The Great exhibition of historical figures of smugcain

Overview

Here you will find a whole catalog of more or less historical characters classified by period, if you like to embody a warrior in an authentic way or if you appreciate the historical style, come shop on The Great exhibition of historical figures of smugcain!

Preface

This short guide is a thematic character catalog. Although there is historical research behind it I do not claim to have a master’s degree in medieval history so keep in mind that it is for fun;). If you want to see new themes, it’s up to you to comment.
Good reading!

The crusaders “Deus lo Vult”

Knight Templar Circa 1200

This knight is our usual representation of the Knight’s Pious Crusader, here in the 1200s with his iconic conical helmet.

Templar sergeant

Here a Templar sergeant, although he is not noble, he remains nonetheless as devoted as his brethren with blue blood.

Early Crusader

The bloody road to Jerusalem of the First Crusade was undertaken by men who were adept at the songs of geste of the past, epic stories, grandiose … and bloody.

Knight of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem

To serve the king of Jerusalem is a great honor, to serve our Lord even more.

Crossbow sergeant

While the nimble Turcomans are of great help to the Crusader Lords, the crossbow’s prowess at piercing unfaithful breastplates should not be faulted.

Teutonic sergeant

The Baltic Crusade will forge the Teutonic will of iron. What can the pagan horsemen do against Konisberg’s wall of pikes and strong men?

Teutonic Knight

These fierce knights are on their way to shatter the last vestiges of pagan Europe, the holy spirit will be instilled in them by fire and flame!

War pilgrim

Faith can lead a man to accomplish the impossible … or die trying.

Spanish crusader of the order of alcantara

Founded in Salamanca after the example of the Templars, the order of Alcantara has sworn to defend its lands from the Moors … and beyond if the king of leon asks!

Knight Hospital

Although driven from the holy land, the brave knights of the order of Saint John have sworn to defend Christendom, the Mediterranean sea will never be safe for Turkish upstarts as long as the order keeps watch.

Monk

History is full of brave clerics defending their flocks, although the carrying of the sword is forbidden to them, a good iron club will do well-deserved justice for our lord.

Papal Guard

The Swiss Guards are far from being a parade unit, in 1527 the Swiss Guard defended rome and pope Clement long enough to allow his escape in defiance of their own lives.

Knight Templar Acre besieged variant

In times of siege the knights must dismount to beat the enemy at the walls, although the sword is a weapon of choice masses and axes were of course weapons which the knights do not deprive themselves of.

Late Romans to Byzance “Fall of Rome”

Limitanei comitatenses

They watch over the borders of the empire, the first line of defense of a civilization over which hangs the shadow of the scourge of god.

Scholae palatinae

If the limitanei are no more than an erzat of the old legionaries, the palatins are their most worthy heir, the last sons of rome.

Protectore domestici

Elite bodyguards the domestici protectores are the next officers of the army of tomorrow in the service of the emperor of today.

Sagittarii

Although Roman archers only had composite bows, it should not be underestimated the ability of an arrow to bring down an overconfident barbarian.

Exploratores

the scouts of the late Roman army are also experts in ambushes and barbarian hunting.

Catafractarii

The ancestors of the Western Knights are terrifying chainmail-clad soldiers who are skilled in wielding spears on horseback.

Magister militum

The “master of soldiers” is at the top of the empire’s highly codified chain of command. The best known of these was Aetius, the victor of Attila in the Catalaunian Plains.

Byzantine excubitor

The excubitors are the replacements of the old protectores domestici in the Byzantine Empire, armed with axes and in heavy armor their loyalty is unwavering.

Varangian Guard

New elite guard of Constantinople, the Varègue guard is made up of Vikings who have pronounced allegiance to the Byzantine emperor.

Byzantine Skoutatoi

The skoutatoi are the new line infantry of the Byzantine Empire, a direct descendant of the Roman legionaries, their names, however, are inspired by the Greek hoplites whose heritage they share.

Legio “bonus”

Old is good.

Various soldier aroud the globe (not finish)

Novgorod guard

The rich northern principality can count on skilled men armed with bardiche to protect its walls any invaders from the frozen steppes.

Norman knight

The Normans introduced chivalry in Brittany, their stirrups drastically changing the power of the cavalry.
“By the splendours of God! This earth, here I took it in my hands. It will never escape us!”
William the Conqueror
Saxon wall

The Saxon shield wall defined the war in Britain during the great invasions. Hastings will have been his last stand.

Venetian heavy infantry

The most terrible revenge is the daughter of the deepest silence.
Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice (1820)

Thracian fighter

Coming from Thrace these skillful fighter are adept at the falx, they can also harass the enemy with the help of javelin.

Greek hoplite
The hoplites are the military symbol of the Greek political system where each citizen is the equal of the other and must watch over him in the phalanx.

“I wanted to make the hoplites more formidable; they are in an army what the chest is in the human body”

Anach. ch. 10 by BARTHÉL.

Hundred Years War “Monjoie Saint-Denis!”

French knight on foot

These paragonts of virtue are invincible on their steeds, but the fields of azincourt are soaked this morning this October 25, 1415 …
“There perished all the flower of the knighthood of France: and the noble kingdom of France was cruelly weakened, and fell into great misery and tribulation. “

English Knight on foot

Like their French counterpart, the knight on foot prefers to use heavy weapons like the very versatile poleaxe.

English Longbow

“The archers of England, lightly armed, beat and slaughtered the French to heaps, and seemed to be an anvil on which they hit […] and fell the French nobles on each other, several were suffocated there and the others died or taken. “

Genoese crossbowman

Although they does not have the recognition of the English long archer, the Genoese are professionals soldiers experienced in pitched battles as naval.

