WIP on the Wagon....and a few Landsknechts

Perry Wagon

I have been pretty busy recently so haven't had much time painting but I have been slowly working on one of the Perry Miniatures Wagons, shown above and below. I am working on the horse team at the moment. I then need to base it and make ropes to attach the horses to the Wagon, which I am slightly worried about! It is a really nice piece and I am tempted to have a go at some more of their carts and wagons depending on how this one turns out.
Yesterday the new 1450-1500 Italian figures from the Perrys arrived. They are great figures and when completed I will mix them in with my Assault Group Italians. The issue is that although the Gendarmes, Artillery and Landsknechts in my collection are suitable for around 1515 to 1530 the Italians and Spanish are far more suitable for the beginning of the Italian wars, the wars around 1500, the battles of Cerignola and Garigliano. I think adding these late medieval figures will only add to that divide.

Perry Wagon

I didn't think a couple of the pictures of the wagon were that exciting and I probably won't get a chance to post again this month so below are some pictures of my Landsknechts I took a while ago. These photos contain nearly every Landsknecht in my collection, figures from Wargames Foundry, Artizan, Old Glory, Pro Gloria Miniatures, Games Workshop and even a few converted Perry Miniatures. They are such useful troops as they found their way into most armies of the period at some time or another. My Landsknecht megalomania is not over yet. As a lot of my collection seems to be suitable for around 1500 I would still like to paint up some troops that will be more suitable for earlier Landsknecht, although I am not sure any really exist.
On the other hand I have seen that The Assault Group are working on greens for Henry VIIIs conflicts in the 1540s. From what I have seen so far these look like they will be fantastic but for later in the 16th century than most of my current stuff. I can see this collection quickly splitting into various different armies in the future.

Landsknechts

Landsknechts

Attacking Pike Block

Attacking Pike Block

Frundsberg and his Dopplesolders

Landsknecht Pike Block

Landsknecht Arquebusiers Skirmishing

Landsknecht Commanders

Pike Block from the rear

Arquebusiers marching

Arquebusiers Skirmishing

Pike Block

Pike Block

Landsknecht Guns

Landsknecht Crossbowmen



Landsknecht Crossbowmen Skirmishing



Italian Wars Light Horse

Imperial Light Horse c.1510

 Above is the troop of cavalry I have been working on for some time now. I bought the Perry plastic men at arms set when it was released at Salute in April, more out of curiousity than anything else. I wanted to see what I could do with the figures to be able to use them for my Italian Wars collection. I have taken alot of inspiration from Stuart and Painterman's work on the perry plastics that they have shown on their superb blogs: http://stuartsworkbench.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/perry-plastics.html http://je-lay-emprins.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/ordonnance-men-at-arms-variations-on.html

I didn't want the figures to be late 15th century men at arms as I already have plenty of Gendarmes in the collection and the armour on the figures is a bit too early for the heavy cavalry of the 1500s and 1510s. However with a bit of conversion work I think they work excellently as the lighter type of cavalry for the first couple of decades of the 16th century. These figures are my first experimentations with the "green stuff" and I am quite pleased with the results, although I have developed a new found respect for miniature sculptures, the stuff can be such a pain to use!

All of the figures have been converted in some way. None are in full harness and all wear boots. I have modelled a few different styles of footwear on them with the green stuff. To further make them look like lighter horsemen I have given them all spears rather than full lances. Some were the spears that come with the men at arms set and the rest were cut from the plastic pikemen that come with the European Infantry 1450-1500 set. I wanted to use some of my Perry Tudor heads so I have shown the troop in more relaxed riding poses, only the Captain with his sword drawn looks slightly more ready for action. This has allowed me to show some with the hats on and the helmets on their saddles.

I took further inspiration for these figures from contemporary illustrations of light horsemen. As you can see below Durer and Dolsteins pictures are not too far off from the finished figures. I don't think they would be suitable for the later Italian wars but they will certainly do for the first couple of decades and for the early conflicts like the campaigns of El Gran Capitan, Gonsalvo, they are spot on. For this group I deliberately wanted them to be quite generic so by the switching of the standard they could be used for a variety of armies. I have enjoyed my experimentation with the green stuff and may have a go at turning another box of the perry men at arms into Spanish Jinetes with the addition of Adargas and more beards modelled on the faces.



Albrecht Durers Light Horseman 1499



Paul Dolsteins Light Horseman

I have shown each figure individually so you can see what  has been done to make them look like lighter cavalry and to bring them more into the 1500's. I have gone for lighter helmets on all of them to make them look less like heavily armoured knights:

Figure with an Assault Group Sixteenth Century sword

 The below standard is interchangeable so the figures can represent horsemen is various armies. You may notice I have had a go at modelling on extra horse trappings. Its fiddly work but I am pleased with the result:

Light Horse with Imperial Standard

I have modelled beards onto the two figures below, the captain and a fellow horseman. If I have a go at turning another box of these miniatures into Spanish Jinetes I will definitely use this trick to make them look less 15th century. The Captain's horse also has some extra trappings added:

Light Horse Captain

Light Horse with beard added with green stuff

 For the last two figures I have attempted the down turned riding boots shown in late 15th early 16th century illustrations. The Osprey book on the Swiss at War has some plates with soliders wearing these and I have seen contemporary illustrations of the German Peasants revolt with riders wearing this style. They are long riding boots that have a split at the back and have been turned down to create a flared effect. I didn't get the look correct on the first figure but feel it works a lot better on the second:

Rear of figure to show boot detail

Horseman with turned down boots

Horseman with turned down boots

Rear of figure to show boot detail

Finally, some more shots of the whole group:

Light Horse, early 16th century

Light Horse

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