Teutonic Orders

“I hate painting little black crosses, already”*

After being a late-comer in the Levant/Outremer, falling out with the Templars for more secular reasons than religious and then spending some years expanding Hungrarian territory on behalf of it’s king before being kicked out for behaviour unbecoming, the Teutonic Military Religious Order finally focused their rationale for existence in the wild European North East where they intended to assist (or surplant) the under-performing Livonian Brotherhood in the Northern Crusades. 

This is not a battle report (see "Teutonics Try Troubling the Tzar" for the Teutonics** initial battle outing, fought in a blizzard!!) but a ramble on my development of the army and some pretty pictures of my 6mm Teutonic Orders in all their glory.  There is also comments on Painting & Basing' and  a brief pottable history on the military time of the Order.  A longish review on some searches will be in  'Banners and Standards' to come at a later date.

There are now further battle reports of games to date making four in total:- 
"Teutonics Try Troubling the Tzar"  a four player game against a histrical Early Russian opponent.
"Worrying Woemans"  against Marian Romans with just two players.

"Persian Pansies Prance & Pirouette" back to four players against the Sassanids.

"Bashing Bactrians - Ineffectively" against a Graeco-Bactrian enemy in a four player game again.

Some Background

Back in the home country is a 25min soft plastic Teutonic army of DBM vintage that was a cheap experiment in the early days before investing the mortgage requiring amount of money in a 25mm lead figured army.  Under my generalship, still of limited experience, it had a dismal record despite its “on paper” strengths. 

Vain von WotzTreβler, Marschal and Hochmeister of the Order
(Treasurer, Military Commander and Grand Master)

The mortgage was spent on 1420s Medieval Germans, pipping the Teutonics because of supported spear and to avoid the “everyone tries Teutonic Orders supertroops” label.  Later, in a moment of unexpected wealth, enough lead was purchased to morph the Germans into both Hungarians and Teutonics.  That unpainted lead still sits somewhere at my parent’s home and 500AP of 25/8mm Germans was far too heavy to ever fly this far around the world (as hand luggage of course) so reside with my brother.

So, now that we play in 6mm, armies are both cheaper and quicker to purchase and prepare.  Then Baccus announced their Crusader Range and the BKK boys were hooked for our next group of armies.  It dawned on me that I could finally do a Teutonic army with these figures and it would vaguely fit within our theme, anyway it would 75% morph back into a later Crusader set of figures.  So the figure were ordered***.

Planning the Order of Battle (OoB)

There is no point in having a rarity like double based regular superior knights in wedge (rKnSw) and

Some superior knights in wedge formation, including the
Livonian Sword Brotherhood Commander as a sub-general

not using them, it would be like ignoring the iElX Panzephants, the only elephant bourne artillery in existence, when playing Khmer or Cham.  So there would be some of these rKnSw in the army formation.

While being very tough head-on, historically the Teutonic Order was very small and suffered a few loses in major battles because it was beaten by pure numbers and the resultant fatigue.  The same danger awaits the DBMM replica, where, barring coming up against elephants, with its knights to the fore it should cut through almost any enemy it hits.  At the same time, due to the limited number of elements (troops) allowed, there will be some nasty things happening on the flanks and the enemy will be causing casualties from the ends of the battle line.

The usual way to deal with such knight heavy armies (if you don’t have any anochratic elephants) is to not fight them frontally, or as little as possible, and try to get around a flank or two and engage with hard flank attacks or in the rear.  As just about all opponents will be bigger in size finding some unopposed troops to undertake the out-flanking is usually possible.  Or use flank marches to get behind the Teutonics.

So my list needed to counter the more obvious enemy tactics.  This would require bulk and manouerability.  Given that the army is mostly regular troops it’s quite adaptable.  But for bulk we needed as many cheap elements as possible with maximum ME counts.  This all meant full quotas of hordes (iHdO) and light horse plus as many bowmen as possible, the 4AP iBwO before regulars.

In the end I maximised all the hordes, light horse and bowmen, both regular and irregular, but didn’t have any command structure ideas yet, just 400AP of elements listed.  What did strike me was that there was other tactics besides running enemy down with the knights hidden in the list.

