The Zhodani Commando: Showcase: Saga "Rus Princes", Black Hoods

Blog discription

What will you find here? Ramblings from an aging gamer-miniature painter. When I first started out in this hobby computers were in their infancy and finding other gamers could only be done by going to conventions or as in my case bumping into somebody who happened to see me reading "Panzer Leader" on the school bus. Look how far we have come! The internet has allowed our small community to be able to connect on a level I never dreamed of when I was but a small lad. What I do hope you will find here is something interesting from one wargamer/miniature painter to another. I paint miniatures somewhat decently, so I will be posting some pictures of my work, and perhaps a review or two of games and/or miniatures. Most of all this is just about having fun and anything I post here is meant to be for that reason.

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Showcase: Saga "Rus Princes", Black Hoods

I finished up my Black Hood unit for my Rus Prince Saga warband. Here is a little history about the Black Hoods who they were, and where they came from. This is a quote from a source I found by "Stephen W. Richey" and here is a link if your interested in his sources Horse Nomads

Kimaks (or Kimeks): They were a primitive people living east of the Ural Mountains along the Irtysh or Ob Rivers. They eventually became a nomad elite who settled down to rule their lands from fortified towns:

Kipchaks (or Kipchaqs or Cumans): They were derived from the westernmost clans of the Kimaks. They retained their nomad lifestyle after the other Kimaks settled down. Migrating westward in the mid-11th Century AD, they pushed against the Oghuz Turks and occupied what had been Pecheneg lands in the Ukraine. They allied themselves with the Greek Christian Byzantine Empire to inflict a crushing defeat on the Pechenegs in 1091. They were noted for their warrior women. The Kipchaks made their first major attack on the Russians in 1061 or 1062. They made periodic raids on the Russians to obtain loot and slaves and to forestall Russian settlement on steppe grazing lands. Most of the time, a state of war existed between most Russians and most Kipchaks. Still, on occasion, some Kipchaks served as mercenaries for some Russian princes in wars against other Russian princes. The Kipchaks made repeated raids on the Byzantines and Hungarians as well as the Russians during the period 1070-1100. The Russians responded by attacking the Kipchaks in 1103, 1109, 1111, 1113, and 1116, inflicting serious damage on them. Small remnants of the Pechenegs and Oghuz who had been under Kipchak control were thus "liberated" and entered Russian service. Kipchak raids on the Russians picked up again and became annual events by the late 1160s. The Kipchaks sacked the Russian city of Kiev in 1184. The Kipchaks became defensive allies of the Russians against Genghis Khan's invading Mongols in 1223. The allied Russians and Kipchaks were badly defeated by a small advance force of Mongols at the Battle of the Kalka River in that year. The Ukrainian realm of the Kipchaks was obliterated by the Mongols of Ogedei Khan, Genghis's son and successor when the Mongols returned to the Ukraine in full force in 1239-1240. Some Kipchaks served as mercenaries for the Byzantines from the 11th to 14th Centuries. They also served as mercenaries for the Christian kings of Hungary in the 13th and 14th Centuries. The Kipchaks who remained on the Ukrainian steppe as subjects of the Mongols eventually gave a strong ethnic tint to the Mongol Golden Horde . The Russians called the Kipchaks "Polovtsians," as in the "Polovtsian Dances/Stranger in Paradise" music composed by Borodin.

Finally here are some photos of my work. The figures are "Gripping Beast" and are large 28mm figures.