In between some rather big projects (I am currently half way through another big pike block) I have had time to work on a few more artillery pieces to add to the already quite varied arsenal in the collection. All three of these pieces I had painted previously but I stripped them down using Dettol and started again from scratch. I kind of wish I had done this with some of my other guns as I painted some of them years and years ago for my old Wars of the Roses collection and I could have done a better paint job now.
The two breech loaders are by Old Glory and the centre gun is from the Dixon Flodden range. On the US Old Glory site the breech loaders are shown put together the other way round, http://www.oldgloryminiatures.com/proddetail.asp?prod=WRE-04 - with the wooden supports at the back and the metal elevation device at the front. This just doesn't look correct to me - all contemporary drawings I've seen show this style of gun with the metal part at the back. If the wooden supports were at the back surely the recoil of the gun would damage them. I may be wrong though - let me know if I have put them together incorrectly!
The crew are a mix of converted Perry miniatures and yet more of The Assault Group Papal Guard converted into artillery crew. I am really finding a lot of uses for that one pack of figures! There is a lack of really nice early renaissance artillery crew in 28mm that aren't in Landsknecht dress. The Foundry and even some of the old Games Workshop Empire figures are excellent but they are all Landsknechts. If you want figures to represent French, Spanish or Italians you have to search a little harder to find nice figures.
So here they are, shown with a small group of French Pikemen supporting. They are fairly generic however and meant to represent artillery and crew for the mid 1490s through to the 1510s. In between the two breech loaders is a more "modern" culverin whose paint job was inspired by Maximillians Zeugbuch, as shown below.
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| Bronze Gun from Maximillians Zeugbuch 1502 |
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| Bronze gun painted to resemble the example above |
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| Two older breech loaders on either side of a more "modern" bronze gun |
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| A view of the guns from the another angle |
Nice work Oli, and nice find on the original drawing of a cannon of the time, and of course im going to nick the colour scheme for my next cannon!
ReplyDeleteCheers Chris - this link is for the whole Zeugbuch - you will find a load of inspiration, its got some great drawings and is in colour: https://dl.wdl.org/8971/service/8971.pdf
DeleteWow, thats a treasure trove of inspiration, and information, much appreciated thanks Oli!
DeleteWow, these are fabulous artillery units Oli - I'm definitely going to pick up a set of those Old Glory models for my own collection.
DeleteAlso, that scan of the Zeugbuch is a fantastic primary source! Thanks for that. BTW, do you know where the original document is held?
Thanks Curt, yes the OG artillery pieces are nice models- the original Zeugbuch is in the Bavarian State Library.
DeleteFantastic looking painted Artillery units!
ReplyDeleteGreat looking artillery, and I really like the converted crew, my non landsknechts crew are old glory and do look a bit more late 15th, rather than early 16th I do like your breech loaders, have to think about some of those!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Whichever way you put them together, I like the OG guns - from the WotR range, I see. I may have to add a few of them. I like as many different kinds of guns as possible, as there was little or no standardization at this time.
ReplyDeleteCheers for the comments guys -Gonsalvo I agree for the late 15th early 16th century there were all sorts of types of artillery so variety is always great. I am tempted to pick up some more Old Glory pieces myself.
ReplyDeleteA great post and a splendid job!
ReplyDeleteA truly Maximillian artillery park! Inspiring!
ReplyDelete