Castle Heraldry mayhem

[JPinoy]

With all these new parts and pieces from Kingdoms, Collectible Minifigs, and etc. coming out... Im having to reorganize my LEGO Armies and it's becoming rather exhaustive.

The way I have my armies set up is that they are national/cultural factions spread through about 8 different timelines through out history. The earlier factions correspond more to "cultures" in the earlier ages rather than actual states, kingdoms, empires, or principalities. Hence, while I have Germany as a nation state in the Information Era (1960 to 2030) complete with G36 assault rifle armed Bundeswehr soldiers, Sturmtruppen with MP40s during the Modern Era (1900 to 1960... yes, Germany was defeated in 1945, however the timeline covers more than 1 nation as well as that it covers the style of uniform at the time)... and so forth. Not only is it heraldry, but I also have them divided into color-combinations. For example: I have Chinese soldiers throughout the 8 different timelines mainly clad in Black with Brown, Red, and Dark Grey as secondary colors, Persian/Iranian soldiers mainly clad in Dark Blue with Medium Blue and Grey as secondary colors (using Crown Knights in Classical and Medieval Eras)...

I currently have my Medieval Era German army represented by the Black Falcons due to the Eagle/Falcon symbol which gets carried on to the Modern Era. However thanks to the Red Lion Knights from Kingdoms... I now have an extra set of distinct heraldry that I really can't find a place for amgonst the existing European or even Near Eastern factions that I have in the middle ages. Im considering moving the Black Knights from being German to either Italian or Polish, as both have had Eagle/Falcon heraldry. Another problem that gets thrown in is that I have the soldiers of the Italians and Byzantines, being descendants of the former Roman Empire clad in Red.

I've been looking through several heraldry of various countries looking at pics to make my LEGO armies more appropriately represent their respective countries. I have even turned the Black Knights homeless, going from originally representing the Byzantine Empire to, now represented by another faction: Generic looking platemail and scalemail armor soldiers with Durmstrang shields (Byzatine double-headed eagle).

And before anyone suggests... Im also somewhat of a purist as I do not want to use waterslide decals.

Any help, experiences of your own division of Castle minifig torsos and shields, or info on heraldry?

[Frank_Lloyd_Knight]

However thanks to the Red Lion Knights from Kingdoms... I now have an extra set of distinct heraldry that I really can't find a place for amgonst the existing European or even Near Eastern factions that I have in the middle ages.

I've always associated heraldic lions with England. Did a quick wikipedia search and found this page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_England.

[JPinoy]

I already have the Crusaders playing the British...

[TheOrk]

However thanks to the Red Lion Knights from Kingdoms... I now have an extra set of distinct heraldry that I really can't find a place for amgonst the existing European or even Near Eastern factions that I have in the middle ages.

One possibility is that you could use them to depict Bohemians. If I'm not mistaken their main colours have been red and white and their main heraldic symbol has been a lion since the middle ages. They could function as a sub faction of your Medieval Era German army.


Due to the restrictions of my collection and on my imagination, I never make a faction representing one from real life. Generally, I organise them based on their heraldry and primary colours. For example, the Crusaders, Royal Knights, KK1 Lion crest knights, and the Kingdoms Lion crest knights are a single unifed kingdom, with the disparites in heraldry representing factions within the kingdom such as noble families or major cities.

[JPinoy]

I've thought about making them Persians... but that is currently occupied by the Crown Knights, one of the few Asiatic factions that has a shade of blue as one of their colors. Persia has had red as well as blue as its color. Plus the Lion has been a symbol in Persian art and the Shah's heraldry for centuries. The fact that the Crown Knights have a that heart-shaped scalemail armor, I *had* to place them as an Asiatic faction.

As for Prince of Persia minifigs... I actually split the minifigs up into: Egyptians, Chinese, and Malay.

Another thing with my armies is that I really can't have "subfactions" in the normal sense. However, this is how EACH my armies are set up and divided by time periods and nations:

For example, some of my Asiatic armies:
Malaya = Dark Red/Red/Black
Russia = Dark Green/Sand Green/Red
China = Black/Dark Grey/Red
Persia/Iran = Dark Blue/Light Grey/Medium Blue
India = Brown/Orange/Dark Orange/Red
Japan = Red/Blue/Dark Grey
Arabia = Brown/Tan/Green/White
Levant = Violet/Pearl Gold/White
Turkey = Purple/Red/Black
"Central Asia" = Red/Dark Blue/Brown

The first color is the "primary" color, and the others are secondary, tertiary, and and so forth. They need to be color themed as by the time of the Information Era, as in real life, all the minifigs wear modern military looking torsos and the only effective away to tell them apart is by their colors.

Besides the colors, they are divided into armies from different time periods in which they have particular heraldry and styles of armor respective of the culture it represents.

Archaic (2500 BCE - 1000 BCE)
Classical (1000 BCE - 500 CE)
Medieval (500 - 1500)
Enlightenment (1500 - 1800)
Industrial (1800 - 1900)
Modern (1900 - 1960)
Information (1960 - 2030)
Digital (2030 - 2150)
Exploration (2150 - 3000)

After the Exploration Era, the armies of Earth's humanity* throughout the galaxy are united as one massive galactic faction.

Galactic (3000 - beyond)

*Humans from Earth and have ancestry linking back to Earth.