Okay, so I am finally starting to assemble and undercoat my Minas Tirith miniatures, and I am trying to wrap my head around paint schemes so I am trying to figure some things out about how the Gondorian military is organized. I find the plain black/silver scheme of the movies and studio miniatures to be rather boring and don't look forward to painting up a bunch of minis in that scheme. So, I am trying to find some rationale to spice things up without going off the deep end.
As far as I can tell, the army of Gondor was made up of Men-at-Arms (your basic WoMT) organized into different companies. Each company would likely have had a Captain leading them, as well as a company banner, musician and if you want to include them, a Knight of the White Tower to serve as a castellan/trainer. I can't figure out if the companies would have been separated into similarly armed warriors (just swordsmen, spearman, bowmen) or if it would have been combined, making each Company a self-sufficient fighting group.
Knights of Minas Tirith would likely have been limited in number and organized into their own Company with a Captain and Company banner.
Citadel Guard would have been the elite soldiers, stationed only in Minas Tirith, unless loaned out as support or to lead other units. As far as I can tell Guards of the Fountain Court are not an independent unit, but rather an honor guard formed of Citadel Guardsmen, wearing ceremonial armor while on this special duty. (Think of the US Marines stationed to guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier or the Beefeaters or whatever you guys call them).
Rangers of Gondor are a specialized company of scouts/woodland commandos, under their own Captain, but unlikely to march to war under a banner, due to their style of fighting.
There would also be Companies associated with the various Gondorian artillery/warmachines.
Osgiliath Veterans (as represented by the GW models) would be the gathered remnants of companies that had been stationed in Osgiliath, and as attrition took its toll, re-assigned into functioning units under Boromir/Faramir's command.
Errand Riders would not be used in open battle, but two or three could be useful for certain scenarios.
Then you have all the Fiefdom warriors marching under the colors/symbols of their lords.
As far as my modeling plans go, here's what I'm looking at painting/collecting:
A Full Company of WoMT -- Captain, KotWT, Banner, Musician, 2 Warbands of Swordsmen/Spearmen, & ???Warband of Archers??? I plan on painting some sort of Company Color or Symbol to spice up the black/silver scheme.
Citadel Guard -- Beregond, Pippin and 12 Citadel Guardsman (Can CG take Sword/Shield or is it just Bows/Spears?), 6 Citadel Guardsman on horseback, and 6 GotFC. I hate the Citadel Guard models, so I'll probably just paint up regular WoMT with Gold and White/Cream accents. As long as they are distinguishable on the tabletop, that's all I care about.
Rangers of Gondor -- Faramir, Damrod, Mablung, and two warbands of Rangers
Knights of Minas Tirith -- Captain, Banner, Musician and 9 KoMT
Warband of Osgiliath Veterans in various company colors
Artillery and Crewmen
3 Errand Riders
Then you've got all the other various Heroes and Fiefdom Troops.
So, what do you guys think. Have I got the right perception of how Gondor's military is organized, or am I off? I'm just trying to wrap my head around it. I like to have a plan before I start and I'm having trouble getting a handle on this.
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