Camisado

Despite all the gaming and reenacting that has been going on I have finally managed to paint up a new unit. Following on from my experiment with Stuart's excellent Tudor Dollies to make the gun crew I bit the bullet and tried a whole unit of Tudor Archers. I know that Stuart sculpted the Dollies with billmen more specifically in mind but they also work really well for a mix of advancing and firing bowmen as long as a bit of care is taken to match the arms to certain poses.

The three images below show the unit before I painted it up. I was keen to show what parts have been used to make up these figures and also show how much green stuff is needed to complete them. As you can see a bit of green stuff work is needed but it's not too much and adding the sleeves really isn't that difficult, and this is coming from someone who hates green stuff with a passion! So a mix of Stuart's Dolls, Perry Wars of the Roses plastics and Perry metal Tudor heads make up most of the unit. The eagle eyed may notice a head swapped Assault Group figure, a Foundry Landsknecht and even a new Warlord Plastic Landsknecht have also made it on to the command base. A couple of quivers from Front Rank and some paper crosses stuck on to resemble stitched ones complete the unit.

The Archers ready to be painted - a mixture of Stuarts dolls with Perry Wars of the Roses Plastics.

The dolls with added green stuff sleeves.

The Archers prior to painting.

The painted unit is below. They march under the standard of Sir Henry Willoughby, which is from Pete's excellent flag range: http://thegreatitalianwars.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/henry-viii-invasion-of-france-1513.html. Henry Willoughby was quite the veteran by the 1513 campaign having fought at Stoke in 1487 and Blackheath in 1497 as well as taking troops to the continent in 1489, 1491 and 1512. He was in the rearward in the 1513 campaign with a retinue of 200 men. I am really happy with the resulting unit. Yes they took a bit more effort to build and put together but the figures work beautifully for the early 16th English campaigns in France. You could use these chaps from the early 1500s through to the 1520s.

The Tudor Dollies are still available from Stuart, http://stuartsworkbench.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/tudor-dollies-update.html. I thoroughly recommend them. They can make billmen, archers, handgunners or crossbowmen using the Perry plastic kits. You will notice I have also included some figures that aren't wearing the base coats. I like the variety this adds and with the simple change of head gear these Wars of the Roses figures can easily be brought into the early 16th Century. I think at some point I will do another archer unit similar to this. This will then take my early Tudor army to around 72 billmen with a matching 72 archers which gives a nice balance.

Tudor Archers - The standard is that of Sir Henry Willoughby

The Tudor Archers - These chaps would be suitable from the early 1500s through to the 1520s.

The Archers from behind - note the paper crosses on the padded jacks to look like stitched on St Georges crosses.

The Archers in a skirmishing line.

The Archers attacking.

Following on from the games I had over the summer I have also painted up some figures to mark the use of ammunition for guns. Stuart and I were experimenting with artillery rules in Lion Rampant and were using a system of marking how many times a gun had fired. This made subsequent firing incrementally more difficult. So below we have a couple of labourers, a Front Rank wagon and some gun paraphernalia to use as markers. They could also be used to mark casualties or maybe some kind of objectives in a game, they are quite generic and useful. The bases are from Warbases and have a zero to twelve dial on them, the same as my casualty bases. I hate having to use little dice or bits of paper to record stuff. It really spoils the look of the game, and for me the spectacle is what it is all about. I find these kind of markers also add to the feel of the game, rather than detract like paper or dice do. They actually add to the look and flavour of the period which is great.

Four ammunition markers.

Markers that can be used to record ammunition.

During what I am terming the "Great Rebasing of 2015" I managed to get all my early 16th century stuff done but had to stop at some point and never managed to rebase my Assault Group Mid-Sixteenth Century English. I gave up leaving most of them looking like this: http://camisado1500s.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/a-tudor-infantry-company.html . The post from 2014 discusses the troops in more detail than I will here. Of course the fact they never got rebased has slowly niggled away at me and finally I have managed to put down the paint brushes for long enough to get them rebased. Saying that there are around a dozen newly painted figures that have been added in to make the numbers work so there has been a bit of new painting to complete this project.

I am pleased with the results. I feel the new bases and mixing of the figures makes them look a bit more real and less "toy soldier" which I felt they looked a bit like before. This was especially true of the billmen. You may notice I have added a few figures in "almain rivet" and breastplates to the billmen which means they are not so completely uniform, all being in the red and white coats. This seems to make them look more convincing. The flags are, of course, from Petes excellent range, available on Ebay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/28mm-Renaissance-Elizabethan-Tudor-16th-Century-English-Paper-flags-1/263286830626?hash=item3d4d1e3622:g:x1sAAOxyVaBS9B-L and https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/28mm-Renaissance-Elizabethan-Tudor-16th-Century-English-flags-2/253232804479?hash=item3af5d9f27f:g:kegAAOxycmBS9B~9.

With the addition of some more cavalry this collection will be superb for pushing the games of Lion Rampant even further into the Sixteenth Century. The more generic Imperialist or French Infantry I have already completed for the 1540s, http://camisado1500s.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/marching-arquebusiers-and-mid-16th.html, could fight them in terrain similar to the recent Ardres and Calais games in a refight of the "Camisade of Boulogne". This will certainly happen at some point, it will mean I can field the infamous Blaise de Monluc as he took part in this assault. It's been a long time since I read his memoirs but from what I recall he decided English archery was not the thing of legend he had heard after encountering English Archers in the night fighting around Boulogne in the autumn of 1544.

The other opponents for this part of the collection are my current project. These figures were sculpted with the French and Anglo-Scots wars of the 1540s in mind but they are fine for the 1530s up to the mid 1560s in my opinion. This means I can use them as English infantry for Mid-Sixteenth Century Ireland. They could be crushing the Rebellion of Silken Thomas, the 10th Earl of Kildare who rebelled in the 1530s and lead to the English Crown taking a far more hands on approach in its government, or attempted goverment, of Ireland in the Sixteenth century. Alternatively they could take the field against the forces of Shane O'Neill. A battle like "The Red Sagums" in July 1561, where Shane O'Neill with 120 Horse and a few hundred Galloglass and "Redshanks" fell upon an English rearguard of 400 men, would be perfect to do in a scaled down skirmish. Sourcing figures for the Gaelic Irish can be a bit tricky but with the use of green stuff and some conversions I think I have found enough figures suitable for a smaller Lion Rampant style force. Hopefully I will be able to get some pictures of them up by the New Year.

The Assault Group Mid-16th Century Tudor English

Tudor Billmen flanked by Archers and Arquebusiers with a skirmish line of Bow and Shot in front.

A Tudor Officer amongst the Archers.

The skirmishers fan out in front of the main body of the infantry.

The whole Tudor Infantry company.

The troops from the rear.

The rebased Mid-16th Century Billmen

English Billmen from the 1540s.

An English Command base.

The second English Command Base.

This weekend I visited Stuart of Army Royal, http://stuartsworkbench.blogspot.co.uk/, to fight out some more daring actions in Northern France 1513 using our adapted, and ever evolving, Lion Rampant rules. We played three games but were plagued with incredibly bright sunshine for some of the time, I know that is an unusual thing for someone British to say, and then rapidly falling darkness in the afternoons! This limited which games we could photograph. As a result I have chosen two of the games to report on. In the third game we played the "Meeting the Neighbours" scenario from the Lion Rampant rule book and my force, I was playing the French, was completely annihilated to the loss of one unit by Stuart. Such a shame it was already too dark to properly photograph that game.

As with previous reports the photos are all of the actual games and are not staged. Ok so we have added Stuart's superb new backdrop to some of them but none of the figures have been posed or moved. Apologies for any bad lighting, it was tricky to get decent photos a lot of the time. I did not record the games action by action so will summarise what happened in each one, with an obvious bias towards the side I played no doubt. The best way to follow the action is by reading the captions underneath the photos, the images often tell a better tale than I can.

Encounter at Tournehem

The first Scenario we played was loosely based upon an abortive raid on the English column as it marched to Therouanne. The English crossed the river Hem and were met by an advance French force who attempted to draw the English into combat. Skirmishing took place for six hours which was stopped by the arrival of a detachment of English cavalry.

Opposing accounts of the engagement claimed that it was an ambush laid by the other side. The English simply had to break through to reach their billets in Tournehem. The French were ordered by Louis XII to keep the field which was a somewhat vague command, de Piennes interpreted it as to maintain a force in the area to harass the English whereas Bayard favoured a more specific and direct approach of stopping the English. For the game we therefore decided either side could win via aggression, discretion or both.

The forces were as follows (we played with large retinues in this game!)

The French

From a French Ordonnance Company:

2 units of Gendarmes
2 units of Men-at-Arms
2 units of Ordonnance Archers with Bows

Supporting troops:

1 unit of Aventuriers
1 unit of Francs Archer with bows
1 unit of Stradiots
1 unit of Mounted Arquebusiers

The English Column

1 unit of Foot Knights
2 units of Shire Bowmen
1 unit Shire Bill
1 Organ Gun

Accompanying "Almains"

1 unit of Landsknecht Shot
1 unit of Landsknecht Halberdiers

The English Cavalry Relief Force

2 units of Demi-lancers
1 unit of Border Horse

The French started up to 6 inches along the Southern Edge of the table but were allowed to place up to 8 points of troops 8 inches their side of the river as an advance guard. Additionally they could place 4 points of troops in the woods, these were just across the river on one flank.

The English army entered the table on the Northern Edge via normal activation and could move up to full move distance upon the first activation.
We decided the river was relatively shallow and was treated as rough going. It also afforded cover to units in it. It had a ford which due to low lying fog could not be discovered until it was approached. Upon any unit reaching the river the ford was determined as being in the West on a 1-2, Centre on 3-4 and East on 5-6. The ford was passable without detriment to movement

On the third turn after the English had entered the field the English relief entered from the Central Western edge on a 5+ and then a 3+ if it had not yet arrived on the second turn and then automatically on the third turn if it had still not arrived.

The English would gain 1 victory point for each unit that left the table along the Southern edge and for each enemy unit they destroyed or routed. Similarly the French would gain 1 victory point for each enemy unit destroyed or routed and for each friendly unit that remained on the field.

The French forces advance towards the river, attempting to get into position before the English can.

The English take the field and quickly see off a small group of dismounted arquebusiers

The fighting develops as the English use Landsknecht shot and Bowmen to drive the French back.

This was a great game which really gave the feeling of an escalating engagement. Stuart took the English and I played the French. Initially the English continually failed to activate and bring anyone onto the field which meant the French advanced a long way up towards the river. When the English did finally arrive the French Mounted Arquebusiers, who had been placed as an advance force in the woods, were quickly seen off with volleys of arrows from the English Bowmen. On both of the French flanks the Ordonnance archers dismounted and took cover in the shallow water from where they sent a steady stream of arrows at the English. It did not take long for the English to realise the advantage of cover that they river gave and they had soon set up a defensive position along it.

On the French left flank the English Relief arrived. The Border Horse flushed the Ordonnance archers on the left from the riverbed only to themselves be routed by the Francs Archers. The relieving Demi-Lancers entered the river cleverly luring the French Gendarmes into a charge where their heavier armour and barding put them at a disadvantage against the lighter equipped Demi-Lancers. The river really was proving to be a key factor in this engagement.

The English make it to the river and use the banks as cover in their "shoot out" with the French.

The Dismounted French Ordonnance archers have been doing a good job of holding back the English, using the river as cover. Unfortunately the arrival of the English Border horse, spearheading the English relief, puts an end to this.

The English relief force has arrived and helps to spur on the English infantry.

The two forces get uncomfortably near each other, with only a shallow river between them.

English Demilancers enter the river...

...and succeed in luring in the French Gendarmes who attack them at a considerable disadvantage in the slippery and rocky terrain.

An overview of the developing engagement.

The Dismounted French Ordonnance archers in the foreground are making a nuisance of themselves but otherwise the French are steadily giving ground.

With one unit of their Gendarmes and one unit of mounted archers lost and the other mounted archers struggling to hold their position the French gave ground. They still had some very effective cavalry units left but had realised that engaging the English on the river banks only put them at a disadvantage. The feint had the desired effect and as the English crossed the river in a more disorganised fashion the French counter attacked. Intitially the French counter attack had some success. A unit of Billmen was routed and a unit of archers nearly caught in the open. The archers did make it back to the river bank from where they could more effectively defend against the French horse.

The game ended as an English victory with the French keeping some of their cavalry on the field but having lost more units than the English. The English were also able to get some units off the field which earned them further victory points. The river had played a key part by allowing units to take cover in the initial "fire fights" that had taken place. The difficult terrain also meant that the English could fight the French Heavy Cavalry on equal terms if they were rash enough to engage them in the water.

The Francs Archers have been seen off so the French horse retreat, knowing that attacking the English while they hold the shallow river will be disastrous.

But the retreat turns out to be a feint and the French cavalry attack isolated English units as they cross the water.

The over enthusiastic English archers, flushed with victory, have advanced too far and are caught in the open by the vengeful French horse.

The archers are driven back to the relative safety of the water where they can fight the French horse more effectively in the rough terrain.

No Wheels on my Wagon

The second game was again set in Northern France during the summer of 1513. In this fictional scenario, based on the day to day type of attacks that took place in this campaign, an English convoy, supplying the siege at Therouanne, had been shadowed by a larger French force so had formed up in a defensive position. The English had unlimbered their guns along a river bank and sent for aid. The English had to try and escape before being crushed by the French force. The French had to try and destroy the English wagons and guns before aid arrived. The English would try and get the wagons off the table and the organ guns if possible as well. The English could leave by the East or West deployment zones, but all their forces had to leave by the same edge once one unit had left from that edge.

The English defenders deployed in the centre of the table by the river.

English Wagon Column

2 Organ Guns
1 unit of Shire Billmen
1 unit of Shire Longbowmen

Accompanying "Almains"

1 unit of Landsknecht Shot
1 unit of Landsknecht Halberdiers

Plus 2 Wagons. These could be be "picked up" by a unit, it just had to move it into contact with the wagon and declare it was moving it. The wagons then moved as per "The Convoy" Scenario rules in the Lion Rampant rule book. If the wagons were contacted by an enemy before being "picked up" they were considered destroyed.

French Shadowing Retinues

The French forces deployed in the North West and North East zone. They were divided into two separate retinues, each with their own leader.

2 Units of Gendarmes
2 Units of Men-at-Arms
1 Unit of Ordonnance Archers with Bows

1 Unit of Stradiots

2 units of Franc Archers
1 unit of Aventuriers
1 Culverin

English Relief Force

2 Units of Demi-Lancers
1 Unit of Border Horse

Burgundian Auxilliaries

1 Unit of Burgundian Men-at-Arms
1 Unit of Mounted Crossbowmen

The English relief would arrive during the first turn on an 11-12 on 2 dice, then 10+ and so on. We decided exactly where they arrived would not be known from the start and we would dice for the East or West deployment zone when they arrived. A unit would need to role for a move activation to enter and could not attack on the turn it entered the table.

The Relief Force was a separate Retinue with it's own leader.

The English Guns and Wagons form a defensive position while they await aid. The shadowing French force can be seen in the distance.

Outnumbered by the French the English close ranks and, having sent for help, await the arrival of their cavalry.

The French forces enter the field hoping to crush the English before help arrives.

We swapped sides for this game with Stuart now taking the French and myself the English. The English Wagon convoy moved their German Arquebusiers, Archers and Organ Guns into the shallow river for cover while the Billmen attempted to take one of the wagons on and off up the hill to safety. Initially this looked like it might be working as the Stradiots in French service who rode around the top of the hill in a pincer movement were seen off by the English employed Landsknechts. The English success was short lived as the Francs Archers close behind the Stradiots managed to rout the Landsknechts before they could come to grips with them and then sent the Billmen leading the wagon up the hill running in panic. The wagon was abandoned and smashed as it slid back down the slopes.

Meanwhile at the other end of the field the English relief force had arrived. The Border Horse, Burgundian Mounted Crossbowmen and one troop of Demi-Lancers made for the beleaguered Wagon Laager while the Burgundian Men-at-Arms and the other troop of Demi-Lancers surprised the French and attacked them from their flank. This lead to a brief but fierce cavalry melee. Again success seemed to be within reach of the English to start with as the French Men-at-Arms were broken by the initial assault and retreated having been "battered" by the Burgundians. The Burgundians charged a second time, seeing an attack on an already broken enemy as an easy way to earn some English coins and possibly get some noble prisoners to ransom. Unfortunately for them they neglected the more heavily armoured and barded Gendarmes who charged the over enthusiastic Burgundians and sent them fleeing along with the Demi-Lancers who had followed them onto the field.

Stradiots in French service attempt to encircle the English wagons.

As the French close in some of the English try and make a dash for safety. Some try to press on up the hill while the bow, shot and ordnance hold the river banks attempting to keep the majority of the French at bay.

The dynamic of the fight changes with the arrival of the English relief. Demi-Lancers and Border horse can be seen in the top left riding on to aid the convoy while in the top right Burgundian Men-at-Arms and more Demi-Lancers attack the French from behind.

The Landsknecht shot in English service have crept up the river banks in an attempt to fire on the dismounted French Ordonnance Archers.

The Burgundian Men-at-Arms are more than happy to break spears with the already disordered French Men-at-Arms.

With Landsknechts leading the break out, some of the convoy with one of the wagons attempt to escape the field...

...bringing injured men with them, they attempt to climb the hill and escape.

At the other end of the field the Burgundian Men-at-Arms have not managed to rout the French Men-at-Arms. In a furious cavalry engagement they are counter charged by the fresh Gendarmes who soon send them, and the Demi-Lancers with them, from the field.

It looks as though one of the English Wagons may be saved, but no, the Francs Archers loose a volley of arrows into the already panic stricken men, who flee abandoning the wagon which is destroyed as it crashes back down the hill in the chaos.

The French cavalry have secured the top of the hill and now proceed to ride towards the remaining English, tightening the noose!

The French breech-loader on top of the hill has had little part to play in the fight, save a few shots at the English attempting to defend the river.

