Picture a crusade and you picture knights — but knights were only about a tenth of any crusading army. The other nine in ten were sergeants and men-at-arms, crossbowmen, spearmen and foot: the non-noble fighting men who did most of the marching, most of the dying, and a great deal of the actual fighting. A sergeant ranked just below a knight and might serve mounted or on foot; beneath him came the ordinary soldier in mail or padded armour. Modern research keeps deflating the legend of the all-conquering heavy horseman — disciplined infantry could and did hold their ground against a cavalry charge.

King & Country catalogue this one as a "Crusader Priest," but nothing about the figure is ecclesiastical — no cross, no clerical mark, just a heraldic kite shield and a workmanlike mace. Take him for what he plainly is: a rank-and-file crusader in a mail hauberk and chausses under a yellow surcoat, a broad-brimmed iron war hat in place of a knight's great helm, mace hefted to strike and a big teardrop shield — black chevrons and a bright boss — held close. He belongs in a crowd rather than on a pedestal, so build him one: set him with the Crusader Sergeant-at-Arms and a Crusader Knight to show an army's real pecking order, then pitch him into the fight against an attacking Saracen. In a diorama he is the anonymous heart of the line — the soldier the chronicles rarely named but could not have won without.

Model: MK256 / King & Country / 1/30 (60mm) scale / matte finish / 1 piece set