"Carolingians - what would be the best figures for them" Topic

I am putting together an army of Franks right now and I am really struggling with the conflicting information on helmets, armour and shield.

Helmets – should they all be in Spagenhelm (the same as most everyone else) or is the scalloped helmet correct? I am pretty confident that it is too early for the Norman style helmet with a noseguard but I am not 100% on that either.

Armour – Chainmail, cuirass or scale mail? I am thinking a cuirass as this point but I am still not sure

Shields – flat, convex or a mix?

Right now I am leaning to the Foundry Franks for my Carolingians but I would love to hear what others think.

I am also interested in doing something more morphable into Visgoths, Saxons and maybe even Normans and Spanish so something more generic is of interest too.

Artizan makes very nice mounted Carolingians. Their foot are fine, but I would have like more variety for the armored foot poses.

They are very Carolingian looking, so will limit your morphability goal if you hoose to use them.

idontbelieve it I like their light cavalry but my current research indicates that the helmets on their heavies are wrong (and don't match any others of the period so limit reuse)

Um … the ones listed as "Carolingians" in the manufacturers' catalogues?

…the helmets on their heavies are wrong

I like the cut of your jib sir.
Armor – I would go with mail, scale, leather but no plate cuirass.
Shields – flat and round for cavalry, round, oval, mostly flat for foot

The Artizan mounted range for their Carolingians are very nice and one cannot go wrong with these miniatures. Both Gripping Beast and Old Glory make specific Carolingians also. Helmets would be scalloped giving them that specific Carolingian appearance as would their shields being flat and round with both radial lines and rivets clearly being visible. Armor both scale and chain mail would be appropriate. Therefore, as for using Foundry Franks i would personally not lean in that direction. However they would work for the Merovingian dynasty (a period before the Carolingians) quite well and they would be fine to morphe into Visigoths and Saxons though morphing into the Normans would make me a little hesitant.

Here is the article that fills me with doubt <grin>

link

which is indicating that the scalloped helmet is likely not what was worn (they claim it was the Spagenhelm everyone else wore). There is also the question of the when the Norman style helmet and coif starts but this article indicates it is post Charlemagne.

Oregon1 I am pretty sure you are right for Meringovians and I am likely fussing too much but I was wondering what everyone else who had similar doubts had done.

My club won't notice for a second so this is really about me …