Dice, Bamberg and the Bear

The Bear

As I don't really have any large blocks of troops to work on at the moment I have been working on a few different pieces. The first are from Stephans excellent Pro Gloria Miniatures, http://progloriaminiatures.blogspot.co.uk/ , the Bear and his handlers and the gambling Landsknechts. Having camped in North America on a few occasions I have a bit of a paranoia of roaming bears so it was fun to be able to paint one up!

Landsknecht Gamblers

Landsknecht Gamblers

The gambling set is great. It really reminds me of the below contemporary woodcut (I think its from a woodcut). While two Landsknechts brawl, another gambles, literally with the devil, while a third vomits on a crucifix. A good insight into what some contemporaries thought of these mercenaries! The dice set fits perfectly in with this and will be great for a camp or castle courtyard.

 I am still slowly getting my pre printed flags together and painting up suitable standard bearers for them. All the flags and standard bearers will be interchangeable. The flag represents the City of Bamberg. The men at arms carrying it is from Steel Fist Miniatures, http://www.steelfistminiatures.com/products/15th_century_nobles/15c_nobles_pack_a.html , he is meant to be carrying a sword so I have simply put the hilt from a Perry plastic sword in the top of the scabbard so it is not empty. He is in a very late 15th century harness which will sit fine in the first couple of decades of the 1500s. The flag is one of Petes fantasic cloth flags, http://thegreatitalianwars.blogspot.co.uk/ . I have given the men at arms a slightly longer banner pole than a lot of my standard bearers as, due to his full harness, I would expect him to be carrying the banner of a particularly important noble.

Banner of City of Bamberg

Finally at Salute this year I picked up a box of the Perry Men at Arms. I wanted to see what I could do with them to make them suitable for the early part of the Italian wars, possibly into the 1510s. I was going to convert some into Jinetes by simply modelling on riding boots rather than plate, giving them adargas and more simple helmets. However as shown below they are rather tall compared to my TAG and Eureka figures. They are also taller that the old Foundry Gendarmes.  Below I have taken a couple of comparison photos to show this. I think the height difference may be a little too big to have them in the same unit as the other manufacturers figures.
As a result of this I will probably paint them up as generic light cavalry rather than have them as troops to fit in with the cavalry I already have. I will model riding boots on all of them, have them on unbarded horses and give them spears rather than lances. I was also thinking of adding a few TAG 16th century swords and some 16th century head gear. Please let me know if you have any other ideas of how these can brought into the 1500s but bear in mind my abilities with the Green Stuff are very limited !

Size Comparison, Left to Right - The Assault Group, Perry Miniatures, Eureka Miniatures

Size Comparison, Left to Right - The Assault Group, Perry Miniatures, Eureka Miniatures

Aventuriers



Aventurier Command

This is a band of troops I have been working on for ages. The figures are from the old GW Marksmen of Mirigliano Dogs of War set, which always sounds to me like a warhammer version of Marignano. They are great figures, I think they are by the Perrys, and in my opinion suitable to represent the French adventurers that accompanied the armies to Italy. Of course they could also be used as Spanish or Italians with a simple flag change. In fact on close inspection it looks like the commander is wearing a gold pendant bearing the Lion of St Mark, the Venetian badge. It was not an easy set to collect involving a lot of scouring ebay and collecting the figures often individually. I was lucky to get some of them in bigger lots though. I think I managed to pick up at least one of every variant they made for this set.

The Aventuriers are one of those groups that as far as I know there are no contemporary pictures of, which is odd when there are so many contemporary illustrations and woodcuts of Landsknechts and Gendarmes. They were obviously the guys who got all the attention. I feel the rag tag armour and head gear of these crossbowmen looks right though. I converted a few, you may recognise some Perry Tudor and Medieval heads amonst the figures. I put hats on the figures with shaven heads as I do not think this was done in the 1500s, although the Landsknechts were starting to have short cropped hair. I would like to get some Pike and Polearm armed Aventuriers as well at some point but for now my Spanish pike will have to fill this gap.