In the centre of the field the English defenders who had deployed in the river bed found themselves out ranged by the French who used Franc Archers, Aventuriers and the Ordonnance Bowmen against them. The Border horse did manage to get the remaining wagon and slowly (and I mean really slowly, I rolled four sets of double ones trying to activate these bastards!) bring it across the river in an attempt to get it to safety. The remaining unit of Demi-Lancers and the Mounted Crossbowmen screened the Borderers and the wagon as they attempted to remove it from the field. This led to the Mounted Crossbowmen being routed by the Francs Archers and the Demi-Lancers being bested in a nasty clash of lances in the shallow river as they were charged by the French Gendarmes.

The Borderers did get the wagon off the field but at a terrible cost to the rest of the English force. The Wagon Convoys infantry had been annihilated, one wagon and both the organ guns lost. The relief force hadn't done much better with only the Border Horse getting off the field in good order. Had the Border Horse managed to move at anything greater than a snails pace with the wagon then the Mounted Crossbowmen and Demi-Lancers would have made it to safety with them! In contrast despite some losses both of the French retinues were still in a respectable state although the retinue that had suffered the mounted flank attack had had a bit of a mauling.

A hell of a fight this one, at one point there were charges and counter charges happening all over the table. I think we particularly enjoyed the rule that Burgundian Men-at-Arms will only "Wild Charge" battered units. This is to reflect the fact that in the 1513 campaign they were suspected of only entering the fray when victory was already guaranteed! Amusingly they did have to Wild Charge the battered French Men-at-Arms which meant they were then charged by the Gendarmes with disastrous results.

A great weekends gaming - such a shame that the photos of that third game in which I was completely driven from the field didn't come out well!

The English Border horse have succeeded in getting the remaining wagon moving. As the hill is occupied by the French they attempt to take it across the river to safety.

As the wagon, glimpsed in the bottom left, moves tortuously slowly, the Burgundian Mounted Crossbowmen and English Demi-Lancers attempt to shield it from French attacks.

The French are gaining on the wagon.

The Mounted Crossbowmen are driven off by the Francs Archers and the Gendarmes rashly charge into the water to engage the English. Despite the terrain they scatter the Demi-Lancers but one of the wagons has managed to get to safety.

The "Generals"!

Something different to start 2018 off with, some Gaelic Irish. We have Kern and Galloglass, warriors who made it into Shakespeare's Macbeth they were so notorious by the very end of the 16th Century. A few Horseboys accompany them as well. Late Medieval/Early Renaissance Irish armies have been an interest of mine for a long time and when I was selling my old Elizabethan Irish army on Ebay I decided to start another one! Often the way with wargaming. The Claymore Castings figures helped sway my decision as despite the fact they are made for the 14th Century many of the Irish and Highland sculpts are perfect for the 1500s, even more so with a little bit of converting. Another reason I thought I would give this army another go is that the cattle raids and ambushes of Irish Warfare in this period are perfect for Lion Rampant games, this will be a great army to skirmish with my 1513 and 1540s Tudors. The Kern can also be used as mercenaries for my 1540s English (see the last photo). The fact that many of the figures can be used for quite a wide time span is another bonus.

Tudor Ireland is a theatre that does suffer a little from not having an entire really well sculpted range to support it. Lots of manufacturers make a few figures but some are quite old sculpts or the miniatures are very large which is a shame. With a bit of work and careful selection of figures most of the Irish troop types can be represented. I think only the very end of the 16th Century, Tyrone's Rebellion, also known as the Nine Years War would still be quite tricky to do well in 28mm at the moment. The traditional Gaelic troop types were rapidly replaced with Caliver and Pikemen and there aren't really any great figures for these troops yet. For most of the 16th Century, when Kern, Galloglass and Redshanks were used, there are figures available.

Irish Gallowglass, Galloglaich, Galloglass or Galloglas!

The Galloglass

Gallowglass, Galloglass or Galloglas, this is one of those words you find a few different spellings for, comes from the Gaelic "Galloglaich". It is normally translated as meaning "foreign warrior" as to denote that they were not originally native Irish. Sean Duffy, in "The World of the Galloglass", states that the word is in fact short hand for "warrior from Innse Gall" meaning the Hebrides. Whatever the exact etymology is, these were heavy infantry who came from the Hebrides and West Coast of Scotland to Ireland in the latter part of the 13th Century. They settled in Ireland and became part of the social strata. By the 16th Century many were in fact native Irishmen and some may have even been Anglo Irish with only the Captains being from the main Galloglass families such as the MacDonnells or the MacSweenys.

The unit of organisation of the Galloglass was the Spar, a term deriving from the name of the traditional Galloglass two handed axe, the sparth. A spar was a Galloglass and his two servants (they will be dealt with below). The Spars were organised into companies, also known as battles. The sources seem to differ on how many Spars were in a company. Ian Heath, in "Armies of the Sixteenth Century" provides examples of them being stated at 60 to 100 Spars in a company, but argues that by 1575 a company was set at 100 men with 13 being "dead pays", that is men who weren't actually present so instead the captain would collect their pay as a kind of "bonus". This was a practice common in lots of later 16th Century armies.

So what did the Galloglass look like? If you read my ramblings regularly you will know that I like to try and get my miniatures looking as close to contemporary images or descriptions as possible. For the Galloglass I had already decided to use the excellent figures by Claymore Castings, but of course I could not resist a few tweaks as a nod to some of the original artwork and sources. Let's start with weaponry. Galloglass were of course famed for their two handed axes, know as Sparths. They are known to have had a very distinctive shape. John Dymmok in his "A Treatise of Ireland", written c.1600, stated "the weapon they most vse is a batle axe, or halberd, six foote longe, the blade whereof is somewhat like a shomakers knyfe, and without pyke ; the stroake whereof is deadly where yt lighteth". I take this to mean it would look something like the axes carried by the MacSweeny Galloglass in the third image below. Annoyingly I used to have lots of these style axes in 28mm from the Vendel Irish range but I sold them before I decided to start this army again. They aren't always depicted carrying this style of axe however, see the second image below, so I was happy to use some other variations of the two handed axes.

Interestingly in the famous Dürer image of the Irish soldiers, the Galloglass themselves don't carry axes at all, although their following attendants may of course be carrying their axes for them. These look more akin to Lochaber axes than those described above. It is hard to know if these chaps were drawn from life. It would be fascinating to know if there really were Galloglass and Kern fighting in the Low Countries during this period, perhaps in the Guelders Wars, and that Dürer encountered them. The soldiers drawn match other descriptions so well that it is tempting to think he did see them. However if you have a look at Dürers Rhinoceros sketch which was drawn from a description and realise he had never seen a Rhino you start to think that maybe he was going by a second hand account rather than a first hand encounter. It's hard to tell!

What Dürers image does show is two huge Claymores, one carried by a Galloglass himself and one by an attendant. I could not resist rearming some of the Claymore figures with two handed swords as they look really impressive and are, rightly or wrongly, also seen as a classic Galloglass weapon. As a further point to this, there are a lot of modern Galloglass images, and miniatures, where a two handed sword is being worn in a back scabbard. Aside from this seeming very impractical and the fact that the Galloglass had servants to carry their weapons, I have been unable to find a single contemporary image or description of these back scabbards. All the images I have found show these large swords being carried, normally under the arm, as the attendant is doing in the image below. I will return to this point when I work on some "Redshanks" for this army. If anyone does know of any contemporary evidence for the back scabbards let me know, I would quite like to be proven wrong on this one as some really nice miniatures have back scabbards sculpted on and removing them is a real pain!

Another weapon carried by a Galloglass in the Dürer image is the spear. I have included a few of these among my figures. Interestingly in some of the 16th century poems to the MacSweeny Galloglass their spears are described as being used to make temporary shelters when they camp, something the Landsknechts did with their pikes and halberds in camp and shown in European pictures of sieges. In her essay "Images of the Galloglass in poems to the MacSweeneys" Katherine Simms translates one of these verses as "No surprise when Domhnall takes his rest after plunder sitting on the mountainside. Every man withdraws his spear from what constituted the sleeping-quarters last night". Simms also notes that the Galloglass Constables, may have in fact been mounted. In 1397 a Catalan Pilgrim stated he had met the Great O'Neill's Constable of Galloglass, Owen MacDonnell, at the head of a troop of one hundred horsemen. As a Constable was a prestigious position and horses were in plentiful supply in Ireland, the Irish Nobles normally took two or three to war, it would be of little surprise if some of the Galloglass did indeed travel on horseback and dismounted to fight.

Dürer's image of Irish Soldiers, 1521. There are some great details in this image: the unusual Galloglass helmets, the two handed swords, the horn carried by one of the attendants, the "jacket" and "brat" being worn by the attendants.

A "Royal" Galloglass from Elizabeth I's Charter to Dublin c.1581. His helmet seems to be painted or cloth covered and to have an odd plume.

MacSweeny Galloglass from a Map of Ireland 1567. Note the crest or plume that the centre Galloglass has on his helmet.

Late 15th Century Galloglass from the Tomb of Felim O'Connor in Roscommon Friary.

Tomb Effigy of a Burke Warrior in Glinsk, Galway, second half of the 15th Century.

16th Century Tomb Effigy of a MacSweeny of Banagh. The image is not very clear but you can make out an odd crest on the helmet of the Galloglass on the left.

Other interesting little details I have noticed when looking at contemporary images of the Galloglass are the strange crests or plumes they sometimes have. In the images above the "Royal Galloglass" in Elizabeth I's charter, one of the MacSweenys in the 1567 map and the MacSweeny on the 16th tomb effigy all have variations of some kind of crest or plume. I couldn't resist adding a few of these to my Galloglass, see the two bases of them below. They are quite unique and really simple conversions to do that help to make the miniatures look the part.

In terms of armour at the very end of the 16th Century Dymmok described the Galloglass as "armed with a shert of mailc, a skull, and a skeine" with Edmund Spenser in 1596 stating they wore "a long shirte of mayle downe to the calfe of his legge". From looking at tomb effigies and based on these descriptions above it seems these specific Claymore Castings figures can be used to represent Galloglass from the 14th Century right up to the end of the 16th Century at a pinch. The only caveat I would add is that the two handed swords are probably more of a late 15th century onward weapon. While it would be nice to have some in Burgonets or Morions for the Elizabethan Wars I can always convert and add some of these later. If you look at the tomb effigies from Roscommon and Glinsk shown above you can see these figures match them really well. I like the fact not all of them are in mail, one of Dürer's Galloglass is depicted only wearing a long "cotun", and there are plenty of contemporary tomb effigies where Hebridean Warriors are depicted in cotuns and mantles of mail only.

Galloglass by Claymore Castings. I have added a crest to one of the helmets and a few moustaches to some of them with greenstuff. One carries a spear as in the Dürer image.

More Galloglass by Claymore Castings. The chap pointing with the axe is a converted Highlander and I have replaced one of the axes with a two handed "claymore", again as in the Dürer image.

The Galloglass charging into battle!

The Galloglass from behind - note there are no two handed swords in back scabbards!

Irish Kern or Kerne

The Kern

The term Kern or Kerne comes from the Gaelic "Ceithearn". The Scots Highlanders "Cateran" comes from the same source. These were the native Irish infantry, it seems some of the "Household Kern" or "Ceithearn Tighe" were full time soldiers or perhaps more accurately bodyguards or "police" who fought under hereditary captains. As with the Galloglass I wanted my representation of these soldiers to look as much like contemporary images as possible. For the 16th Century there are some really characterful images of these Irishmen as can be seen below. They wear the léine, a saffron coloured shirt made of linen with voluminous sleeves, and characteristic sleeved "jackets". I don't know when the "jackets" first appear, interestingly the Irish in Dürer's image don't wear them although one is in something similar. Is this perhaps evidence this wasn't an image drawn from a first hand meeting or did the jackets worn in the later 16th Century evolve from this more basic style? To me they look like a specifically later 16th Century fashion, the depictions of them seem to come from the 1540s onward, but I may be wrong. Perhaps they were worn earlier.

In the first three images below the Kern are shown armed with swords, javelins or "darts" as they were known, and skeans, a narrow Irish dagger. Interestingly in all of the images below one of the Kern has at least a gauntlet for his left arm, in the 1547 image one has his entire left arm covered. As this armour is always on the left it makes me wonder if these were worn as some kind of parrying armour for sword fighting, instead of a shield or buckler? Sadly no manufacturer has made any Kern with these gauntlets yet which is a shame as I would have like to included some in this army. Perhaps a conversion for the future?

What is odd about the images below is that none of the Kern are shown carrying shields yet in contemporary accounts they are often described as doing so. Kern saw service for Henry V at the siege of Rouen, 1418-1419, where they were used in considerable numbers to protect supply lines through forest and woodland. Monstrelet described them as such "This King of England had with him in his company a vast number of Irish, of who far the greatest part went on foot. One of their feet was covered, the other was naked, without having clouts, and poorly clad. Each had a target and little javelins, with large knives of a strange fashion". It seems nearly two hundred years later their armaments had changed little save for the adoption of firearms. John Dymmok in "A Treatise of Ireland" c.1600, described them as such "The kerne is a kinde of footeman, sleigh tly armed with a sworde, a targett of woode, or a bow and sheafe of arrows with barbed heades, or els 3 dartes, which they cast with a wonderfull facillity and nearnes, a weapon more noysom to the enemy, especially horsemen, then yt is deadly ; within theise few yeares they have practized the muskett and callyver, and are growne good and ready shott".

Miniature sculpts often depict Kern carrying "wicker" shields. I presume this is based on their description by Edmund Spenser in "A View of the present State of Ireland", 1596, where it is stated "Moreover, their longe broad sheeldes, made but with wicker roddes, which are comonly used amongst the said Northeren Irishe, but specially of the Scottes". As Spenser states that only the Northern Irish used the Wicker shields I decided not to use them for this army (which is proving to be a real pain with the Cavalry I am currently working on as they all have wicker shields cast on them!) and to go for the wooden "targets" described by both Monstrelet and Dymmok. It does seem odd that the Kern never carry them in contemporary images though.

Lucas d'Heeres Irish, c1575. Note the gauntlet hanging on a cord.

Irish from the Códice De Trajes c.1547. Note the arm armour worn by the Kern with the Javelin or "Dart".

Irish Kern from Henry VIIIs reign. Again the arm armour can be seen worn by one of the central figures. Claymore Castings have done a nice sculpt of his leather helm on one of their figures.

Irish Kern Skirmishing.

Kern with a mixture of Javelins or "Darts" and bows.

I have converted the Kern in the red jacket by adding a léine with its characteristic long sleeves from green stuff.

For the two units of skirmishing Kern shown above I have used predominantly Claymore Castings figures, with a few tweaks of course. There are also a couple of Crusader Miniatures casts in the mix for added variety. I have used different shields for them and have made sure all of their léines have the characteristic baggy sleeves. Some of the figures come with them sculpted on but for those that don't its relatively simple to add them on with green stuff. A few extra moustaches and beards have also been added as well.

In Gaelic Irish society their large cattle herds or "creaghts" were of great importance to the Clans or Septs as they were known at the time. A few years ago I painted up some bases of cattle which fit in really well with these figures, remember that the cattle back in the 16th Century were much smaller than modern breeds. I wanted some Kern to accompany the "creaght" who weren't in quite as dynamic poses as most of the Claymore figures. The resulting unit is shown below and is made up of Claymore and Crusader figures with the Piper being from Scheltrum Miniatures I think? Apart from the Claymore figures they have all had their weapons swapped and the Piper has had his baggy sleeves added with green stuff.

The unit was inspired by the two contemporary images below, one showing Kern in Henry VIII's employ during the Siege of Boulogne in 1544 and a later representation from John Derrickes "Image of Ireland" in 1581 showing Kern raiding cattle and horses. I wanted to create a small band of Kern that looked like those in these images being led by a Piper. I like the more relaxed poses of these miniatures and they work well carrying javelins and axes as in the Derricke image. At some point I would like to do some more Kern with swords and also arquebuses.

A band of Kern including a Piper guard the cattle. This unit was inspired by the two images below.

Detail from the Cowdray House Murals which depicted Henry VIII's siege of Boulogne in 1544. In the centre Irish Kern can be seen driving the cattle into the camp. They are armed with Javelins and lead by a Piper. Some appear to be wearing Morions. Henry used Kern in significant numbers in France and in Scotland during the 1540s.

Irish Soldiery from John Derrickes "Image of Ireland", 1581. Note the Piper and the Javelins and Axes they are armed with.

A lone Kern drives the cattle or "creaght" onwards.

The Horseboys or "Daloynes"

An interesting thing about the Gaelic armies of this period is that all of the different classes of soldier, the Cavalry, Galloglass and Kern, had attendants. The Cavalry had two or three Horseboys to look after their horses, each Galloglass two servants and for every two Kern it seems a page or boy was also present to carry their weapons, mantles and victuals. That the Kern had boys to accompany them is born out by the issues this caused the English Government who were hiring them in May 1544. During the 1540s the English engaged in warfare on an unusually large scale, helped greatly by the finances from the dissolution of the monasteries. Henry VIII was fighting on fronts in Scotland and in France and was in need of manpower. In May 1544 1,154 Kern were hired and rather than one boy for every two Kern it was requested that one for every four was hired instead. So of the 1,154 soldiers hired, 234 were in fact the accompanying boys, only 920 of them being actual Kern soldiery.

That being said it seems that the attendants did take part in combat sometimes. Returning again to Dymmok, he stated "Some will have the Dalonyes or horsboyes to be a fourthe sorte, for that they take them into the fight: they are the very skumme, and outcaste of the cuntrye, and not lesse serviceable in the campe for meatinge and dressinge of horses, then hurtfull to the enemy with their dartes". The word "Daloyne" is a corruption of the Gaelic "Diolmhainigh", meaning hireling. I am unsure whether the Horseboys ever fought mounted, it seem logical that they may have done if they were attending to the nobilitys other horses.

I wanted to represent these Daloynes in some way in this army and decided to use the Old Glory Kern miniatures for them. They work well to represent boys as they are quite slight figures and most of them don't have beards. I have even removed a few beards from some of the miniatures. It seems that some of the Galloglass and Kern attendants were in fact young men and not always boys but I wanted the unit to be distinctive so tried to make them all look as much like the young lad illustrated below in Derricke's "Image of Ireland" as possible! They are only armed with javelins, there are no shields or other weapons. Weren't they meant to be carrying everyone else's stuff anyway? I still have another unit of these to paint up, they are really easy to do and the handy thing is they can also be used as Kern if need be.

