Italian Fortress

Warfare in this period was dominated by sieges. I have been fascinated by fortifications and their adaptation to resist and utilise gunpowder weapons for years and started collecting these earthworks and castle pieces before I began my early 16th century collection.

The first pictures are of a city wall that has been surrounded by earthworks to enhance its defensive capabilities and to allow the Landsknecht defenders to employ their artillery in defence. The walls and towers are from the old Battlements range available from Magister Militum. The buildings are by Hovels and the earthworks are from Stronghold Miniatures I think, I bought them years ago. The Gabions are from ebay, they are resin castings, really useful bits of scenery.

Gatehouse protected by a bastion

Guns defending the walls

Italian style tower

Breached section of the old town walls

View from inside the town

Earthworks defending the walls

Breach loading guns defending the tower

A deep defensive system of earthworks

Landsknecht guns

The next few pictures are of the above battlements pieces combined with Games workshops old Might Fortress to create an Italian style castle. To be honest its probably a bit too big to use in a game, I prefer using the pieces to represent city walls but it shows the flexibility of the pieces.



Italian style fortress




Italian style fortress

And finally I could not resist adding a few pictures of Pro Gloria Miniatures excellent civilians within the fortress



Inside the castle walls




Inside the castle walls



Inside the castle walls

Gascon Crossbowmen

Gascon Crossbowmen

To be honest they are not specifically Gascons, more like generic early 16th century crossbowmen. The figures could easily be Gascons or Aventuriers, Spanish or Italians. I got the idea for them from Petes Italian Wars Blog, http://thegreatitalianwars.blogspot.com/2011/05/italian-wars-french-crossbow.html

I thought combining the old GW Empire Arms with the Perry Miniatures late medieval figures was a great idea. To ensure they are more clearly early 16th century figures as oppose to medieval I also used the Perry Tudor Heads and the TAG 16th century swords, http://www.theassaultgroup.co.uk/store/product.php?productid=1172&cat=82&page=6

Below I have are some photos to show how the figures were made up before I painted them.



                          

Below is are some pictures of the figures as French Crossbowmen, the drummer is a TAG Italian figure and the standard bearer is a Foundry Conquistador. All the others are plastic Perry figures from the Medieval Mercenaries box set. I tried to ensure that they all had a bolt quiver or some sort of loading equipment as well. The old GW Empire crossbowmen set is useful for this as the figures come with the metal arms and also metal cranequins and quivers.

Gascon Crossbowmen

French Captain

The figures can just as easily be used as Italians or Spanish, I added a Colonna banner instead of a French one and they can then represent Italians in Spanish or Imperial service. The standard bearer is a TAG figure

Colonna Crossbowmen

Colonna Crossbowmen

A Forest of Pikes

I thought I would take some shots of my Landsknechts with the addition of my Old Glory figures. The below photos are of a block of 256 Landsknechts, a square of 16 by 16. It would be a complete nightmare to try and game with as the thing becomes a porcupine of pikes and even though alot of them are on multi bases it take ages to move them. Although impractical I think it gives a good impression of how formidable one of these squares of flamboyantly dressed mercenaries would be. Any Gendarmes would certainly think twice about taking them on. On the other hand it would be a hell of a target for any artillery!

The banners are surrounded by the command figures and some two handed swordsmen to protect them. I recall reading that contemporaries often felt two handed swords and halberds were good for protecting the flags if things got nasty for the pike block. There are also 32 Arquebusiers skirmishing around the block, so in total its 288 figures. Manufacturers are mainly Foundry, Old Glory and Artizan although there are also a couple of TAG, Pro Gloria Miniatures and even an old Marauder miniature in there somewhere.

The Pike Block

A Forest of Pikes

The below photo shows the centre of the block with the banners being protected by the Two Handed Swordsmen and Halberdiers.

Centre of the Pike Block

The Pike Block from behind

The sharp end

Imperial Artillery

Following on from the Old Glory Landsknecht Pike I have completed some of their Landsknecht Artillery Crew. These are great figures with loads of character and they have the advantage that a lot of them can be used as general command figures as well as gun crews. I combined them with my foundry crewmen and guns to create quite a formidable gun battery!


Landsknecht Gun Battery


The Italian villa is from Hovels Spanish 25mm range. Great buildings that are easy to paint and really help to set the scene for the Italian wars. I am not sure if they are 100% for the period but they certainly give the battlefield a good mediterranean flavour.

Italian Farm

Landsknecht Guns

Cutting stone shot and preparing the powder

 The below 2 pictures are of a couple of the Old Glory figures firing a gun by Redoubt Enterprises. I really like the figure with the linstock.

The Battery

 Slightly off topic (well about 40 years before historically) but I thought you might like to see a few photos of my activities this weekend. I donned my padded jack, kettle helm and breastplate for the annual reenactment of the Battle of Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire. I started reenacting when I was a teenager and this was my 16th year taking part in the battle! As always despite a few bruises and it being extremely hot it was a great weekend. Next for me will be Bosworth in August.