Italian Infantry Shields

One of the things I feel is currently missing from my earlier Italian Wars collection is enough of the Italians themselves. They fought for their own states during these wars as well as serving as allies or Condottieri with France, Spain and the Imperialists (the last two powers would of course later be unified under Charles V). I have plenty of Italian skirmishers, shot, crossbowmen and archers, but I have very few close quarter troops, just the five bases shown below.

Italian Infantry

I was keen to do some more of these troops. Their appearance at the start of the Italian Wars is clearly shown in many of the great illustrations that accompany the "Cronaca della Napoli aragonese", a manuscript from c.1498 which depicts events in the Kingdom of Naples and the French invasion of Naples in 1494. It can be viewed here: http://ica.themorgan.org/manuscript/thumbs/146991 . I have included a few images from it below that show this style of infantry, armed with swords or various polearms. They also clearly show the shields they carry. The shields have put me off doing more up until now. Anyone who has read this blog for a while will know I hate painting things like shields freehand. I find it really frustrating and it often involves countless attempts to repaint the designs!

A month or so ago I was having a check through the attic as I wanted to sell some stuff on Ebay and I found some old Games Workshop transfers from about 20 years ago, I tested one of them and was surprised it still worked fine. I remembered they had done Empire and Brettonian ones as well and had a look on Ebay for some. There are still plenty of these on Ebay and they have solved the horror of the shield painting for me! I have still done a few bits freehand and a few St Georges Crosses as these were very popular with many of the Italian Cities such as Milan, Bologna, Padua and Genoa.

I want the infantry to be clearly Italian but not troops tied to a specific state so the shields carry all sorts of designs, there seems to have been a wide variety. A few 15th century examples are shown below and some very nice replicas can be seen on this Italian reenactment groups site: https://www.flickr.com/photos/60646291@N04/collections/72157626742083450/ . These give an idea of the way I wanted the finished shields to look.
I decided to tackle the shields before the men who will carry them and painted them up in two batches of 15. I don't intend to use all of them but this gives plenty of choice for when the figures are complete. I have gone for various patterns and borders using the transfers for most of the primary motifs on them. They do look a bit shiny at some angles and I did have to paint over some of them once dry. I really like the result, way beyond anything my painting skills alone could achieve. While they may not be perfect under close scrutiny I think once they are glued on the figures they will make a really colourful addition to the army. Next I am going to paint up some Perry Miniatures late 15th Century Italians with polearms and swords to be the bearers of these shields.

15th Century Italian Shield

15th Century Italian Shield

15th Century Italian Shield

Infantry Fighting in the Cronaca della Napoli aragonese c.1498

Infantry in Naples c.1498

Infantry of the House of Aragon in Naples c.1498

Sforza Infantry and Cavalry c.1498

Italian Infantry Shields