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A Bombard

September 24, 2016, 9:13 am
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This is a piece I finished a while ago, but didn't deem dramatic enough for post number 100! It is the Perry Miniatures Wars of the Roses Bombard with a few tweaks to the crew to make it more suitable for the start of the 16th Century. I was having a look at contemporary images while I was working on this, and my mantlets and gabions. It was a surprise to discover that, alongside the more "modern" culverins and basilisks, bombards seem to have seen use well into the first two decades of the 1500s. I included some images to demonstrate this in a recent post http://camisado1500s.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/mantiets-and-gabions.html. Some more images follow to further highlight this.

The first is a great sketch of the Siege of Älvsborg by Paul Dolnstein, a favourite soldier artist of this blog, which quite clearly shows an older style bombard in use alongside other guns on carriages. Secondly Maximilians Zeugbuch of 1502 has a wealth of detail in terms of guns in the early 16th century. In a previous post I linked it in the comments but in case you haven't seen it here is the link again. Have a look as it really is a goldmine of images: https://dl.wdl.org/8971/service/8971.pdf. What is interesting about a lot of the bombards in the Zeugbuch is that they seem rather more "up to date" than the Perry miniature, being cast in bronze and in a style more of 1500. They look to be whole cast guns rather than iron staves linked together by iron hoops. It would be great to see a manufacturer sculpt one of these pieces.

This is a Sketch from Paul Dolnsteins Diary in 1502 showing the siege of Älvsborg in Sweden. Note the old style bombard at the bottom of the sketch, just left of the centre. Apparently the text at the top right hand is a recipe for Pidgeon written by someone else!

Bombard from Maximilians Zeugbuch 1502.

Another Bombard from the Zeugbuch 1502.

Bombards from the Zeugbuch, these two look slightly older than the others shown above.

The final three contemporary images are from the Weisskunig, another favourite source of images for this blog, detailing siege guns in the mid 1510s. While in the first image the central guns look like older style bombards, what is interesting about the following two images is that the guns being used without carriages look as though they may well be simply culverins in use without carriages. This makes sense as in siege warfare where some of the guns could afford to be relatively static I can imagine these pieces being used without the need to have a carriage.What is also evident from the images shown here, and in my mantlets and gabions post, is that the bombards are always shown in use alongside guns on carriages. I am guessing the guns on carriages were included as much to defend the besiegers in a sally as to further damage the walls or earthworks that were under siege. They could quickly be moved to fire on attackers from the fortifications if need be.

Image from the Weisskuning, 1510s, showing bombards in use in the centre

Another image from the Weisskunig showing what looks to be a more contemporary barrel being used without a carriage in the top right.

Again more contemporary guns being used without carriages.

Some images of the bombard and its accompanying mantlet follow. It really is a beautiful kit but it is also quite clearly for the late 15th century. In order to bring it into the 1500s you will notice I have head swapped the gunner with the linstock and have switched one of the crew for an old Citadel Miniature who is more suitable for the early 16th century. One of the chaps hauling up the mantlet has also had a head swap. I didn't go too overboard on the crew though as I imagine that a lot of the men working on the bombard would simply be civilians pressed into service and not always the most "fashionable".

I have also added some bits and pieces from Front Rank. A wood axe leans on the blocks of wood behind the gun to prevent recoil. I got this idea from Simon who did a beautiful job on this miniature for his Burgundian and Hundred Years war collections http://je-lay-emprins.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/dulle-griet.html. I did toy with the idea of basing the crew on sabot bases like he has done as well and painting four Landsknechts as the alternative crew. Maybe one day I will do another gun as I can use the 15th century crew for other projects, they are really useful figures.

The mantlet is on a separate base, the same size as the other mantlets I painted up. They are all interchangeable and can be switched to other artillery pieces as I have based all my guns on an 80mm frontage. I have taken photos of some of the other guns as part of some siege works and will hopefully get these images up in my next post.

The bombard as part of some siege works.

The front of the bombard.

Image without the mantlet.

The bombard and mantlet.

The gun from behind showing the detail of the crew.

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Siegeworks

October 2, 2016, 8:59 am
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This post is simply to show how the Mantlet and Gabion bases I completed back in August, http://camisado1500s.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/mantiets-and-gabions.html, look with my artillery bases. Although they are of different depths all my artillery bases have an 80mm frontage, and of course the gun is always in the centre of the base. This means that the Mantlets fit in front of all the artillery bases and can be swapped for variety.

You may notice a wooden tower in some of the photos. This is a terrain piece from Magister Militum I painted up a while back. In this period such wooden defences were quite common, used by defenders and besiegers alike. I have included a few examples of them in contemporary images. The first two are of a block house, I think its meant to be the same building in each image, that temporarily holds out against Maximilians forces in his Weisskunig. You can see the defenders meet a rather grisly end when they are finally burnt out. The second image is a salient reminder that these depictions were as much propaganda as they were efforts to "document" the Holy Roman Emperor elects campaigns. A warning to those who opposed the might of his armed forces. That is, of course, as long as he could temporarily borrow enough money to raise those forces!

A block house under attack in the Weisskunig.

The destroyed block house, by the looks of things Maximilian was not too happy with the efforts of the defenders!

The third image is a sketch by Paul Dolstein (another favourite of this blog along with the Weisskunig!) showing the siege of Montfort in 1491. As Dolstein was a bridge builder from Torgau I wonder if he served in these campaigns alongside the Landsknechts as much as a military engineer as a soldier. It is interesting that he included these images of sieges and the accompanying earthworks, in my last post I included his sketch of the Siege of Älvsborg. It does hint to me that he was involved in this aspect of campaigns regardless of whether he fought as a Landsknecht or not. All sorts of wooden towers and stockades can be seen in the below sketch and this is what I was trying to achieve with the wooden tower. I am not entirely happy with it though, it seems to look a little out of place.

A sketch from the diary of Paul Dolstein, showing the siege of Montfort 1491. All sorts of temporary defences can be seen , it's hard to tell which are the defenders and which the besiegers.

The set up in the below photos is a French force besieging the Venetians, I am guessing around late April, May 1509. The French are mopping up Venetian positions in the Terra Firma following their spectacular victory over the Serene Republic at the Battle of Agnadello, but basically its just a chance to show how the guns look combined with the siegeworks! I am happy with the results, they create little miniature dioramas when all the artillery bases and Mantlet bases are linked together. I was worried that perhaps the guns would be a little far from the Mantlets, as in contemporary images the barrels are often shown blasting out right underneath the Mantlets, but they seem to work pretty well.

Behind the attackers siegeworks

A bombard and supporting lighter guns fire as an assault goes in on the town walls.

The siegeworks

An Italian town under siege

The siegeworks from the defenders viewpoint, the wooden tower is on the left.
Mantlets and Gabions form defences for the gun crews behind

The siegeworks

Three of the French guns fire as Stradiots sally out of the town to attack the besieging force. I made the mistake of putting two bases next to each other with identical figures - the chap in the grey coat holding his bonnet in the centre of the photo appears twice!

The above  three guns from the defenders view point

The Venetian defenders crew a light gun in their earthworks

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Tudor Billmen 1513

November 12, 2016, 10:53 am
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This is the first unit for my 1513 Tudors. Having already dipped into the Tudor armies of the 1540s I'm jumping back a few decades to the armies of Henry VIIIs youth. It's an army I have attempted twice before, once in 15mm and once in 28mm. Both armies being sold on Ebay long ago. These earlier attempts, the lack of really good figures for the English and the fact it's an army that Stuart is covering in such incredible depth and so beautifully on his blog, http://stuartsworkbench.blogspot.co.uk/, meant that I was going to give the English for this period a miss and focus on some of the other Western European armies of the era.

My hand was forced however when Pete produced some excellent flag sheets specifically for the English campaign in France in 1513, http://thegreatitalianwars.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/henry-viii-invasion-of-france-1513.html. These are simply superb and although none have actually been used on this unit they will really add to the army. Being a Wars of the Roses reenactor, for my sins, I've always had a love of the swallow tailed standards with the St Georges cross at the hoist (whether or not they were actually used on the field is a debate for another day!) so I simply could not resist having a go a this army for a third time......

Already having a large Italian Wars collection, with changeable banners and standards, means a lot of the figures for the army are already done. Blocks of Landsknechts and the heavy Low Countries Men-at-Arms that Henry hired from Maximilian to augment his forces are no problem, I can simply use the figures from my existing collection. The troops needed are blocks of Billmen, of course English Archers and maybe some "Northern Staves", the Border Horsemen that Henry brought over and performed well in the 1513 Campaign.

For the Billmen I already had an idea of which figures could be used. Having studied the figures on Stuarts blog for ages I wanted to do something a bit different. Also the fact that I am hopeless with greenstuff and don't have Stuarts endless patience meant that I was going to have to find another way around the problem that no one manufactures good miniatures for the English in 1513. I fell back on what have become my classic go to figures, the Italian Swiss/Papal Guard by The Assault Group. I have used these figures so many times for various projects recently I should maybe rename the blog as "How Many times can you reuse 4 figure poses". Pete from The Assault Group very kindly let me buy them in Unit Builder sets to assemble a large collection of them. Some simple head swaps, the addition of bills and various other polearms along with the odd steel buckler on a few of them and they suddenly look like Tudor Billmen. I am aware that the base coats aren't one hundred percent like those Stuart has sculpted, they don't have the short sleeves that characterise them, but this was something I felt I could overlook.

Having the figures in Tudor base coats sorted the unit needed variation. I did not want any figures in Wars of the Roses style livery coats or to have so many late 15th Century styles within it that it looked like a Wars of the Roses retinue. A few specific poses from the Wargames Foundry Landsknechts, some not even needing head swaps, helped to add more "fashionable" soldiers to the block, most of them wearing doublets in Tudor colours. All of them had their Katzbalgers replaced with late medieval swords to bring them more into the Tudor style. A sprinkling of Perry Men-at-Arms in late 15th Century harnesses or half armours along with some more humble troops in padded jacks were added. Again with a few head swaps these fitted in well with the other troops.

Initially I was going to base them four to a base, like my Italian Infantry. This just didn't look imposing enough however and they looked as though my pike blocks, which are very densely based, would simply role through them. So of course the project expanded, I decided it would be six to a base, the same as the pike blocks. I considered painting the base coats maybe just white, or perhaps white and red as it seems there were variations on this theme during the 1510s and 1520s. In the end I've gone with the classic white and green with the St Georges cross in red as it is so representative of the Tudors. As Surreys unit at Flodden was also in a white and green livery this means they would also be suitable for this battle.

A couple of other different things were tried while working on these. One was the blackened armour on a Men-at-Arms shown in an image below. I was watching a lecture on youtube by Tobias Capwell, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COAIQPsgZWY, where he explains that the polished, shiny finish of plate harnesses could often amount to up to 80% of their cost! This has made me rethink how many figures I will paint in bright shining armour! Obviously it was done, as the lecture cleary demonstrates, but soldiers would often be in much duller armour that had not been polished. The figure was simply drybrushed in a dull metallic silver and then given two washes of black ink. You may notice the same technique was used on a few of the bills and helmets.

The second experiment was to try sticking small paper crosses onto some of the padded jacks of the Perry miniatures to represent the St Georges Crosses that had to be worn by the English troops. The aim was to make them look like cloth crosses that had been stitched on, although padded jacks could also simply have the crosses painted on as well. I am fairly happy with the results, although it was such a fiddly job doing them. The tiny pieces of paper were a nightmare to try and glue in place.

So here they are, seventy figures in total with a ridiculous 55 head swaps. The Perry Wars of the Roses plastic sets are endlessly useful for converting these figures. I haven't actually ordered the newer Tudor flags from Pete yet, so they are shown here under some of the flags from his mid Tudor sets, St Georges crosses and the standard of Sir Charles Brandon who took part in the 1513 French invasion and commanded during the 1523 and 1544 invasions. The larger flag is from Redoubt Enterprises. The flags are removable and the unit will look better with the addition of another swallow tailed standard.

The next question is how to convincingly do the archers? I have already painted some up for this period, but they are not in Tudor Livery. I may do a set of those old citadel figures again, in Tudor colours, but mixing some converted Foundry Landsknechts and Perry Plastic Wars of the Roses longbowmen together could make quite a convincing unit of marching bowmen as well. Let me know if you have any other ideas of how to represent the archers?


Tudor Billmen 1513 under the standard of  Sir Charles Brandon

Tudor Billmen and command

Tudor Billmen with a few Men-At-Arms stiffening the front ranks 

This base uses Perry, Assault Group and Wargames Foundry figures.

Again Perry, Assault Group and Foundry miniatures. Note the addition of the buckler to the soldier in the centre.

The centre figure is meant to represent an older veteran carrying a poleaxe. His head has been swapped with a Foundry Landsknecht miniature

Some mean looking Tudor Billmen

One of the command bases - The figure holding the banner on the left is from Steel Fist in late 15th century armour.

The second command base, behind these three are a trumpeter and a drummer

Some more Tudor Billmen

Note the paper cross on the padded jack on the left, this is meant to represent a stitched on cloth cross.

I experimented with painting blackened armour on the central Perry figure

Tudor Billmen



Note the stitched on cross on the jack on the left and the "Welsh Hook" being carried by the central figure

A picture from the back of the above base to show the stitched on cross on the back of the padded jack on the left

Finally a picture of the unit from behind - a lot of red crosses!

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Papal Command Base

December 3, 2016, 5:36 am
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This is probably my last post for the year. I am currently gearing up to start the challenge of yet another massive pike block, this time the excellent Landsknechts that The Assault Group have released for the 1490s to the first decade of the 1500s. A glutton for punishment I may be but I can't wait to see what they will look like painted up and arrayed under the ragged saltire of Maximilian! I am also about half way through some Tudor Archers to accompany my 1513 billmen, they should hopefully be completed first.