A Horseboy from John Derrickes "Image of Ireland", 1581.

Horseboys, these are Old Glory Kern without the shields. I also removed any beards to make them look younger!

So below is the Gaelic raiding party so far along with a picture of the Kern accompanying my Mid-16th Century English. I am currently working on the Irish Noble cavalry and will hopefully be able to post pictures of them up soon. As mentioned above I have another unit of Horseboys to complete as well as some Redshanks in the pipeline. I would like to add more to this army but as I said at the start Tudor Ireland is an area that I don't think has yet been done real justice by any manufacturers in 28mm. Here's hoping this will happen one day! The beauty of this army is that while the converting and green stuff may take some time the miniatures are really quick to paint, especially when you consider how much time I have spent painting Landsknechts!

Happy New Year.

The Irish raiding party so far.

And finally an image of the Kern accompanying my 1540s English. Henry VIII employed Irish Kern as mercenaries in Scotland and France during the 1540s and when the English Deputies campaigned in Ireland they regularly used Kern in their forces.

Following on from a look at the Kern, Galloglass and Horseboys who formed much of the infantry of Gaelic Irish armies in the 16th century I have turned my attention to the Irish Cavalry. A bit of a labour of love this unit as no manufacturer really makes perfect figures for these chaps at the moment. I have had to make a few compromises with the figures and I have based some of the colours and additions on conjecture but I hope they are fairly close to how they may have looked.

The cavalry arm of the Gaelic Lordships was normally made up of the nobility, in fact they could often be all directly related. This at first seems odd but a few examples may help to illustrate. Turlough an fhiona O Donnell, lord of Tirconnell, d.1423, had 18 eighteen sons by 10 different women and 59 grandsons in the male line. The O'Reilly lord of East Brefny, Mulmora, d.1566, had at least 58 grandsons who took the name of O'Reilly. In this light it is easy to understand how the Cavalry component of a sept could easily be a family affair in the most literal of senses. The "close" family aristocratic element could also be augmented by their more wealthy followers who answered their call to arms or "rising out". This could be further enhanced by young nobles who frequently traveled to other Irish Lordships to take service with another Lord. So for example in 1406 two sons of the King of Connacht travelled to Offaly with their attendants to serve the Lord of Offaly against the English of Meath.

When looking at contemporary pictures of how these horsemen were armed and equipped a fairly broad spectrum has been used as there really aren't that many images. However just by looking at the first two pictures below, one from c.1399 and the other from c.1580 what is immediately striking is how similar the horsemen look despite nearly two centuries in between. The two unusual things about the Irish cavalry of the 16th Century were that they didn't use stirrups and that they used long lances overarm rather than the normal couched lance of late medieval/early renaissance warfare. John Dymmok in "A Treatise of Ireland" c.1600 described them as such "The horsemen are armed with headpeeces, shirtes of mayle or jackes, a sworde, a skayne, and a speare. They ryde vyon paddes, or pillowes without styrvps, and in this differ from ours; that in joyninge with the enemy, theye beare not their staves or launces vnder arme, and so put it to the reste, but takinge yt by the midle, beare yt aboue arme, and soe encounter." As with the Kern and Galloglass they of course had their attendants as grooms for their horses as well as leading their spare mounts and taking care of their harness and weaponry. Dymmok goes on to state that "Every Horsman hath two or thre horses, and to euery horse a knave : his horse of service is allwaies led spare, and his knave, which caryeth his harness and speare, rydeth vpon the other, or els upon a hackeney."

Depiction of Irish Horsemen attacking Richard IIs Cavalry c.1399

16th Century Irish Horseman c.1580. He is actually a Burke and so an Anglo-Irishman riding and armed in Gaelic Irish style.

As with the Irish infantry I was keen to have the cavalry component of the army looking as much like those in the original sources as possible. I used the old Redoubt Enterprises Irish miniatures from their renaissance range for my horsemen but had to do quite a bit of conversion work to complete the unit. I think the biggest issue for me was that the Redoubt figures all have large wicker shields. As I mentioned in my last post I think this comes from Edmund Spensers "A View of the present State of Ireland" of 1596 where he states "their longe broad sheeldes, made but with wicker roddes, which are comonly used amongst the said Northeren Irishe". This may have been the case but the image below showing Irish Cavalry in a skirmish with English Horsemen (who are actually quite similarly equipped save for the stirrups and boots) has some really good depictions of Irish Cavalry shields. Only two examples of these shields or targes survive and there is a great description of making replicas of them here on Claiomh, the Irish living history groups, Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ClaiomhLivingHistory/videos/vb.146967882013099/1189489427760934/?type=2&theater .

This shield issue meant I had the nasty job of removing the cast on wicker shields using a knife, drill and saw. It took ages and I can safely say I will not be attempting to remove 11 cast on large shields from metal miniatures again! I replaced the wicker shields with as close as I could get to the Irish shields in the image above. I know that the large bosses in the centre are not really correct and what is more frustrating is that Vendel used to make shields exactly like those in Derrickes image and they were available in packs on their own but such is the way with miniatures. Little niche ranges often appear and then disappear a few years later. I also included a couple bucklers from The Assault Group and painted some designs on them. These were inspired by a line from Edmund Spenser "Likewise rownd lether targettes, as the Spanyarde fashion, who used it, for the most part, paynted, which in Ireland they use alsoe, in many places, colored after ther rude fashion". I have mirrored the image of one of the Irish standards on one of the targes and on the other I attempted a Gaelic style pattern similar to the kind of thing seen on the Kerns Jackets (I think these Jackets may have perhaps been called Ioanars, following on from my last post).

Irish Horse from John Derricke's Image of Ireland 1581. Note the "hook" style nasal guards on the front of their helmets, plumes on the back of some of the helms and the shields worn on straps. The fallen horsemen at the bottom of the image also shed useful light on how they were equipped.

An Irish Chieftan, horse, showing the trappings off beautifully, and horseboy from The Image of Ireland, John Derricke 1581.

When it comes to the horses I have to give Redoubt credit as they are the only manufacturer I know of who have made any horses in 28mm that are in the unique Irish trappings with a "cushion" being ridden on rather than a saddle. The image above by John Derricke shows how this worked very clearly. I am glad this element of the Irish cavalry can be represented on the miniatures. As a nod to the contemporary images, and also to some of the images shown in my last post, I added various different plumes to the horsemen. Ok, so some of the plumes I added maybe a little over the top compared to those seen in the images but I really think they add to the cavalry and make them look suitably aristocratic. Some of the images show relatively simple plumes, for example the mounted chieftan in the image below or the cavalry fleeing from the English shown above. Others head accoutrements are a bit more dramatic, for example the Wild Irish Rider of 1575 or the Chieftan shown being blessed by a priest and then on horseback in one of John Derricke's images.

With regard to these two images, both shown below, firstly I am unsure what type of troop the "Wild Irish Rider" is really meant to represent. He certainly doesn't seem to be an aristocratic Irishman from his dress but he is riding stirrupless in the Irish manner and certainly dressed like a native Irishman of the 1500s. Ian Heath in his "Armies of the Sixteenth Century" argues that Horseboys normally fought on foot, despite their name which was more to do with the fact that they cared for the nobles horses and led the spare mounts. Certainly by Tyrones Rebellion or the Nine Years War, as it is also known, the Irish did have lighter cavalry than the mail armoured nobles so perhaps some Irish Chiefs also fielded even lighter horse armed with bows and darts or javelins earlier in the century. Horses were certainly in plentiful supply in Ireland.

Close up of an Irish Chieftan, note the plume at the top of his helm.

A lighter armed "Wild Irish Rider" Abraham de Bruyn 1575.

An Irish Chieftan riding under the O'Neill Banner.

Secondly, have a look at the images of the Chieftan shown below and then have a look at Redoubts representation of a Gaelic Chief. Apart from the helmet I think you will agree their miniature looks very similar, wrapped in his "brat" or is it an Irish mantle? He certainly looks the part. If you have a look a the image of the Irish cavalry fleeing the English horse you will notice that their helmets have quite unusual nose guards. Surviving pieces and images show Galloglass helmets sometimes had these as well. The miniatures also have these on their helmets which is a nice touch. Quite why they also have mail hanging from the back of their helms I am unsure, as I haven't seen this in the images I have looked at but maybe I have missed something. You will notice I've chosen to represent a lot of the helms as painted or maybe cloth covered. My "excuse" for this is that if you look at some of the images of Kern and Galloglass in my last post they have coloured helmets. If these infantrymen did then surely their aristocratic betters wouldn't want to be outdone! The painted helms are also a nice throwback to the Anglo-Norman roots some of these horsemen may have had. The mail armoured Burke in one of the images above is in fact Anglo-Irish, Burke being a corruption of de Burgh, and even the great Shane O'Neill was a grandson, on his maternal side, of Garret Mor, the 8th Earl of Kildare.

Two depictions on an Irish Chieftan from Derrickes Image of Ireland 1581. Note the unsual helmet and plume.

So here are the horsemen, shown with Petes superb Irish flags: http://thegreatitalianwars.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/16th-century-irish.html. The flag I have chosen to show with the unit is taken from a picture map of the Battle of the Erne Fords in 1593, shown below. Annoyingly I couldn't find a really large copy of this image online, but it is flying in the block of horsemen at the top of the image. Flags, or bratachs in Gaelic, weren't particularly popular with the native Irish. In fact in some images of the later 16th century they are shown simply carrying captured English ensigns! Note also in this final image that in 1593 the cavalry are still using the lance overarm. A couple of the miniatures I have painted are carrying darts or javelins rather than these long lances. As with the Kern, the dart was still a popular weapon with the Irish Nobility. Ian Heath notes a skirmish between Neill Garbh O Donnell, who went against his cousin Red Hugh O Donnell, and fought for the English in the Nine Years War. Neill fought another kinsman, Rory, who thrust a large javelin into the head of Neill's horse but was able to retrieve it as it was held on a thong.

All in all I am fairly pleased with the finished unit. I think they are colourful and flamboyant enough to represent the Gaelic Irish aristocracy. There are a few nasty areas behind the shields that were created when I removed the original wicker shields. I have tried to simply paint these areas in shadow, as can be seen in the photo of the miniatures from the rear and I don't think this detracts too much from the finished horsemen. The Redshanks will hopefully be up next and I will try and get some photos of the whole host assembled as well.

Irish Noble Cavalry armed with Swords, Darts or Javelins and Long Lances that were used overarm.

Irish Noble Cavalry. The flag, or bratach in Gaelic, is from a depiction of Hugh Maguires cavalry at the Battle of the Erne Fords 1593, see the image below.

Battle of the Erne Fords 1593, the Irish Cavalry can be seen in the top of the image holding their lances overarm.

The Irish Horse from behind.

Continuing with the Gaelic theme up next are some Scots "Redshanks" to serve as mercenaries in my Irish Army. They are a mix of Claymore Castings figures, now sold by Antediluvian Miniatures https://antediluvianminiatures.wordpress.com/2018/02/07/shop-historical-range/, and some converted Old Glory figures from their English Civil War range. Initially this unit was intended to simply be a mercenary force to add to my Irish army but the megalomaniac in me realised that by combining them with the Galloglass I have already painted and some more suitable Kern figures I could quite easily have a sizeable Highland Scots contingent. Add this Highland contingent to these chaps http://camisado1500s.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/picard-pikemen.html, of course swapping the banners, and I'm not far off a respectable Scots army for 1513. Definitley something I will be thinking about in the future.

So the aim with these figures was to create a unit that could serve both as Redshank mercenaries in Ireland and also as a Highland contingent sent to fight in the Anglo-Scots wars of the 16th Century. If I had just been aiming to use them as Redshanks I wouldn't have bothered with the standard bearer and more formal command base. As with the Irish infantry and cavalry I thought it would be interesting to have a look at some of the depicitions of Highlanders that we have from the 1500s. What I find fascinating is that they are very different from the kilted characters you may imagine from Braveheart! Also of note is how much they have in common with the Irish infantry, the Galloglass and Kern, discussed in a previous post.

Effigy of a Highland Warrior from the Mid 16th Century, Finlaggan

Tomb of Alexander MacLeod, 1528. The tomb was prepared in the late 1520s although he actually died in the 1540s. Macleod is on the left in a Mail Shirt with a Cotun underneath. He looks strikingly similar to a Galloglass.

The Redshanks serving in Ireland were known as such because of their habit of going barefooted. Although this etymology has been debated Holinshed in his Chronicles of 1577, a picture from which is shown below, stated "For in the north part of the region, where the wild Scots, otherwise called the Redshanks, or rough footed Scots (because they go the wild Scots bare footed and clad in mantels over their saffron shirts after the Irish maner) doo inhabit". Similarly John Elder a highland priest and scholar called himself a Redshank for the same reason. Holinsheds quote and the image that accompanies his text make clear how similar to the Gaelic Irish the Highlanders and Scots of the Western Isles may have looked.

A common source for the attire of the Gaelic Scots, well the more aristocratic ones at least, are Tomb Effigies. From the two shown above it can clearly be seen that the more wealthy Highlanders and men of the Western Isles looked very similar to Irish Galloglass, with mail shirts and long cotuns. This is not surprising seeing as they shared a similar culture and the Redshanks or "New Scots" as they were sometimes known were simply a new wave of mercenaries arriving in Ireland from a similar area to the Galloglass. What is perhaps surprising is that the two images of tomb effigies shown above date from well into the 16th Century. It seems that these warriors preserved a very unique style of armament very different from much of Western Europe.

Image of Scots Highlanders from Holinsheds Chronicle of Scotland, 1577. Note how similar to Irish Kern they look with the characteristic baggy sleeves and short jackets or "Ionars".

While the Galloglass families began migrating to Ireland in the later 13th Century the Redshanks became a common feature in Gaelic Irish armies from the mid 16th Century onwards. That is not say that they did not feature in Irish warfare prior to this. By the end of the 14th Century MacDonalds had already begun to settle in Northern Ireland, in Antrim, and their men were hired by the O'Donnells in the 15th Century. By the 16th Century Clan MacDonald were fielding armies in their own right, clashing with Shane O'Neill at Glentaisie in 1565. It was Shane's wars that seem to have led to something of an influx of Gaelic Scots mercenaries. They could arrive, by galley, from the Western Isles and Seaboard constituting something of a seasonal force for Irish Chieftans to hire.

That they were effective soldiers is demonstrated by the willingness of the Irish Chieftans to hire them and also by the serious threat they posed to the Elizabethan Goverment in Ireland. The English termed them "New Scots", the old Scots, it seems, would have been the Antrim MacDonalds and even older Galloglass families. The Elizabethan Government was keen to stop them migrating into Ireland and joining the various wars, feuds and rebellions that took place in the second half of the 16th Century. They attempted, sometimes successfully, to stop their galleys with their own warships, against which the galleys could do little harm. Even at the very end of Elizabeth's reign, while the succession was a major issue, James Fullerton of Trinity College Dublin was acting as a secret agent for the English and liaising with James VI in order to prevent these warriors of the Western Isles and Seaboard travelling to Ireland to fight in Tyrone's Rebellion.

As demonstrated by the images shown here they seem to have been armed with bows, axes and two handed claymores. Previously mentioned in my description of the Galloglass it is interesting that there don't seem to be any images of the Claymores worn in a back scabbard. The two images of Redshanks below show the swords tucked under one arm. Ian Heath in his excellent "Armies of the Sixteenth Century" gives references to them also sometimes being armed with arquebuses and sometimes even being hired as pikemen, halberdiers and shot, especially those Highland Scots who had already seen service in mainland Europe in the Dutch Revolt. An example Heath gives is a reference to Sir Nicholas Maltby, Lord President of Connaught, who in 1580 pushed 600 Redshanks out of his province. They were described as "180 horsemen, 180 targets (bucklers or perhaps Scots targes), 100 long swords, the rest ...darts, shot and galloglass axes, all as well appointed as ever I saw for their faculty'. Evidently by the end of the 16th century the Redshanks could be quite versatile in terms of their weaponry, it is easy to see why the English Government found them such a problem.

French Image of a Highland "Captain", 1560s.

A Scotsman by Lucas d'Heere, 1570s.

A final point worthy of note and something that always makes me smile is how different from the traditional image of Highlanders the men of the Western Isles and Northern Scotland actually looked in the 16th Century. It does seem some wore plaid as demonstrated by a quote from Jean de Beaugue, a French Officer who served in the French army that helped the Scots fight off Henry VIII's and later Protector Somerset's "Rough Wooing" in the 1540s. Describing some Highlanders at the Siege of Haddington he states "they were naked except their stained shirts and a certain covering made of wool of various colours, carrying large bows and similar swords and bucklers to the others (that is the Lowlanders)". Similarly another Frenchman Nicolay D'Arfeville said of them that "They wear like the Irish a large and full shirt coloured with saffron, and over this a garment hanging to the knee, of thick wool, after the manner of a cassock. They go with bare heads and allow their hair to grow very long and they wear neither stockings nor shoes, except some who have buskins made in a very old fashion which come as high as their knees". This description ties in nicely with the cloak and boots worn in the image of "Le capitaine Savvage"from the 1560s. Note also that this "Captain" has a quite unsual crest on his helmet. Perhaps this is something fanciful on the part of the artist but it does remind me of some of the odd Galloglass crests talked about in a previous post.

Scots Highlanders or "Redshanks". Such men from the Western Isles and Western Seaboard would travel to Ireland in galleys to fight for the Irish Gaelic Chieftans.

I hope this brief look at a few images and descriptions has given some idea of how these men were dressed and armed in the 1500s. When looking for miniatures to represent them we can say mail shirts, bascinets and cotuns would be the armour of the more aristocratic Redshanks while the less well off would have looked very similar, infact in many ways identical, to the Irish Kern and may also have carried targes, again similar to the shields used by the Irish. For weaponry bows, axes, two handed swords, javelins or darts and even arquebus's would all pass muster. I have used the Claymore figures to represent the more well off Gaelic Scots. There have been a few small conversions. I've removed some of the weaponry slung over a few of the figures backs, claymores and large axes, and instead replaced the weapons with targes worn on a strap. I'm just not a fan of the idea of large weapons worn over the shoulder, especially when many better off soldiers in this period, of all societies, had boys or servants to carry their weapons for them. This and the fact they are not all barelegged aside I do think these figures are a great representation of Highlanders for the 14th to 16th Centuries.

