Saturday 13 May 2017

Templars; Hospitallers and Outremer: Faith and Blood

As most readers of this blog will be aware I have been lucky enough to be contracted by Osprey Wargames to pen a set of medieval skirmish rules which are due for release in early 2018. Some particularly astute people have already correctly identified that this is actually the game Outremer: Faith and Blood that has just gone on pre-order on Amazon... 




Whilst I can't reveal too much at the moment what I can confirm is that it is true skirmish level game (4-14 models per side) set during the Crusader period. If you like small scale actions where the might and prowess of individual warriors can turn the tide of battle and every one of your fighters is a character in their own right then this will be the game for you. I will of course be trickling out more information as the release date looms closer.

Anyway, right now I am painting up models for my own games of Outremer: Faith and Blood which I am playing frequently with my gaming group as I gradually refine the rules. I am currently building up a new warband of fighters from the Military Orders of the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller.


These two fighters are Templar Knights clad in their trademark white mantles; both fighters are from the Fireforge Templar Infantry box set which is a very versatile set with multiple construction and equipment options for each model.


Here they are joined by another brother knight that I painted previously; this time the model is made by Essex Miniatures.


Whilst the Brother-Knights in their distinctive white mantles are the common image most people associate with the Templars there were also a great number of Sergeant-Brothers in the order. These doughty men (who were not sired by knightly families) frequently fought bravely and died alongside their more noble brethren. These commoners were differentiated from the noble Knights by their black tabards, though they were still entitled to wear the ubiquitous splayed Red Cross of the Order upon their left breast.


Next up we have three Knight Brothers of the Hospital of St. John in Jerusalem (aka Knight Hospitallers). These warriors were rivals to the Knights Templar and were marked out by the black monastic robes thar they wore over their armour which was much harder to move and fight in compared to the lighter tabards of the Templars. These models are all from Essex Miniatures though the chap on the left has had a head swap in order to add a bit of variation to the warband. 

You'll notice that my Hospitallers look a lot like the warriors that are featured on the front cover of the book...


As the Military Orders were religious institutions in their own right they had their own priests who administered to the spiritual needs of the brothers. These guys are two really characterful sculpts from Perry Miniatures and they were great fun to paint.


Here is a group shot of all my Military Order warriors painted so far; I'm really pleased with this growing warband and I have to say they do make refreshing change from my usual sci-fi projects. I will be painting a load more models for this period in the next few months as they will be appearing in the final book.

Next up I'll be doing some Saracen Fighters I think!





21 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Cheers mate! Painting the Templars white robes over a black undercoat was daunting at first; but once I got the hang of it things came together nicely!

      Delete
  2. Looks intriguing... Nice paint jobs as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers pal. I really enjoyed these guys; like I say it was a bit of a change from my normal genres!!

      Delete
  3. Replies
    1. Cheers Chico!! i'll try and bring the game for a bit of last minute play-testing at BOYL'17

      Delete
  4. Sehr schön Figuren. Gefallen mir sehr Gut. Top

    ReplyDelete
  5. Amazing minis, this game will be excuse for purchasing Hassassins and Hospitallers :-D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks mate; yeah it is definitely a great excuse to get some of those guys! I need to paint up some assassins next!

      Delete
  6. Congratulations !!!

    Looking forward to here more about your rules, Please let me know if you want any help with playtest etc or if you have room in the rules for some Baltic Crusade to:)

    Best regards Michael

    Dalauppror@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hehe, another excuse to create army of Ottakarus II Premyslid :-D. But I am always sad about him,because he was finaly beaten by some unknown Austrian upstart :-(.

      Maybe new DLC Crusaders Lament, right? Replaying Sienkiewics Crusades should be funny.

      Also they are crusades against Hussite's Movement, that could be important to me.

      Delete
    2. Initially the core game will focus on the Crusades to the Levant, but I'll be looking to do some add one to cover other areas ;-)

      I'll be in contact

      Delete
  7. Fantastic, I found this blog as soon as I heard about this. I have been a big fan of Ronin and En Garde! and can't wait to add this to my gaming collection. I love detailed stats about different weapons and equipment and the setting is ideal for all sorts of adventures including porting to Persia/ Spain/ Baltics.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Good looking figures and great paintwork. In anticipation, I am working on a dozen conversions.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Cheers mate!! Glad you like it!! Link me some pics when you've got your Warband up and running!

    ReplyDelete