As a bit of a break in between bigger projects I have painted up a couple of the Steel Fist 16th century dismounted knights that came from a recent Kick Starter. The first is shown here on a command base. For this little scene I was keen that the figures could be used for my very early Italian Wars armies, for the War of 1499-1504, so you will notice that none of the figures are in later Landsknecht style slashed and puffed clothing. While the slashed and puffed clothing was indeed worn at the very start of the 16th century, it was done in a different and less extreme fashion than that which was to develop in the 1510s. As far as I know the harness the man-at-arms himself wears would be state of the art for 1500, some of the other figures for this range are for a few years later. These figures are all now available here: http://www.steelfistminiatures.com/products/16th_century_knights. I also backed the Steel First mounted 16th century knights Kick Starter and look forward to painting them up some time next year.

The other figures on the base are by The Assault Group apart from the chap at the back wearing a grey hat, who is a Perry plastic figure. The banner is interchangeable, so I can use the base for various commanders up until the mid 1520s, but in these pictures they march under a conjectural pattern bearing the arms of the "Warrior Pope", Julius II. They are from one of the excellent sets that Pete has done for Julius IIs armies: http://thegreatitalianwars.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/papal-flags-of-julius-ii.html. I think at some point when I have prepared all the Papal banners and standards part of my collection may have an outing as an entirely Papal army, this time Della Rovere rather than Borgia. I am yet to photograph my Italian Infantry and more generic pike blocks in a big army set up.

Command Base with a Dismounted Knight from Steel Fist Miniatures

Command Base marching under the banner of Julius II

Command Base under the banner of the "Warrior Pope", Julius II

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Another Command Base

January 2, 2017, 4:38 am
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To start off the New Year here is a quick post to show the second of the Steel Fist miniatures I've completed from the 16th century dismounted knights kickstarter. I have used this figure, along with a few others that did not make it onto bases during the great rebasing of 2015 to create a second command base. Unlike last months post this base is for slightly later - around 1510 to the 1520s. The idea is that a dismounted commander, accompanied by a valet with his banner, is discussing plans with some Landsknecht Captains. I have tried to make the composition demonstrate that they are in conversation with each other. The banner is from Petes fantastic flag range but as normal my flags are interchangeable so I have painted the figures up as generic officers. This means the base has plenty of potential uses, just change the flag for the corresponding commander.

As a brief aside, from what I have read about armies during the Italian Wars it seems that the overall command structure could be fairly informal. An army commander, normally a high ranking noble, would be appointed in the absence of a monarch as the operational commander, so to speak, but many of the decisions would be made by a more informal committee. This was composed of other nobles, appointed in command of the cavalry and infantry sections of the armies various "native" troops, and of the leaders of the various mercenary forces which made up the army, often constituting a major part of it. An example of this is in Blaise de Monlucs memoirs where he talks of the meetings between himself and the other captains during the Siege of Siena in the 1550s. From what I can recall, despite being in a nasty siege, they seem to find a lot of amusement from the fact that Monluc has to redden his face artificially to create the impression of being in better health than he actually is when addressing the soldier! The problems of this kind of command are however clearly demonstrated by battles like La Bicocca where the Swiss captains under Albert Von Stein demanded a head on immediate attack of the Imperial position, against Lautrec, the overall French commanders wishes. This of course led to disaster.

I want to make the most of every figure from the first Steel Fist kickstarter so will try and do a different base for each, they won't all be command ones. I think I will use some of the more action posed knights for attacking halberdier bases of Landsknechts or other infantry that can be fitted into the Pike Blocks. I haven't decided yet. I have also received the Gendarme figures from the second Steel Fist kickstarter and they are magnificent sculpts. It will be a while before they get painted though. Hopefully I will have some more English up next as I am making some pretty good progress on a set of English Archers for the 1513 campaign.

Happy New Year!

Command Base using one of Steel Fists dismounted 16th Century Knights

Command Base under a Papal Banner of Julius II



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Tudor Bow and Bill 1513

February 1, 2017, 11:35 am
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Here is the next addition for the 1513 English invasion of France. Ten bases of archers and another two Tudor command bases. As with my previous attempt at early 16th century archers, http://camisado1500s.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/longbowswarbows-in-early-1500s.html, I have once again been back on Ebay searching for old Empire Citadel miniatures to strip of paint and convert into Tudor archers. Most were picked up for a decent price although I did have to pay over the odds for a few to complete the numbers. Of course as soon as I had bought these some very cheap lots came up which I jumped on so I will be fielding some more of these figures. These will be on Skirmish bases to represent bowmen in a looser formation.

The flags are all from Pete's excellent France 1513 Tudor flags range, http://thegreatitalianwars.blogspot.co.uk/. They are based on research done by Stuart for his superb collection of 1513 Tudors, http://stuartsworkbench.blogspot.co.uk/ . I wouldn't have had another attempt at an Early Tudor army without these flags. I think they are Pete's best work to date and they really complement the figures and bring out the flavour of the English in this period. In fact they have even had me contemplating collecting Wars of the Roses armies again but that will have to wait!

Tudor Archers under the standard of Sir Henry Willoughby

Tudor Archers, 1513 under the standard of Sir Henry Willoughby

The first couple of photos show just the archers and the new command bases under the standard of Sir Henry Willoughby. He accompanied the Marquess of Dorset on his Guienne campaign (if it can be called that!) of 1512 as well as serving in the rearward in the 1513 invasion of France. I was rushed for time to get these photos and had some issues with the light so I hope they look bright enough.

As with my first attempt at these old Citadel figures I have made a few head swaps, added some Perry swords and bucklers to them and changed a few hairstyles and beards with green stuff. I have also added quivers to a few of the figures. Quivers don't seem to have been carried by English archers in the 15th century but came back into fashion in the early 16th. As all these miniatures already have a few arrows tucked in their belts I didn't want to add quivers to all of them but felt half a dozen or so would be a suitable addition. The quivers are metal pieces from Front Rank, they are quite large but that works well with these miniatures as they are about the same size as Front Ranks 28mms. A couple of pictures below show the quivers and a few of the other changes.

 A base of archers showing the added swords and a quiver

A base of archers showing the quiver added

Of course I could not resist pairing the archers up with the recently completed billmen to see how they work together. The old citadel figures are quite large but that doesn't seem to show too much when they are all based up. While the billmen are six to a base the archers are in a looser formation of three to a base, they just don't look right in a closer formation. The first standards in the below photos are for Sir Charles Brandon, who fought in the Kings ward in 1513 as well as commanding English armies in France in the 1520s and 1544. For the 1520s campaigns these figures would still be suitable. For the 1540s however fashions and warfare had changed and the troops would look more like these: http://camisado1500s.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/a-tudor-infantry-company.html.

The other block of bill and bow marches under the standards of two commanders present in 1513. Sir Richard Carew, Captain of the Calais Garrison and Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset who led the earlier Guienne expedition and campaigned in Scotland in the 1520s. I prepared these standards first as these commanders provide scope for Skirmishes in the Calais Pale in the case of Carew while Greys men could be seen aiding the Spanish in Guienne or raiding the Scottish borders.

Bill and Bow under the standards of Sir Charles Brandon

Archers and Billmen under the standards of Sir Charles Brandon

The command base, the front two figures are conversions of old Citadel Miniatures

While scouring Ebay for these bowmen I picked up some other old Citadel figures to use for the command bases. The chap pictured above holding his sword out stretched is an old Empire Artillery crewman with the linstock replaced with an Assault Group sword. Granted his head gear is a little Germanic but I couldn't resist including him in that base coat. The chap next to him is a very old Citadel fighter miniature with the sword and plume replaced. I think he works really well as an early 16th century man-at-arms in half harness.

As mentioned above I will work on some skirmishing archers for this collection. It also needs a few Border Horsemen and some artillery with the crew in the Tudor Base Coats to complete it. Possibly some marching bowmen as well as I have a few different figures in mind for this. When accompanied by some Landsknechts and Gendarmes they should make quite a force!

Bill and Bow under the standards of Sir Richard Carew, captain of the Calais Garrison and Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset

Tudor Bow and Bill, the front standard is for Sir Richard Carew

Tudor Bill and Bow, the front, yellow and black standard, is for Sir Richard Carew, while the rear standard is for Thomas Grey.

The two blocks of Bow and Bill

The Archers and Billmen for 1513

Tudor Billmen and Bowmen for Henry VIIIs army of 1513

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WIP - Early Landsknechts

March 2, 2017, 2:25 pm
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During my ramblings on this blog I have mentioned a few times how it would be great if a manufacturer would produce some early Landsknechts, representing those that would have fought in the earlier clashes of the Italian Wars. I have been watching The Assault Groups progress on just such figures for a few years now and was keen to get started on them when they were released at the end of last year, http://www.theassaultgroup-shop.co.uk/index.php?p=104 . If you have followed this blog for a while, you will know I like to try and get into the finer details of the sometimes quite outlandish styles of both the Landsknechts and the Reisläufer. So while I paint my way through a big block of these colourful chaps it is a good time to look at some contemporary images of the early Landsknechts and compare them to the figures TAG have made to represent them.

Most wargamers are familiar with Landsknechts. They are an iconic troop type with their puffed and slashed doublet and hose, exaggerated cod pieces, large two handed swords, beards and jauntily worn hats. Of course this is a stereotype. They were seen on European battlefields for nearly a century and during this time, unsurprisingly, their fashions changed radically. What interests me, especially as a 15th Century reenactor, is how they took the late 15th Century doublet and hose, worn in the 1490s, and by 1500 were already starting to demonstrate a style that was quite radical in comparison.

There are lots of images that show this development and show what these troops would have looked like from the late 1490s through to around 1510, the period I think these miniatures best represent. I have included quite a lot of such images below. I hope you don't find it overkill, but personally I love these early pictures and find it fascinating to pick out the little details. These details can often be seen in other contemporary art that is in a completely different format or to a very different standard but helps to give further credence to some of the styles or fashion quirks that initially seem quite bizarre.

Before continuing to discuss these early Landsknecht styles it is worth pointing out their relationship to the Reisläufer or Swiss mercenaries. The Landsknecht were initially developed as a response to the Swiss in the 1480s, following their victories over the Burgundians in the 1470s. While the Reisläufer are seen as distinct from the Landsknecht, which was undoubtedly the case, they were still technically part of the Holy Roman Empire and it is hard to tell how much cross pollination there was in terms of their style and that of the Landsknechts, especially those raised in South Germany. I have attempted to discuss the difference in appearance of the Landsknechts and Swiss on this blog before: http://camisado1500s.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/wip-more-swiss-pike.html. Who influenced who and were they really that different are probably impossible questions to answer, especially in the first decade of the Sixteenth Century, but they are questions worth bearing in mind as well.

Infantry from the Kriegsbuch, 1496

What I love about this first image, from the Kriegsbuch of 1496, is that although the style of art still looks essentially very late medieval, some of the early Landsknecht fashions can already been seen. Apart from the soldiers in full harness, all appear to have a leg left bare, wearing just "breeches" and not the entire lower part or "stocking" of their hose. The musicians especially, with their plumed hats and part coloured outfits are starting to look like more like the classic Landsknechts most, well most wargamers at least, would recognise.

Beheading of John the Baptist c.1500 Master MZ Munich

As we move more definitely into the 16th century, there are plenty of contemporary images that start to demonstrate a clear style for the Landsknechts. The large puffs and slashes with lots of material showing through are not yet apparent but smaller puffs and slashes certainly are. To me it seems the puffed shoulders look very similar to the 15th century maheutres or mahoitres that can be seen in Burgundian and French chronicles of the 1470s and 1480s. Perhaps showing that these type of clothes don't just spring from nowhere but are following developments in the 15th century.

The doublets start to become more unique in the way a large part of the chest and back is left uncovered with just the lining showing. Alternatively a lighter "coat" is worn over the doublet. It is hard to tell. From the beheading image above and the Dürer images below it seems that the former is the case - that the doublet is essentially split in two with the chest and back showing a different material from the rest of the garment. It looks to be the lining as it appears to be underneath the shoulders and sleeves. The clothes look so tight that it seems difficult to see them as separate garments. Saying that however, a study of the Zeugbuch images would argue the opposite. That the Landsknechts do indeed where tight short coats over their doublet and hose.

Dürer Landsknechts c.1500
Dürer Landsknechts 1500-1503
Dürer Landsknecht Standard Bearer c.1502-1503

Arquebusiers from the Zeugbuch, 1502

Landsknecht Pikeman, Zeugbuch 1502

Landsknecht Halberdier, Zeugbuch 1502, note the bizarre octopus like sleeves!

Landsknecht "Doppelhaken" and crew, Zeugbuch 1502, as in the image above one of the crew has quite bizarre octopus like sleeves.

Landsknecht "Doppelhaken" and crew, Zeugbuch 1502

Landsknecht Arquebusier, Zeugbuch 1502

From as early as the 1496 Kriegsbuch it seems that the hose are no longer always worn as a single garment but instead are separated into "breeches" and then lower "stockings". This is clearly demonstrated in lots of the contemporary art. The Assault Group have done a fantastic job of depicting plenty of Landsknechts in these multi part hose, sometimes with them unlaced, sometimes with them rolled down and sometimes just wearing the breeches with one leg left bare.

When first looking at these images sometimes quite bizzare details seem to simply be artistic licence. A good example of this are the octopus like sleeves that two of the Landsknechts in the Zeugbuch are wearing. This is definitely one of the more extreme Landsknecht quirks that I have seen and doesn't seem to appear in many other pieces of art from this period. However, if you look closely at the officer in one of Paul Dolnsteins excellent sketches from c.1504 (see below), he is indeed wearing exactly the same style of doublet or coat with sleeves that end in these really quite impractical tenticles! It does seem that some of them dressed like that.

Landsknecht Ensign and Officer, Paul Dolnsteins diary, c.1504. Note the lower hose laced to the breeches and the sleeves of the officer.