The second rank of Scots is made of some Highland archers from Old Glory's English Civil War range. Not perhaps the nicest figures but they are pretty generic Gaelic troops which makes them useful. With the conversions I have done to them they could also pass muster as Kern if required. Originally about half of them were wearing bonnets and they did not have such baggy sleeves. Some butchery with a knife and a bit of green stuff work, shown in more detail below, has soon made them look more the part. While I could have left out these lesser armed archers I like the idea of mixing them in with parts of my Irish army to form a unit of the Highlanders that fought at Flodden under Huntly, Lennox or Argyll. The whole unit is shown under a banner that is based upon one captured at Flodden by William Molyneux and I have a few figures left over that I think I will use to do another of these command bases with.

Scots Highlanders, the banner is based upon one of the two captured by William Molyneux at Flodden in 1513.

Gaelic Scots or Redshanks. A mix of Claymore Castings, now sold by Antediluvian Miniatures, and Old Glory figures.

The Highlanders from the back. I have added the targes to the figures and given the Old Glory miniatures baggy sleeves using green stuff.

Perhaps not the best work with green stuff but adding to the sleeves, making them more baggy, means these miniatures can also serve as Irish Kern at a pinch.

The Highland Command base. I have a few nice Highland banners and will probably do a couple more command bases to use in an early 16th Century Scots army.

Finally if I am going to use my Galloglass, Kern and Redshanks to game with I am going to need some casualty bases. OK, they aren't the most varied bases seeing as I have only used two old Redoubt Enterprises sculpts! I have tried to ensure there are a few minor variations on each base. They will do the job nicely though. This unit of Redshanks would have been the end of my Gaelic project, for now at least, but then Michael Perry went and sculpted some Irish Galloglass and Kern with chieftans and pipers as well. Very well timed in my opinion! With this being said I will be posting up some more Gaelic additions soon.

Half a dozen Gaelic Casualty Bases. The figures are from the old Redoubt Enterprises Renaissance Range on casualty bases made by Warbases.

Last weekend Stuart visited me for another clash of arms using our ever evolving Lion Rampant Renaissance rules. We thought for a change we would game some Italian Wars clashes rather than the English vs French which we have focused on so far. As Stuart is collecting both the French and English for the 1513 Invasion of France this means that much of his collection is as at home in early 16th Century Italy as it is in Northern France, many of the French commanders in 1513, such a Chabannes and Bayard, were of course veterans of the Italian Wars. We wanted to use the new “Sconces” that Stuart has had especially modelled for his terrain and we also wanted to try out a few rules for Pike Blocks, well small units of pike, in our games. With this is mind we opted for 2 scenarios both focusing on the Siege of Pavia which lasted from October 1524 until the famous battle in February 1525.

The field for "Battle in the Mist". The gateway at the end of the board represents the Borgo Ticino beyond which would lie the bridge over the River Ticino and Pavia itself. The counters in the top left represent the French forces in the fog and the counters to the right in the foreground represent the Imperialist Artillery Train.

The view of the board from the other end, looking out from Borgo Ticino. After the first few moves neither side has "revealed" itself in the fog and the counters are moved into position ready for the inevitable clash of arms. This part of the game was very entertaining as we didn't know what our probing troops were going to "bump into" in the mist!

Battle in the Mist

One of the opening moves of the siege and part of the encirclement of the city was the ferrying of Anne De Montmorency across the Ticino river to invest Pavia from the south. Under his command was a force of 3,000 Landsknechts, 2,000 Italian Light Cavalry, 1,000 Corsicans and 200 Men-at-Arms. After reaching the south side of the river his advance guard of Men-at-Arms stumbled in the November mist into an Imperialist Artillery Train and 500 Landsknechts under the Count of Sorne. They were heading for the Ticino Borgo, a village to the south of Pavia which was in front of the main bridge across the river. Montmorency’s 200 Men-At-Arms charged and dispersed the column. They captured the guns though some of the Landsknechts reached the Pavia bridge to get into the city.

We thought this provided a great scenario for a larger scale skirmish and allowed us to use some Pike Blocks as well as try out some entertaining rules to represent the troops accidentally clashing in the mist. As we wanted more balanced forces than 200 Men-at-Arms against 500 Landsknechts we added an infantry retinue to the French side to represent Montmorency’s Landsknechts and Corsicans catching up with the fight and we added some cavalry to the Imperialist side to represent the escort of the Artillery Train. The battle would be fought as a pitched battle with the fog adding an extra element of chaos. The armies were as follows with each of us taking two retinues. Stuart commanded the French and I took the Imperialists:

Montmorency’s French

Cavalry Retinue

1 Unit of Gendarmes (Anne de Montmorency as the Retinue Leader)

1 Unit of Men-at-Arms

1 Unit of Ordonnance Archers with Lance

1 Unit of Ordonnance Archers with Bows

2 Units of Stradiots

1 Unit of Mounted Crossbowmen

Infantry Retinue

1 Unit of Landsknecht Halberdiers (Retinue Leader)

2 Light Artillery Pieces (Culverins)

2 Landsknecht Pike Blocks

2 Units of Landsknecht Arquebusiers

2 Units of Corsican Crossbowmen (Aventuriers)

Imperialists

The Count of Sorne's Retinue

1 Unit of Foot Knights (The Count of Sorne as the Retinue Leader)

2 Landsknecht Pike Blocks

3 Units of Landsknecht Arquebusiers

2 Units of Landsknecht Halberdiers

Imperialist Artillery Train and Escort

2 Units of Men-at-Arms (one is the Retinue Leader)

2 Pieces of Light Artillery (Culverins)

2 Units of Mounted Crossbowmen

2 Units of Stradiots

The battlefield was set out with the Borgo Ticino at one end of the board. The French would deploy as if they were heading down from the North of Pavia with the Imperialists further down the table heading towards the Ticino river, imagined to be beyond the Borgo Ticino, and the Pavia bridge into the city. To represent the fog we decided to use our “battered” markers to represent each unit, writing down in secret which unit each marker was for. A unit was revealed either by an enemy unit attacking or shooting it once it was within 8” of the marker or by an enemy unit simply moving within 3” of it. Retinue leaders could not apply their morale bonus until revealed and all counters could "move" activate on a 6+ and moved 6” until they were revealed. If units wanted to “reveal” themselves earlier, for example cavalry units that wished to move faster than 6” or if the Retinue Leader wanted to give his leadership benefit, they could do so by declaring this when they activated. Once “revealed” units did not disappear again, this was to represent the fog clearing and battle developing.

French Ordonnance archers and Imperialist Landsknecht Arquebusiers are the first troops to clash....

While perhaps not a visual spectacle, at least to start with, the fog made this game very entertaining. The best way to follow my attempt at naratting the chaos that ensued is to read the captions under the photos. Initially there was much manoeuvring as both forces moved into position completely unaware of what was facing them. It was the two flanks where conflict first broke out with the French Ordonnance Mounted Archers seeing off a group of Landsknecht Arquebusiers before themselves being driven off when more of the Imperialist Landsknechts fired on them. At the other end of the battlefield, close to the Borgo Ticino, the Imperialist Stradiots and Mounted Crossbowmen who accompanied the Artillery Train rode into Montmorency himself and his gendarmes in the mist. The French Gendarmes were supported by their own Stradiots and for the entire game this area of the battlefield was the scene of a fierce cavalry fight that swung backwards and forwards as more units joined in. Having seen off some the Imperial Mounted Crossbowmen Motmorency himself was soon unhorsed in the skirmish to take no further part in the battle, however due to the fog, the rest of his retinue were unaware that he had been unhorsed.

...and it isn't long before Montmorency himself is engaged with the Skirmishing Imperialist Light Horse at the other end of the field. In the centre Imperial Men-at-Arms are lured out of the fog by Montmorency's Corsicans.

The first Imperialist Pike Block emerges out of the fog - only to run straight into two units of Montmorency's Landsknecht Arquebusiers. The Pike Blocks morale holds for only a few minutes as it is decimated by two concentrated volleys of shot!

The centre of the field was where the fighting was fiercest with both of us deciding to "secretly" deploy our artillery peices, Men-at-Arms and Landsknecht Pike Blocks in the centre of our lines. One unfortunate Imperialist Pike Block stumbled straight into two units of Arquebusiers in the fog and was instantly routed as two close range volleys were fired into it! The two forces halted in diagonal lines across the board and from these positions the fight quickly developed. This was the main conflict with lots of units emerging out of the fog and being fed into this ever escalating fight. Each flank had its own skirmishes taking place. Both troops of French Ordonnance archers rode around the villa to attack the Imperial left flank where both troops were stopped by Landsknecht shot successively. On the other flank both French and Imperial Stradiots and Mounted Crossbowmen skirmished with each other for the entire game.

The second Imperialist Pike Block emerges as does the first of the Landsknecht Pike in French pay.

The Imperialists have deployed some light guns from the Artillery Train in an attempt to clear a way to the Borgo Ticino.

As the Imperial Guns try to clear the Landsknecht Arquebusiers in French pay out of their way, more French Cavalry emerge from the fog and attempt to drive off the Imperialist Light Horse.

A view from the walls of the Borgo Ticino as the fighting develops on the road to Pavia.

Imperialist and French employed Landsknechts clash in a bitter "Bad War" while behind that the French and Imperialist Men-At-Arms charge each other.

The centre became a real "meat-grinder" with both sides pushing Landsknechts and Men-at-Arms into the fighting while the artillery of both sides sent close ranged shot into any gaps that appeared. The Imperialist Artillery train lost its retinue leader in combat with French Men-at-Arms who were themselves seen of by the Imperial Landsknecht retinue leader, the Count of Sorne. This left him exposed in the centre of the fighting and moments later the Landsknechts in French pay had knocked the Count out of the fight.

In the end the Imperialists managed to win the two skirmishes on the flanks which allowed them to push these troops back into the main fight. This turned the tide just enough to allow the Imperialists to push the remaining French forces from the field. It had been a close and very entertaining game with the fog element that we introduced creating a very different dynamic to the games we had played previously. Rather than our units avoiding enemy troops such as Men-at-Arms or Artillery Pieces they suddenly blundered into them and had to deal with the consequences!

More and more units have emerged out of the fog and a real fight is developing.

A close up of the "Bad War".

The Imperialist Landsknechts under the Count of Sorne try to maintain discipline and form a battle line...

...however the Count of Sorne himself is lured into the fighting and takes on the French Men-at-Arms, who have put their Imperial counterparts to flight, in the centre of the field.

Sorne sees off the French horse with his loyal bodyguard of veteran landsknechts. He is left rather exposed especially as the fog is now clearing.

The two sides have established battle lines now that most of the fog is cleared, and the Count of Sorne is particularly vulnerable.

It's not long before the "Bad War" continues. He is attacked by some of the Landsknechts fighting for the French and brought down.

A brief lull in the fighting as the two sides take stock.

The scene before the Imperialists begin a final push which manages to drive the French off the field and clear the path into Pavia. Their entry to the city has come at a bitter cost though.

The Walls of Northwestern Pavia, 21 November 1524. The Landsknechts under the Duke of Suffolk are in the foreground with a mixed force of French and Italians under Anne de Montmorency beyond them.

Storm the Redoubt - The Assault of 21 November 1524

We then moved to 21 November 1524. Pavia was held by Antonio de Leyva with around 9,000 men and besieged by the King of France, Francis I, and his army. From the San Lanfranco side of Pavia, to the North West of the city, King Francis I coordinated an attack led by French Bowmen and Italian Mercenaries commanded by Marshal de Foix. A Second Wave, comprised entirely of Frenchmen, was led by Anne de Montmorency and a third wave under the Richard de la Pole, the Duke of Suffolk or the infamous “White Rose”, and Count Wolf was comprised of Landsknechts. The assault ground to a halt in the earthworks around Pavia with the French taking heavy casualties.

This was the game where we got to use Stuarts excellent new “Sconces” based on contemporary artwork. The scenario was "Storm the Redoubt" from the Pikeman’s Lament with some tweaks. The Imperialist defenders had 3 Sconces that could "Shoot" at any enemy unit within 12" once per round. This was to represent the idea that small groups of Spanish Arquebusiers with large arquebus a croc style firearms were holding each Sconce in “no-mans land” between the earthworks of the two armies. They shot on a 4+ using 6 dice. If an enemy unit could make a successful "Attack" role and move up to it then a Sconce was destroyed, this represented the idea that once an attacker could get up to the Sconce they could simply overrun the handful of troops holding it. The advantage the Sconces had was that they couldn’t be targeted by missile fire, a unit had to get to them to overwhelm the defenders inside. As the Sconces were quite a formidable extra defence we decided that the Redoubt itself would only give an additional plus one to the armour of the defenders rather than plus two.

What was particularly fitting in using the Sconces for these Pavia themed games was the fact that some of the best representations of these odd renaissance earthworks actually come from depictions of the siege of Pavia. The fist image below is from the Bernard Van Orley set of Tapestries that were made in Brussels to commemorate the Imperialist victory and the second is from the Jörg Breu woodcut of the siege made not long after the siege and battle.

Tapestry from Bernard Van Orleys Pavia commision c.1525-1531 showing desperate combat in the Sconces around Pavia.

Detail from Jörg Breus Pavia woodcut c.1525. It shows sconces very similar to those in the tapestry above. Was this a case of artists copying each other perhaps?

The same victory conditions applied as per the Pikeman's Lament scenario but the French attacker also had to destroy all the Sconces as well. Each side had two leaders and retinues. The Imperialists had one retinue in the Redoubt and the other emerging from the walls to represent a sally to drive off the attack. We simplified the three waves of the historic attack and gave the French a French/Italian Retinue under Montmorency, following his battle in the mist, and a Landsknecht Retinue under Suffolk. As before Stuart took Montmorency’s French and I took de Leyva’s Imperialist Garrison. The forces were as follows:

French Storming Parties

Montmorency with the French and Italians

1 Unit of Foot Knights (Anne de Montmorency as Retinue Leader)
2 Units of Franc Archer Bowmen
1 Units of Aventurier Crossbowmen
2 Picard Pike Blocks
2 Units of Italian Assault Infantry

Suffolk and his Landsknechts

1 Unit of Foot Knights (Richard de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, the “White Rose” as Retinue Leader)
3 Units of Landsknecht Halberdiers
1 Landsknecht Pike Block
2 Units of Landsknecht Arquebusiers

Imperialist Garrison

Spanish in the Redoubt

1 Unit of Foot Knights (The Captain of the Redoubt)
2 Pieces of Light Artillery (1 Culverin and 1 Organ Gun)
2 Units of Spanish Arquebusiers

The 3 Sconces

Relief Force under Antonio de Leyva

1 Unit of Foot Knights (Antonio de Leyva Retinue Leader – not being carried in a chair yet though as he was when the garrison sallied out during the Battle of Pavia in February 1525!)
3 Units of Spanish Rodeleros
1 Unit of Landsknecht Arquebusiers

The battlefield was set out with a walled town representing the North West part of Pavia with the redoubt and Sconces in front. The two French retinues deployed in front of the Reboubt and Sconces while the Imperialists deployed one Retinue in the redoubt with the relief force under De Leyva inside Pavia. The French only needed to take the Redoubt, not to get into Pavia itself, in this scenario.

Spanish guns and arquebusiers man the earthworks defending Pavia.

Inside Pavia's walls de Leyva readys his relief force for a sally.

This was another great game with the battle being a tale of two halves. Suffolks Landsknechts went racing into the two Sconces in front of them and quickly overwhelmed the isolated defenders. They then turned their attention to the Redoubt itself. They were halted briefly by the arrival of the relief force under de Leyva. His Spanish infantry briefly pushed the German infantry back. On the other half of the field Montmorency's French and Italian assault was far less dramatic, the troops being extremely lack lustre in charging a fortification filled with artillery pieces and arquebusiers! Montmorency and his personal retinue had to lead the attack on the one of the Sconces before most of his troops began to move.

The Landsknechts under Suffolk are quick to the assault...

...and storm the outlying Sconces with relatively few casualties.

The isolated Spanish troops holding the Sconces are no match for the attacking Landsknechts.

The assault by Suffolks Landsknechts is in full swing...

...until de Leyvas sally briefly halts them.

At the other end of the walls Montmorency and his Aventuriers are still struggling against an outlying Sconce. The Heraldic flag in the foreground is the actual Coat of Arms for Anne de Montmorency.

The French and Italian infantry in the centre have been very reticent to start the assault, more content to see how Suffolk's Germans fare.

One unit of Picard pikemen assault an earthwork bastion only to be sent reeling by the artillery piece inside. However Montmorency and his accompanying Men-at-Arms on foot can be seen in the disctance in front of the walls and about to enter the earthworks!

When Montmorency's infantry finally did push forward the result was disastrous. The Culverin at the far end of the Redoubt proved lethal, annihilating a group of Picard Pike who summoned up the courage to storm the earthworks and sending shots into the supporting Italians and French that sent them fleeing. This was the best a gun has performed in any of our games so far. While the Redoubt's defenders were busy focusing on the massed infantry to their front Montmorency, who was ahead of the rest of his troops having led the attack on one of the Sconces, managed to get into the earthworks. He scattered some of the defending arquebusiers only to be despatched by the Captain of the Redoubt in a brief combat. As a side note the real Anne de Montmorency, a man who had dismounted and "led" the Swiss in the fatal assault at La Bicocca in 1522, continued his career as a soldier until 1567 when he died a few days after the Battle of Saint-Denis in the Second French War of Religion aged 74! Quite a remarkable military career I think you will agree.

Montmorency's removal from the field marked the end of the engagement on the French right flank. On the French left things had gone far more to plan. The sally by the Imperial garrison had been driven back by the unstoppable momentum of Suffolk's Germans. De Leyva himself tried to stop the advancing Landsknechts but was cut down after which the success of the assault seemed inevitable. The Captain of the Redoubt challenged the White Rose to combat, perhaps flushed by his success in defeating Montmorency only moments before or maybe hoping for a substantial reward from Henry VIII if he did manage to kill or capture this last Yorkist renegade! It was a move that may have halted the Landsknechts assault but it was not to be. De La Pole easily incapacitated the Spanish Captain and the Redoubt was taken. It had been bloody but victory had gone to the French.