Écorcheur

The Flayers are the product of unrelenting war decades, at the border of the mercenary and the cut-throat they make terror reign in the countryside as well on the battlefield.
“We saw fathers kill their children, children kill their fathers; unfortunate people were seen to detach the bodies suspended from the gibbets, in order to procure execrable food. Hamlets disappeared until the last man. “

Compagnie d’ordonnance

First permanent troops of the kingdom of France, the ordinance companies consisted mainly of archer, most of them reconverted from a troubled past of mercenary or flayer.

English guisarmier

The English armed with this weapon underwent intensive training aimed at making them the executioners of enemies in heavy armor, whether knights on foot or on horseback.

French Fauchard

Although the military version of the fauchard is the guisarme, these men of low extraction have kept the name of their tools to mow down the souls of their opponents.

Great captain

Often, mercenary company and royal troops were led by a knight who had demonstrated leadership skills.
Over time they will become seneschal of the kingdom or marshal like the great Du Guesclin

Jeanne d’Arc

“Of the love or hatred that God has for the English, I do not know, but I know very well that they will all be driven out of France, except those who perish there. “.

Black prince

Eldest son of King Edward III of England, Edward of Woodstock is better known by the nickname “Black Prince”. It was attributed to him by an English chronicler a century after his death, probably because of the color of his armor.
“We will conquer our French heritage with our power, and from this day on we challenge you and hold you as enemy and adversary. “
EDWARD III of England

La Hire

Étienne de Vignolles is a companion of Joan of Arc, performing wonders in the course of many battles at the head of his flayer band, whether in the service of the saint or the king.
“God, I pray that you will do today for La Hire as much as you would like La Hire to do for you, if he were God and you were La Hire”.

“Bertrand du guesclin”

The Constable of the Kingdom of France is also one of its greatest knights of all time alongside Roland and Bayard.
“I only regret in dying that I did not drive the English out of the kingdom quite as I had hoped; God has reserved the glory for somebody else who will be more worthy of it than me. “

Bertrand DU GUESCLIN (1320-1380), his last word, July 13, 1380

Renaissance “dogs of war” and further

Veteran condotierre
The condottieres were the mercenary captains of Italy, with great martial expertise but a questionable sense of honor.
“To love so as to be always betrayed: if you are not betrayed by the object of your love, you are by life.”
André Suarès
By André Suarès / The condottiere’s journey

Cossack
The Cossacks were fierce warriors of the Eastern Steppes whose love of freedom was matched only by their courage.

Gendarmes
Today in france they still represent the forces of order but in the 16th century the gendarmes were an elite troop of strongly armed horsemen, of noble birth, serving in the French army, during the italy’s wars they were the incarnation of the “furiosa francese”.

“I would like to see you lead French people of good will cheerfully, and see what the French fury can under your orders against the measure and serious discipline. – (Voltaire, Letter to Monsieur le Maréchal de Richelieu, January 3, 1757)”

Landsknecht
Mercenaries from Germany the lansquenets have served under all the flags as their skills were renowned, with flamboyant clothes and their terrible zweihänder they inspired respect as well as fear.

“crazy girl! don’t you know the motto of the reiters and lansquenets? driven from paradise, they cannot enter hell because they scare the devil!”

Daniel bardet

Reiters
as the lansquenets the reiters are mercenaries from Germany, these light cavaliers had a terrifying reputation among the civilians whom they maintained by blackening their armor.

“He was a cunning German and very loose under an affectation of rudeness and a manner of reiter”, Saint-Simon

Pikemen
From the Spanish tercios to the Elisabathean regiments, the pikemen were the essentials of the renaissance wars, the most terrible of them were the Swiss pikemen. This one is inspired by the english style.

Sword and Buckler Men
Rodeleros (“shield bearers”), also called espadachines (“swordsmen”) and colloquially known as “Sword and Buckler Men”, were Spanish troops in the early 16th (and again briefly in the 17th) century, equipped with steel shields known as rodela and swords (usually of the side-sword type). Originally conceived as an Italian attempt to revive the legionary swordsman, they were adopted by the Spanish and used with great efficiency in the Italian Wars during the 1510s and 1520s, but discontinued in the 1530s. Later during the Thirty Years War, some military theorists proposed deploying swordsmen equipped with large iron shields in front of the pikemen to protect them from being shot by enemy musketeers, but it is doubtful whether this fanciful tactic was either successful or much employed in practi

winged hussar
The famous wingeds hussars of the polish lithuanian commonwealth have gloriously defend christendom during the ottomand invasion and particulary at the siege of vienna in 1683.

Dark ages “Vikings and other bane from the north” Incomming soon

Fantasy setting

Gondorian soldier
the Lord of the Rings
The Gondorian soldiers are as solid as the walls of the white tower, solid determined, unshakable.

Carroburg greatswords
Warhammer battle
“Among the Empire’s most-storied regiments, the Carroburg Greatswords have earned their bloody reputation by slaying all comers in defence of their home city.”

Bretonnian Knight
Warhammer battle
“With our spears and our swordfish we will strike down our enemy cowards. We, proud Knights of Bretonnia, will kill them. As long as we have faith in the Lady, their weapons will not reach us. Our glory will never wither away, for our deeds will outlive us. For the King, Bretonnia and the Lady, charge! Kill the enemy! “
– Duke Bohémond, the Scourge of Beasts, at the Battle of the Ford of Grismar

Hobbit bowmen
Warhammer/lord of the rings

Baratheon soldier of Stannis
Games of thrones (tv version)

Spartan 300 version
Don’t forget the oil.