Landsknechts at practise with pikes, Paul Dolnsteins diary, c.1504

Landsknechts duelling with pikes, Paul Dolnsteins diary, c.1504

Landsknecht Standard Bearer and Officer, Paul Dolnsteins diary, c.1504

Those images from the very early 1500s that are in colour are particularly useful as another Landsknecht trait was their love of colourful outfits. In my post on Mounted Crossbowmen from the start of the 16th Century I used some images taken from Kriegsbuch, a superb blog by Daniel S. I have again returned to this source and used some of his photos of a painting from 1502 illustrating a conflict between the city of Nuremburg and the forces of Kasimir von Bradenburg-Kulmbach. The two posts that discuss the infantry can be found here: http://kriegsbuch.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/nurnberg-foot-in-kirchweih-von.html and here http://kriegsbuch.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-brandenburg-troops-in-kirchweih-von.html . From these images and from those of Diebold Schillings Illustrated Chronicle, also shown below, it seems that although some Landsknechts wore extremely colourful multi part and striped outfits, others were less outlandish. In these images they are also shown in one coloured doublet and hose. Again this could be artistic licence with the artist simply choosing not to show all of them in these more complex designs simply to save time. The Zeugbuch, however, shows both simpler and more complex styles, supporting the argument that they weren't all quite so flamboyant.

Detail of German Infantry with a captive man at arms from a painting of 1502 showing a battle between the forces of the the city of Nuremburg and Kasimir von Brandenburg-Kulmbach

Detail from the same painting as above showing German Infantry, 1502. Note how many of them are shown in outfits of one colour.

Another detail from the painting depicting the battle before the gates of Nuremburg, showing German infantry c.1502

Landsknechts, early 1500s, from the Illustrated Chronicle by Diebold Schilling, note how they are wearing the red cross of the Swabian League rather than the Hapsburg saltire.

Landsknechts, early 1500s, from the Illustrated Chronicle by Diebold Schilling. It may simply be artistic licence but in this image they are shown in much less flamboyant outfits.

A further signature of the Landsknechts is the Katzbalger. The short sidearm that they wore, often quite provocatively. What is interesting about the very early Landsknechts is that they carried a style of sword that was developing into the Katzbalger but was not quite yet at that distinctive style. In most of these images, swords with "S" shaped crossguards can be seen but the more horizontal S shaped guards of the true Katzbalger have not yet developed. Furthermore the blades of the swords are still relatively long in many of the images, the Katzbalger of the 1510s and 1520s was a relatively short bladed weapon. The image below from "The Mocking of Christ" shows one of these swords very clearly. The one worn by this Landsknecht in 1509 already has a shorter blade but the crossguards are still in a vertical "S" rather than the more horizontal "S" or figure of eight horizontal guard that came later. The Assault Group figures have captured this detail really nicely and all of the swords have these "S" shaped guards.

Landsknecht from Lucas van Leydens "The Mocking of Christ" 1509

So how have I chosen to start painting up these figures? Despite my loathing of painting fine detail I have really had to bite the bullet on this unit and paint lots and lots of stripes! A quick glance at the contemporary images and it is undeniable that they loved all sorts of vertical, diagonal and horizontal stripes. No examples of horizontally striped miniatures have been included yet, but I am working on some at the moment. I still think the horizontal stripes look odd but one look at the Zeugbuch Arquebusiers or a few of Paul Dolnsteins companions and it is clear that they did wear them.

A detail that has been left off is painting the Hapsburg saltire on any of these miniatures, mainly in case I want to shove them into the back ranks of a Reisläufer block. Interestingly in the Diebold Schilling images shown above they wear red crosses rather than saltires but are marching under the Hapsburg saltire - my guess is that the red cross is for the Swabian League but I may be wrong. The saltires don't seem universal in the contemporary images so I am happy to leave them off.

Early Landsknechts showing off their stripes and in "breeches" with the lower hose or "stockings" unlaced or not worn at all.

The Assault Group Early Landsknechts all carrying swords with "S" shaped cross guards.

In some images of early Landsknechts they are shown in quite simple, one coloured, doublet and hose. I have chosen to paint up some of the figures in this more simple style.

Of course a few head swaps using Perry Miniatures plastic heads from their Wars of the Roses range had to be made. I wanted to increase the already quite wide variety in the figures and as they are for the very early 1500s was keen to include some late 15th century sallets and steel skulls.  There are museum examples of painted munition quality helmets from c.1500 so a few painted sallets have also made it into the pike block. The pikes have yet to be painted up and added but an assortment of polearms is also carried by some of the troops.

A few Landsknechts with assorted polearms and one two handed swordsman

For this post, in an attempt to better illustrate some of my ramblings, I thought I would try something different by including a couple of images that show how the miniatures try to reflect what is seen in the art of the period. On a PC they will probably work more effectively as the image can be looked at in more detail but if this is read on a phone or Ipad I am guessing they may look slightly strange! Below these images is another way of  attempting the same result, simply by having the contemporary image before the photo of the figures. I am not entirely sure these collage style images work, let me know what you think. 

I still have another three bases of pike to complete and then a couple of skirmishing bases of arquebusiers, but feel like the hardest part of this block is complete. Now to get back to painting some more of those bloody stripes!

The contemporary images of early Landsknechts show them wearing these open doublets or perhaps they are short coats over a tighter doublet. Often the material of the hose carries through to this. I have tried to reflect this on some of the miniatures and have included details from contemporary images to, hopefully, illustrate what I am trying to achieve!

All sorts of hat styles are shown in contemporary images. I like the fact The Assault Group have chosen to show these particularly odd fur looking ones as seen in these images, it seems often worn by officers.


Landsknecht Musicians, Paul Dolnsteins diary, c.1504

Landsknecht Musicians, early 1500s, hopefully they give a similar impression to those sketched by Paul Dolnstein!


The block of early Landsknechts so far

The progress so far on The Assault Group early Landsknechts




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Early Landsknechts c.1500

April 1, 2017, 5:55 am
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So here is the finished pike block. This blog is no stranger to Landsknechts but these are the first early ones for the turn of the century c.1500. The block is made entirely of The Assault Groups fantastic new Landsknechts, http://www.theassaultgroup-shop.co.uk/imperialist save for one TAG Italian Command figure and one Steel Fist late 15th Century figure as well. There have also been a lot of head swaps, at least two dozen, with the plastic Perry Miniatures sets. I was keen to show as wide a variety of head gear as possible and wanted more helmeted figures so steel skulls and some painted and unpainted sallets have also been swapped in. This block is for the late 1490s through to around 1510 so these helmets would have been entirely appropriate. In fact when visiting museums with armour collections I've noticed many of the sallets date from the 1490s-1500.

There are 78 figures in total, including 8 skirmishing Arquebusiers. The Arquebusiers may be my favourite of these new TAG miniatures. I like the variety of ways in which they are carrying the powder flasks. The flags are of course from Petes excellent renaissance flag range: http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/petes_flags/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=. The figures were quite a challenge to paint. As I explained in my last post these early Landsknechts were particularly keen on striped clothing and replicating that with a paint brush took a lot of work but I am pleased with the result. When they are all en masse any errors on the individual stripes don't really show, and trust me there are a lot!

28mm Early Landsknechts by The Assault Group

TAG Early Landsknechts

The block from the side, note the "officers" keeping them in line with Polearms

Early Landsknechts

The block from the rear

 The final three photos show the two command bases, the details of which are missed when they are buried in the centre of the block, and a contemporary image of the Battle of Wenzenbach 1504. I couldn't see how to fit this image into the WIP post on these figures so wanted to include it here as it illustrates perfectly what I am trying to achieve with this unit. The Landsknechts can be seen to the left of the image as well as being involved in the combat in the centre. The officer with a halberd to the right of the front of the Landsknecht block can be seen in striped hose, what looks to be one of those odd fur hats and one leg left bare with only the breeches of the hose being worn. The block itself however does not look like the typical block of Landsknechts most miniature painters and wargamers are familiar with and this is what I wanted to show with this unit. Interestingly Wenzenbach was a battle where war wagons were still deployed, perhaps food for thought for a future project?

With regard to the command bases I normally put five rather than six figures on these as the extra space allows for more of the detail of the figures to be seen as well as adding to the "drama" of the bases a little. I wanted a Lansknecht Captain in full harness so have used one of the TAG figures from the Italian Command pack with a Perry sallet. The second base has a Captain carrying a halberd with a head swap from the Perry Light Cavalry to create a really "Gothic" look, especially when accompanied by a dismounted noble in his full Gothic harness, a Steel Fist miniature. This style of armour is rightly associated with the late 15th century but when looking at remaining Gothic harnesses they often date from right at the end of the century, late 1480s or the 1490s. A close look at images from c.1500 shows men-at-arms still in this style so I felt he would fit perfectly in this unit. Have a look at the men-at-arms to the far right of the Wenzenbach image as an example.

Hopefully over Easter I will be able to get some pictures of these chaps with some accompanying men-at-arms, crossbowmen and artillery. Next I am going to have a crack at some English Border horse for 1513 using the Perry plastic light cavalry. I have a few ideas of how these "Northern Staves" should look, let's see if I can put them into practice.

Contemporary image of The Battle of Wenzenbach 1504

Landsknecht Command with the Captain in a sallet and full harness

The second Landsknecht command base, a dismounted noble has joined them in a very late 15th century Gothic Harness. This figure is by Steel Fist Miniatures

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Schwabenkrieg

April 18, 2017, 3:07 pm
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Having completed my block of early Landsknechts I was unable to resist getting a few more pictures of them over the Easter break. The brief Swabian or Swiss War which was fought by Maximilian I and the Swabian League against the Swiss Confederacy in 1499 has always been of interest to me as it pitched the Landsknechts and Reisläufer against each other and only furthered their already fierce professional emnity. The details of this conflict have always remained a bit of a mystery to me as there has been little written on it in English that I am aware of. Interestingly there is an episode of "Medieval Dead" which investigates the skulls found at Dornach and is worth a watch if you can track it down.

If you have read this blog before you will know I love to include some contemporary art if possible. I have included pictures of the Swabian War below as I think they capture some great details of how the cavalry and infantry of the Holy Roman Empire and Swiss Cantons looked at the turn on the century. I have been lucky enough to have seen the second image, the Schweizerkrieg, in the flesh, so to speak, in an exhibition in Vienna. The miniatures photographed below attempt to capture the style of the Habsburg troops of this conflict and show how Maximilians forces may have looked at the very start of the 16th Century. I have even tried to place buildings in the background that look suitably Germanic!

Battle of Dornach 1499,  note the Habsburg Men-at-Arms on the left

 Detail from the Schweizerkrieg c.1500 depicting Men-at-Arms

Landsknechts and Swiss as depicted in the Schweizerkrieg c.1500



Habsburg cavalry and infantry c.1499
German Mounted Crossbowmen and Men-at-Arms c.1499



Habsburg Cavalry c.1499, I was trying to make the buildings in the background look suitably Düreresque!

Early 16th Century Mounted Crossbowmen

Early 16th Century Men-at-Arms

More Imperial Men-at-Arms

Men-at-Arms c.1499

Landsknechts c.1499

Early Landsknechts

Landsknechts from the Swabian War

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Beneath the Walls of Therouanne

May 9, 2017, 9:58 am
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Hard to believe as it may be I have actually had a wargame! Three in fact! It only took six years since I started this blog but then again there is no point rushing things. Stuart of Army Royal, http://stuartsworkbench.blogspot.co.uk/, invited me to his for some games of Lion Rampant a couple of weekends ago. We played his adapted version of the rules, tweaked for the early 16th century, and fought three clashes in front of the walls of Therouanne. Great fun they were too! We weren't too fussed about every detail of the rules, you will notice in the pictures below we didn't adhere to the 3 inches between units rule for example, but the games had a great renaissance flavour and the activation and wild charge rules saw our troops getting into all sorts of trouble on the table without either of us being able to do much about it!

The photos below are of the games taken as we were playing them, the figures weren't posed afterwards. Because of this some parts of the games are not that well covered as I was too busy rolling dice and the lighting and photos aren't always great. Similarly I did not record every move and dice role, to be honest I would rather enjoy the game than feel like some kind of minute taker. Instead I wrote up a summary of each of the games the following day, and gave them a bit of a Tudor flavouring as well. Stuart may argue there is a bit of bias in there towards the French who I was playing!

The English under the Duke of Buckingham head along the walls in an attempt to return to their camp. They have already dispersed the Francs Archers.

Hammer and Anvil

The first game was the "Hammer and Anvil" scenario. Stuart played the English under Edward Stafford Duke of Buckingham returning from a foray along the walls of Therouanne, heading back to the English camp, and I played the French, under the Chevalier Bayard, attempting to stop them. Initially Bayard deployed out on his own with his men-at-arms, obviously in an attempt to gain some glory, accompanied by a few lowly Franc Archers. The Francs Archers were immediately dispersed by the English archers and Landsknecht shot, or Almains as the English called them. Buckingham took the fight to Bayard and the two men with their mounted retainers broke lances in a series of clashes underneath the walls. Buckingham was unhorsed and bested and flushed with victory Bayards men-at-arms rode on into the English ranks only to be defeated themselves!


Meanwhile further from the walls the English Border Horse had nearly fled the field when French reinforcements in the form of Mounted Crossbowmen and Stradiots arrived and  sent the Northern Horsemen running back. Closer to the walls the English foot pressed on despite the loss of their bowmen and leader. They easily scattered some French Aventuriers and left the field being shadowed by the Stradiots and Crossbowmen. Some of the English had made it back to their camp but not enough to secure an English victory.

Buckingham and his demilancers charge Bayard who counter charges with his men-at-arms.

Both sets of horsemen suffer losses and regroup for another clash.

The English follow up behind the Duke of Buckingham

The English Border horse attempt to escape while the clash in front of the walls is taking place.

Buckingham is coming off worse in his clash with Bayard

Having unhorsed Buckingham, Bayard crashes into the English Archers who he will send running only to be unhorsed and defeated by the supporting English billmen.

Unluckily for the Border horsemen, just as they are about to escape the French Mounted Crossbowmen and Stradiots arrive and block their path!

