Dan Becker's Dark Ages Norman 28mm Figures

This article describes 28mm Norman soldier figures of the late Dark Ages to the early Medieval Crusades era (900 CE - 1200 CE). They are mostly from the Victrix Dark Ages Normans range and some of the recent Medieval Knights range. The 28mm figures are suitable for use as displays, painting hobbies, and table top wargaming. I intend to use them with Osprey Publishing's Lion Rampant miniatures war game.

Scroll to read about the miniatures and see smaller photos. Click on the photos for a gallery of all the larger images.

Army Photos

First up, a frontal photo of all 138 figures. Roughly speaking the front ranks have two flanks of 12 mounted units each, one center unit of 24 armored infantry (mostly with bladed weapons), and two other units of 18 unarmored infantry (mostly with spears). The back ranks have 36 crossbow infantry in the middle and the 18 mounted knights across the back.

Here is the entire Norman army with their left flank in the foreground. I went overboard with pictures for this article with every group having a front, left, and right photo. I did this to make sure you could see the shields from one side and the weapons for the other. I also like to have a photo record of what I painted in case I sell the figures.

Here is a high shot of the entire Norman Army with their right flank in the foreground. As is true for all photos in this article, click on the image to get a bigger photo and more detail.

The Figures

Crossbows

For the remainder of this article, I will provide more modeling details, and group the photos according to the Victrix kit. First up are photos of 3 groups of VXDA011 - Norman Crossbowmen (36 infantry).

Here are Norman crossbows, group 1, from the front. There are 6 body types for the figures. Eighteen of the men are in mail, and the other eighteen are in tunics or padded armor.

Norman crossbows, group 1, left flank.

Norman crossbows, group 1, right flank.

Here are Norman crossbows, group 2 from the front. Victrix provide many heads and arms that can make great variations of the 6 body types. Some heads are bare, some have cloth hats, some have early helmets, and others have later styles.

Norman crossbows, group 2, left flank.

Norman crossbows, group 2, right flank,

Here are the Norman crossbows, group 3 from the front. They are painted mostly with Army Painter Speedpaints. for the basic clothing and skin tones. Then the Army Painter War Paints Fanatic acrylics are used for highlights and weapons details.

Norman crossbows, group 3, left flank.

Norman crossbows, group 3, right flank.

Unarmored Infantry

Next up are the models from VXDA004 - Norman Infantry (60 infantry). The infantry sprue has 4 unarmored body types and 4 armored body types, 6 sprues in the kit, for a total of 48 infantry. The command sprue has 3 unarmored body types and 3 armored body types, 2 sprues in the kit for a total of 12 command.

Here are the unarmored infantry, group 1, from the front. Astute armor spotters might say, "hey I see some mail armor in the photo." They are correct, and it is due partly because I have mixed up some body types for the photo, and partly because I put a few armored types in for captains and leaders of the group.

For gaming purposes, I tend to use spears as lesser or unarmored groups. I tend to use blades (swords, axes, and maces) as more heavily armored groups.

Unarmored infantry, group 1, left flank.

Unarmored infantry, group 1, right flank.

Here is the unarmored infantry group 2 from the front. Again there are a few armored or bladed people to represent the leaders.

Unarmored infantry, group 2 left flank.

Unarmored infantry, group 2 right flank.

Here are the unarmored infantry, group 3 from the front. Shield designs are from Little Big Men Studios, but Victrix versions of these designs are sold exclusively on the Victrix pages.

These shields are a mix of earlier Dark Ages designs, some late Dark Ages more-heraldic designs, and some outright early Middle Ages Crusade era designs.

Unarmored infantry, group 3 right flank.

Unarmored infantry, group 3 left flank.

Armored Infantry

And now we have a look at the armored infantry. These are from the same VXDA004 - Norman Infantry kit, but I have segregated the armored bodies to these units for gaming purposes.

This photo shows the armored infantry, group 1 from the front. In addition to the mail armored body types, I tend to use the later technology helmets which include features such as eye guards, coif neck protection, rivetless construction, and protective crest ridges.

One of the command frame figures has been made with an optional spear for the banner.

Armored infantry, group 1, left flank.

Armored infantry, group 1, right flank.

Armored infantry, group 2 from the front. The terrain in this photo is simply some green felt cloth with a bit of brown and dark green spray for variation. Some hard cover books underneath the felt give it some height. An eight foot by four foot cloth can be purchased for $10 if you go to a fabric store when they are having sales.

Armored infantry, group 2, left flank.

Armored infantry, group 2, right flank.

Unarmored Cavalry

This section shows the Victrix VMDA012 - Norman Unarmored Cavalry. In the bag you get 12 horses and and 12 riders of 4 body types each. You also get 24 head types, 4 shield options, and 6 weapon types.

This photo shows the unarmored cavalry from the front. About half were made with spears and half with blades in case you wanted have two units of six and wanted to keep them segregated.

Unarmored cavalry, left flank.

Unarmored cavalry, right flank.

Armored Cavalry

This section describes a unit of 12 Victrix VXDA005 - Norman Cavalry.

This photo shows the twelve armored cavalry from the front. As usual I have made my bases from Litko thin plywood capsule shaped bases.

The figures are glued to the bases, and then some lightweight spackle gives some texture and hides the plastic stands. The spackle is painted brown and then dusted with grass flock and some small gravel. An occasional grass tuft or lichen is added for more variation.

For my mounted units I use 20 by 40mm sized bases. Others use the more common 25 by 80mm size. I find that the smaller bases still stand the figures up pretty well, but they give you the option of a smaller more compact unit.

Armored cavalry, left flank.

Armored cavalry, right flank.

Medieval Knights

This section shows the Victrix VXM001 - Medieval Knights. The kit includes 18 horses and riders which I have divided into 3 groups of six.

This photo shows the Medieval knights, group 1 from the front. Six of them are done as Templar knights and the rest of the 18 are done with historical heraldic designs of the early Middle Ages.

The shields and horse barding are done with lovely decals from Little Big Men Studios. However, there are no decals for the surcoats, so their chest are painted freehand.

Medieval knights, group 1, left flank.

Medieval knights, group 1, right flank.

This photo shows more Medieval knights, group 2 from the front.

Again I use 20 by 40mm capsule-shaped bases, but these horses are on the large size and some hang off the ends of the bases. Wonderful as these model horses are, there is a bit of scale-creep, and these horses appear larger than their Victrix Dark Ages counterparts and also cavalry from other manufacturers. Be careful with mixing figures.

Medieval knights, group 2, left flank.

Medieval knights, group 2, right flank.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the details of these figures and the photographs. These figures were enjoyable to build, and I will certainly be hosting battles between the Normans and my earlier Late Roman armies. Gripping Beast and Fire Forge have lines of Arabic armies, and Victrix has some Islamic and middle Persian figures coming out. These will serve as worthy adversaries to the Normans. Thanks for reading about my latest miniature figures.

Dan Becker's Dark Ages Normans 28mm Figures