Anglo-Norman Army

[gaunt]

This army is meant to be an Anglo Norman force of around the early 12th century. They comprise mostly of mounted noblemen, with some townsfolk, foot knights, and a few of the king's soldiers here and there. Look for more real troops to be added; the king's main fighting force was away, so he was forced to use peasant soldiers.
Here's an overview of the small (but growing!) force:


Anglo/Norman army? by WilltheMasshole, on Flickr

King Hughbald and his most trusted lord, Baldric of Torraine:


Lord and King by WilltheMasshole, on Flickr

A nervous rabble of peasants and townsfolk. a little too modern looking, but oh well:


Townsfolk by WilltheMasshole, on Flickr

A group of (fairly historically accurate) knights on foot:


12th Century Foot Knights by WilltheMasshole, on Flickr

Some more townsfolk, and a group of crossbowmen led by a knight:


Villein and his retinue by WilltheMasshole, on Flickr

some good ol' home-grown archers:


Citizen Archers by WilltheMasshole, on Flickr

A view of the army in battle formation:


Anglo/Norman Battle Formation by WilltheMasshole, on Flickr

Defending the castle:

Castle by WilltheMasshole, on Flickr

Comments/criticisms are more than welcome!

[Silverdream]

Nice Crown Cut. I'll have to use that someday.

[Cakeman]

Baldric looked fierce and I loved the nerveous peasant (give him a red shirt...)
Like the medieval armies. More info on Baldric, his residence and personal troops?

[gaunt]

Certainly. And in the mean time, some photos of the knights:


The guy on the right is Sir William of the house of Gaunt. I forget the houses I made up for the other two.

Knights by WilltheMasshole, on Flickr

Here are some more nobles on horseback:


More of those Knights by WilltheMasshole, on Flickr


As for Baldric, he is the grandson of one of William the Conqueror's vassals. He was raised in the Norman region of Britain, yet his ancestral homeland, the dukedom of Torraine, remained under his control as well. I'm debating keeping these guys historical, or developing a pseudo-historical world for them, which would be more fun and allow for evolution of technology, etc. For now, I'm sticking to historical Normans.

[Ben-Jammin]

YES. Anglo-saxons and Normans FTW.

[OneEye589]

As for Baldric, he is the grandson of one of William the Conqueror's vassals. He was raised in the Norman region of Britain, yet his ancestral homeland, the dukedom of Torraine, remained under his control as well. I'm debating keeping these guys historical, or developing a pseudo-historical world for them, which would be more fun and allow for evolution of technology, etc. For now, I'm sticking to historical Normans.

William the Conqueror is one of my ancestors

[gaunt]

Thanks guys!

and OneEye, we think he may be one of mine too! I am named after him, at least.

Any ideas for Norman infantry, I might inquire?

[Zupponn]

You guys are lucky to be able trace your lineage back that far. My family can only go back a couple of hundred years, and we're only sure of the most recent hundred years.

[OneEye589]

Well, nothing is for sure. It's just highly speculated. My sister and cousin did a lot of research on it.

On my father's side we can trace back to the Mayflower, where my ancestors, the Billingtons, almost blew the entire ship up by playing with fire near the gunpowder kegs, then proceeded to murder people once in North America. We also have someone in our family named Lizzy Borden from the same time period and the same place as the killer Lizzy Borden. Also also, the Loomis Gang is on my dad's side, who were horse thieves and murderers.

As for your Normans, I don't know much about historical military, so just make them awesome and everything will be fine.

[Insert_blank]

This is a really cool force! I know usually we like to think of knights in shining armor, etc so it's cool to see some realistic armies. I remember a professor in college telling me that a knight was pretty much anyone who had a sword, a horse, and some armor. She sort of implied that a lot of murder and stealing went on and people pretty much got away with it because if you had a sword you can win most arguments

I'm amazed when people can go back beyond four or five generations. If we could go back further my mom is sure we're related to Paul McCartney distantly. On my dad's side there were two brothers who got married and both their descendents moved to America and had kids who married so my family tree branches off and then meets up again with my grandparents. I always thought that was kind of funny.

[Silverdream]

I haven't looked at my Family tree, but I'm related to the man who invented the powerbar and my Family belongs to Clan Robertson and Clan Stewart.



^This powerbar.

[RunsWithLegos]

My ancestors in the netherlands where knights, and my furthest back traceable ancestor was the burgomeister of amsterdam.

[Alex]

Nice work, the Normans are one of my favorite medieval kingdoms from one of my favorite time periods.

Any ideas for Norman infantry, I might inquire?

Make them similar to the knights, but give them mostly spears and long shields. A few guys with two handed axes couldn't hurt either. Kind of like these guys, particularly the ones on the right side in dark red:

[Tzan]

my Family belongs to Clan Stewart.

I've been reliably informed that the T is silent.
So its pronounced Clan Sewar.

[Zahru II]

Neat stuff.