The English billmen and some accompanying Landsknecht Arquebusiers manage to disperse the French Aventuriers who have sallied out of the town to trap them. The are shadowed by the French Mounted Crossbowmen but make good their escape.

A Taxing Afternoon

The second game we played was the "A Taxing Afternoon" scenario. We placed six items such as barrels, pigs and wagons, amidst a small farm outside the walls that could be collected and taken back off the table to earn points. We decided to dice for the value of these when they were collected, we didn't put stickers underneath as suggested in the Lion Rampant book, but in hindsight should have perhaps used another method.

The French Mounted Crossbowmen rode into the village took a wagon and left! The Commander of the Calais Garrison, Sir Richard Carew, entered the farm with his infantry, the English Archers doing a good job of harassing Bayard and his men-at-arms. Bayard rather unchivalrously fled with some more points, he did momentarily have a change of heart and turn back to face the English but then though better of it and carried on off the table.

The English had slowly been wheeling an organ gun up into the farm which was unleashed upon the Francs Archers who had initially been successful in driving some of the English billmen back into the woods. This sent the Francs Archers running with some nasty casualties.

This game was fun but we got the scenario a bit confused with regard as to who could capture tokens which made it rather short - you can tell we don't game much!



Bayard and some accompanying infantry advance towards the farm.

The English enter the farm as well, waging war with sword and flame! Some dice can be seen in this photo, evidence I actually had a game!

A view from the walls of Therouanne. Bayard is entering the farm having lost one of his men-at-arms to galling arrows from the English Archers.

French defenders look on at the skirmishing in the suburbs.

The English archers harass the French men-at-arms while the organ gun is slowly wheeled up in support.

The Franc Archers turn the tables on the English Archers after taking a barrel from the farm. Their joy is short lived as they are about to be blasted by the English Organ gun!

Bloodbath!

For the third game we fought a slightly larger skirmish outside the walls of Therouanne as some of the French garrison sallied out to test the English besiegers. The Landsknechts in English pay, intent on plunder, went straight for some French wagons defended by Francs Archers who sent the "Almaynes" running. This was a sideshow to the main event in the centre which saw the English and French manouvering and harassing each other around some hedges in the centre of the field.

On the English left, Buckingham initially sent the Stradiots reeling only to see them rally and slowly weaken his horsemen through skirmishing attacks. Border Horsemen and Mounted Crossbowmen skirmished with each other as the forces drew nearer. The French commander and his Gendarmes, (Bayard had hung up his spurs for this clash!) thundered into the English infantry initially causing chaos but quickly realising they had bitten of more than they could chew and being defeated in the hedges! Similarly Buckingham and his horsemen were brought down by the French as the Stradiots lured them nearer. This was the  last success for the French defenders however as they soon found themselves under a rain of English arrows and were slowly pushed back to their walls.

The Stradiots and Mounted Crossbowmen tried to counter attack again but the fight was over. The Francs archers who had successfully pushed back the Landsknechts early on were shooed away by the Border Horse and English bowmen and the entire French force melted into the ditch as men attempted to get back to the safety of the walls. Therouannes guns fired a final salvo at the English as they drew nearer to cover the French as they fled the field.



The English besiegers advance to contain the French sally

The French defenders who have left the town gates in an attempt to test the English.

The English advance, the Landsknechts on the English right flank are heading straight for a couple of French wagons.

The Francs archers take casualties from their English counterparts.

Overview of the French defenders

The two forces test each other in the centre.

A French gun fires a morale boosting shot from the walls but this does little to deter the English.

A Landsknecht in the French Garrison. He doesn't seem too concerned with the fighting outside the walls. I love the brickwork on Stuarts fantastic custom built terrain.

The clash is in full swing! Again note the dice - an actual game!

At the top of the field the Stradiots have fled from Buckingham and his demilancers while at the bottom of the field the Landsknechts in English pay, or Almains, advance on the Franc Archers only to be put to flight.

The Border horse and Demilancers advance on the French.

The French centre, the French Gendarmes are about to charge and defeat the Border Horse going on to then be defeated themselves. 

The French Gendarmes have charged in and caused havoc only to be quickly defeated by the English infantry in the hedges.

The English right flank.

Another view from the walls of Therouanne, the French are starting to give ground to the English.

The English infantry in the centre have taken a bit of a battering but are rallying to press on into the French.

The English on the right flank start to drive the French back towards Therouanne.
The French light horse, Stradiots and Mounted Crossbowmen, attempt to stall the English as the rest of the French melt back into the ditch and attempt to get back into Therouanne.




I really enjoyed these games and will be playing Lion Rampant again. Stuart was a fantastic host and hopefully I will be able to host a game or two next time. Some of his rule tweaks can be found here: http://stuartsworkbench.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/lion-rampant-aar.html, however we have already amended these slighty on reflection of how the games went. Of course the games have also given me a whole host of future project ideas. Some casualty bases, Stuarts were superb, and perhaps some more skirmish style bases of halberdiers that could be used either in Lion Rampant or as part of a Forlorn Hope for my full collection are a few ideas I may try soon.

The two generals!
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1513 Invasion of France: Border Horse, Tudor Archers and The Battle of the Spurs

May 21, 2017, 9:52 am
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I have been up to a few Tudor related activities over the past few months (if such a thing can exist!) so I thought I would put them all in one Tudor post as they all kind of link together. Firstly when I visited Stuarts at the end of April he was kind enough to show me how to sculpt the green stuff sleeves onto his new "Tudor Dollies" that he is having cast up. These can be used in conjunction with the Perry Wars of the Roses plastics to make fantastic early Renaissance figures.

While Stuart has shown what can be done with them as billmen: http://stuartsworkbench.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/painted-tudor-dollies.html, below is one made up as an archer. I didn't sculpt those sleeves (I am yet to make an attempt) and green stuff hair needs to be added to the minature along with a sword and some arrows. I think you will agree the dollies work really well. I have put an order in for some but am still not sure whether they will end up as Archers, Billmen, French Aventuriers or possibly a few as Artillery crew, they certainly open up lots of possibilities. Details of how to order these can be found here: http://stuartsworkbench.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/tudor-figures-available-for-pre-order.html. The orders are being taken before the 1st June.

Tudor Archer of 1513 made using one of Stuarts Tudor Dollies. The sleeves and cap are sculpted by Stuart.

Tudor Archer of 1513 using one of Stuarts Tudor casts - I still need to add hair, a sword and some arrows.

Whatever English troops I choose to make the Tudor Dollies into, they will be joined by the Border Horse or Northern Staves that I finished this month. They were made using one of the Perry Miniatures Light Cavalry Wars of the Roses boxed sets along with various other bits and pieces. While we don't have many surviving images of Border Horsemen in 1513 we do know that they made very effective light cavalry, especially when fighting in France rather than on the Scottish Border. On the Border it seems there was a strong suspicion that their local feuds and loyalties took precedence over the national campaigns that they engaged in.

A possible image of a Border Horseman from around 1513 is shown below in John Skeltons, The Ballad of the Scottish King. He is armed in a simple helm with a brigandine and leg plates. This is the style I have tried to capture in the figures shown below. From the later sixteenth century we have a much clearer image of the cavalry of the Border as they became notorious as Border Reivers. I have tried to avoid anachronism but have added studded targes to many of the figures and have also depicted a couple with St Georges crosses painted on their targes. Light Horsemen, that could be Border Horse, are depicted carrying these in Derrickes Image of Ireland of 1581. This obviously dates from a lot later that Henry VIIIs 1513 campaign so I have only included a couple of these painted targes for flavour. It is certainly possible that they were used.


A Man-at-Arms and possible Border Horseman from the Ballad of the Scottish King c.1513

The Border Horse were notorious as raiders and reivers along the Anglo-Scots border, being accustomed to hit and run attacks and ambushes. They used a wide variety of weaponry in this style of warfare and to reflect this one carries a light crossbow, known to the borderers as a "latch", while another carries a bow across his back. Most of them wear sewn on St Georges crosses to show they are part of the English Army. These are made of paper and glued on. When campaigning on the Northern Border of England these national markings had a habit of coming loose when the horsemen wished to disappear or maybe even change sides! For this reason only the Standard bearer is in any specifically "English" coat of white and red, the others are fairly drab with only the sewn on crosses to demarcate their allegiance. I wanted these chaps to look like veterans of a fair few border raids. They are not interested in gaining honour by breaking spears with the French but more intent on ransoms and plunder!

To further reflect the raiding and plundering nature of these troops I have added a couple of hunting dogs to some of the bases. These are from the Hunting Dogs that Simon of "Je Lay Emprins" had made a few years back: http://je-lay-emprins.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/release-hounds.html. They fit in really well with these "Northern Staves", as the Border Horse were also known. The group in the images below ride under the Standard of Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland. A northern magnate who would have been able to call upon the services of such men for his retinue in France. The flag is from Petes superb Tudor flag range that he has painted to represent commanders of the English army that went overseas in 1513: http://thegreatitalianwars.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/earl-of-northumberlands-standard-bearer.html, I really cannot recommend these flags highly enough.

Below are some photos of the whole unit of Border Horse as well as some of the individual bases to show the detail. Of course I could not resist the opportunity to get out the English collection so far and take a few snaps of them all together. With Stuarts new Tudor dollies on the way I think I will certainly be adding to this force. Of course at some point there will be some photos of the English combined with Maximilians Auxiliaries; the Landsknecht Pike and Burgundian Heavy Cavalry that bolstered Henrys forces during this campaign.

English Border Horse or Northern Staves 1513

The Border Horse from the back, note the two dogs accompanying them 
Early Tudor Border horse under the banner of  Henry Percy, 5th Earl of Northumberland


The command from behind, note the targe on the Standard bearers back and the hound following them

Border Horsemen, one carries a targe and "latch", the light crossbow of the Border Reivers

One of these Border Horse carries a bow on his back and a quiver of arrows

The Trumpeter

Two Northern Staves both wearing stitched St Georges crosses on their coats

Charging Border Horse, both carrying targes

English Bill and Bow advance behind the Border Horsemen and Demi-Lancers

The 1513 Tudors so far

Finally I was lucky enough to pay a visit to Hampton Court recently. It was fascinating to see the Tudor Kitchens, Great Hall and Chapel all dating from the 1520s-1530s. Of relevance to this blog is the fact that the palace houses two of the paintings that depict Henry VIIIs Campaign in 1513. The first depicts the meeting of Henry VIII and Maximilian in the foreground, with Maximilians Landsknechts above this and then the Battle of the Spurs or Guinegate above them. At the very top can be seen Tournai on the left and the siege of Therouanne on the right. What interests me in this picture is the depiction of the two towns at the very top, 16th century fortifications always fascinate me. The fact Maximilians Men-at-Arms are nearly all wearing sallets is also interesting considering this painting is from 1513. It shows they were still very much in vogue at this date, unless of course Henry was trying to have his retinue depicted as more fashionable than Maximilians, which could also be a possibility.

Painting from Hampton Court, 1513, showing the meeting of Henry VIII and Maximilian in France during the 1513 Invasion

The second painting depicts a somewhat idealised image of the Battle of the Spurs in the foreground with the English camp and Therouanne in the distance. Of note in this picture is a mounted archer firing from horseback amidst the melee of Men-at-Arms! The walls of Therouanne are nicely depicted and remind me of the modeled walls we gamed in front of at Stuarts a few weeks back. It is with future games in mind that I have been working on a few bits and pieces that should hopefully be finished by next month.

Painting from 1513 showing the "Battle of the Spurs", apologies for the posing in front of it!

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16th Century Casualty and Battered Markers

June 3, 2017, 7:48 am
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Following my games of Lion Rampant I have prepared a few gaming pieces that will, hopefully, encourage me to actually play some more games! Not perhaps the most exciting pieces but they will look much nicer on a gaming table than dice or other types of tokens.

First up are eight casualty bases. The bases themselves are from Warbases: http://war-bases.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=944&search=casualty . I think they are a great idea for marking casualties on a unit. I am not a huge fan of removing casualties during games and these bases mean that you don't have to do that. Using these bases I may try some games of Lion Rampant with much larger units, probably 12 for cavalry and 24-36 for infantry but keep the same 6 or 12 points of damage per unit. It will simply allow me to fight larger scale skirmishes and get more of the collection on the table. That's what the games are all about at the end of the day!

The bases in the picture below are of fairly generic 16th century troop types. There is a fallen man at arms from the Perry Miniatures Wars of the Roses range. He is in a late 15th century harness but that is fine for the very early 1500s which much of my collection is for. Below him is an old Citadel Mordheim casualty who has been based up as a fallen arquebusier. Beside him is another Perry Miniatures figure who with the addition of a bit of green stuff and a plastic crossbow and quiver has been turned into an early 16th century crossbowman. Finally above him is another old Mordheim figure who has simply had enough and is burying his head in his hands.

16th Century Casualty Markers - From top right clockwise: a man at arms, an arquebusier, a crossbowman and a generic infantryman

The remaining four bases represent fallen Landsknechts. All the figures are from the Pro Gloria range that is now sold by Warlord Games. One has his hat next to him while another has dropped his halberd as he falls to the ground. I left the others without weapons as it means I can use them as fallen pike, arquebusiers or halberdiers. I may do some more with specific weaponry. The casualty bases are meant to be more representative than anything else. I wouldn't have an issue using a Landsknecht one for some french crossbowmen if I had run out of other markers for example. They are just a visually pleasing way of marking the damage. Having said that it is nice to have different markers representing different troop types. I still have a dozen more of these bases and some other casualty figures so will probably paint up some additional bases in the next few weeks.