That's all there is!!  It's small even with all the low grade militia options to bulk it up. 

However my first plan was to be a method of delivering the destructive knight’s charge.  The charge would have a small frontage but was regular mobile so could be aimed much better than most other irregular and impetuous lessor knights.  This would mean starting back from the centre giving room and time to line-up with the enemy’s weakness, without being so far back/delayed as to give them time to respond, AND protecting the knights flanks from hard flank attacks and from enemy getting behind them.  For this I envisaged “tails” with a degree of echoloning outward to make the distance to travel around them and back at the knights as long and slow as possible.

The baggage.
Mostly mobile (iBgI) but tents for the boss and friends (iBgO).

But these “tails” would get in the way of manouver.  More thought was required and in the end I decided to use non-horde foot on one side (so it’s grouped in one command) and the light horse on the other.  This way some small lag at keeping up would not be too dangerous.  Command structure was about spreading the PiPs across commands with different functions – attack or hold and about having a small PiP soak command that was still functional and a large command that forced the enemy to fight it if they wanted to be victorious.

In the meantime I needed a terrain plan to counter enemy manouver advantages.  With an aggression factor of four(4) we were generally going to invade so had minimal terrain choices.  Initially I wanted to use a isolated tower on a hill until I realised it’s a defender only option and we have no hills of any type in Prussia.  Double Fail!!

Brother Spearmen (l) and Crossbowmen (r).
Mercenary Crossbowmen (rear l) beside Brother Knights.

I wanted an early deploying piece of terrain so it’s almost certain to get placed where I want it.  In the end after experimenting with terrain sizes vs table sizes I settled on a 2FE marsh(M) as it’s right behind water features in order and in a clear majority of enemy terrain lists.  By choosing my own table edge as “6” and touching it on the short edge if they were designated (rolled up) I found I could cover one flank in all cases except if the edge rolled up the enemy’s long edge.  If that happened they will get it placed cutting their deployment area in half thereby forcing them to choose a side (with a small frontage which suits me) or splitting their army where I can focus all of mine against half of theirs.

The mounted crossbow Knechte.
A 6mm conversion mixing foot crossbows & turkopolen.  It was too
fiddly and only the front rank of each element got converted figures.

The original piece I cut out was huge, legal but huge so another narrower one has been made and is far easier to carry and deploy as well as feeling less gamey.

There are some light troops in the OoB (Livonian Ax & Ps) who can slow up anyone trying to cross the marsh or at a pinch some hordes could be detailed to that task.  In effect I feel I have one flank nullified if not really secure. 

The other option is a Sea (S) but this requires the Teutonics invading an enemy with a seaboard so it’s less likely to occur.  If it does then a sloping sea is placed with the wider portion on the enemies side of the table again to minimise the frontage that the enemy can utilise.

CnC's command.  Including his element only two nights but the
Turkopolen and regular foot are about protecting the other
commands that will drive the impact  attack.

The 1st Sub General's command.
Knights in both forms for flexibility, Turkoplen for flank protection
and Hordes to occupy space and provide bulk.

The smallest  Sub-general's command, just wedged Knights (rKnSw)
and the two Knechte (rCvI) for 12ME with baggage.
Keep the Knechte save and it functions unless all Kn are lost.

Painting and Basing

The usual 6mm painting methods involve bold colours in large amounts, no hightlighting or ink washing and getting massed visual effect rather than individual figure beauty.  By using brighter than natural/real colour and in bulk it gives a really good appearance at normal table viewing rather than individual figure beauty.  This was recommended on the Baccus website when we first started with 6mm figure (see here for this and alternative methods).

I've been very pleased with the results I've had over the past couple of years using these approach although I usually add a final weak brown ink wash to add minimal shading.

However with the almost totally white figures in this army the first couple of figures done this way were a disappointment.  I set out to experiment on getting a better effect and came up with a mostly wash based system.

With all figures firstly de-flash if required a sharp triangular scalpel and fine metal files then in soft soapy water scrubbing with an old toothbrush.  Rinse thoughly in fresh water and dry.

