Gladiator/Black Hat, Essex and tabletop figures. The shields are painted with typical Hungarian designs, including lots of stripes.
Here is a close-up of the spearmen from the side.

Next are the Croatian foot (2x3Ax). These are Thistle & Rose figures, sadly no longer available. They are part of a huge Croatian army I painted in the early 1990s. King Coloman I of Hungary became ruler of Croatia in 1103 and many Croatians served in the Hungarian army. I am particularly fond of these troops as my family is Croatian.

The rest of the Croatian foot in the army are archers (2x3Bw and 1x2Ps). These are also

Thistle & Rose figures, except for one Old Glory figure (middle figure on left element) and one Gladiator/Black Hat figure (right figure on middle element).

Thanks for reading!
Jason