Landsknecht Casualty Markers

The smaller counters in the next couple of pictures are used to represent when a unit has become "Battered" in Lion Rampant. They could be used in any game system where a token is required to mark the degradation of the morale of a unit. I quite enjoyed choosing all sorts of bits and pieces from my spares to make up the 24 markers below. There is a real mixture of debris from gun carriage wheels, arrows and broken lances through to a trumpet, an arquebus, an adarga and a warhammer. I may have pinched a fair few ideas from Stuarts counters here. Using these counters really adds to the tabletop appeal of a game by giving some extra 1500s flavour and also stopping the gaming table from becoming cluttered with lots of dice or other markers. Now I just have to make the effort to play some more games! This is easier said than done as I am much more of a painter by temperament than a gamer.

"Battered" Markers - an assortment of debris from a 16th Century battlefield

The Battered markers from above

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Fechtbücher

June 13, 2017, 12:45 pm
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I have been slowly working through the Steel Fist 16th Century Foot Knights, having backed the Kickstarter last year. The idea is that each one will be the focus of their own base of supporting figures and I have already used two of them in this way as command bases. The chaps shown here are destined to lead bases of tightly packed attacking Landsknechts into battle but before I home them permanently on such bases I couldn't resist getting some shots of them dueling with each other.

When I first saw these figures the poses instantly reminded me of the prints from Maximilian's Freydal. His tournament book that painstakingly recreates all kinds of permutations of mounted and dismounted sporting combat in the early 16th Century. They also reminded me of the two scenes shown below from his Weisskunig (this blog can't go for a few months without some Weisskunig prints!). Maybe they aren't using longswords but one does have similarly bizarre pointed head attire to the miniature with a "grotesque" helmet. In the prints case I think they may be metal attachments rather than feathers. My scenes in miniature are hardly an exact replication but you get the idea. I bought the figures as part of a Kickstarter but they are now available here: http://www.steelfistminiatures.com/products/16th_century_knights.

Poleaxe Combat as depicted in Der Weisskunig c.1516

Spear Combat from Der Weisskunig c.1516

Historical European Martial Arts have never really been my thing but I have dabbled in a few "Fechtbücher" in the past. I can recommend the 15th Century works of Hans Talhoffer, https://www.amazon.co.uk/Medieval-Combat-Fifteenth-Century-Swordfighting-Close-Quarter/dp/1848327706/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=05DHPK04H17EK5GR9P75, and Fiore dei Liberi (which is Italian so not really a fechtbuch!), https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Knightly-Art-Battle-Mondschein/1606060767/ref=pd_sim_14_5?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=9MRPJ3QBS8PWK5GVYV6W as worth a look if you do have a beginners interest. When I first encountered these works I found it quite an eye opener how different the armed combat of the later medieval period really was compared to what is seen in film and TV. Of course there are lots of caveats as to how you approach these works. Some fighting techniques are for specific judicial duels. Some are for armoured combat only. Even when these things are made clear you realise there was a whole culture of "martial arts" that has now long died. They were often extremely brutal and also more physical than the later styles of sword combat we are used to in the 21st century. It's surprising how much wrestling and grappling style moves feature, as well as surprises such as launching the sword at an opponent like a dart!

If you can get through the really tedious chapter that discusses how in later centuries they tried to apply maths to fencing techniques then the Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe is worth a read: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Martial-Arts-Renaissance-Europe/dp/0300083521/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1497380372&sr=1-1&keywords=renaissance+martial+arts. I was particularly amused by the jousting section. Fight Masters would go into great detail on how to hit an opponent in all sorts of locations and to demonstrate various levels of skill and flair with the lance. In contrast the advice for real war was always very simple: just aim for the other riders horse! I would also recommend the Scholagladiatoria channel on Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/user/scholagladiatoria. This channel has lots of videos on renaissance weaponry and how it was used and what the symbolism of it was. There are some great videos on there in the Wallace Collection with Tobias Capwell as well as an in depth discussion of an early 15th Century Tomb effigy and the armour it represents: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tgLeMS30j8.

That's probably enough rambling for now. Hopefully I will get these Men at Arms based up with the Landsknechts soon, I am about half way through painting the halberdiers that will be supporting them. I am also working on a few more casualty bases, they may be a bit grisly but I have enjoyed working on them and they are very useful on the gaming table.

16th Century Men at Arms by Steel Fist Miniatures

Men at Arms in early 16th Century Harness, one with a "Grotesque" visor.

The Landsknechts look on as they duel



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A few more casualties of war...

July 11, 2017, 11:43 am
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While working on another unit of Landsknechts, that never seems to get finished, I have also completed a few more casualty bases for gaming. Some of these I have tried to do as mini-vignettes, in the picture above for example a priest is offering the last rites to a fallen man-at-arms. I also tried a bit of sculpting on the base pictured below, bringing a Perry Miniatures Wars of the Roses miniature into the 16th Century by changing his livery jacket into a base coat. This is a copy of Stuarts conversion on Army Royal, https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OLDgC3BYmg0/WTKbFggJtfI/AAAAAAAAD9I/PdfYcELTOVcgVkyfQnTDfjnnTDBbq_x8ACLcB/s1600/LR%2Bcasualty%2B2.jpg, in fact it was Stuart who was kind enough to spend some time showing me how to sculpt these base coats. While it's nowhere near his standard I am really pleased with the results. I have chosen to depict them as a French man-at-arms and retainer so I can use them in the Italian Wars or against the English in Northern France.

A wounded French man-at-arms is helped from the Battlefield

Greenstuff has been added to make the "skirt" of the Base Coat and the sleeves at the shoulders of the coat.

Below are some old Redoubt Miniatures pieces. Two fallen horses on larger 60mm diameter bases that Warbases were happy to make for me on request, and then a more generic halberdier in a breastplate, tassets and sallet and a fallen Tudor Archer. I reused figures from a small vignette I painted up a couple of years ago http://camisado1500s.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/mourning-their-captain.html, (nothing is free from chopping and changing in my collection!) to make the next base. Two infantrymen look over their fallen lord or captain. The final casualty base is for the Spanish, it's a converted Perry Wars of the Roses figure meant to represent a wounded Jinete or Spanish Infantryman. A head swap and the addition on an Adarga have brought the figure from the 15th Century into the early 16th Century. 

Two fallen horses, note the broken lance above the barded horse.

A dead English Archer and a Halberdier.

A fallen captain is mourned by his men

A wounded Jinete or Spanish soldier

The re-enactment season is again in full swing, not that I ever make it to many events! I re-enact the Wars of the Roses rather than anything in the 16th Century. Over the past few years I have been trying to improve the standard of my kit and to recreate the images of 15th Century Soldiers seen in contemporary pictures rather than looking like a re-enactor. To do this I have done away with the trusted old padded jack that I wore for years but made me look huge! I wanted to try and recreate the much more fitted silhouette of the 15th century images. So I am now in a very tightly fitted arming doublet that is pointed to my hose.

The other big change was my armour. When I discovered that the costs of armour could be increased by up to 80% by having it polished or "all white" as it was sometimes called in England, I started wondering if maybe it would be better to simplify the kit and go for something more subdued but probably more realistic/authentic. So here it is below - left black from the forge, which of course would also make the maintenance of it much easier. For the re-enactment field I have had to make a concession and lace the Bevor to the top of the Breastplate for safety which there is no evidence for in the 15th Century and I also still wear my gauntlets which aren't shown here. I am meant to be representing a late 15th Century Soldier - I won't say "Billman" as who knows whether they even really existed during the Wars of the Roses, the only evidence for them comes from the early 16th Century!

I have had some time off work recently in which I played a few games of Lion Rampant - experimenting with some 16th century rules and army sizes. Hopefully I will get these posted up soon as I reckon they will make quite nice battle reports with lots of pictures to accompany them.



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The Convoy

July 15, 2017, 8:16 am
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A bit of a landmark post this. It's my first Battle Report, so to speak, using only my figures and terrain. The scene is the summer of 1513 in Northern France where the English are besieging Therouanne. A supply column for the English Army is on the move, guarded by troops under the leadership of Sir Rhys ap Thomas. Sir Rhys ap Thomas was a veteran of Bosworth who played an active role in the 1513 campaign leading Border Horse and Welsh cavalry in reconaissance and skirmishes with the French. Unfortunately for the English the redoubtable Pierre Terrail, or Bayard as most of the world knows him, has other ideas about this supply column and has set out to ambush it with his Gendarme company and some supporting light cavalry.

I played the game using a scaled up version of Lion Rampant and Stuart's 1513 army rosters. The scenario is "The Convoy". In this game cavalry units are formed of 12 rather than 6 figures, but still only have 6 "damage points" and infantry units are 6 bases strong but still only have 12 "damage points". Casualties weren't removed during the game until a unit was routed or destroyed. I wanted it to be a real spectacle and look impressive as a larger scale skirmish. The photos are of the actual game, so apologies for any lighting issues and the parts of the room that show up in the background! You also get to see some of my exceptional photo editing with the deployment zones and forces labelled. The height of professionalism I am sure you will agree!

The location Bayard has chosen for his ambush of the English

The field is as above with the English deploying in the top left corner and having to make their way with 3 convoy markers, the large wagons, to the diagonally opposite end of the board. The ambushing French cavalry deploy in the other three corners of the board with the English going first.

The forces are as follows:

The English

Sir Rhys ap Thomas, the English (well Welsh!) Leader and a unit of Demilancers
A unit of Border Horse
A unit of Burgundian Men-at-Arms, more on them later...
2 Units of Garrison Archers
2 Units of Garrison Billmen.

The Garrison Troops represent experienced soldiers, perhaps from noble retinues or part of the Calais Garrison "Crews" as they were called. In this game they marched under the standards of Sir Richard Carew, captain of the Calais Garrison, and Sir Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. While they personally are not meant to be in the skirmish Carew had 1000 men under his command in this campaign and Brandon 3,200. It is from these contingents that the forces to guard convoy are assumed to have been drawn along with Sir Rhys ap Thomas's horse and a contingent of Maximilian I's Burgundian horsemen who, as will be seen, are keener on getting paid than doing any fighting!

The French

Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard and his Gendarme Company:
2 units on French Gendarmes, one of which includes Bayard
2 units of French Ordonnance Archers armed with Lances

Accompanying Mercenaries
2 Units of Stradiots or Stradiotti
1 Unit of Mounted Crossbowmen, these chaps put in an even poorer performance than the Burgundian men-at-arms!

As you can see the French force is entirely mounted representing Bayard's men and the accompanying mercenaries who have taken the field in an attempt to catch and ambush the slower moving English convoy.

The English Convoy, I chucked the small wagon and pigs in there just to add to the look of it being a supply convoy. They didn't count for anything in the game. The three large wagons represent the convoy markers.

The initial deployment

The above two photos show the initial deployment of the forces. Bayard waits with his Gendarme Company at the end of the table while the Stradiots and Mounted crossbowmen have been sent forward to harass the oncoming English. The English have placed the wagons in the centre protected by the veteran infantry while the cavalry form the "wings" of the convoy. With the units being the size they were I found it impossible to keep to the rule about units being 3" apart so this was not followed. I couldn't have rules stopping the game from looking good!

The best way to follow the action is probably to read the captions under each photo. I have tried to place them in a way which tells the story of the game. It basically started with a disaster for the French as the Mounted Crossbowmen rolled a "blunder" and rode off during the French first turn! Obviously they were unhappy with pay and thought it better to sit this action out.

The English saw this as an opportunity to use a local advantage and crush the outnumbered Stradiots, with the Border Horse riding up to attack them. This was not to be and the skirmishing shots from the Stradiots sent the Border Horsemen reeling back into the English column which effectively destroyed them as a fighting unit. Flushed with success the Stradiots pressed an attack on the advancing column harassing the English archers and Burgundian men-at-arms.

After the Mounted Crossbowmen have ridden off in the first turn the Border Horse lead an attack on the Stradiots in an attempt to wipe them out as they are isolated from the rest of the French force.

The Border Horse are however repulsed by the Stradiots and fall back on the column

The English convoy starts to wind its way forward

The Stradiots push forward harassing the convoy having routed the Border Horse.

The Stradiots cross the hedges to harass the archers.

As the emboldened Stradiots came forward to attack the English the Burgundian men-at-arms launched an attack on them which was successfully evaded by the skirmishing horsemen. The Burgundian horsemen then had a "blunder" result themselves and retreated back moaning over pay and the fact they weren't employed to chase these savages who they had no hope of catching in the field. The English archers, however, held their nerve and the greater power of their warbows was finally successful in driving the Greek and Albanian mercenaries off the field although the horsemens harassing attacks caused casualties.

The Burgundian Heavy Cavalry charge the Stradiots but the Greek and Albanian cavalry evade them and cause casualties to both the Burgundians and the English Archers.

The English archery soon starts to take it's toll on the Balkan horsemen however.

One group of Stradiots is driven off leaving the others to come under a rain of arrows. The Hedges offer little protection.

As the English column is distracted by the engagement with the light horsemen the rest of the French slowly advance to trap them.

The Stradiots continue to be a thorn in the English side, driving back the Burgundian mercenaries with skirmishing attacks.

Bayard looks on from a very safe position at the back of the French lines!

The second group of Stradiots are finally driven off and the English continue their advance into the teeth of the French cavalry.

The French Ordonnance archers (mounted lancers) come under a rain of arrows.

With the Stradiots finally seen off it was time for the English to turn their attention to a much bigger threat; Bayard's Gendarme Company blocking the road ahead. Bayard himself had some awful activation roles so sat right at the end of the table for ages but the rest of his company had managed to move up, tightening the noose around the English column.

Initially it all went the way of the English with the archers inflicting damage on the Ordonnance Cavalry and the Sir Rhys ap Thomas winning the first clash of arms against the better armoured and horsed French Gendarmes. Both units of Ordonnance Archers charged the English bowmen only for both units to be seen off in a heroic defence by the English soldiers.

Sir Rhys ap Thomas leads his Demilancers head on into the French



In the first clash Sir Rhys drives back the Gendarmes despite their heavier armour and horses.

The first cavalry melee

The French Gendarmes are driven back but not without cost to the Demilancers

The first group of French Ordonnance archers charge the English archers. Already weakened by the power of the bows they are driven off....

....so the second wing of Ordonnance archers charges in only to be sent reeling by a heroic defence from the English Soldiers!