For the Teutonics the next steps are to spray white, then apply a brown ink over riders legs and boots, paint the minimal exposed armour (and few swords) black then drybrush silver and then a very weak black wash over all.  Non brothers figures (mostly foot) were weak washed with assorted colours especially red for local inhabitants, blue, yellow and some also black as well.

The white was redone using highlighting technequies including recovering any silver overbrushed areas.  Belts and horse furniture was then done in subdued colours, the horse eye area darkened black and lances and spears painted timber brown.

Then came the damned multitude of black crosses!!  There are a couple of variations but its small, fiddly and eye-damaging.  Hence by complaint to the BKK group within the first two elements.  Nash, in a stroke of brillance, suggested I just use a permanent fineline marker.  As I was at home in rural Thailand at the time it was a real challenge to find such pens immeadiately but the end result was worth the switch away from brush and paint.

To differenciate some figures and commands there is a sprinkling of Livonian Sword Brothers modelled and these use red crosses, also achieved by fineline markers.

Base on 1.5mm polysheet self snap-cut to the required size, decorate the base and seal.

Arrange games and get continually beaten!!

For basing I glue the painted figures on the poly sheet pieces, usually individually cut from their strips with super glue but this time many strips of figures conviently fitted, leave to dry half a day then paint all in mid green (yellow ochre for dry areas).  Leave to dry at least one day.  I sieve all my own sand from local options and have several grades stored.  I choose a grade for effect and cover 20-90% of the base depending on local terrain and then add flock on the remaining base plus often over the sand to a greater or lesser degree.  Flock colour is chosen to vaguely match home territory climate effects and I have been known to mix flocks of differing colours and lengths.  Sand and flock is attached using latex PVA which dries clear.

Assorted Standards and Banners used a command
element visual markers plus some random Orders Banners
in other elements.

Spray seal coating takes place at this point.  Leave to dry for at least two days. Using a sharp strong knife cut/scrap the excess basing material off the sides of the base to allow accurate fit of the bases whenever they contact other bases, an important item in the games.  The cutting motion must be jointly sideways and downward to avoid peeling the combined basing materials off the top of the base.  Others have had latex fixed basing peel on them but I've never had this issue although handling mishaps and falling damage has peeled a couple which have been quickly and permanently repaired with a drop of super glue.

Standards, banners and such like are created on the computer, scaled down and inkjet printed on plain paper.  These are afixed after sealing otherwise they dull down horribly.

* = Note of anguish on the dreaded Facescroll to the BKK group of wargamers after the first couple of hours painting produced enough figures for less than two elements.

** = If correctly named they are Teutonic Orders (DBMM List Book 4/#30) but I have always referred to them, and continue to do so, as (the) “Teutonics”.  This is open to confusion with the Teutonic tribes that moved into and settled the modern German lands at least some half a millennium earlier.  I apologise in advance if your accurate knowledge of such history causes you any confusion.

*** = In the past Baccus have been a great supplier, not skipping a beat but this time we had a glitch in the system with a mis-delivery and delayed query responses seeing the end of April order finally arriving mid September.  To be fair there appears to be a series of mishaps that compounded to cause the unusually delayed arrival of our toys.

Teutonics - A Vague History 

(In the interest of enhanced credibility NO wikipedia entries were used in collating the following data.  However only data available in English was used.)

The initial group were formed in 1190 at the siege of Arce as a hospital to allow German’s to assist poor German pilgrims and were known as the "Order of the Brothers of the Hospitaller of St. Mary of the Germans in Jerusalem" (Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Domus Sanctae Maria Teutonicorum un Jerusalem) with recognistion of both Guy de Lus (King of J) and Fredrick of Swarbia (brother of  the Holy Roman Emperor).

• Papal recognition was achieved the following year in 1191.
• They were then constituted as a Military Order by the pope in 1196 and joined the other senior orders.
• Their arms & emblems had been confirmed by 1997 and additional papal rights, priviledges and joint command with the Holy Roman Emperor (HRE) were proclaimed in 1198 before a 1199 Papal Bull gave the mantle rights and Rule of the Hospitallers to the order.