Another great weekends gaming with two linked scenarios that were such fun I am keen to try them again, maybe with a few tweaks and changes for interest. I would like to game the French assault on 21 November with all three waves being represented on a larger scale, something for the future perhaps. Using Stuart's Sconces was great and I really enjoyed our chaotic fog rules. We are developing some good working rules for Pike Blocks and I think light artillery rules are working well. We also played a third game, a Gaelic Cattle Raid in Ireland, to test my rules for them. It was a brief and bloody affair for which I didn't get any photos but I will be returning to the Irish again soon enough.

The game in full swing - note Stuart's excellent themed dice!

The Spanish surge out of the walls but are soon stopped in their tracks by the Landsknechts.

A very slow advance begins in the centre.

The assault in full swing!

Montmorency has made it into the Redoubt but the Captain of the garrison inside manages to stop him getting any further.

De Leyva himself sallies forth against the Landsknechts but is quickly brought to ground. The banner with the Castle on green with a red border is de Leyvas Coat of Arms.

With the light fading Suffolk's Landsknechts make it into the Redoubt and defeat the Spanish Captain who attempts to challenge the White Rose himself. Victory goes to the French attackers!

The two "Generals"; one a lowly French Aventurier in a Kettle Helm, the other a stylish Landsknecht Captain!

A slightly simpler post for this month. Pending the release of some Irish Cavalry by Perry Miniatures (Michael did say he was going to do some on Facebook!) I am otherwise pretty close to completing my 16th Century Irish Army, well for now at least. Of course when Michael Perry sculpted these miniatures I immediately ordered some packs to paint up for the Irish force I was working on. The results are shown below.

They are really great figures and I love the attention to the original sources. If you have a look back at some of the contemporary images in my post on Kern and Galloglass: http://camisado1500s.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/of-kerns-and-gallowglasses-is-supplied.html, this attention to detail can be seen. From the famous Dürer image one of the claymores, one of the helmets, the cotun, the axes and even the haircuts have made it onto these miniatures. Similarly if you have a look at the Lucas D'Heere Kern from 1575 you can seen that one of the Galloglass has been modelled wearing the exact same helmet as the Kern in the centre. With the Kern the long baggy sleeves of the contemporary pictures have been beautifully done as have the pipers and the Ionars, the short jackets with lace up sleeves. A Kern miniature in the command group even has the same style leather helmet as that worn in the "Irish Kern from Henry VIII's reign" image.

One thing I find a little odd is that they have released them as part of their "Wars of the Roses" range. While many of the sculpts are perfect for the 15th century I would argue that some of the little details on the Galloglass and especially the Kern's jackets or Ionars are more suited to the middle of the 16th Century onwards. It's hard to tell, as other than the grave effigies for the Galloglass we have far less evidence to go on for the 15th Century Irish. It's really hard to know how many Gaelic Irish came over to fight in the Wars of the Roses battles that Anglo-Irish Lords were involved in and what they looked like. It seems when it comes to the Wars of the Roses historians are still struggling with the composition and appearance of the English forces! Have you ever seen any 15th Century sources for blocks of "Billmen"?

Anyway before I get too side tracked, to me the Kern's jackets in particular have a very mid-Tudor feel to them. The Irish weren't completely immune to the influence of Tudor fashions in this period. Interestingly in the Dürer image of 1521 although one of the Kern is in a "jacket" it is of a different style to those seen in the later images. My feeling, at the moment at least, is that the Ionars are a Mid to Late 16th Century fashion. As my force is intended to be for the 16th Century, as I am sure they will be for many Wargamers, this is not really an issue. In fact I love that so many of the little details have made it onto the miniatures. I can't wait to see how the cavalry look when they are sculpted.

Perry Miniatures Irish Galloglass, with a couple of Old Glory figures on the far left

Perry Galloglass in the centre with the Kern on either side

Irish Kern

The Irish Kern or Kerne by Michael Perry

A host of Gaelic Western Isles or Highland Warriors. I have seen the banner described as a McDonald Standard while Ian Heath states it is one of those captured by William Molyneux at Flodden

When I posted up the Redshanks a month ago I mentioned how in collecting a 16th Century Irish army it has also given me a large Highland or Western Isles contingent to use for a potential 16th Century Scots army. As these warriors shared a very similar Gaelic Culture and fought against and alongside each other it seems they often looked identical. I couldn't resist having a look at the miniatures which are suitable as Western Isles or Highland Scots arrayed as one force.

There are probably too many aristocratic warriors in mail with two handed axes in the warband shown here but other than that I think the different manufacturers work really well together. These chaps could easily be used to form the Scots right wing under Argyll and Lennox at Flodden or part of the left wing which was comprised of Home's Borderers and Huntly's Gordon Highlanders. In the final photo I have shown my "generic" early 16th century pike, who are playing the role of Home's Borderers, alongside the Gaelic troops under Huntly's banner. It looks like a 16th Century Scots force is slowly taking shape and not a kilt in sight either!

A "Highland" Chieftan and his clansmen. The figures are a mix of Old Glory, Claymore Castings (now sold by Antediluvian Miniatures) and Perry Miniatures.

The Scots Warband

Home's Borderers and Huntly's Gordon Highlanders for the Scots left wing at Flodden? I couldn't resist seeing how the figures all look under the correct banners!

Over the Bank Holiday weekend I visited fellow Renaissance Painter and Gamer, Stuart, for a series of three games which followed the theme of an attempted usurpation of Henry VIII's throne by Richard de la Pole. This is the same De la Pole that featured in one of our previous Siege of Pavia games a couple of months back. Stuart has written a background on De la Pole and included details of the games along with some superb photos on his excellent blog Army Royal: https://stuartsworkbench.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/renaissance-rampant-aar-tudor-rebellion.html . While I have used some of Stuart's photos here most are my slightly less carefully taken "in game" snaps so apologies in advance for some of them!

The opening scene is Northern England, the Summer of 1514. During the previous month De la Pole has landed north of the border in Leith. Initially he has secured little more than fair words from the Duke of Albany, the Scots Regent, but has gained some support from Northern English Lords with Yorkist sympathies. While few banners have been unfurled openly declaring their alleigance these Lords have provided archers and Men-at-Arms to De la Pole's invasion force. He has brought with him a substantial contingent of Landsknechts and with these battle hardened Germans and the English Rebel forces has crossed the border into England. At first he encounters little opposition as locals flee in terror from him and his outlandish troops, however his scouts soon report that a Royalist army has been gathered under George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury, a seasoned commander having led Henry's foreward in the invasion of France the previous year. Knowing the Tudor forces lie over the ridge De la Pole prepares for battle.

The initial set up with both armies hidden by the ridge. The red cards represent the Royalist units and the blue cards the Rebel forces.

The Die is Cast

The aim of this game was for the Rebels to deploy along one table edge and exit from the opposite edge with the Royalist forces doing their best to stop them. As always we used our modified Lion Rampant rules. Stuart took command of the Royalists and I commanded De la Pole's various forces, we kept to leading the same sides for all three games. To represent the ridge both forces deployed as paper markers (as can be seen in the photo above). Until revealed all markers could "move" activate on a 6+ and move 7 inches. As soon as a marker reached the crest of the hill this revealed the enemy force below, as well as revealing what that marker was. Similarly when the oppossing side crested the hill this revealed units on the other side. The forces were as follows:

The Earl of Shrewsbury's Royalists

1 Unit of Demilancers (George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, as Retinue Leader)

1 Unit of Foot Knights

1 Unit of Retinue Bill

1 Unit of Retinue Bow

1 Unit of Shire Bill

1 Unit of Shire Bow

1 Culverin

Richard de la Pole and his Rebels

1 Unit of Foot Knights (Richard de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, the “White Rose” as Retinue Leader)

2 Units of Landsknecht Pike
1 Unit of Landsknecht Arquebusiers
1 Unit of Mounted Crossbowmen

1 Unit of Rebel English Men-at-Arms

1 Unit of Rebel English Shire Archers

1 Culverin

De la Pole's Rebels are first to make it to the crest if the hill revealing the Royalist units below.

As with my previous Battle Reports the best way to follow the action is the captions under each photo. At the start of this clash the impetus was very much with De la Pole, with a couple of his units cresting the hill very quickly. It turned out one of these was the Rebel Culverin which deployed atop the hill and revealed the waiting Tudor force below. In an attempt to seize back the iniative some of the Royalist units climbed the hill. The Rebel Culverin took a toll on the group of Foot Knights who lead the advance while the Rebel Men-at-Arms rode up to help thrust the Tudor forces back down the hill.

Things were looking good for De la Pole but he had failed to notice how many Archers, bowmen who outclassed his own English supporters, had been drawn up to face his troops. As the Royalist arrows darkened the sky De la Pole thrust his forces foward, well tried to, in an all out assault. For many of the Rebels taking shelter in the shallow stream at the foot of the ridge was preferable to climbing the hill and this weakened the Rebel attack. With the Mounted Crossbowmen and Rebel Archers being cowed by the bows of the Royalists, De la Pole's Landsknechts and Men-at-Arms engaged with the Archers and Billmen who blocked their path. The rebels were successful in these attacks and pushed the Tudor infantry back down the hill after some brief but bloody melees.

The Royalists climb up the hill for a view of De la Poles forces. This also allows the Tudor archers to loose upon the advancing Rebels.

Initially it all goes in De la Pole's favour with the Rebel Culverin firing on the Royalists and the Rebel Men-at-Arms sending the Tudor infantry back down the hill.

The Marquis of Dorset's veteran billmen take on the Rebel Men-at-Arms.

A view from the Tudor lines below the hill. The initial attack up the hill by the Royalists waivers in front of the Rebel onslaught.

But the English have done enough to slow the rebels who take cover in the shallow river as more and more arrows are directed at them by the English archers.

Dorset's Billmen are routed by De la Pole's Landsknechts but this has bought time for the rest of the Tudor force to get into position.

Still pushing forward the Landsknechts take on some of the Tudor bowmen. At this point the rebel Men-at-Arms withdraw from the fray in an attempt to escape the field intact.

The noose tightens on De la Pole's forces as he attempts to cross the ridge.

It looked as though De la Pole was going to make it through. His front line troops, however, had been badly mauled by the archery and combat, so much so that the Men-at-Arms rode around to the rear of the Landsknecht Pike in an attempt to shield themselves from further harm. The Rebel aim was after all to get their forces through the blockade with as little damage as possible and it was looking more and more as if they had been lured into a trap. As more Royalist Archers arrived on the field the archery began to tell on the blooded Landsknecht Pike. The final straw was the Royalist Culverin which delivered repeated shots into the close ordered German Pikemen. The carnage this caused meant one block faltered and ran and the second quickly followed them! With what forces he had left De la Pole was forced to cross back over the border. An inauspicious start to the supposed triumph of Richard IV.

For a moment it still looks as though the Rebel forces may get through, but both Landsknecht Pike blocks and the Men-at-Arms have been mauled in combat and by archery.

Royalist reinforcements arrive and as the Landsknechts descend the hill the Tudor artillery opens fire and one after the other both of De la Pole's Pike Blocks are routed! The day is lost for the White Rose.

Bridge over Troubled Water

Richard de la Pole's first move had ended in disaster. His march into England had been blocked and to make matters worse he had lost many troops in the process. Back across the border this forced the Duke of Albany's hand and he provided a sizeable Scots contingent, hardened Border Pikemen from Lord Home's lands and Maclean Highlanders, to bolster the weakened Rebel forces. Fearing Henry's vengeance Albany much preferred war to be waged south of the border than to have Henry launching reprisals into Scotland. With French money from Louis XII allowing more Landsknechts to be recruited De la Pole attempts a second invasion of England.

For this game we played the "Hold on Tight" scenario from Lion Rampant, with the objective being a bridge over the river in the centre of the table. I had played out this game before, covered here: http://camisado1500s.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/battle-for-gun-battery.html, and knew only too well that this was a fast and furious scenario that could very quickly become a bloodbath. The forces were as follows:

The Earl of Shrewsbury's Royalists

1 Unit of Demilancers (George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, as Retinue Leader)

1 Unit of Border Horse

1 Unit of Retinue Bill

1 Unit of Retinue Bow

1 Unit of English Pike

1 Unit of Shire Bow

2 Organ Guns

Richard de la Pole and Scots Auxiliaries

1 Unit of Landsknecht Pike (Richard de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, the “White Rose” as Retinue Leader)

1 Unit of Landsknecht Arquebusiers

1 Unit of Rebel English Men-at-Arms

1 Unit of Rebel English Mounted Archers
1 Unit of Scots Pike
1 Unit of Kern and Horseboys (Scots Highlanders)
1 Unit of Galloglass (Scots Highlanders)

1 Culverin

Reinforced by Scots Pike and Highlanders De la Pole begins his journey south again and is met by the Tudor forces at a river crossing.

George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, again took command of the Royalist forces. Having already bested De la Pole a couple of months previously he was perhaps too confindent of victory a second time. As in the first clash the Rebels seized the initiative and raced for the bridge, the Landsknecht Shot reaching it first. They held it as the Tudor forces moved into position, menacingly rolling forward Organ Guns and bringing up the Royalist Archers. It was these Royalist Archers who soon discomforted the Arquebusiers and sent them fleeing. The bridge was not lost to the Rebels, however, for as soon as the German Shot ran their comrades, the Landsknecht Pike under direct control of De la Pole, took their place.

On the Royalist right flank their Border Horse attempted to cross the river and surround the Rebels only to be halted in their tracks by the Rebel Mounted Archers who had dismounted and taken up a defensive position on the banks of the river. The Organ Guns were nearly in position and Archers surrounded the bridge but it was too late. This time the Rebels' enthusiasm had paid off and they had held the bridge long enough to achieve victory. The Scots hadn't played any part in the conflict, a fact which only furthered the divisions in the composite Rebel army. The English Rebels were already unhappy that they had to fight alongside age old enemies from across the border. With distrust amongst the already nervous Rebel ranks growing the Last White Rose would have to act fast if he was to become King.

The Royalist forces rush to control the crossing, wheeling organ guns up to defend the river banks.

Some of De la Pole's Landsknecht Shot are the first to reach the bridge and they set up a defence around it.

Rebel Mounted Archers aid the defence of the Landsknecht arquebusiers who struggle under a hail of Royalist bodkins.

The "Alemayne" Shot are dispersed under the rain of arrows, only for some of their fellow countrymen to secure the bridge in their place.

On the river banks Rebel Mounted Archers discomfort the Royalist Border Horse who try to push them back.

This time the day goes in De la Pole's favour, his Landsknechts have proved their worth in holding the bridge long enough for the Scots to move up and consolidate the position, although the Scots have taken no part in the fighting.

The opening moves of the clash outside London. Henry's forces are on the left with De la Pole facing him in the top right and his Scots auxiliaries and some English rebels forming the bottom right.

London Calling

Richard de La Pole has broken through and heads straight for the capital in an attempt to achieve victory before lack of funds and supplies and mutual distrust breaks up his conglomerate army. With the Earl of Shrewsbury in disgrace having let the Rebels in, Henry himself takes to the field. Unlike Shrewsbury he has by now had time to recruit Landsknechts for his own forces as well as to muster his finest troops from across the Kingdom. The final day of reckoning awaits, will Richard III be avenged by his nephew as Richard IV or will De la Pole meet the same fate as his brother John?

For this game we fought a classic pitched battle choosing two retinues each. We had 50 points to use, Stuart choosing from the English Army List for Henry VIII's forces and myself from a mix of English, Irish (for Highlanders) and French Lists for the Rebels. The resulting retinues were as follows:

The Royalists

Henry VIII, King of England

1 Unit of Kings Spears (Henry VIII, King of England as Retinue Leader)
1 Unit of Demilancers
1 Unit of Border Horse
1 Unit of Landsknecht Pike
1 Unit of Landsknecht Arquebusiers

Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset

1 Unit of Retinue Bill (Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset as Retinue Leader)
1 Unit of Retinue Bow
1 Unit of Shire Bill
1 Unit of Shire Bow
1 Culverin

The Rebels

Richard de la Pole and his Landsknechts

1 Unit of Foot Knights (Richard de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, the “White Rose” as Retinue Leader)

2 Units of Landsknecht Pike
1 Unit of Mounted Crossbowmen
1 Unit of Rebel English Mounted Archers
1 Culverin

The Scots Auxiliaries and Rebel English

1 Unit of English Rebel Men-at-Arms (A mysterious Retinue Leader who, this being a Tudor Rebellion we still don't know the true identity of!)
2 Units of Rebel English Shire Bow
1 Unit of Scots Pike
2 Units of Redshanks (Scots Highlanders)

Henry, centre left, throws forward his archers and Border Horse to harrass the oncoming Yorkist usurper.

De la Pole's artillery thunders into action in an attempt to scare off the Border Horse.

This time it was the Royalists, under the uneasy gaze of their King, who seized the initative. The Border Horse and Archers advanced and began harassing the Rebel ranks. De la Pole's Landsknecht contingent attempted to throw off the nuisance of the Border Horse by opening fire on them with the Artillery while on the Rebel left flank a general advance began. The Scots were particularly wary of the fact that if they did not close on the Royalist Archers they could be in real difficulty.

Having at first come forward in the attack the Royalists then slowy drew back into a defensive position luring both Rebel flanks out towards them. De la Pole's Pikemen became irritated by the constant skirmishing assaults of the Border Horse and marched out to drive them away. The Tudor right flank gave way to the Rebel left as they crossed the stream and attempted to close on them. The Royalist archers were always one step ahead and continued to loose a rain of arrows on the advancing Scots and Rebel forces.

The Scots and English rebels advance towards the Royalists, wary of Henry's superiority in archers they are keen to cross the stream and get to grips with the enemy.

De la Pole leads forward his right wing of Landsknecht Pike.

The Royalists bunch up luring the Rebels into an attack.

De la Pole falls for the trap and his Landsknechts charge forward in an attempt to chase off the harrassing Border Horse.

On the Tudor right flank the Scots launch a general advance.

Still sore from the first encounter on the ridge Dorset leads his men into a savage melee with some Scots Highland Auxiliaries.