Having regrouped from the first clash the Gendarmes charge Sir Rhys ap Thomas again.

The English luck did not hold and Sir Rhys ap Thomas was unhorsed and left for dead in the second clash with the Gendarmes. The weight of the French cavalry attacks was beginning to tell. With the loss of their leader the English force began to falter. The heroic English archers were finally driven back into the corn fields, loosing one of the English wagons to the French. This loss was followed swiftly by another as the victorious French Gendarmes then charged the English Bill guarding a second wagon and sent them fleeing from the field.

Having spent much of the engagement in his command position (at the back!) Bayard finally rides up to watch his Gendarme Company as they engage with the English

Having seen off two previous charges by the French Cavalry the archers are finally pushed back into the corn fields. One of the Wagons is destroyed by the French.

Having defeated Sir Rhys ap Thomas and his Demilancers the French Gendarmes crash into the English Billmen in an attempt to destroy a second wagon.

With only one wagon left the English falter and Bayards Gendarme company repositions itself in preparation for another attack. The Burgundian men-at-arms, right at the back of the convoy, decide they have had enough and ride off having never engaged in any combat.

As the French regrouped the Burgundian Cavalry decided retreat was now the best option and rode off leaving the English infantry to their fate. The English archers managed to destroy the lead Gendarme unit that had caused such havoc to the English advance but the battle had already been decided. Abandoned by their cavalry the English Billmen and Archers were ridden down by Bayard's Gendarmes and the last wagon was destroyed. Victory went to the French although Bayard would have preferred the ambush to have been less damaging to his Ordonnance Company!

The final group of Billmen is ridden down by Bayard 

I really enjoyed this game and loved how some of the units would simply not do what was asked of them. The French Mounted Crossbowmen rode off in the first turn and the Burgundian men-at-arms similarly did nothing for the rest of the game after a failed charge at the Stradiots seemed to completely demoralise them! As soon as they saw things getting tough for the convoy up ahead they were off. 

Similarly Bayard and his Gendarmes were motionless for the first half of the game, constantly failing activation roles and giving the initiative to the English.This seemed to pay off in the end though as the English had a tough time dealing with the Stradiots harassing their flank and were too strung out along the road to effectively fight off the French cavalry when they did crash into the front of them. Despite some heroic fighting by the English archers the Chivalry of France triumphed.

"The Convoy" makes for an exciting scenario. The depth of the board, playing across it longways, combined with the chaos that failed activation roles can bring in Lion Rampant meant this game swung back and forth and it was hard to see who would win. Initially I thought the French would be destroyed piecemeal and it would be an easy English victory! I am keen to try this one again, possibly an Italian Wars version with the Spanish ambushing the French in a mountain pass in 1502. That could be interesting. Of course a younger Bayard will have to be present to lead Louis XII's forces!

This leaves the archers who earlier saw off the Stradiots. They are left to the mercy of the French cavalry who have destroyed the convoy but with heavier losses than Bayard would have wished to his Gendarme Company.



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Landsknechts and Men-at-Arms

August 1, 2017, 1:56 pm
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This unit was the result of a couple of things. Firstly I wanted to paint up a base of figures for each of the excellent Steel Fist Miniatures Renaissance Men-At-Arms. Having backed the Kickstarter for the figures on foot a while ago I was keen to make the most of each miniature. Of course for a lot of the figures in dynamic attacking poses placing them on a base of Landsknechts was the obvious answer. Secondly having played some games of Lion Rampant I wanted some Landsknecht halberdiers that could be used in more skirmish style games. The advantage of these bases is that while they can indeed be used for a small band of Landsknechts in a skirmish game they can also be added to my pike blocks to form even more formidable formations. At some point I will get some photos of them in the centre of a pike block around the flags, in the front and on the flanks. I am keen to see how this will look and have based them so they should fit in well with my existing pike.

So why are the Men-at-Arms with the Landsknechts in the first place? The chap in the lower quality munition harness could well be a Landsknecht himself, I will discuss him separately. The other two in full Maximilian harnesses could be Landsknecht captains, however we have many depictions of such characters and while they are often well armoured they rarely seem to be depicted in such full "cap-a-pie" harness. I think they are more suitable as dismounted nobles who have joined the ranks of the Landsknechts. This seems to have happened on occasion.

While Maximilian I himself was keen on dismounting and entering cities at the head of his gaudily attired infantry, notably Cologne in 1505 and Milan in 1516, and Henry VIII decided it was wise to position himself amongst his Landsknecht mercenaries during a French attack while on the march in July 1513, it is from the French that some of the best examples of dismounting and fighting amongst mercenary pike can be found. Robert de La Marck, better known as Fleuranges, accompanied by his brother, fought on foot with the Landsknechts in French service at the battle of Novarra in 1513. He was said to have sustained over forty wounds in the fighting! Anne de Montmorency was under nominal command of the Swiss at La Bicocca in 1522 and accompanied by other French nobles joined them in their ill-fated assault on the sunken road. He was wounded in the head and was the only French noble who joined the assault that managed to survive. I thought about painting separate bases with the dismounted Men-at-Arms and their squires or armed valets accompanying them and may return to this idea later as I couldn't think of suitable figures for the accompanying retinues.

Another question we need to address is would "Grotesque" style armour have been worn on the battlefield? It is certainly true that battlefield armours tended to be more simple and functional than parade and tournament armours. However it is also important to remember that armour was a status symbol and as much about fashion as functionality, more so when dealing with the parade elements but this still played a big part in war. What is often forgotten today is that by wearing an extremely expensive or elaborate eye catching harness, while obviously drawing attention to yourself, it was also a form of insurance policy, not just in terms of protection. Why would ordinary infantrymen want to kill you if you were dressed in such armour? Surely you must be of importance and worth an enormous ransom?

A convincing argument as to why the Swiss or Reisläufer were so reticent to take prisoners and slaughtered Men-at-Arms against whom they were fighting was that their captains were only too aware of how valuable they could be if captured and ransomed. Capturing these men would inevitably lead to a breakdown in the formations discipline and cohesion; the key thing that held them together and allowed them to hold firm against repeated charges by mounted knights. So their reputation for brutally probably stemmed from the realisation that taking prisoners could be their undoing. Imagine what would happen to a pike block if groups of men in the front kept slipping off dragging downed gendarmes with them! It wouldn't be a pike block for long.

To get back to my point about the "Grotesque" style armour what I am arguing is that is could have been worn on the battlefield, although of course it may not have been common battlefield attire. It could have served to denote status and it's high value may have acted as a useful insurance policy, meaning you were obviously more valuable alive than dead. Unless you were facing the Swiss that is! Warfare really was changing rapidly in this period and certainly becoming more lethal (if such a thing can be said) than Medieval Warfare.

Landsknecht Halberdiers and some dismounted Men-at-Arms in early 16th Century Harness

Landsknechts attacking, including one in a munition quality blackened harness with a painted visor

The central figure above, I feel, represents well what a better armed Landsknecht may have looked like. He is in a full early 16th century harness but rather than it being a shiny Maximilian style affair it is unpolished and of munition quality. This is one of the reasons the "Doppelsöldner" were given double pay. Not only did they often fill the more dangerous front, side and rear ranks but they also owned better equipment which would justify their higher pay. The helmet is a copy of the painted Sallet from the Wallace collection shown below. Living in London and the Wallace Collection being free to visit I am lucky enough to have seen this piece at least half a dozen times!

There was no way I was going to try and attempt to paint the helmet as it is below, anyone who has read this blog for a while will know my loathing of such fine detail painting! What I have opted for instead is a red painted visor with a "scary" face painted on it, paying homage to the original. I concede it does look a little "Super Hero" but otherwise I quite like it. Even with my lack of fine brush skills there is something about those painted eyes below the eye slits that looks very sinister and disturbing!


Painted Sallet from the Wallace Collection

The Landsknechts that accompany the Men-at-Arms are a mix of old Wargames Foundry and Progloria metal Landsknechts, now available from Warlord Games. The Steel Fist figures are availble here: http://www.steelfistminiatures.com/products/renaissance_knights. At some point I have to tackle the Steel Fist Gendarmes, but I am still steeling myself for such a task. I have recently completed a couple of Tudor guns which I will post up at some point as well getting some photos of these chaps in amongst the pike and possibly even seeing action in some games.

Landsknecht command group with a Man-at-Arms in Maximilian Harness
Landsknechts back up a Man-at-Arms in Maximilian Harness with a "Grotesque" Visor
Lansknecht Officer and Halberdier bodyguards

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Battle for the Gun Battery

August 8, 2017, 3:24 pm
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This is the second of the Lion Rampant scenarios that I played out last month, again pitting the French against the English in a skirmish set during the 1513 English Invasion of France. This time we join the English attempting to encircle Therouanne. The scenario is set when a French sally is attempted from Therouanne, led by the indomitable Bayard. The French target is an English gun battery which is being set up and looks to have been left vulnerable to attack. I don't know if Bayard led such an attack but such sudden assaults by defenders were very common during 16th century sieges, and attacks certainly occurred during the siege of Therouanne. Stradiots were noted as being particularly effective in riding out and attacking the besiegers. During one sally an attempt was made to seize an English standard, perhaps an idea for a future scenario.

In this game the French have timed their attack poorly. As they have marched around the walls to take the newly established battery in the flank the English besiegers have been alerted to the threat and have rushed to defend their guns in a force led by Sir Richard Carew, captain of the Calais Garrison. The scenario played out was "Hold on Tight", an objective in the middle of the board must be seized and held by a unit for 5 turns in order for that side to achieve victory. The objective was the space directly behind the central bombard in the gun battery, shown in the second image below. Holding this represents either the French taking control of the battery for long enough to effectively destroy it or for the English holding it for long enough to secure it. The figures forming the battery cannot take any part in the game and count as impassable terrain. The whole structure the battery is mounted on counts as rough terrain.

Therouanne with the two forces arrayed in front. 

The objective for this "Hold on Tight" scenario is the area directly behind the bombard. Holding this area represents having control of the gun battery. The gun battery itself cannot play any part in the game. The whole earthwork that the Battery is on is counted as rough terrain.

As in my previous "Convoy" game I scaled up the size of units but they still had the same number of damage points as standard Lion Rampant units. Again I used Stuart's 1513 Rosters, adding Landsknecht Pike as an extra unit. They joined the game as fairly tough infantry with the ability to Counter Charge against other infantry. I fielded the Landsknecht Pike as units six bases strong, totaling around 36 figures. These look good for larger sized skirmishes, making a small pike block.

The forces were as follows:

The English

Sir Richard Carew and a unit of Garrison Billmen
2 units of Shire Archers
A unit of Shire Billmen
A unit of Border Horse
A unit of Landsknecht Shot
A unit of Landsknecht Pike
A unit of Burgundian Men-at-Arms

This is meant to represent a mix of English troops supported by Maximilian's Burgundian and German Auxiliaries, the Men-at-Arms and Landsknechts.

The French

Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard and a unit of French Men-at-Arms
2 Units of Picard Pike
2 Units of Aventuriers
2 Units of Stradiots
A unit of Landsknecht Shot
A unit of Landsknecht Pike

As can be seen above the French decided to sally forth with a mixture of native French troops supported by a considerable number of mercenaries in true early 16th century style.

The deployment of the two forces can be seen in the pictures above. During the deployment I tried to stick to the 3" between units rule for this game, which was quickly abandoned once the game started! I think this deployment hampered the French quite badly as it left their Picard infantry out of most of the action and seemed to allow the English to fight in a more concentrated fashion (if such a thing can ever be said to happen in Lion Rampant!). This had consequences on the game as will be seen.

The two forces begin a rush for control of the guns.

A view from the French lines showing the Stradiots and Picard Pike.

Initially the two forces both rushed forward. The first clash, predictably, taking place between the skirmishing horse of both sides. Unlike in the "Convoy" game, the Border Horse attacked the Stradiots with great ferocity and caused heavy casualties. The other unit of Stradiots in French employ were more successful and managed to get to the gun battery first, securing it for Bayard. Their position in the earthworks was threatened however by the advancing English archers so Bayard and his Men-at-Arms rushed forward in order to neutralise the threat the bowmen posed.

The English Border Horse attack the Stradiots.

The other group of Stradiots reach the objective.

Closer to the town walls the French Aventuriers advance towards the Landsknechts in English pay. 

The English Border Horse have caused casualties to the Stradiots while the other Stradiots holding the objective have harassed the Burgundian Men-at-Arms.

Bayard in the centre advances on the English Bowmen seeing that they will dominate the objective with archery. Closer to the town the Landsknecht Arquebusiers move towards the Aventuriers.

Closer to the town walls the French Aventuriers advanced and sent a hail of bolts at the English, causing some casualties. The Stradiots holding the gun battery harassed the Burgundian Men-at-Arms. Apart from the clash between the Border Horse and Stradiots furthest from the town the advantage looked to be heavily with the French. This was compounded by the English archers who faltered and allowed themselves to be charged in their panic by the French Men-at-Arms without even shooting at them. The archers were driven back by the armoured horsemen.

Bayard prepares to charge down the English Archers

The objective is, predictably, the focus of attention for both sides.

Bayard charges one group of Archers forcing them back after they have faltered and panicked in the face of the advancing Men-at-Arms.

Bayard's charge into the archers seemed to be the high water mark for the French. The French Men-at-Arms were charged by the Burgundians who drove them back with casualties. The remaining unit of archers not smashed by the French sent a rain of arrows onto the Stradiots holding the battery and drove them back. Closer to the town the Landsknecht arquebusiers in English service sent some of the Aventuriers back with a devastating hail of shot.

Bayard and his Men-at-Arms are driven back from the English lines by the Burgundian Men-at-Arms. In the foreground the Landsknechts in English service have fired upon the Aventuriers and sent them back.

The English Billmen flood into the Earthworks to defend the Gun Battery.

Under a rain of English arrows the Stradiots are driven off the objective.