Aventuriers

Aventuriers

Aventuriers

Aventuriers

I particularly like the fact that many of the figures are carrying loot, bedding and the evenings dinner! Below are some photos illustrating the laden troops. While some may find this a bit to "Fantasy", the one figure with a rope on his back reminds me of old RPG figures, I think it adds some character. Some carry spare pairs of shoes and boots, bedding and loot. Some of the figures are carrying dead rabbits or birds and one has an axe on his back. Nice touches, perhaps they are more suitable for figures on the march than in battle, but either way a nice addition to the collection.

Aventuriers with loot

Aventurier with loot and supper!

An axe for firewood and some bedding

Le chevalier sans peur et sans reproche

Gendarmes under the standard of Le Chevalier Bayard

 This post marks exactly a year since I started this blog and I thought I would mark it with some pictures of my Gendarmes in the company of the legendary Bayard. I recently read "The story of the chevalier Bayard, from the French of the Loyal servant M. de Berville, and others (1869)". While it is rather dated and I am not entirely sure of all of its accuracy it is based on historical sources and I found it a fantastic read. Anyone who has read a bit on the Italian wars may recognise the parts about Bayard crawling through a ditch at night at Marignano to get back to the French lines, where French Gendarmes refuse to enter the breach of a Venetian town because the Imperial Gendarmes also refuse and Bayards duel against a Spanish Knight in the war in Naples. Ravenna, Fornovo, The Battle of the Spurs and Marignano all feature.
There is lots of great stuff about ambushes and skirmishes with Stradiots and Landsknechts. Suprisingly there is quite a bit about dealings with spies. It seems intelligence gathering, espionage and counter espionage was just as important back then as it is today. The text is available for free here:

http://archive.org/details/chevalierbayard00guya

I would recommend giving it a read, if only for scenario ideas and to get a good feel of the type of combat they were involved in when pitched battles were not taking place.

The pictures below show the Gendarmes with a combination of my hand painted flags, the printed cloth flags and a Freezywater flag depicting the arms of Bayard. The standards are all interchangeable and I am really pleased with the result, I think the different styles work well together.

Bayards Gendarmes

Various French standards

French Gendarmes

 Below is another Freezywater Flag this time depicting Antonio de Leyva, a Spanish commander who fought under Gonzalo de Cordoba in the very early Italian Wars. He is most famous however for his defence of Pavia when besieged by Francis I and the sally that helped secure the Imperial victory in 1525. His standard is shown here with Spanish Gendarmes who are less heavily armoured than the French ones depicted above. Again I am really pleased with the way the standards work. There will be lots more experimentation to come with these!


Spanish Gendarmes under the Standard of Antonio de Leyva




Antonio de Leyvas Gendarmes



The Serene Republic

Venetian Cavalry

I have been experimenting with different styles of ready made flags for my collection and I thought I would show some shots of it being used to depict an early sixteenth century Venetian force. The flags are from Petes excellent cloth flag sheets: http://thegreatitalianwars.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/venetian-flags.html .
I have recently painted up a set of horsemen and infantry that I can swap the banners for. This has added a real flexibilty to the collection. By simply swapping the banners this army could be a Milanese or Florentine force. I have also downloaded some ready made flags and bought some Freezywater ones and I will show the results of these in future posts.
I am pleased with how these have turned out and will continue to paint up some more interchangeable standard bearers and flags. It no longer means that everytime I want to depict a certain standard or banner I have to paint a miniature specifically to carry it.

Venetian Elmeti

Venetian Elmeti

Venetian Elmeti

Venetian Gendarmes

Venetian Gendarmes

Venetian Militia

Venetian Militia

Venetian Militia Pike Block

Venetian Infantry Command

Stradiots in Venetian service

Light guns

The Venetian Army

Imperial Personalities

Maximillian I

Recently I received the latest batch of figures from Stephans excellent Pro Gloria miniatures, http://progloriaminiatures.blogspot.co.uk/. As I am still experimenting with the flags I recently purchased I thought it would be a good idea show the Characters from Pro Gloria with their respective banners behind them. First is the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximillian I with a Hapsburg banner behind him on the left and the Imperial Banner to the right. A great figure, I love the armour and the face, have a look at Durers portrait of him, I reckon its a pretty good likeness!