Eventually both sides of the Rebel army did manage to close on the Royalists, although the Royal archery had already weakened them. On the Tudor right flank the Marquess of Dorset, still carrying wounds from his earlier clash on the ridge with the Rebels some months previously, did his King proud. First he saw off some of the Scots Highlanders in a savage melee before then crashing into the Scots Pikemen and driving them back as well. Closer to the walls of London Richard de la Pole himself charged the Border Horsemen and finally drove them off. His success was short lived though as he realised he had brought himself and his Pikemen dangerously close to Henry's Mercenary Arquebusiers and Artillery. The Arquebusiers uinleashed a deadly volley of shot into De la Pole's closely packed Landsknechts and sent some of them running. As the smoke cleared for a brief moment De la Pole and King Henry eyed each other across an already bloody battlefield.

Flushed with victory Dorsets' men then crash into the Scots Pike Block.

Meanwhile on the Rebel right the Border Horse are still causing a nuisance. De la Pole himself attacks them in an attempt to set an example for his men.

De la Poles "Alemayne" Pikemen have been drawn perilously near to the Royalist guns.

On the English right Dorset has pushed most of the Scots back across the river but is still threatened by a band of Highlanders that have emerged from the woods.

A volley of shot from Henry's own German mercenaries causes carnage in the ranks of De la Pole's tightly packed pikemen.

Henry, top left, and De la Pole, centre left, are within a stones throw of each other. For a moment the King and the man who would be King cast eyes on one another.

Having seen the Scots, who they were never overly fond of, be defeated, the English Rebels push forward.

On the Rebel left, the Scots having been routed, save a few Highlanders, it was time for the English Rebels to attempt to push back the Royalists. Advancing into the stream and using it as cover the Rebel Archers began to loose upon the Tudors. In the centre Henry's Artillery, having already caused havoc amongst De la Pole's Pikemen managed to take out the Rebel Culverin. To add insult to injury more Royalist Archers arrived from one of the gates of London to support their King. Seeing things go badly for the Rebel leader the English Rebels pushed forward in an attempt to aid him. This was the moment Henry had waited for and his Demilancers rode across the field, riding down the Rebel English Bowmen and then besting the Rebel Cavalry in a brief melee.

De la Pole attempted to make an orderly withdrawal but with the Royalists in pursuit his remaining Pike block broke and fled. Some of the English rebels managed to recross the stream and make good their escape as did a handful of the Scots Highlanders. De la Pole's Landsknechts however had suffered particularly badly and the White Rose was left to ignominiously flee across the stream with only a handful of his closest retainers left. Henry had followed in his fathers foot steps and kept himself well out of harms way during the engagement. He was angered that De la Pole hadn't been caught but otherwise more than satisified that the Rebel army had been dispersed and his throne secured.

Henry's famed Artillery easily despatches De la Pole's gun.

As in the first clash reinforcements have arrived for the Royalists and De la Pole backs away, one of his Pike Blocks having already crumbled.

On the Royalist right Henry's Demilancers ride down some of the Rebel bowmen...

...and then proceed to best the Rebel Men-at-Arms in a clash or arms. The English rebels melt away.

With his beloved Landsknechts routed De la Pole makes a hasty retreat across the stream and away from the walls of London. His ambition of becoming Richard IV has been thwarted.

These were superb games and it was great that they all linked together to form a narrative over the weekend. As always it was a pleasure to game using Stuart's terrain and figures, the attention to detail makes all the difference. It was a scorching Bank Holiday weekend and we did manage to find some refreshment after the games. As we forgot to take a "Generals" photo during the tabletop action we took one in the pub instead. There's nothing like a well earned drink after a failed 16th Century Rebellion!

We forgot to get a picture of the "Generals" presiding over the field of battle so here is one in the pub instead, staging and thwarting a Tudor rebellion is thirsty work after all!

For my latest unit I have attempted to create a set of figures that represent infantrymen armed with polearms for the first quarter of the 16th Century. As I have often talked about on this blog it is the Landsknecht and Swiss, or Reisläufer, that get most of the attention in 16th Century Art and we rarely find depictions of all the other types of infantry who we know from the sources also fought in this period in large numbers. For this unit I wanted to create a set of troops that could pass muster as English, French or Scots. At a pinch they could also do as Spanish although they perhaps have more specialist infantry while similarly the Italians are quite different and I have covered them already: http://camisado1500s.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/italian-infantry.html. I am aware that regional differences would have been important in this era so for example even within the "French Infantry" you would have Gascons who may well have looked very different to the Picards but we simply don't know in what way they differed.

I have posted up some depictions on these perhaps less "glamorous" infantry to give an idea of what they may have looked like. Using these images combined with remaining pieces of munitions armour from the early 1500s it possible to build up an idea of how such troops may have dressed and armed. With regard to the armour I would recommend "The Medieval Armour from Rhodes" as it is superb for highlighting armour that was in use at a particular snapshot in time; https://www.amazon.co.uk/Medieval-Armour-Rhodes-Large-Monograph/dp/0948092416. Rhodes fell to the Ottomans in 1522 and this collection of armour was discovered there in the 19th Century. The collection is a fascinating mix of pieces from all over Europe ranging from mid 15th Century armour to pieces that would have been very new at the time of the second Turkish siege. It seems that this was some of the armour that was being used by the defenders, and often mixed and matched, during the siege. Of course the force defending Rhodes was fairly international in its composition but we know from Elis Gruffydd that the Calais Garrison was similarly international in it's make up as were the armies serving in Italy in the 1500s so there is no reason to doubt such variety of armour was not seen in other forces. If you can find this book I would certainly recommend it.

Detail from Breydenbach's Pilgrimage to the Holyland, 1522 edition. Crusaders at Damietta, note in the top right these chaps are described as Aventuriers. While their clothes are clearly of early 16th century fashion their armour has changed little from the late 15th century.

Detail from Jean d'Auton, King Louis XIIs entry to Milan October 6 1499.

Jean Marot "Le Voyage de Gênes" first quarter of the 16th Century.

By 1500 munition quality armour had become common place and from the collection of images shown here it seems clear that in the early 1500s plenty of armour was worn by infantry of the various European nations. It's often easy to think of an era where gunpowder weapons were in the ascendance as one where armour was becoming worn less and less but this is far from the case. By the mid 16th Century, when the size of armies had grown to unprecendented levels, more armour was worn, "Corselets" being a term commonly used to describe Pikemen by the Mid 1500s. For this unit I was trying to depict troops from the early 16th Century who were not quite as uniformly equipped as later 16th Century infantry would be, or were at least meant to be.

The images show a lot of plate armour, often still very similar in style to that of the late 15th Century as in "Le Voyage de Gênes", the Crusaders at Damietta in the 1522 edition of Breydenbach, both shown above, and in "The Nancéïde", shown below. Relatively basic munition style armour is also shown as in the Jan Joest and Gerard David images, also both shown below. As a word of caution I would add that soldiers from Biblical scenes in this period are often depicted in quite "fantastical" or "ancient" armour, or at least a 16th Century idea of what ancient armour might be. Sometimes they appear in a mix of both contemporary and fantastical. This should be borne in mind when looking at these works for evidence of how they dressed. That being said the armour shown here doesn't seem particularly fantastical in any way.

"The Art of War" Bérault Stuart, seigneur d’Aubigny, first decade of the 1500s.

"The Nancéïde", Pierre de Blarru start of the 1500s. Is the chap with a halberd in the centre perhaps wearing a hair net?

Theuerdank c.1517. Notice how the infantry in this image look very similar to those in the two images above and below.

Detail from The Prayer of Jesus on the Mount of Olives, Betrayal of Judas, Innsbruck 1500-1510.

Detail from a resurrection scene, Jan Joest, Auferst.1506-08.

Detail from Gerard David, Christ on the Cross, 1515. A point of caution for images depicting Biblical scenes is that the artists sometimes try to make the soldiers look a little more "exotic" or "ancient" which can make it difficult to tell what is contemporary or not! Note the simple arm harness, sword and buckler and helmet worn under the hat of the figure on the right.

Unfortunately just as in the contemporary art it's the Landsknecht and Reisläufer that get all the attention the same is true for miniature manufacturers! There aren't really any miniatures that look like the soliders depicted in the art work above, well not a speficic range at least. There are however plenty of individual figures as well as bits and pieces that can be used to get something close to how these infantry may have looked.

The below photo shows the unit before it was painted up. I used figures and parts from Steel Fist Miniatures, Wargames Foundry, Warlord Games, The Assault Group, Mirliton, Perry Miniatures and Stuarts Tudor Dolls to put it together. In fact I think the unit may have taken longer to build than it did to paint if the time taken to see what worked and what didn't is taken into consideration! My skills with green stuff are still very basic so I was limited by the figures to how closely I could get something resembling an early 16th Century infantry unit. It was a similar situation when I worked on my generic pike, http://camisado1500s.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/picard-pikemen.html, a couple of years ago. Since then the addition of the Steel Fist casts, specifically the 16th Century Foot Knights, late 15th Century Munition Armoured Swiss Front Rankers, https://www.steelfistminiatures.com/product/lm10.-swiss-front-rankers./, and a couple of carefully selected figures from their Landsknecht range as well as Stuarts Tudor Dolls, https://www.steelfistminiatures.com/product/wfd-10.-tudor-dollies/, have meant I have been able to get closer to the look I wanted than was possible when I worked on the pike blocks.

The infantry assembled, this picture shows all the bits and pieces used to make this unit.

French Polearmed Infantry c.1500-1520.

So does it work as a convincing unit of early 16th Century infantry? I will leave that up to you to decide. The unit has a mix of late 15th Century armour, a lot of which I have left black to further demonstrate that it is of munition quality while some of the soldiers wear 16th Century armour and helmets. The elaborate and shiny early 16th Century harnesses have been reserved for the units leaders. The early 1500s style "base coats" are well represented thanks to the Tudor Dolls and figures from The Assault Group. The contemporary art work shown above clearly demonstrates that these coats were a feature of dress for many soldiers of the early decades of the 1500s. The various 1500s caps and hats also help to define the unit, again these can be seen in a lot of the images above.

For polearms I tried to use a many different variants as possible but avoided Bills. These seem to have been a particularly, though not exclusively, English or Italian weapon and while I could have included a couple I decided against them. My reasoning for this is that I will probably do a very similar unit to this one that will be specifically English Levied Billmen who will be carrying Bills of various varieties and wearing the St Georges cross. I have also included Brigandines, these can be seen in use in the Jean Marot image above, and some padded jacks for the less well armed members of the unit. The padded jacks are particularly suitable for using these troops as Scots or English as they were worn in the British Isles into Elizabethan times.

The photos show how versatile these troops can be, with a simple swap of the flags they are French, Scots or English infantry. They should also work well bolstering the ranks of my generic pikemen and the two command bases could be used in lots of different units in my collection. I was initially somewhat disappointed with the finished unit though, as all the forward pointing polearms make it very difficult to put one base behind the other and I felt that they were perhaps simply too generic and as such not that convincing. Once they were finished I painted up a couple more bases of 16th Century Archers, to give me three units of Bowmen for Lion Rampant, these can be seen in the last two photos. When added to the polearmed troops and under the English flags they help to make quite a convincing English unit despite the fact the figures are so generic and none of them even carry Bills. This has restored my confidence in the unit and I think once placed with the rest of my collection they will work well. I also have a feeling that because they are so generic they could be seeing an awful lot of action on the gaming table!

One of the command bases, under a French Banner. This will be a useful base that could be used for lots of units. The Man-at-Arms with the sword is in a very late 15th Century harness while the soldier on his left is in a more "modern" harness but of munition quality.

A unit of Scots of the Graham family.

The second command base, under the banner of William Graham, Earl of Montrose. This is a base that will have lots of uses. Note also how the two Men-at-Arms are in very up to date and fashionable harnesses for the early 16th Century

Billmen (ok there aren't actually any Bills there!) and Archers under the banners of Edmund Howard.

Unliveried English troops under the banners of Edmund Howard, perfect for the English right at Flodden.

My 16th Century Irish Army is pretty much finished until Michael Perry sculpts some cavalry as he mentioned on Facebook a while back. In the meantime I couldn't resist using some of the Perry Irish Command pack figures for a Chieftan's base. This was partly inspired by the image from Derrickes "The Image of Ireland" showing a Horseboy holding his Chieftan's steed. The Irish Standard Bearer from the Command pack cried out to be used for this and one of the Redoubt Irish horses is obviously modelled on this image. I missed a trick in not sculpting on the strap across the "cushion" style saddle in green stuff as in the print but otherwise I am really pleased with the composition of the base. The Priest is from the Perry Miniatures Crusades range.

I also had a couple of Claymore Castings figures left over who I have combined with a Perry Miniature and one from Old Glory to make another Command base that could be placed at the head of a Scots Highland or Western Isles unit or alternatively leading a force of Galloglass. I think the leader looks more suitable as a Scots Chieftan. I have quite a few Highland banners for Flodden so this base will be useful for my slowly growing early 16th Century Scots force. I am currently working on a unit of Border Horse for this army which hopefully will be finished soon.

Horseboy from John Derricke's "The Image of Ireland" 1581, this image served as inspiration for the Irish Command Base.

Irish Chieftan discussing tactics with his Kern Captain and Priest while one of his Horseboys holds his horse.

Highland or Western Isles Command Base, the standard is for the MacLeans of Duart who would have fought under the Earl of Argyle at Flodden. This base could equally be used for a Galloglass unit with a different flag.

A momentus post today; I have a new set of modular terrain! Following my games at Stuart's using his modular boards I decided to bite the bullet and invest in a set myself. They have been made by David Marshall of TM Terrain https://en-gb.facebook.com/Tmterrain/ and he has done a great job on them. Due to the nature of my collection I was keen to have a set that was as flexible as possible with some hill tiles, a coastal tile, a dry ditch or sunken road (as of course I am obsessed with sets of earthworks!) and a river. There are some plain grass tiles and some plain earthern tiles that merge with these that I can put my other terrain pieces on. Some of my existing terrain will need to be partly repainted to match the lighter earth on the tiles and I will probably get around to that soon. The pieces will look much better in a lighter earth colour than the very dark brown I painted them in about 15 years ago!

Of course I was keen to set out my figures and see how they looked on the new boards and I haven't done a large army post for ages so to showcase the coastal tile and ditch tiles in particular I set up my very early 16th Century Spanish Army, which now has early Landsknechts to join it. 2,000 of these troops were sent by Maximilian I to aid the beleagured Spanish when they were besieged by the French in Barletta during the War for Naples. What I have attempted to show here (through my usual odd photography with lots of strange angles!) are Spanish forces defending the banks of the River Garigliano in the Winter of 1503.

The full table set out.

The coastal tile is useful to represent the banks of the Garigliano.

Gonzalo de Cordoba, the Spanish general, had besieged the French in Gaeta following his victory over them at Cerignola in April 1503. The French had succesfully reinforced the garrison of Gaeta forcing Gonzalo to retreat and defend the coastal route to Naples against an advancing French army by holding the banks of the river Garigliano while the inland route to Naples was defended by determined Spanish garrisons. A stalemate developed in which the French attempted to force their way across the river using a pontoon bridge but the Spanish doggedly defended the banks using trenches and earthworks, which is what I have tried to represent here. The stalemate was finally broken by the Spanish surprise attack, and subsequent Battle of Garigliano, after they had built their own pontoon further upriver.

In the photos above I have used the coastal tile to represent the banks of the large River Garigliano. I think I will put up another post to showcase the river tiles seperately. The photos below show the Spanish army defending the trench with artillery, mantlets and gabions. I am really pleased with how it all works together, I think the ditch and guns combine to give some idea of how the Spanish liked to defend positions in the early 1500s. I can already envisage all sorts of uses for the tiles in the future when combined with various parts of my collection...

Spanish guns defending the trench.

The Jinetes form a skirmish line in front of the trench.

German, Italian and Spanish Infantry defending the earthworks.

The Spanish Army with the infantry manning the earthworks and the cavalry waiting in the wings.

The Spanish trench.

The Spanish Infantry line.

A view from the trenches!

Behind the Spanish trench.

Italian Mounted Arquebusiers and Crossbowmen wait in reserve.

The well defended position bristles with guns.

The Spanish earthworks with light horse and infantry on the flank.

The Spanish Men-at-Arms supported by Italian Mounted Crossbowmen. A hill tile with a slope can be seen in the background.

Early Landsknecht Pike sent to aid the Spanish by Maximilian I wait behind the Arquebusiers in the trench.

The Artillery Crews.

A close up of the Earthworks.

Spanish Arquebusiers wait in the trench. Note the hill tiles at the end of the board.

Spanish Guns in the foreground with the Infantry top left and the Cavalry top right.

Landsknechts sent by Maximilian I and Italian mercenary infantry under a Colonna banner.

The Jinetes patrolling the banks of the river.

The guns behind the trench.

More guns further down the line.

A view from the other end of the trench.

Continuing with the theme of the new terrain, here are the river tiles. They form quite a sizeable river which can cross the table in a variety of ways, an example of which is shown below. These pieces add another really useful element to my terrain and will mean I can game all kinds of scenarios. The river also has the potential to be used as a moat for my fortifications which is excellent. I wanted it to look like a river that could either be very deep and difficult to cross but could also potentially only be waist deep and crossable and I think David Marshall from TM Terrain, https://en-gb.facebook.com/Tmterrain/ has done a great job on it. Now I just need to invest in some different bridges to cross it!

The table with the river tiles.

The table with the river tiles and no other terrain on it.

I have also finished a new unit, another set of Border Horsemen. I have already completed one set of specifically English Border Horse, http://camisado1500s.blogspot.com/2017/05/1513-invasion-of-france-border-horse.html, but wanted to do a unit that could be either Scots or English. I am slowly putting together a Scots army and these cavalry will combine with the Irish who can act as Highlanders and lots of "Generic" Pikemen who can serve as Scots with a simple change of banners. I have not made these horsemen specifically Scottish as I like the idea of being able to combine them with the English Border Horse that I have already. This gives potentially two dozen Borderers for my Early 16th Century Tudor Army.

As with the previous unit I have used plenty of targes and given some of the men beards and caps to bring them into the early 1500s. The only real difference with this unit to the first set of Border Horse is that this set don't have any of the stitched on St George's crosses that the first unit had. I've also poached a couple of heads from the Warlord Plastic Landsknecht sprues for this unit. Below each of the bases is shown and I have included some photos of them combined with my previous Border Horse and all riding under English Flags on the banks of the river. When combined they make an impressive force of Light Cavalry!

