1:72 Lithuanian-Russian light infantry 1st half XV c.

Irregularity is an advantage with this infantry

Light detachments did not stand in a closed formation and never looked like one mass. The soldiers obtained their own equipment, so a gambeson met a leather jerkin, a bow met a spear and a helmet met a simple cap. For a modeler that is both a relief and an obligation: every figure will stand a different treatment in color, but at the same time it must not happen that the group loses its common tone and breaks up into twelve unrelated patches.

With this subject the carriage of the body carries the main part of the impression. A figure that has crouched behind a shield has a different height from one that has stepped forward, and the difference in the level of the heads is exactly what distinguishes a deployed swarm from a formed line. It therefore pays to place the figures at unequal intervals and to leave gaps between them where terrain can be fitted in.

A procedure that has proved itself

• Choose two shades that will return on every figure and vary the rest of the palette
• Paint the shields only after the figures are finished, otherwise they block access to the torso
• Reinforce weapons made of thin parts with glue at the root; at this size they break easily
• Lower figures in the front rank will clear the view of those behind

A group of such infantry complements cavalry of the same period well: the foot soldiers form a calm area around which the riders look faster than they would in a scene of their own. The mutual proportion of calm and movement is in the end a stronger tool than the number of figures on the groundwork.

The last recommendation concerns the height of the view. If you look at the finished formation from the level of the figures' eyes, it shows at once who is blocking whose view; seen from above, that mistake stays hidden.