Art De La Guerre

[76mm]

I'm just getting into medieval miniatures and ADLG, and my first army will be #189, the Communal Italians (mid-late 13th century). I have several questions about how to match up minis with army lists:

1) Knights of this period seem to be equipped with chainmail, but sometimes their horses also have chainmail, and other times the horses are not armored. What are these armored knights/unarmored horses in terms of ADLG army lists? Are the knights with unarmored horses simply heavy cavalry, or are they medium knights, and the knights whose horses are also armored are elite medium knights?

2) There were also knights on horses with caparisons, knights on horses with chainmail, and knights on "naked" horses without either. Would these various kinds of knights be in the same "unit", or is it best (at least for game purposes) to restrict units to one of these types of knights?

3) The army list has heavy spearmen and levy spearmen...but I don't understand the difference in terms of minis. My understanding is that the typical communal spearman had a helmet and shield, but only a quilted tunic as armor; wealthier members of the commune would use chainmail as well, however. Are the guys with the quilted armor the heavy spearmen referenced in the list, or are they the levies? Or are the levies just a bunch of peasants without helmets, spears, etc.? The list doesn't mention being able to add armor to the heavy spearmen, are the ones with chainmail the standard (non-mediocre) spearmen which become available after 1200?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

[KevinD]

1. They are all MKn. Elite generally refers to being better trained and having better morale than the average troops of that class, but could also be better armed or armored. You might find it convenient to use those on armored or barded horses for your Elite knights so you can easily tell them apart.

Most knights probably did not ride armored or even caparisoned horses, but the best equipped were probably in the front rank. (Caparisons were more common in some areas, such as the Levant.) Seperately deployed sergeants, valets, etc had less complete armor for the rider and rode lesser horses. They could either be detached or serve behind the knights.

3. HI are competent spearmen while Levy are either inept or unwilling or both. Levy will usually have substandard equipment but they could be adequately equipped men just looking for the first chance to slip away.

[76mm]

Thanks, very helpful; still doing research on this era and these armies...

[ethan]

I generally try to create options for visually differentiating units in the army.

So as KevinD noted I might use armored horses for elite units. Further...I might do something like:

- 4 stands with all armored horses
- 2 stands with partly (say 1 armored and 2 unarmored) armored horses
- 4 stand with unarmored horses

That way I can declare "only stand that are all armored horses are elite" or "stands with any armored horses are elite" giving me some flexibility.

I would have a stand or two with banners so I could have them be an included general (or not as need be). I have come to dislike every stand having a banner, but that is just taste.

Usually I can manage something similar with the foot bases to represent ordinary vs mediocre spears. Sometimes I include a dismounted knight type in some stands using that to represent the ordinary bases. For this army I might use color schemes on the foot (which are probably civic militias so reasonably might have unified color scheme across multiple bases) and then could declare "all the red and white spears are ordinary" the "blue and red are mediocre" or whatever.