Part of any good Crusader army are some missile troops. For this army there is a fair bit with decent numbers of both crossbow and bow infantry. As with the rest of this army, it is all Legio Heroica miniatures from their Feudal and Crusader ranges. While these two ranges are nominally for different portions of the Medi-eval/Feudal period we use them together without any worry. Given our knowledge of the period, the relatively slow rate of change and the range of equipment in formations any clear distinctions are only for select pieces of equipment and it all looks close enough regardless.

Bow infantry

The bow infantry are similar in appearance to the levy seen in the previous post on this army. They’re mostly in clothes with next to no protection; the only exception are a few that have or metal caps. The figures are FEU13 (Archers 1195-1250). There are quite a few variants in the pack with 3 different poses and probably 4 different heads mixed in. Given they are equipped like the levy I also gave them a mix of colours with no consistent uniform.

There are 6 LMI (loose medium infantry) bases each 40x20mm with 3 figures on each. For an ADLG game these need to be paired up into a 40x40mm base, i.e. there are 3 units in here. The reason for this basing is two-fold: they can be mixed with half bases of spear or swordsmen to represent mixed units and they can also be used in other systems that have single rank bases (e.g. DBA).

As well as the LMI basing I also had a couple left over which I put into a LI (light infantry) base. The only difference is that an LI base only has 2 figures and operates as a single 40x20mm base. The LI operate very differently in ADLG from LMI and they can be quite useful, particularly in difficult terrain (they’re also really cheap). You can see this base below next to one of his LMI friends.

Crossbow infantry

The crossbow infantry are much more heavily armoured with either a chainmail or cloth hauberk. All are also wearing helmets. They also have swords and so are generally better armed than the bowmen. That said in ADLG they are both equivalent troops and represent LMI (there are subtle rules difference between the shooting effectiveness of the bow and crossbow, but no armour or melee differences).

These figures are CRU15 (Crossbowmen), and so they are actually from the Crusader part of the range! I have painted these far more consistently with the same armour colours used throughout. That said their tunics and leggings are painted in the same colours as the levy, but they are only very small areas and so aren’t very obvious.

As well as being better armoured, these figures are also much more consistent with only 3 different sculpts (1 walking in padded and 2 shooting in chain mail). I think this could do with a little mixing up, for example adding in padded shooters and chain walkers. But they are nice sculpts and it’s not too obvious they’re all very similar.

Like the bowmen there are 3 ADLG bases worth, you may also notice a trumpeter in one of the stands. This was to bring the number present up to 22 figures which allowed me to have 2 LI bases. It also lets you have a base which is distinct from the others which can be useful if you have an included commander in one (not sure if this is ever possible) or want one to be unique.

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Colours

As noted earlier, most of the colours are the same as the levy. However there are a handful of additional pieces of equipment.

• Chainmail: Gungrey (VMA 71.072)
• Padded armour: Birch (SC-25)
• Helmet: Steel (VMA 71.065)
• Bow: Walnut (SC-29)
• Crossbow:
  • Body: Walnut (SC-29)
  • Bow: Gungrey (VMA 71.072)
• Sword handle:
  • Hilt: French mirage blue (VMC-70.900)
  • Grip: Gobi brown (SC-12)
  • Pommel: Bronze (VMC 70.998)
• Arrows:
  • Shaft: Walnut (SC-29)
  • Head: Steel (VMA 71.065)
  • Flight: Ivory (VMC 70.918)
• Quiver/Scabbard:
  • Body: German camouflage black brown (VMC-872)
  • Straps: Brown sand (VMC 70.876)
  • End cap: Bronze (VMC 70.998)

Another batch of units that I’m quite happy with. The Crusader army is filling out nicely with 12 ADLG stands completed thus far. Next will come quite a number of spearmen. Still no Templars at this point, it’s all generic Crusaders. To be fair that was the way most stand up battles were fought with a number of European fly-in troops joining the Knightly Orders, who tended to stay in the Holy lands longer protecting pilgrims and garrisoning castles.