Arquebuses, Crossbows and Hookguns

A dozen new figures for today's post. This group is formed of two packs of the new Steel Fist miniatures "Peasants shooting from wagons", https://www.steelfistminiatures.com/product/ren-49-german-war-peasants-shooting-from-wagons-with-tags/, along with three figures made from Stuart's Tudor dollies and a standard bearer from The Assault Group. The new Steel Fist peasants figures are great, I especially like the chap with the long hookgun. This type of gun was common in the early 16th century, later leading to what would become the musket, and its a shame more manufacturers don't make figures with them. They could be fired from a stand if used in the field but more commonly they seem to have been fired from walls, earthworks or wagons. I have included a couple of pages from the Zeugbuch, a 1502 book that formed a kind of pictorial inventory of Maximilian's guns, of all sizes from arquebuses to bombards. The Steel Fist miniature is carrying something very similar to the guns shown in the first image below.

Hookguns from the Zeugbuch, 1502

A different style of hookguns from the Zeugbuch, 1502

I have based this group of figures on very small wooden bases, so they can fit into wagons or on the walls of fortifications. Steel Fist sell them with or without metal bases so they can be stuck directly into wagons which would look great but I want to be able to use them in other terrain. They can be used as a defensive unit in a game and also as a scenic addition, it depends on the scenario that is being played. Some of them have already had an outing in one of the games I played with Stuart last month, as can be seen in my previous blog post, https://camisado1500s.blogspot.com/2024/10/when-thei-were-askried-alarme-was-rong.html. I have a feeling these figures will see a lot of action! 

Whilst they are intended to be peasants I have added a few other figures so they can also form a garrison, town militia or even a ships crew. They can be put to all sorts of uses manning earthworks, wagons, walls and ships, as you can see from the photos below. They really help to bring the terrain pieces to life and I am looking forward to seeing what Simon at Steel Fist has coming up next for this range.

28mm Steel Fist defenders for the walls, note the chap with the hookgun on the right.

More 28mm defenders. All the figures are from Steel Fist apart from the standard bearer who is an Assault Group figure with a Steel Fist head.

A unit of French infantry prepare to defend the earthworks.

Gunners and crossbowmen in the carrack...

...and manning the crow's nest.

The figures work well on the boat.

Defending a wagon fort.

28mm War wagon with crew defending it.

And finally an image of the figures defending the walls of an Italian fortress.