Although still threatened by the Burgundians, Bayard charges the remaining English Archers and sends them back.

At the far end of the field the English Border horse finally chased off the Stradiots. In the centre Bayard continued to press his attack, charging the second group of English archers who were predictably pushed back. The Burgundian Men-at-Arms, who had put in a much more determined effort than the last game, charged Bayard for a second time. This time the French leader was unhorsed and his remaining Men-at-Arms scattered.

The fall of their leader seemed to stop the entire French sortie. Some of the Aventuriers fled immediately along with the Stradiots who had been holding the gun battery for the French. The Landsknechts in French service were then attacked by the remaining English archers and the Border Horse who rode closer to the town following their victory over the Stradiots at the far end of the field. This pressure forced the "French" Landsknechts back and, as the remaining Aventuriers fell back in the face of the Landsknechts in English employ, only the Picard infantry were left in any order.

As the English leader, Sir Richard Carew, secured the gun battery, these native French Pikemen wisely called it a day seeing the English Border Horse riding back towards them. They quickly marched back to the relative safety of Therouanne. The result was a decisive English victory with the French sally halted for the loss of only one unit of English archers.

Having charged the Archers Bayard is himself charged by the Burgundians for a second clash of arms with them.

This time Bayard is unhorsed and his horsemen are defeated.

Following the fall of Bayard the Landsknechts who were supporting his cavalry come under threat from the English Border Horse and the archers. They are soon broken by them and flee.

Some of the Aventuriers flee on hearing that Bayard is down leaving their comrades to the mercy of the Landsknechts.

Having yet to engage in combat Sir Richard Carew secures the Gun Battery.

A couple of things became apparent playing through this game. Firstly when Lion Rampant is played with the forces starting at relatively close quarters it can be over really quickly. When both armies are fighting for one objective, as in this scenario, this effect is only compounded and the result is inevitably a punch up pretty much straight away. Having more of the French deployed behind hedges and cottages at the far end of the field meant the English could really maximize their numbers on the French they faced, although it was the English archers combined with Bayards unsupported assault that really led to the French being defeated so soundly.

A briefer and more one sided game than I had expected. It reminded me of many games I played when I was younger that were often over very quickly, normally with my armies being sent running in record time! This game was fun nonetheless and I learnt some things about Lion Rampant from it. When I get time I will post up my next game where I returned to an old favourite of mine, the War for Naples 1499-1504, and tested out some Lion Rampant Italian Wars troops.

The two units of Picard Pike have yet to cross the hedges and take any part in the fighting. As the English hold the Gun Battery and the sally has failed they wisely retire.

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Tudor Artillery

September 2, 2017, 2:35 am
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Despite very little painting happening over the summer I have managed to get a few bits completed. Here are two artillery pieces to add to my growing Tudor forces for Henry VIII's 1513 invasion of France campaign, although they would also be suitable for the 1520s. I have been wanting to add a couple of guns with the crew in distinctive Tudor "Base" coats for a while but there was another reason for completing these; I was keen to try out some of Stuart's Tudor dolls that he sculpted a few months back.

I picked up some of these from Stuart a while ago and they are still available, details are here: http://stuartsworkbench.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/lord-thomas-stanley-2nd-earl-of-derby.html . Before plunging into a whole unit of them, that is my current project, I wanted to experiment with a few just to make sure I could do a decent job of adding the sleeves to the coats with greenstuff. the problem facing me was that they are in quite dynamic poses to be artillery crew and I must have spent at least two hours swapping various plastic arms and trying to work out how they could be used. My final inspiration came from Simon's superb "Je Lay Emprins blog", if you have a look at this link you will see I have pretty shamelessly copied his idea for the gun on the left: http://je-lay-emprins.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/wheeling-gun.html.

I am pleased with the results, they make a really dynamic base and certainly look as though they are wheeling the gun as an officer points out the direction he wishes them to fire in. The chap lifting the trail of the gun carriage is simply a Perry Miniatures labourer figure with a head swap and shovel removed while the breech loading gun is from Front Rank. The other gun is a miniature by Redoubt, a strange thing it's kind of half organ gun, as it has only four barrels. I wasn't sure whether to keep the chariot style "scythes" on the wheels of the carriage but I am guessing it is based on the kind of things that were used by the Spanish at Ravenna in 1512 and is intended to be an obstacle as well as a gun. Any crew would have to make sure they were standing well clear of it when it recoiled as those wheel spikes could cause a very nasty accident as the gun rolled back! 

The crew for the Redoubt gun are two Assault Group figures with head swaps, the same figures that were used in the dozens for the Billmen I painted a while back, and an old Citadel Empire figure. He is in very Germanic attire but I figured this would suit one of Henry's gun crew as he hired foreign specialists for his guns. Being pleased with this initial test of Stuarts Tudor dollies I am currently working on a set of attacking archers using them, it will be a while before they are completed however.

A Tudor breech loading gun being turned

A Tudor Organ Gun and Breech Loader

The three figures in Tudor coats are from the dolls sculpted by Stuart

The Tudor Organ gun, this one only has 4 barrels so could also be used as a normal gun at a pinch

The gun crew hurriedly move the gun

Tudor artillery pieces, 1513

The guns from behind

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"Salsicce senza Senape" - A skirmish in the Kingdom of Naples

September 12, 2017, 2:56 pm
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This blog has seen five games set in Northern France in 1513 so far. Todays post covers a game I tried out using Lion Rampant and set during the War for Naples 1499-1504. As you may know, I have rambled on about it a few times, this is a part of the Italian Wars that really interests me. I was keen to get my forces on the table in an attempt to fight out a skirmish using my early 16th century French and Spanish.

The setting for this game is the Kingdom of Naples, 1502. Following the French King Charles VIII's seizure of Naples at the start of 1495 the Spanish soon came to the aid of the Neapolitan King, Ferdinand II, and under the leadership of  Gonzalo de Cordoba successfully reduced the French hold over the Kingdom. The Spanish support for the Kingdom was short lived however, as Ferdinand of Aragon and Charles VIII's successor Louis XII of France, who had ambitions to hold Milan and was afraid of an attack from Spain, signed the Treaty of Granada at the end of 1500. France and Spain agreed to divide Southern Italy between themselves after removing the last Trastamara King, Ferdinand II's successor, Frederick, from the throne of Naples. This was confirmed by the Borgia Pope Alexander VI, father of Cesare Borgia, in 1501.

The armies of France and Spain invaded Naples in the summer of 1501. There were soon arguments between them over the division of Southern Italy. This led to war, with the French being stronger in numbers. The Spanish under Gonzalo de Cordoba had learnt from their previous Italian encounters with the French and fought a war of raid and ambush against them while they strengthened their forces. It was not until he had tested the French with skirmishes and raids that de Cordoba marched out of Barletta, now with 2,000 Landsknechts sent by Maximilian I, and defeated the French at Cerignola in the spring of 1503, later winning the war at Garigliano in December 1503.

This raid is set during 1502 when the Spanish were fighting the French with hit and run tactics. The redoubtable Bayard is captaining the French against a Spanish raiding party, under Alonso de Sotomayor. Sotomayor was the Spanish Knight later killed by Bayard in a duel so I thought it would be interesting to have him as the character leading an earlier raid on the French. The scenario is set somewhere in Southern Italy. A Spanish force is about to strike a village held by a small French Garrison. The larger local French Garrison has been alerted to this raid and heads out in strength to try and stop the Spanish before they loot and burn the village.

The game was played using Lion Rampant with some army lists I put together for the Spanish and French forces using parts from the armies in the Tudor games with quite a few new units such as Swiss Pike, Spanish Jinetes and Rodeleros added. As before I used bigger units but still with 6 or 12 points of damage respectively and had to ignore the 3" rule between units. The scenario was "Sausages without Mustard" with the Spanish having to burn the four objectives in the centre of the board: the barn doors, two hay carts and the small field. The French had to reach the village and try and stop them. The photos are of the actual game and not staged. Apologies for any bad lighting.

The Spanish raiding force with a small force of Aventuriers "guarding" the village. The four "Sausages without Mustard" objectives - the barn doors, small field and two hay wagons are shown.

The local French garrison arriving to chase off the raiders. From left to right: Italian Mounted Crossbowmen, Swiss Mercenary Pike, Aventuriers, French Ordonnance "Archers" with lances, Bayard and his Men-at-Arms, Swiss Mercenary Pike and, to the right not in the picture, Italian Men-at-Arms.

The forces are shown above and were as follows:

The Spanish

Alonso de Sotomayor and his Men-at-Arms
2 Units of Rodeleros - Sword and Bucklermen
2 Units of Arquebusiers
2 Units of Jinetes

This force is meant to represent the Spanish raiders sent out for an attack on the village.

The French

The troops billeted in the village:
1 Unit of Aventurier Crossbowmen

The local garrison:
Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard and a unit of French Men-at-Arms
1 Unit of Ordonnance Archers with Lances
2 Units of Swiss Pikemen
1 Unit of Aventurier Crossbowmen
1 Unit of Italian Men-at-Arms
1 Unit of Italian Mounted Crossbowmen

This force represents the local French who have been billeted in the village and the local garrison who are riding to their aid. A mix of French, Swiss and Italians all in the pay of Louis XII.

The Spanish advance towards the village.

The local French garrison, alerted of the raiders, attempt to stop them.

The best way to follow the action is the captions under the following photos. The game started with the Spanish Jinetes heading for the objectives. Initially the Jinetes were successful, one unit managed to set fire to the small field, meaning the Spanish had taken one objective, while the other unit harassed the Aventuriers with javelins and caused casualties. The tide turned for the skirmishing horse as the Aventuriers shot back and sent one unit reeling while the arrival of the Italian Mounted Crossbowmen saw off the other Jinetes.

As the retreating Jinetes infront of the Aventuriers fled the field the Spanish Arquebusiers who were following up behind them also came under the withering rain of crossbow bolts from the Aventuriers. As with the Jinetes the Arquebusiers broke into a rout. The Jinetes who had lit the field also fled under attack by the Mounted Crossbowmen. The Spanish now had no light cavalry left.

The Spanish Jinetes initially prove dangerous. The Aventuriers in the village suffer from their javelins. To the right some Jinetes dismount and attempt to set fire to the field.

The Aventuriers strike back with their crossbows and manage to inflict casualties on the Jinetes attacking them. The send them back "battered". To the right the other Jinetes set fire to the field - achieving one objective for the Spanish.

The Jinetes on the left have routed while the others on the right are sent back by an attack from the Italian Mounted Crossbowmen in French service.

The Spanish force - one unit of Jinetes has routed. The Arquebusiers in the top of the photo are getting dangerously near to the Aventuriers.

With all their Jinetes having now fled the Spanish under Alonso de Sotomayor press on with their attack - they still have three objectives to destroy.

As the Spanish Men-at-Arms under Alonso de Sotomayor arrived they caught the Italian Mounted Crossbowmen off guard and sent them back with a vicious charge. The Swiss from the main French Garrison arrived in the village only to be immediately charged by the Spanish Men-at-Arms. The unfortunate Swiss were driven back by the Spanish heavy cavalry and as they gave ground they were exposed to a devastating close range volley of shot by the second unit of Spanish Arquebusiers. This effectively removed them from the game as a fighting unit. At the same time the heroic French Aventuriers were charged by one of the units of Spanish Rodeleros. The Aventuriers were finally broken having put up a valiant defence of the village they were billeted in. They put up enough of a fight to leave the Spanish swordsmen "battered" after their clash with them.

By the village church the Aventuriers manage to rout one unit of advancing Spanish Arquebusiers. Sotomayor's Men-At-Arms launch an attack on the Mounted Crossbowmen and send them back.

With the Aventuriers still resolutely holding the village, they've routed two units so far, the disciplined Swiss Mercenaries move in to support them.

The Swiss advance towards the Spanish raiders while the Aventuriers cause casualties to the Rodeleros who are advancing on them.

The Spanish Men-at-Arms charge into the first group of Swiss from the French garrison and push them back into the line of sight of the Spanish Arquebusiers...

...the Arquebusiers open fire on the first group of Swiss and effectively destroy them in a devastating hail of shot.

Having made a heroic defence of the village so far the Aventuriers are charged by the Spanish swordsmen and finally overcome. They put up enough of a fight to leave the Rolederos "battered" by the encounter!

The second group of Swiss mercenaries arrived in the village and launched a furious assault on the other Spanish Rodeleros. They attacked them so fiercely that that the Spanish had no time to countercharge. As this fighting took place the Spanish Men-at-Arms charged Bayard and his French Men-at-Arms. Bayard spurred his men into a countercharge and a fierce melee ensued. Both groups of Men-at-Arms backed off from the fight but the Spanish were definitely in worse shape having already broken their lances on the Swiss in an earlier charge. The remaining Swiss held firm in the face of a volley of shot only to then be charged by the Spanish Rodeleros who clashed with them for a second time. Both sides took losses but a combination of two clashes with the Spanish swordsmen and a nasty volley of shot meant that this second unit of Swiss also faltered and fled.

The Swiss send the Rodeleros back, at the same time Sotomayor and his Men-at-Arms charge at Bayard. He counter charges with his Men-at-Arms and a fierce clash ensues.

Both groups of Men-at-Arms take casualties in this melee, but Sotomayor and his men come off worse having already broken their lances clashing with the Swiss and having been harassed by the Italian Mounted Crossbowmen.

The remaining Swiss are subjected to a damaging volley of shot but stand firm. The Rodeleros clash with them again and both sides take losses. The Swiss finally break. The Spanish Arquebusiers have played a big part in both groups of Swiss being defeated.

The Fench Garrison may of lost their Swiss mercenaries but this sacrifice seemed to be enough to have persuaded the Spanish raiders that burning the village was a bad idea. The Spanish began a retreat having lost enough of their force to send them back. The French had defended the village at the cost of the elite infantry in their garrison. It had also not gone unnoticed that the Italian Men-at-Arms they had hired had not got anywhere near the fighting.