Maximillian I by Albrecht Durer

Secondly, below, is Georg Von Frunsberg, the famous Imperial Landsknecht Captain. Again the figure is a close likeness to a contemporary portrait. I can see him at the head of a pike block leading the charge!



Georg Von Frunsberg



Georg Von Frunsberg

Lastly we have Götz von Berlichingen another sometime Imperial Captain and sometime trouble maker and rebel leader. Famed for having a metal mechanical hand after he lost his right one, depicted on the miniature below. A while back I read "Renaissance Military Memoirs: War, History and Identity, 1450-1600" by Yuval Noah Harari and found it an excellent study into the beliefs of some of the Renaissance military characters who wrote memoirs. Initially I was sceptical about the book as the author goes into a lot of detail about he is going to compare WW2 and Vietnam War memoires with those from 1450 to 1600. An unsual approach but it comes up with some interesting conclusions. The reason I am mentioning this here is that the author looks at Götz von Berlichingen in some detail. Apparently throughout his whole memoires he barely mentions that he only has one hand! If anyone knows if and where his memoires are available in English translation I would love to read them, but I think they are only in German.

Götz von Berlichingen

Of course all 3 figures of these contemporaries could be used as generic Imperial Commanders, which is probably how I will use them, but its great to see some of the personalities from this period brought to life in miniature, and they go very well with Petes cloth flags.

Stradiots

Stradioti

Stradiots or Stradioti, I am not sure what the correct term is for these Balkan Light Cavalry. The figures are from the excellent Assault Group range with a few from Venexia. The Assault Group figures are superb and the details have come straight from contemporary illustrations. Have a look at the below pictures, the second is based on an image by Urs Graf, a mercenary soldier himself:



Stradiots






Stradioti



Stradiot by The Assault Group

The figures are spot on, even down to the coifs under the felt hats. The Venexia figures were more hard work as the torsos were separate from the legs and they needed to be drilled, pinned and glued together, which was not easy. I am pleased with the result though. The Stradioti were supposed to have carried weapons called Assagaye or Assegai, spears that carried points at both ends. The Venexia figures allowed me to show an example of this weapon. The Assagaye is converted from one of the plastic pikes in the Perry Mercenaries 1450-1500 plastic set:

Venexia Stradiot with an Assagaye



Venexia Stradiot with an Assagaye

 Another characteristic weapon of the Stradiot was the mace. I have added maces to a few of the figures and denoted the captain by showing him with a large mace. They also carried crossbows and I painted a couple up to add to the figures. In the end I couldn't add them to the horsemen in a way that looked natural and fitted the group so I left them out.

Stradiot Captain



Stradiot Captain

Venexia Stradiot with a mace added

Stradioti were ubiquitous by the end of the Italian Wars and appeared in armies for most sides. They even made it to Scotland during the Rough Wooing in the 1540s, fighting for the Tudors! I wanted this band to be usable for all sides. Initially my idea was to paint a Stradiot flag that would have been carried in any side but I couldn't find anything suitable so I decided to use James Roach's excellent tip on flags so I could change the alleigance of the unit depending on what flag they carried, http://olicanalad.blogspot.com/2010/07/top-tip-flags.html

Following on from this decision I have had my eye on these excellent cloth flags for a long time http://thegreatitalianwars.blogspot.com/2011/05/venetian-flags.html . This decision finally forced my hand into picking up these flag sheets on ebay, I am really impressed by the quality of these flags and I think they have a real renaissance feel to them. I like my hand painted flags but I cannot match anything close to the level of detail on these! With the simple changing of the flag the Stradiots can now fight for any side:

Stradioti in Imperial Service

Stradioti in Venetian Service

Stradioti in French Service

The interchangeable flags are a great idea. I have some figures from The Assault Group that I am going to paint up as standard bearers so I can add plenty more to the collection. I have already prepared some Venetian ones shown below with an old Foundry Conquistador. These kind of designs were always far to difficult for me to paint myself and I think these are superb. I particularly like the one bearing the image of the Virgin Mary and Child, a popular renaissance and medieval theme.

Venetian Standard Bearer



Venetian Standard Bearer with a Banner bearing an image of the Virgin Mary and Child



Venetian Standard Bearer