Backwater Deathworld
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Backwater Deathworld
@bwdeathworld.bsky.social
28 followers 10 following 35 posts
Tabletop miniature painting, converting & sculpting. Main blog backwaterdeathworld.blogspot.com, also www.instagram.com/bwdeathworld
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Infantry ("Fodder") of the 44th Good Root Disciples Regiment.

(mini made for the H.R.E.N.28 event for #Turnip28 held by the Amulet D20 crew. A full writeup on my blog: backwaterdeathworld.blogspot.com/2025/08/hren...)
Lieutenant Moszcz, a brave Snob of the 44th Good Root Regiment.

(mini made for the @h.r.e.n.28 event for #Turnip28 held by @amulet_d20. A full writeup on my blog: backwaterdeathworld.blogspot.com/2025/08/hren...)
Dame Emilia, the Winner of the Shooting Star and the current Toff of the 44th Good Rood Disciples Regiment.

(mini made for the @h.r.e.n.28 event for #Turnip28 held by @amulet_d20. A full writeup on my blog: backwaterdeathworld.blogspot.com/2025/08/hren...)
On my blog, an overview of Perry Agincourt kits, which work quite well for depicting the murderous soldiers from St. John's Polyptych of Stargard.

backwaterdeathworld.blogspot.com/2025/06/usin...
Using Agincourt Perry Miniatures for St John's Polyptych of Stargard
backwaterdeathworld.blogspot.com
My overview of kits viable for my late 15th century Pomeranians continues with the Foot Knights I bought quite a while ago, when I knew nothing of epic highs and lows (mostly lows, though) of the Pomeranian Cow War of 1469 and related conflicts. backwaterdeathworld.blogspot.com/2025/05/usin...
Using Perry Foot Knights 1450-1500 for Pomerania
backwaterdeathworld.blogspot.com
On my blog, I'm reviewing Perry Miniatures Mounted Men at Arms kit on the merits of using it for historically accurate late 15th century Pomeranians: backwaterdeathworld.blogspot.com/2025/05/usin... (pictured below: historically accurate late 15th century Pomeranians)
44th Good Root Disciples pledge their arms to the defence of Geets.

Our fathers died for hopeless causes, our grandfathers died for hopeless causes, and 43 Good Root Disciple regiments before us died for hopeless causes, and so we would gladly die for a hopeless cause as well. #Turnip28
bright contrasting campo paintjobs are underutilised in 40k, I think
(the mini hand-sculpted from scratch -- background is historical, particular character stories are fiction)
In summer 1471, due to sluggish peace talks, the long and bloody war between Brandenburg and Pomerania was still not over. But Heske was in love for the first time in her life and it was the only thing that mattered.
Yes! We need more converted Infinity. Do you know the work of xeno-savanarola? He was converting too, posting on old Infinity forums -- he's on Deviant Art now www.deviantart.com/xeno-savonar... (NSFW warning, he was very into Giger).
xeno-savonarola User Profile | DeviantArt
www.deviantart.com
We have some knowledge of uniform liveries worn by soldiers in the 15th century (white and red for Lubeck town levies, for example), but we also often get depictions of soldiers wearing mismatched colours - like the mercenaries in the painting depicting the siege of Malbork.
On a somewhat less historically accurate note, behold Gerolt of Riga, a Latvian mercenary with high professional ethics.
For Stargard, its highly stylised Mill Gate featured on several seals. The gatehouse building was the meeting place of the Sailors' Guild, the most prominent guild in town. (sources: Czerner 1989, "Herby miast województwa koszalińskiego", Gut 1995, "Rozwój herbu Stargardu Szczecińskiego...")
We have hardly any sources for 15th century Pomeranian coats of arms, but we do have municipal seals on which coats of arms are often based. Kolberg (modern Kołobrzeg), a bishop's see, featured crossed croziers, a mitre, and waves in its seal from the late 15th century.
This guy here carries a matchlock arquebus used from around 1475 on in Burgundy, and in Poland presumably quite later. Since I aim at Pomerania in 1471, maybe he got an early overseas shipment? (sources: Grabarczyk "Piechota zaciężna" 2000, Williams "The Knight and the Black Furnace" 2003)
In 1470s, the crossbow was the prevalent Polish mercenary infantry weapon, with barely any firearms on record. Only 20 years later, most marksmen carried handguns instead. They took forever to load, but were slightly cheaper than crossbows, and bullets delivered several times more energy than bolts.
This last fellow in yellow is probably quite well off, with his nice kettlehat helmet. (Sources: Grabarczyk 2000, "Piechota zaciężna Królestwa Polskiego w XV wieku"; Kutrzeba 1937, "Polskie ustawy i artykuły wojskowe: od XV do XVIII wieku", Kurfürstlich Sächsische Kriegsknechte 1475)(3/3)
A Polish mercenary crossbowman carried a crossbow (duh), a sidearm (usually a sword, a sabre or a falchion), rarely a helmet and/or a shield – and nothing else. For Germans, pavise shields were common. And my Pomeranians? Maybe something similar to Poland or Germany. It's guesswork. (2/3)
According to a decree from Polish Sejm of 1477, during a war, towns were to supply foot soldiers armed with crossbows, shields, helmets, gauntlets and breastplates. Mercenaries from the period listed in the rosters of Poland and Germany, however, had way less robust gear.(1/3)
(sources: Grabarczyk 2000, "Piechota zaciężna Królestwa Polskiego w XV wieku"; Kurfürstlich Sächsische Kriegsknechte 1475 reconstruction group. The lovely terrain in the background was made by my friend.)
Crossbowmen formed the core of late 15th century mercenary infantry for both Poland and Holy Roman Empire. With few sources available for the town militias of the Duchy of Pomernia, building crossbowmen has felt like a safe bet.
In 1471, eleven towns of the Duchy of Pomerania renewed their alliance, pledging to send soldiers to each other in need.

There were wars in Pomerania in the coming years, but we don't know if the soldiers of the promised alliance ever took arms.