This was a fun game, and at times seemed quite close, however setting fire to all those objectives in the face of the French turned out to be too great a task for the Spanish. It was great to test out the Swiss Pike, Spanish Jinetes and Spanish Arquebusiers and to get some Italian Wars armies on the field. I still think my Italian Wars Lion Rampant Lists may need a bit of tweaking but that is part of the enjoyment.

Even with the loss of their Swiss Mercenaries as the rest of the French garrison arrive they are clearly still an effective fighting force.

The Spanish, however, have suffered badly in the fighting and start to withdraw having only destroyed one of their four objectives - the corn field.

The Italian Men-at-Arms in the French Garrison had wisely managed to avoid any conflict whatsoever during the clash.

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St Omer, Calais and Therouanne...

October 1, 2017, 6:07 am
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At the start of last month Stuart of Army Royal, http://stuartsworkbench.blogspot.co.uk/ , visited me and we continued our clashes set in Northern France 1513. We had a mammoth gaming session over three days playing four different scenarios and using the Lion Rampant 16th Century rules that Stuart has been developing, with some occasional suggestions from me. It was great fun and I think we really made some progress on rules for mounted longbowmen and the use of artillery in the skirmishes.

I didn't record exactly what happened in each game as it would have been a nightmare and slowed everything down. For example the second game we played was quite complex and involved relief forces for both armies joining the game later on under new captains. Recording everything that happened in that game alone would have been a big task. I did take lots of photos though, so I have decided a brief summary of each game and then some photos should be enough to give a flavour of them. As in previous games the picture weren't posed and the light wasn't always great, especially as a couple of the games went on quite late, so apologies in advance for this. It's a picture heavy post but they were great clashes and I wanted to post up as many images as I could.

The start of the "Convoy" scenario with the French Mounted Crossbowmen attacking the convoy while the English Border Horse attempt to outflank them.

The Convoy

For our first game we wanted something we could jump straight into as a bit of a warm up and to get familiar with the rules again so we decided to play the "Convoy" scenario that I had played through before: http://camisado1500s.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/the-convoy.html . The only slight differences were that we substituted one of the French Ordonnance Archers armed with Lances units for French Ordonnance Mounted Archers and that we played with units of twelve or six figures rather than scaling up, although this figure numbers change had no impact on the actual game.

I think I had a bit of an unfair advantage in this one, having already played through the scenario before. Stuart took the French, keen to give his new Mounted Archers an outing and I played the English. I remembered that when I played it before the Burgundian Men-at-Arms, the most expensive unit for the English, had performed appallingly. This time I made sure they led the English convoy through, no matter how many bad activation roles they had! This led to the English managing to steam roll their way through the French and getting the convoy to safety, a very different result from the first run through of the scenario.

The English convoy heads into the teeth of the French ambush.

The Stradiots are warded off by the English Archers.

The English and French cavalry prepare to engage.

The same scene as above but from the French lines.

The English Border Horse and Demilancers attack the French.

The French Gendarmes charge the English Pike, in the rules they were the same as Billmen, escorting one of the Wagons.

St Omer - 1513, the Manor House objective is on the left, the Town Hall in the centre foreground and the Church is on the right.

St Omer 1513

This was the game of the weekend, a real epic! It was based on the fact that during Henry VIIIs march to Therouanne in his 1513 campaign the Landsknechts in his pay attacked and looted St Omer followed by some of the English in Henry's army. We had a French Garrison in St Omer for our game - although as it was actually part of the Hapsburg Netherlands at this date I doubt this would have been the case in reality! I took the French for this one with Stuart as the English.

The idea was that the English and Landsknechts, under an unknown captain would attack the town which had a weak garrison, again under an unknown captain. Using the same rules as the "Sausages without Fire" scenario in Lion Rampant the English would have to set fire to four objectives. Three of these were within the town walls, the Church, the Manor House (big building with a red roof) and the Town Hall ( another big building with a double roof and two chimneys). All three of these can be seen in the photo above. The fourth objective was one of the corn fields that lay outside the walls.

The forces for the initial clash were as follows:

The "French" Garrison

Foot Knights (the Garrison Captain)
2 Units of Aventuriers with Crossbows
2 Units of Picard Infantry
Organ gun and crew

English Raiders

2 Units of Shire Billmen, one of these is the English Captains Unit.
2 Units of Shire Bow
1 Unit of Landsknecht Shot
1 Unit Landsknecht Halberdiers
1 Unit of Border Horse


A Wagon stops the gate from closing and allows marauding Landsknechts in English pay to storm the town.

The civilians flee as the Landsknechts enter.

 Once an objective had been set alight each player would role every turn to see if a relief force would arrive. This would be on a 9+ on two dice for the first turn, 6+ the second, 3+ if they still hadn't on the third and then automatically if no relief had arrived by the fourth turn. The French relief force would arrive in the Orchard near the main town gates and the English relief force would arrive by a side entrance to the town in front of the corn fields. Both relief forces would be entirely separate retinues in the game and were entirely mounted.

French relief force

La Palice and his Gendarme Company with supporting Mercenaries:

Jacques Chabannes, La Palice and his Gendarmes
1 Unit of French Men at Arms
1 Unit of Ordonnance Mounted Archers
1 Unit of Ordonnance Archers with Lances


1 Unit of Stradiots
1 Unit of Mounted Crossbowmen

English relief force

Sir Rhys ap Thomas's retinue and accompanying Burgundian Auxiliaries:


Sir Rhys ap Thomas and his Demilancers
2 Units of Mounted Archers (we used my Border Horsemen for these two units)


1 Unit of Burgundians Men at Arms
1 Unit of Mounted Crossbowmen


The aim of the French relief force was to either prevent more of the town being destroyed or prevent the English from escaping if this had already been done. The English relief force had to either aid with the destruction or if this was already accomplished to aid the escape of the English forces.

The French garrison ready themselves in the streets.

In the dense streets the Landsknechts emerge.

This was a hell of a game. Initially the English forces stormed the town, the Landsknechts going in first followed by the English archers. There was a lot of street fighting within the town which, although not such a visual spectacle as a pitched battle, was really entertaining and made for some tricky decisions for both of us during the game. Oddly it reminded me of the WWII City fights I used to game as a kid with my awfully painted Eastern Front Collection!

Eventually the French Garrison were worn down and destroyed, only the French Garrison Captain survived having defeated the English Captain in a challenge near the town gates. The English archers had taken the town and set about setting fire to it. This led to the French arriving very quickly through the orchard by the gates. The English managed to block them from getting in through the main gates but the Stradiots and Mounted Archers rode around the town walls to engage the English relief force which arrived slightly later.

Using the difficult terrain of the corn fields the French Light Cavalry did a good job of harassing the English cavalry as they arrived. The Burgundian Auxiliaries, the Men at Arms and Crossbowmen, were defeated in the fields. The English did manage to get into the town via the side gate and then attempted to force their way out of the main gate with Sir Rhys ap Thomas leading the way. Unfortunately Sir Rhys was defeated in another challenge by La Palice, the French relief force Captain, and only some of the English mounted archers managed to get away.

There were some great moments in this game. The initial fighting between the garrison and the looters in the town was really tense with lots of hiding in alley ways and waiting for the right moment to pop out and shoot or charge. When I get round to rebasing my 1540s English I think the "Camisade of Boulogne" will definiteley have to be fought out in this manner. The two challenges between the retinue leaders were fun, especially as the dice were on my side for these! At one point the English archers in the town rolled a "blunder" and shot some of their own side which we thought represented the chaos of the looting and burning in the town really well. Much to my annoyance Stuart's English managed to hold the main gate of the town for ages which stopped me from getting in and stopping them from burning everything. The pictures below should give some indication of the flow of the game.

The French Garrison in St Omer prepare to fight off the Landsknechts.

At the top of the photo the Landsknecht shot can be seen entering the town.

Bitter fighting in the town streets.

A French captain manages to order the Picard Pikemen into an organised "Schiltron" style formation before the Landsknechts charge in.

The Landsknechts have put themselves in the line of fire from the garrisons organ gun!

As the French Crossbowmen prepare to defend the gates they are outflanked by Landsknecht Arquebusiers who are already inside the town walls.

Another nasty fight develops.

Following the German mercenaries in English pay the English Archers enter the town to join the looting!

The English leader is however defeated by the French Garrison Commander in a duel by the gates....

....the wounded English Captain is carried back to his men.

The English archers engage with the Picard Pikemen.

As the English take control of St Omer a French relief force arrives through the orchard, they have been alerted by the burning buildings.

The English Archers continue to loot and burn the town.

Some of the French Cavalry attempt to enter the town while the other Cavalry....

.... the Archers and Stradiots, ride around the walls to see if there are more English.
They find Sir Rhys ap Thomas, the English Captain, and some Burgundian Auxiliaries.



As some of the English horsemen enter the town by a side gate the French skirmish with them.

Sir Ryhs ap Thomas gets into St Omer and rides to the main gate only to be challenged by Jacques Chabannes, or de la Palice, who challenges him to combat and defeats the Welshman.

The terrain on the table rearranged for our Calais game.

Conspiracy in Calais

Having enjoyed the street fighting of the previous game so much, for our third clash we came up with a new scenario. The town set up now represented part of English Calais. The scenario we were playing was "The Messenger" from Lion Rampant. One force was a band English rebels and hired German mercenaries who were accompanying a priest through Calais. This was no ordinary priest however as he had a secret message for Richard de la Pole, the last White Rose, from conspirators in England who were plotting to lead a Yorkist rebellion and depose the usurping Tudor, Henry VIII.
The rebels cover had been blown however and a loyal English force, men from Sir Charles Brandon's retinue, had been alerted to the conspiracy and were heading back to Calais from the French Campaign to apprehend the messenger. The rebels had realised their cover was about to be blown and were trying to escape the town and Calais Pale for the safety of French territory before it was too late.

Stuart took the English for this and I played the rebels. The forces were as follows:

English from Sir Charles Brandon's Retinue

The Captain 1 Unit of Foot Knights
1 Unit of Garrison Bill
1 Unit of Garrison Bow
1 Unit of Mounted Archers (again we used some of my Border Horse for these)
1 Unit of Border Horse

The "Yorkist" Rebels

The Conspirators and Priest 1 Unit of Foot Knights
2 Units of Shire Bow
2 Units of Landsknecht Halberdiers
1 Unit of Landsknecht Shot


The English forces riding back to the town to stop the messenger reaching Richard de la Pole, the last White Rose!

The Priest bearing the message is accompanied by a motley crew of English Rebel archers and mercenary Landsknechts.

This game turned out to be a bit of a disaster for the rebels! They soon became trapped in the narrow streets of the town and subjected to archery from the Garrison Bow, the English Mounted Archers and the Border Horse. The rebel archers were truly atrocious at rolling for activation (of course I would blame the dice!) and were taken to pieces by the loyalist forces. The Conspirators did make a rush for the gates but the Rebel Captain was defeated by the Loyalist Captain (in a challenge if my memory serves me correctly). The priest nearly made it out but in the end he was contained within Calais and the conspiracy was crushed.

This was another great game where the street fighting was really nasty. There was a lot of archery in the alley ways and evasion by the English as the Landsknechts tried to get to grips with them. This game also showed how you can be flexible with Lion Rampant and play all sorts of interesting scenarios, in fact it's much better for these kind of games than for pitched battles. As the 1513 Tudor campaign in France only really had one pitched ""battle" which was more of a rout anyway I think Lion Rampant works well for the various raids and ambushes of the campaign.

The rebels hurriedly try to escape the town, knowing their cover has been blown.

The plotters in the Church gardens.


Men of Sir Charles Brandon's Retinue enter Calais to root out the plotters. 

English Archers in the Calais garrison shoot at the Landsknechts.

The rebel forces become trapped in the narrow streets and fall prey to the superior archery of the garrisons bowmen.

More English troops enter the town and although the priest does get to the gates he is apprehended and the plot is foiled!

An English Bastion outside Therouanne is threatened by a sally from Landsknechts in the French Garrison.

The Sally

Our final game was more of a test scenario to try out culverins, well breech loaders in this case, and organ guns. For this one we returned to the walls of Therouanne. It was a sally by Landsknechts in the French Garrison against an English Bastion which had been established as part of the siege works. I played the French, well Landsknechts in French pay, with Stuart taking the English. The forces were as follows:

The Landsknecht Sally

2 Units of Landsknecht Halberdiers (one is the Retinue Leader)
1 Unit of Landsknecht Shot
1 Breech Loading Gun (fixed on the walls)
1 Organ Gun

The English Besiegers

1 Unit of Shire Bill (The Retinue Leader)
1 Unit of Landsknecht Shot
1 Unit of Shire Bow
1 Breech Loading Gun (fixed in the earthworks)
1 Organ Gun

This game was another disastrous defeat for me! As my Landsknechts attempted to storm the English earthworks they were shot to pieces and the English had clearly won this clash outside the walls. It did allow us to trial some rules for the guns in which they can fire relatively easily to start with and then this becomes more and more difficult each time they fire. We felt this worked well as it allowed for guns to be used more that once but they cannot keep on firing rapidly. At first the breech loaders may have multiple charges ready which allows for a few shots that are not too difficult to achieve but after this as new charges have to be loaded and the gun has heated up it becomes more tricky to roll to activate and fire. This did require more record keeping but it seemed to work well.

I hope these write ups make sense. It can be tricky to remember everything and as I said above we didn't play these games as Battle Reports. They were all really great fun to play and I thought we came up with some very entertaining scenarios. Now we just have to think up some more! There has not been a chance to do much painting over the summer but there are new figures on the way. I have put together some of Stuarts Tudor dollies as English Archers and they should hopefully be finished within the next few weeks.

The Landsknechts sally out being supported by a gun on the walls and bringing an organ gun with them.

The English have a gun mounted in the Bastion to suppress the French attack.

The Landsknechts engage the English in the no-mans-land between the earthworks and the walls but are soon worn down by the English besiegers and defeated.


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