As a side note, the Livonian Brothers of the Sword started actions from Riga in the Prussian area in 1200/1.  They would later amalgamate with the Teutonic Order.

• In Acre during 1209 the Teutonics aligned with the Hospitallers and the Outremer Barons against the Templars and the Church Prelates in some (relatively minor?) governance disputes generating a long ongoing conflict with the Templars.
• While maintaining a presence and castles in Outremer, where their headquarters were at Acre, from 1211 to 1215 the fighting force of the Order moved to Burzenland to assist the King of Hungary defeat the pagan Cumans. 
• They received a Papal Bull of Protection in 1216 and continue to receive positions, possessions and previledges from various european regal sources while they continued to be involved in the Levant and in the various expeditions of the times.
• In 1221 a Papal Bull confirms the status of the Teutonics as equal in all respects to the Templars and Hospitallers.

• After building a territorial power base for themselves and allegedly focusing on self-serving secular goals they were forcibly ejected from Hungary by its King in 1225.
• In the same year they receive a request of assistance from Conrad of Masovia against pagans in Prussia.
• A Golden Bull of 1226 from the HRE gives the Order wide ranging powers throughout Prussia and in 1230 an additional treaty guarentees possession of any additional territory they may capture from pagans. 
• In 1229 the headquarters moved to Montford Castle, near Sidon (in modern Lebanon), that had been purchased some years earlier.

• In 1231 parts of the Order start the invasion of Prussia.  The effort has been reported as possibly being seen as a training ground for inexperienced brothers by the Grand Master before they were transfer to Outremer.
• However in 1234 the pope upsets any northern Teutonic power plans when he claims the Prussian and surrounding lands that are converted to christianism. In the end the Teutonics submit to the papal demands but a deal is struck that gives them ultimate power in the area.
• In 1236 they start absorbing small local military orders and the next year combine with (or take over) the Livonian Sword Brothers Order.
• The Order were (reputedly) part of the army defeated by the Mongols at Leignitz in 1241.  They then suffered a major defeat by the proto-Russian forces at Lake Peipus in 1242.
• In 1250 the King of France awards the Grand Master 4 gold lilies to add to the ends of the gold cross on his coat of arms.

• The year 1251 sees a major change in the Northern Crusades rationale when Grand Duke of Lithuania is baptised and the people turned Christian.  The Teutonics ignore the gesture, declaring it a political falsehood.
• Property and Treaty records from 1257 & 1258 show the Order is still active in the Levant.  Their headquarters are apparently still at Montfort but later move to Acre in 1271.
• First great battle against the Lithuanians in 1260 ends in defeat for the Teutonics.
• From 1261 to 1274 there was a long running and deadly revolt by the Prussians that generated violent conflicts through the Teutonic’s northern domains.
• Exhaustion final brings relative calm and paeace and from 1283 to 1525 the Order operates as a Theocratic State ruling the area of the future Prussian state and some surrounding areas including parts of Poland.

• With fall of Acre in 1291 the headquarters moves to Venice.  Actions in the Levant come to an end but south eastern European/Greek interests and properties are maintained.

• During the 1300s there is a continued expansion of the ‘Prussian’ territories through conquest, deceit and purchase.
• In 1309 the headquarters moves from Venice to Marienburg, in Prussia.
• The 1410 defeat at the Battle of Grunwald starts the decline of the Order.
• The time between 1454 and 1466 sees warfare against the Polish Orders and nation.
• Marienburg is lost to a Polish siege in 1457 and the headquarters are moved to Konigsberg.
• Around 1500 the south eastern European interests finally fall to the expanding Ottomans.

• In 1525 The Grand Master abandons catholicism and takes secular rulership of the Order’s possessions. 
• 1527 – The headquarters moves to Bad Mergentheim in 1527.
• In 1529 the last military actions are apparently performed in the defence of Vienna against the Ottomans.  (This date may be confused with the Battle (not siege) of Vienna in the following century).

Thereafter the Order has become a clearly religious rather than military order and is still extant today although with a couple of periods of dormancy over time.