Scots Border Horse Command.

Charging Border Horse.

A Veteran Borderer with a younger relative supporting the charge.

A Border Captain with a trumpet.

Grizzled Border Veterans!

Border Horsemen with a "latch" crossbow and warbow.

Combined with the English Borderers they form quite a force.

The English Border Horse

The English Border Horse - note all the targes.

While photographing the Border Horse I set up the last unit I completed, the generic early 16th Century Infantry, with a complementing set of archers. Below they are shown under the banners of the Stanley family who contributed men to both the Flodden and French Campaigns of 1513. I am aware they are not wearing the Claw and three Crowns livery badge that the Stanley Troops are meant to have worn at Flodden but I hope you will agree that the new polearm troops work well as English Billmen, especially when in support of the traditional English Bowmen. At the moment I am working on a unit of levied English Bill, complete with stitched on St George's crosses and some supporting Men-at-Arms with Poleaxes. When these are finished I should be all set for some early 16th Century Anglo-Scots Border warfare with the Scots and English catered for.

Northern Troops raised for Border Warfare by the Stanleys.

An English "Bill and Bow" unit.

This unit is a second part to the Early 16th Century Infantry I completed recently: http://camisado1500s.blogspot.com/2018/05/early-16th-century-infantry.html .
I wanted to do a more specifically English set with Billmen that could be used for the early 1500s in campaigns on the Scottish Border or even as potential rebels for further Tudor Rebellion games. I was also keen to include some figures in outdated late 15th Century style harnesses, to represent the Gentry who were called upon to help defend Northern England or to take part in raids into Scotland in the 1510s and 1520s. When mixed with the more generic set of infantry this will give me twelve bases of polearmed troops. I can then combine these with my twelve bases of unliveried Early 16th Century Archers to make up a set of Bill and Bow that aren't dressed in green and white Tudor Livery, as, although this was common, it certainly wasn't universal for Tudor armies in the 1510s and 1520s.

The figures assembled and ready for painting.

I have used a lot of different bits and pieces to make this unit. The figures are a mix of Perry Miniatures, plastics and metals, a couple of Assault Group Miniatures, a couple of Steel Fist 15th Century Men-at-Arms, a dozen of Stuart's 16th Century Tudor Dollies, now available from Steel Fist: https://www.steelfistminiatures.com/product/wfd-10.-tudor-dollies/ , an old Foundry figure and even a very old Citadel Miniature! The various combinations of metal and plastic can be seen in the image above. The Base Skirt on one of the Captains, the chap directly under the Howard flags with a Poleaxe in the image below, was sculpted by Stuart Mulligan when he was attempting to show me how to sculpt green stuff - the jury is still out as to how much of this sculpting advice I have picked up!

One of the command bases, under the flags of Edmund Howard. Stuart Mulligan sculpted the base skirt. I left any St George's Crosses off this base so I could use it as command for a variety of units with a simple change of the flags.

English Billmen, 1513, under the Banner and Standard of Edmund Howard.

Billmen from the rear.

While the first set of polearmed troops were as generic as possible I was keen to make these chaps more specifically English. To achieve this I had a few ideas. Firstly to add lots of paper crosses to the miniatures to represent the stiched on cloth St George's Crosses that could have been worn as unifying symbols when on campaigns into Scotland or to defend the border. These can be seen clearly in the photos below. Secondly I ensured the majority were armed with Bills, I will leave the "how many billmen actually carried bills" debate for another time. At least we know that by the 16th Century Billmen were definitely a "thing" unlike the mythical 15th Century Billmen! Thirdly I have included some members of the Gentry in outdated 15th Century style armours with Poleaxes. All this helps to give a very specifically English feel to them and of course makes them really suitable for any potential Flodden games in the future as well.

While most of the unit is most certainly English I could not resist leaving the two command bases as more generic. This means I can use them in some of my other armies if I choose by simply swapping the banners. The command base with the Captains in 15th Century harnesses would only really be useful for very early Italian Wars armies, up to say 1503, but for the English and Scots, who seem to have used the older styles a little longer, they would be suitable into the early 1520s. For these photos the command bases depict Edmund Howard and his retinue at Flodden. Edmund Howard took part in one of the most dramatic parts of the battle when he was surrounded and repeatedly knocked down by borderers trying to capture him. He was rescued by John "The Bastard" Heron who cut his way through when Lord Dacre's Border Horse counter attacked. This is certainly a moment I may have to recreate on the wargames table in the future!

A close up of one of the bases - note the St George's Crosses added in paper to represent stitched on cloth.

Another base of Billmen with further examples of the cloth crosses.

Early Tudor Billmen.

A base showing a mix of Men-at-Arms on foot and Billmen

Dismounted Men-at-Arms in older 15th Century style armour. Only the chap with the beard carrying a bill, rear right, makes this base possibly early 16th Century otherwise it could easily fit into a 15th Century army.

Last weekend Stuart of Army Royal, http://stuartsworkbench.blogspot.com/, and I engaged in mortal combat once again. This time the setting was the Anglo-Scots border in the Autumn of 1513. We felt that as Stuart's collection is specifically aimed at the English French campaign in the Summer of 1513 and I have slowly been building forces that can be used to put together a Scots army for 1513 this would be a great setting for our games. Using our ever evolving Lion Rampant rules we played three different scenarios all set around James IV's invasion of England in this fateful year. As normal the pictures are of the actual games and I didn't record the action blow by blow but the captions of the photos should give a fairly good indication of the way the games turned out. For all of the games Stuart commanded the English while I played the Scots.

Border Horse from the Kerr Clan ride out to secure the bridge.

The Fall of Etal Castle

James IV's initial crossing of the Border in 1513 was marked by the taking of some English fortresses, most notably Norham on 29th August but another, smaller fortress, taken was Etal. For our first game we decided to play out a fictional defence of Etal by an English force attempting to delay the Scots advance. Both of us would start with 18-22 points of figures in a Lion Rampant Retinue on the table. These Retinues would race for control of the bridge in the centre. Whoever gained the bridge first would then role a D3. This was the number of turns it would take for their larger 38-42 point Retinue to arrive while the side that didn't reach the bridge first would wait double the turns rolled for their larger force to arrive.

The Scots would gain "Glory" for every unit that left the table at the opposite end, this would mean they could start encircling Etal for a brief siege. The English would gain "Glory" for every Scots unit destroyed. We also used the Honour Special Orders from Pikemans Lament to add another level to the game objectives. The forces were as follows:

The English

The English Garrison's Sortie
1 Unit of Foot Knights (Marmaduke Constable, Retinue Leader)
2 Units of Border Horse
1 Unit of Shire Bow

The English Relief Force
1 Unit of Foot Knights (The Earl of Surrey, Retinue Leader)
1 Unit of Foot Knights (Edmund Howard)
1 Unit of Demilancers (Lord Scrope)
1 Unit of Shire Bill
1 Unit of Shire Bow
1 Unit of Retinue Bill
1 Unit of Retinue Bow
1 Culverin

The Scots

The Scots Scouting Party
2 Units of Border Horse (1 of which was Dand Kerr, Retinue Leader)
2 Units of Highlanders

The Scots Invasion Force
1 Unit of Foot Knights (James IV, King of Scotland, Retinue Leader)
2 Units of Scots Pike
2 Units of Shire Bow
2 Units of Retinue Bill (Borderers)
1 Unit of Highlanders
1 Unit of Demilancers

The Sortie from the Garrison attempt to delay the Scots advance.

James IV leads his invasion force towards Etal Castle.

Things went badly for the English from the start in this game. They failed to get to the bridge first, this wasn't helped by them initially having to negotiate rougher terrain than the Scots. The Garrison's Sortie suffered at the hands of the Highlanders and Border Horse who rapidly pushed them back to the point where only Sir Marmaduke Constable and his Foot Knights remained. He sought cover from the arrows of the Scottish Light Horse and Infantry by getting into the ditch that surrounded Etal. Unfortunately this left him vulnerable to the Highlanders who swiftly attacked and laid him low!

As the Scots main invasion force slowly moved forward under the watchful eyes of their King the castle's relief force arrived atop the hill. The Scots scouts were quickly dispersed by the English reinforcements with only Dand Kerr and a few of his Border Horse riding to safety, enabling them to play a further part in the clash. As the siege train crept forward the English had plenty of time to establish a defensive position while sending their Demilancers forward to disrupt James IV's advance. They were struck by particular bad luck when their Culverin crew decided today was not the day to stand on a hill and fire at an advancing invasion force and promptly fled the field without firing a shot. The Scots were met with opposite fortune as more Highlanders arrived on the field to join the attack.

The Scots Border Horse force the English back.

The aged Marmaduke Constable attempts to shelter in the castles ditch after his ill advised attempt to stall the Scots.

The Scots invasion force moves forward.

English reinforcements arrive in the form of men under another old soldier, Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, his son Edmund Howard and Lord Scrope (We thought Sir Rhys Ap Thomas's Raven Standard was pretty close to that of Lord Scrope for this game!)

The English secure the top of the hill while the Demilancers ride on ahead to disrupt the Scots column.

The Scots are about to reach the river.

Etal Castle with the Scots advancing in front.

Lord Scrope's horsemen cross the bridge in an attempt to disorganise the marching Scots pike.

The Scots approached in a very slow but organised manner. This allowed the Highlanders, Kerr's remaining Border Horse and the Scots Archers to all shoot at the feared English Bowmen at the same time as they crossed the river and advanced up the steep terrain towards the castle. The Scots took casualties from the English arrows but there were enough of them to rout the English Archers. With their Bowmen gone the English Billmen and Foot Knights were forced to abandon their defensive position and attack the now larger Scots host. The Demilancers bravely charged one of the Scots Pike blocks but were defeated. They then engaged in another clash with the Scots armoured Horsemen, causing casualties to the Scots, but they could not stop the advancing army.

On the top of the hill the English faired badly having lost both their Archers and Artillery. A savage melee ensued both in and around the defensive ditch of Etal and the advancing Scots Highlanders and Kerr's remaining Border Horse suffered. For a moment it even looked as if an attempt on James IV's life might be made by the surrounded English but it was not to be. Scottish numbers were just too great and having lost many men the English Foot Knights and Billmen retreated leaving Etal's garrison to surrender.

English Archers valiantly defend the hill top against waves of Highlanders, Islesmen and Borderers.

The two Howards with some of the Earl of Surrey's best troops brace themselves for an assault.

The English Demilancers charge the Scots pike and a brief melee ensues.

The Scots plunge waist deep into the river.

Having lost their archers the English prepare to sell themselves dearly.

Edmund Howard shows similar valour to that shown at Flodden as he stands firm against the Scots tide. They are too numerous however and the English retire leaving the garrison of Etal to their fate.

Flodden Field; Edmund Howard vs Lord Home and the Earl of Huntly

Our second game was something of an epic. We decided to refight the famous clash at the start of the Battle of Flodden. This involved Lord Home's Borderers and the Earl of Huntly's Lowlanders and Highlanders crashing down the slopes of Branxton Hill into a beleaguered Edmund Howard, the youngest son of the English Army general, the Earl of Surrey. Many of his men fled leaving him and his retinue in a desperate position as they were surrounded by the Borderers and Highlanders. Sir Henry Gray was captured and Christopher Savage was killed. Maurice Berkeley, captain of the Mary George had been sent to stiffen Edmund Howard's ranks with 200 Marines. He too was cut down. Howard had his standard bearer killed and was thrown to the ground three times before the timely intervention of Lord Dacre and his mounted reserve. His Border Horse charged into the melee and John "The Bastard" Heron, who had been one of the protaganists in the escalation of hostilities between England and Scotland, cut his way through to Howard to save him. Howard himself killed Davy Home, Lord Home's brother, in combat.

We thought this would be a great scenario to play through and decided to make the killing or capturing of the various "Characters" in this clash as the way to achieve victory. The battle was fought with Lord Home's troops deploying along the top of a ridge with Edmund Howard in the centre of the table. Neither Huntly or Dacre's Retinues started on the table. As the Scots player I could decide when to activate Huntly's forces who would enter via move activations on the English right flank. As soon as Huntly's men joined the battle the possibility of Dacre joining was then rolled for in subsequent turns. He would arrive from behind Edmund Howard's Retinue first on an 11+ on 2D6, then 9+, then 7+ and so on. Again his Retinue could only enter via move activations.

"Glory" was awarded as normal but each side also gained the following:
The Scots got 5 Glory for killing/capturing Edmund Howard, Christopher Savage, Henry Grey, Maurice Berkeley, Lord Dacre or John "The Bastard" Heron. If Dand Kerr killed John "The Bastard Heron" they got 7 Glory for this (this was to represent the feud between the Kerrs and John Heron).
The English got 5 Glory for killing/capturing Lord Home, Davy Home, the Earl of Huntly and Dand Kerr. They got 7 Glory for safely getting Edmund Howard off the table behind the English lines.

Branxton Hill, 9 September 1513. The English Right Flank under Edmund Howard faces Lord Home and the Earl of Huntly.

After many of the Lancashire and Cheshire levies have fled, being unhappy under the command of a Howard, Edmund Howard is left with a core of Men-at-Arms, including Christopher Savage and Henry Gray, and 200 Marines under Maurice Berkeley, captain of the Mary George.

Home's Borderers, including many members of Clan Kerr, a border famly keen to avenge the death of March Warden Robert Kerr in 1508.

The armies for this Battle were as follows:

The English

Edmund Howard

1 Unit of Foot Knights (Edmund Howard, Retinue Leader)
1 Unit of Foot Knights (Christopher Savage)
1 Unit of Foot Knights (Henry Gray)
1 Unit of Retinue Bill (Maurice Berkeley)
2 Units of Shire Bill
2 Units of Shire Archers
1 Culverin

Lord Dacre

1 Unit of Demilancers (Lord Dacre, Retinue Leader)
1 Unit of Demilancers (John "The Bastard" Heron)
4 Units of Border Horse

The Scots

Lord Alexander Home

1 Unit of Foot Knights (Lord Home, Retinue Leader)
1 Unit of Foot Knights (Davy Home)
1 Unit of Retinue Bill (Dand Kerr and his Borderers with Polearms)
4 Units of Scots Pike
1 Culverin

Alexander Gordon, The Earl of Huntly

1 Unit of Foot Knights (The Earl of Huntly, Retinue Leader)
1 Unit of Scots Pike
6 Units of Highlanders (divided up as 2 Units each of Galloglass, Kern and Redshanks from the Irish lists I am working on)

After an inauspicious start by Home, the Earl of Huntly flanks Edmund Howard's troops with Highlanders and Pikemen from his Gordon Estates.

A fierce melee develops in the centre as the beleaguered English defend themselves on two sides.

This game did not start like the real Flodden at all! Home's troops simply could not get off the hill to attack, some even starting to move backwards as English archery and Artillery started to take its toll. This led Huntly to come crashing in on Edmund Howard's right which distracted Howard's Retinue sufficiently to allow Home's Retinue to move down the hill and also get into the fight. The English Archers and Artillery all fell as the Scots swarmed down the hill but their arrow and firepower had already seriously weakened the brittle Scots Pike. To make matters worse for the Scots, Lord Dacre was quick to arrive on the scene and his Border Horsemen soon started to pick off bands of Gordon Highlanders.

The fighting in the centre of the field was still very close and it looked like it could go either way. The Scots had a success when Lord Home personally defeated Edmund Howard in combat and it seemed Howard's Retinue would collapse. Home's personal retinue was then mauled by Christopher Savage and a body of Foot Knights before Alexander Home himself was bested by Lord Dacre. The Scots had not counted on the ferocity and tenacity of the English Foot Knights and Billmen! Sir Henry Gray fought his way out of a perilous situation as the Gordons surrounded him. The melee swayed back and forth but the Scots Pike units faltered while the Highlanders began to be ridden down by Dacre's Borderers.

The tide had clearly turned. Davy Home and Dand Kerr went down in the fighting and the Scots quickly melted away. The Earl of Huntly managed to make a fighting retreat and escape the field but it was a resounding English victory. Admittedly the loss of Edmund Howard was a big shock but all the other English "Characters" had made it through along with nearly all of Dacre's Retinue while the Scots had lost all of their "Characters" save the Earl of Huntly, and suffered far heavier casualties than the English. There really was a touch of the historical Flodden in this game after all.

A view of the fighting from Branxton Hill.

Lord Dacre arrives in time to steady the English lines.

It is looking like a close call in the centre of the battlefield.

Lord Home bests Edmund Howard in a challenge! The battle hasn't all gone the way it did historically.

Home is then attacked by Christopher Savage, loosing members of his personal retinue.

Finally Home is challenged by Lord Dacre and felled, again another twist on the real Battle in which Home was one of the few higher ranking Scots nobles to survive.

Things are still looking worrying for the English with Sir Henry Gray about to be overwhelmed by the Gordons.

But the arrival of Dacre's Border Horse is enough to see off the remaining Gordon troops. The Earl of Huntly has escaped the field.

A Sting in the Scottish Tail?

The final game was another fictional encounter, but like Etal Castle was based on something that did happen after Flodden. On the morning after Flodden, 10 September 1513, the Captain in charge of securing the guns, Sir Philip Tilney, was attacked by a body of Scots Border Horse who unsuccessfully attempted to recover their artillery. In our game we had one of the captured Scots guns being removed from a shallow river where it had fallen off it's carriage whilst on the way back across the border. This was mainly because I wanted to use Stuart's excellent model of a gun being recovered on my new river terrain!

We played the "Defending the Indefensible" scenario from Lion Rampant with the gun being the objective that the Scots needed to get into contact with in order to win the game. The forces were as follows (amusingly we both chose exactly the same forces for this game which wasn't planned):

The English

1 Unit of Retinue Bill (Retinue Leader)
1 Unit of Demilancers
2 Units of Shire Bow
2 Units of Border Horse

The Scots

1 Unit of Retinue Bill (Retinue Leader)
1 Unit of Demilancers
2 Units of Shire Bow
2 Units of Border Horse

The English gunners struggle as one of the large Scots guns captured at Flodden has become trapped in a shallow river.

Home and Kerr troops that have survived the battle see this as the perfect opportunity to exact some revenge and take back the valuable artillery piece.

