Tartar Source

 

                                  By Wacław Pawliszak - Muzeum Narodowe, Warszawa., Public Domain

 What's in a name?  Tartar or Tatar?  Well...from my research:
 
(a) Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatars

"Historically, the term Tatars (or Tartars) was applied to anyone originating from the vast Northern and Central Asian landmass then known as Tartary, a term which was also conflated with the Mongol Empire itself."

(b) Source: https://www.ilawjournals.com/golden-horde-why-it-was-invented-only-in-the-xvi-century/

But.."it was not until the 16C that the term Tatars was used" [when the Golden Horde came into existence].
 

Whatever the case these are Mongol successor states.

So what's my sudden interest?  Answer - I was given 40 Mike's Models cavalry figures recently:

RP25   Tartar Noble Cavalry  [16] - small plain round sh, no boss
RP26   Tartar Cavalry with Bow & Shield  [8] - round sh with boss
RP27   Tartar Cavalry Standard Bearer  [16] - diagonally cut sh

As many of you will know MM figures are somewhat on the small side so do not blend well with modern castings.  So I needed to find a DBA army where I could use them (almost) exclusively.

(c) "DBMM v3.0 Army Lists - Book 4" - 4.47 - Golden Horde & Successors 1251-1556

p46 - lines 7-10:  "This list covers the 'Tartar' armies of the Golden Horde until its final overthrow by the Crimean Khanate in 1502."

So I have a candidate and an army list (DBA 4.47).  Now for some illustrations:

(d) "Renaissance Armies 1480-1650" by George Gush
        NB Scans of a large part of this book are available free on-line.

Chapter 18: Persian & other easterners
illustrations - p94(a) & p96(p,q)
The texts on pp96-97 are pretty skimpy.

(e) "Armies of the Middle Ages, volume 2" by Ian Heath

pp 174-5, figs 145 to 148 (3 mounted & 1 foot) - the bow is shown but only in the text is there mention of "a lance 'like a boar-spear'".

In addition to Cv & Lh there are a few other options which I may need to source:

       2 x 3Bw (Bessermeni) or Lh (Cuman);
       1 x 3Bw (Armen) or 4Xb (Italian) or
             3Wb (Siberian) or Cv (Georgians)  

Bessermeni seem to have been a Turkic peoples living on the edge of Russian territories.  Cuman Lh & Georgian Cv I can take from other boxes.  The Armen(ian) Bw, Italian Xb & Siberian Wb will go onto my 'bring & buy' search list.

Oh Well.....just another addition to the lead pile!

To Pastures New

 

                                                    From "zycie w grodzie" - 11thC polish peasants

A little earlier than my target but I reckon close enough for the 'unfashionable' peasantry.

 

I found these old Minifigs scattered amongst various boxes.  The 'armoured' types were used for an earlier (6thEd) Ghaznavid army, whereas the 'arabs' were serving in a Western Sudanese force.

So what are they and what should they look like?   A little voice told me to look in the Minifigs catalogue.  Lo and behold they were there:  Z340 - Russian/Polish Peasant Infantry, Fur Cap, Axe

Consulting the veteran WRG publication - "Armies of Feudal Europe & Crusades 1066-1300 ad"....

Fig 101 Polish Peasant Infantryman (p96) shows the combination of bow, shield and throwing axe.  

Fig 104 11th-12thC Polish Heavy Infantryman - this is an elder who could afford better equipment.

Fig 113b Russian Peasant Infantryman (p101) illustrates the fur cap. The text says "Lower-class Russian infantrymen were practically identical to their Polish counterparts.

Clearly the Minifigs casting is an amalgam of all 3 references.

Online there is precious little in the way of illustrations for anything except the knights of this period but the Osprey book 445 - "Medieval Polish Armies 966-1500" by David Nichols - can offer a bit more.

Plate E has a couple of peasants - light (dull) blue tunic with contrast colour at hem and cuff, darker cloak, dull green leggings, strappy shoes - light or darker brown.

 The text may offer more but I do not have the book.

So what am I going to use these figures for?  Consulting the DBA 3.0 army lists I found:

3.63a - Polish 960-1200 - By using 16 of these warriors I can manage the 4 x 4Sp.

3.63b - Polish 1201-1335 - Only needs 12 castings (3 x 4Sp).

4.66 Later Polish - I can already 'fudge' this from my existing collection (mainly Russians).

I have a few unpainted Russian Cv so making a dedicated general's element is a distinct possibility.  Other troops can come from other existing DBA armies.

Looks like some simple painting and I will have two more DBA armies to add to my collection.

Using this as inspiration I am moving on to Eastern Europe - starting with the Turkomans.