This was a very straightforward game, to be honest it's a scenario that leads to a quick result, but it was also really close. Seeing that the English had not actually positioned a unit around the fallen gun the Scots raced down the hill and towards the river in an attempt to reach it before English troops could move further down the baggage train to aid the defence. Two Units of Scots Border Horse and some more heavily armoured Borderers (Demilancers) hurtled forwards leaving the Scots foot behind.

The English Archers defending the gun and struggling labourers did a good job of thinning the ranks of the Border Horse but the more heavily armoured horsemen made it into the river. Just as it looked as if they would reach the artillery piece the English Border Horse rode to the rescue and in a bloody skirmish in the shallow water they pushed back the Scots Horse. Having had their Cavalry shot and mauled the Scots Infantry retreated. They weren't going to be recapturing any guns today.

The Kerr Horsemen race forward to take the gun.

So too do some more heavily armoured horsemen from Lord Home's retinue

The Scots nearly reach the gun but English Border Horsemen crash into the river in time to stop them. In combination with their archers they see the Scots off and keep possession of the gun.

Of course after fighting out such dramatic and fierce border clashes we had to refresh ourselves with the obligatory beer or two! These were great scenarios to play through and it was also a real treat to use the new terrain for the games. I am not sure what part of the Early 16th Century we will choose for our next clashes but I have a feeling the Anglo-Scots Border Wars will be something we definitely return to in the future.

Far from the Scottish border the two "Generals" enjoy a few beers!

Perhaps not the most inspiring title for this post but over the Summer, while I had some time off work, I had a look at the army I can now muster for the English at Flodden. The beauty of this set up is that aside from the flags, which I specifically collected or printed out to represent some of the English Leaders at Flodden, most of the rest of the army is made up of figures that I already had for other projects. The white coated Bill and Bow and the Border Horse were painted for the English that campaigned in France in 1513. The unliveried archers are fairly generic and have been fielded as Frenchmen or "Rebels" in my games. Similarly most of the guns and some of the polearmed troops are also generic but really look the part here when fielded under the English Banners.

I have only included a few of the Banners and Standards that were carried at Flodden, many of the English Nobility and Gentry from the Northern Counties and the Royal Fleet took part. What I have done is included the Banners of the leaders of each of the English "Battles". So we have the Earl of Surrey and his two sons Thomas Howard, the Lord Admiral, and Edmund Howard who struggled in the opening stages of the clash ( my previous blog post covers this). In charge of the reserve is Lord Dacre and his Borderers while sir Edward Stanley takes the English left flank.

As many collectors of this period will know, although there are bits and pieces here and there for the Flodden Campaign, no manufacturer really covers it in depth and does it justice. Perhaps one day this will be rectified. Despite this I hope these pictures demonstrate that with a careful selection of figures and some conversion work a convincing Flodden English Army can be put together. The figures used here are of course plenty of the Perry's Late Medievals, some Wargames Foundry Wars of the Roses Infantry and Landsknechts, lots of converted Assault Group figures, some Steel Fist dismounted Men-at-Arms, Stuart's Tudor Dolls and a fairly large number of Old Citadel figures. I think there are nearly 70 of the Old Empire Archers from Citadel that were sculpted by the Perrys in the 1990s! The flags are a mix of Pete's Flags, Freezywater and even a few home print outs. I have Ray Rousell to thank for the home printed ones: https://onelover-ray.blogspot.com/search/label/Flodden%20flags.

An English Army of 1513

Edmund Howard, accompanied by Henry Gray and Christopher Savage.

Thomas Howard, Early of Surrey, whose men also fly Henry VIII's Dragon Standard, accompanied by Sir Marmaduke Constable and Lord Scrope.

Troops from Sir Edward Stanley.

The English Reserve under Lord Dacre

Dacre's Border Horse.

English Light Guns between the "Bill and Bow" Blocks.

Another picture of the Border Horse.

Surrey's Block with Thomas Howard, the Lord Admiral, and Edmund Howard in the distance.

The English centre under the Earl of Surrey.

An Early Tudor English Army for Flodden 1513.

The Border Horse form the reserve.

As the Summer is now over I thought you may like to see the developments in my Reenactment "Kit" for this year. I took part in an event every month from June through to September which is pretty good going for me. One of these was an event to commemorate Stoke Field at the Wargames Foundry which was a strange collision of both of my hobbies in one weekend, although they obviously overlap in many ways. While my wargaming collection is very much geared towards the 16th Century I indulge in my passion for the later 15th Century through my reenacting.

In terms of my armour the brigandine that I ordered last year has been completed by Ash of Armour Services Historical: https://www.armour-services-historical.co.uk/. It is based on the brigandine worn in Hans Memling's Beheading of John the Baptist and I think you will agree is a bloody good replica of the one worn in the painting! Over 400 rivets have been used in it to create the look seen below. It also has accompanying laced on "Spaulders" which are not worn in the original painting but were widely used in the period. The Pastrana Tapestries, depicting the Portugese King Alfono V's victories in North Africa and made in Flanders, contain many great representations of lots of brigandines with spaulders being worn, I have included a detail from this below.

Anyone that has painted the Perry Late Medieval Plastics will be interested to know that the the "studded" effect on the miniatures wearing brigandines is an attempt to try and represent the rivets seen here. One of the Light Cavalry Plastics even has the brigandine spaulders as well. It is a stunning piece of armour and I am very pleased with the final look it gives when worn with my maille and other pieces of armour. I am trying to create a look that could be straight from a Late 15th Century Illustration rather than looking like a "reenactor" and I feel I am getting closer to that goal with this.

Detail from St John Altarpiece, Hans Memling c.1479, showing the brigandine.

Detail from one of the Pastrana Tapestries woven in Tournai, late 15th Century. Note all the brigandine spaulders that are worn by the troops.

The finished replica.

My interpretation of a late 15th Century Infantryman.

In terms of my "civilian" style 15th Century "kit" I feel I have also moved closer to my goal of trying to look like someone who has stepped out of an art work or manuscript. Last year my "Mahoitred" doublet was completed. Mahoitres are the puffed shoulders which make you look like the incredible hulk, with a much bigger physique than you really have, when a coat or gown is worn over them! My doublet is based on the executioner's one in the Dieric Bouts Altar Piece, the detail of which is shown below. To complete the look I added a "Sleeveless Livery" or vest to this. I am not sure these garments really have an official name but they are basically a skirted vest that covers the points that fasten your doublet as well as your cod piece and backside. Those of us used to painting Landsknechts will be familiar with all sorts of scandalous attire but in the late 15th Century you were not considered fully dressed if simply wearing doublet and hose.

Of course there were all sorts of occasions when doublet and hose would be all that was worn, context is always key, but in terms of formal attire a coat or gown would normally be worn over the doublet, the doublet essentially being a foundation garment. If it was too warm to wear a full gown or coat, or perhaps the arms needed to be more free for movement, then a sleeveless version like this could be worn. Initially these items of clothing seem strange but when you take the time to have a look at the art of the period they appear all over the place. Many of you will note the similarity to the military style liveries worn over armour in the late 15th Century and the civilian ones are indeed very much the same. Whether or not the civilian ones were always in a Lord's colours like the military vests seems more open to question. There are lots of images of these, a few of which I have shown below, and it seems that while some may have been in a Lord's chosen colours in others they seem to just be another civilian garment. They may equally have been in the colours of a guild or fraternity rather than have been in the colours of a particular household, it's hard to say.

The finished look is shown in the last image below, I am sure next year I will want to tweak and change it again! As with my miniatures the reenacting is always a work in progress and the idea of ever completing an outfit doesn't really seem likely. Turning back to the miniatures I am currently working on yet another block of Landsknechts for the 1530s to 1550s this time. I am not sure I will have them ready by next month but they are on the way.

Barthélemy d’Eyck, 1450-60 Le Livre des Tournois. Note all the Sleeveless "Liveries" or "vests" worn by the men in the image.

Histoire de Renaud de Montauban, c.1470. Note the Sleeveless "Liveries" with a white edging.

A good view of one of these garments from the back, Histoire de Renaud de Montauban, c.1470.

A possible English Source for one of these garments, Literary Source from Morgan Library Museum England c.1470.

My doublet is based on this image, Justice of Emperor Otto III Beheading of the Inoccent Count and Ordeal by Fire Dieric Bouts c.1473-1475.

The finished look with a "Mahoitred Doublet" and "Sleeveless Livery".

Todays post shows the first part of my current project, a set of Landsknechts to cover the mid 16th Century. I know for a lot of wargamers a Landsknecht is a Landsknecht which is fine but, as you may have noticed from my previous posts on this topic, I do love to obsess over the finer details of how their fashions, arms and armour changed from around 1500 through to the end of the 16th Century. I have had my eye on The Assault Group "Royal Swiss" figures for a while now and already having some Mid 16th Century Tudors and more generic pike and shot I was keen to get them into my collection somehow. A unit of Swiss was not really what I wanted and it doesn't take much to turn them from Swiss into convincing mid century Landsknecht.

So far I have painted up the armoured part of the pike unit, the unarmoured ranks and command are yet to be done. The shot are complete and shown here. Beards or moustaches have been added to most of them, as Landsknecht images from the 1530s to 1550s tend to show them with impressive facial hair! They also all wear Katzbalgers, the characteristic German short sword, at jaunty angles as seen in the contemporary art work. The extra bits and pieces on the Warlord Games Plastic Landsknecht sprues were really useful for converting these. Any of the stitched on crosses that the figures had sculpted on them have been removed. I think the pike and command will have more elements that clearly demarcate them as being from the middle of the 1500s so will leave a full discussion of the images and armour for when the pike are completed. I have included a couple of period images just to give an example of the look I am aiming for.

Assault Group Miniatures "Royal Swiss" converted into Landsknechts.

Landsknecht Arquebusiers for the Mid 16th Century.

Landsknecht Shot c.1530-1550.

The Landsknecht Arquebusiers in the tapestry image below don't differ that much from those of the 1510s and 1520s and at a pinch this arquebusier unit would be fine for the mid 1520s right up until the mid 1550s when the "Pluderhosen" become pretty much universal for the Landsknecht. If you have a look at the picture of the armoured soldier from the Códice De Trajes and the armoured "work in progress" figures the style of infantry armour of the mid 1500s becomes clearer. While the Arquebusier miniatures fit into a wider time frame I feel the armoured troops are more specifically for the 1530s and 1540s. I have 40 figures yet to paint for the pike and command and need to do all the pikes for them. Hopefully this shouldn't take too long despite Landsknecht being very time consuming. So far these have been a joy to paint though.

Landsknecht Arquebusiers during the attack on Goleta in 1535, the tapestries depicting the Tunis Campaign were made in the 1540s.

Códice De Trajes, 1547 Habsburg Soldiers

WIP - The Landsknecht Mid Century Pike so far, note the addition of beards to a lot of the TAG figures.

WIP - The Armoured Mid 16th Century Landsknecht so far

While on the subject of Landsknecht, last month I posted some pictures of my Reenactment kit and wondered if any of you would like to see pictures of the Wargames Foundry event at Stoke in June. Rather than put up any pictures here I am going to post links to some really good photos on Facebook that show the event in detail. All of the albums can be viewed without actually joining Facebook, even if it tries to get you to log in you don't need to! They show recreations of what the English, Irish and German troops who took part in the battle in 1487 may have looked like. I am well aware that the German troops in 1487 certainly didn't look like those shown in the photos but at least there was some acknowledgement that these mercenaries took part and I reckon they have made an admirable effort to look like the earlier 16th Century Landsknecht. I guess not everyone can be obsessive about the clothing of German mercenaries over 500 years ago.The albums can be found here https://www.facebook.com/pg/gwp.reenactment/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1756661851079936 here https://www.facebook.com/pg/photosm/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1038639542978954 and here https://www.facebook.com/pg/photosm/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1037975319712043. If you do take the time to look at these you will see that we were filming a documentary about the battle which can be viewed here https://nottstv.com/programme/rediscovering-notts-the-forgotten-battlefield/ . I will warn you now though it's a pretty bad documentary but you may find it fun.

While the work on my 1540s Landsknecht Pike Block continues (they will be finished eventually!), I thought I would post up some pictures from the Summer of my repainted set of Earthworks. The original paint work on them can be seen here: http://camisado1500s.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-siege-of-pavia-october-1524.html, in one of the Pavia games Stuart and I played early in the year. With a new battlefield of a different coloured earth it was also necessary to repaint the Earthworks. In the photos you will also notice a couple of the Sconces in the same style as Stuart's ones that we used in that game. These were made by David Marshall of TM Terrain and are really useful terrain pieces. I included some contemporary pictures of these Sconces in the write up of the Pavia games, linked above.

The repainted Earthworks are resin and nearly 20 years old! They were from a manufacturer called Stronghold Miniatures if I remember correctly. The pieces are so old that I had painted them up before painting my old battlefield. The battlefield was a really dark reddish earthern colour, see the link above, simply because I had already painted the Earthworks that way! In fact they even appeared in the background of a couple of photos in my first ever post on this blog: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wEYLfsje4_s/Tb8fOKHDcMI/AAAAAAAAACA/ELcgIOgKy-0/s1600/100_0661.JPG. They were definitely in need of a good repaint!

Getting the Earthworks to match the same colour as the earth on the terrain boards, the ditches and the Sconces did not go well. I tried all sorts of different paint mixes and when I did get the same match it just made the Earthworks look like Blancmange, it didn't work well, something to do with the texture of the resin. For this reason I repainted them in a slightly browner earth tone which although not perfect seems to fit the other earth well and stops the Earthworks looking too different from the rest of the terrain. What do you think? I would be interested to know if the contrast is still too great? I suppose freshly dug earth or repaired Earthworks would look different to older fortifications anyway or is this just my excuse!

The Earthworks from behind with the Sconces in front. Note the Gateway to the Earthworks on the left and the Sally Port on the right.

The two Sconces in front of the Ditch and Earthworks, again note the Sally Port, this time on the left.

The Earthworks Gateway.

When I bought these years ago I tried to order a really extensive set of pieces that could be used for loads of different defensive set ups. There are some nice touches to the set including a breached section, bastions, corner and end pieces, a gateway and a smaller sally port to allow the defenders to sally out unoticed and disrupt an assault. It's great that with a fresh lick of paint they are still going strong. Even a cursory reading around the subject of 16th Century Warfare will reveal that earthern defences were a key part of both attack and defence. They had been used extensively in Ancient Warfare and onwards but the rapid increase in the use of gunpowder weaponry that the late 15th to early 16th Century witnessed made them even more necessary. Many of the key Italian Wars battles, Garigliano, Ravenna and Bicocca to name but a few, were centred around assaults on Earthworks, it's difficult to playout the battles, sieges and skirmishes of the era without a decent set of them. These really do the job, especially when combined with the Trenches on the boards and the castle pieces I have already collected.

Below are some photos of the Trenches and Earthworks in action from a game I played out over the Summer. The game was set in the Autumn of 1503 where a stalemate had developed between the French and Spanish forces on either side of the Garigliano River. Eventually this was resolved by Gonzalo de Cordoba's daring attack across the river which won the Battle of Garigliano on 29th December 1503. Prior to this however the French under Francesco Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, had formed a fortified bridgehead across the river and attempted to dislodge the Spanish in a number of assaults from this position. Gonzaga passed command to Ludovico of Saluzzo when these attempts failed and before the Spanish attack in late December. My refight of one of these French assaults turned out to be rather dull with the French failing miserably in the face of a trench and the defended Spanish Earthworks so I didn't write a blog post on it. It is a conflict I will play out again at some point but with a few tweaks. The photos shown below are all from the game.

A small redoubt, this time the end sections have been added to the set up.

Swiss mercenaries attempt to storm defended Earthworks in the early 1500s.

Early Landsknecht defend the Earthworks against a Reisläufer assault in the War for Naples.

Spanish Arquebusiers and Landsknecht provided by Maximilian I defend Spanish Earthworks against a French assault from their bridgehead across the Garigliano River in the Autumn of 1503.

While on the subject of fortifications I couldn't resist including a couple of rather odd things I discovered a while back but have never written a blog post where these findings fit in. I was reading through Ambroise Paré's "Journeys in Diverse Places", which can be found online: https://www.bartleby.com/38/2/. Paré was a surgeon to the French Monarchs in the Mid 16th Century and wrote a fascinating account of the campaigns he took part in, one of which was the Siege of Metz in 1552. As one of the defenders he notes how during the siege the Imperialists knocked down one of the City Walls only to find a large Earthwork behind it:

"The wall having fallen, our men cried out at those outside, “Fox, fox, fox,” and they vented a thousand insults against one another. M. de Guise forbade any man on pain of death to speak with those outside, for fear there should be some traitor who would betray what was being done within the town. After this order, our men tied live cats to the ends of their pikes, and put them over the wall and cried with the cats, “Miaut, Miaut.

Truly the Imperials were much enraged, having been so long making a breach, at great loss, which was eighty paces wide, that fifty men of their front rank should enter in, only to find a rampart stronger than the wall. They threw themselves upon the poor cats, and shot them with arquebuses as men shoot at the popinjay."

It seems that as a taunt to the Imperialists besieging the city, the French hung live cats from their pikes and dangled them over the defences! This seems odd but it also reminded me of an image I had seen before depicting the Siege of Padua in 1509, completed around 1521. The image, shown below, depicts an assault on a bastion of Padua where the defenders are holding a cat out on a pike while the attack is taking place! Was this some 16th Century Siege tradition? Does it have something to do with traitors or cowardice? If anyone knows anymore about the meaning of this taunt and if it was something that went on regularly I would be interested to know more? The traditions and cultures of 16th Century Warfare always fascinate me.

That is probably enough rambling for today, I'd better get back to finishing this next block of Landsknechts!

The Siege of Padua, Agostini c.1521

Apologies for the Christmas title but I could not resist for this post, especially having just returned from a weekends gaming at the Mulligan household where some members of the family have really been taken by the festive spirit! On Friday I visited Stuart from http://stuartsworkbench.blogspot.com/ and we continued with our ever evolving games of Renaissance Rampant using modified Lion Rampant rules mixed in with The Pikeman's Lament. We returned to the familiar battleground of the English Campaign in France in 1513, having come up with some new scenarios we wanted to try. As always the photos are acutally from the games and rather than give a blow by blow account of them I will give a summary which, when read with the accompanying photos and captions, should give an idea of how the games went.

Some of the photos are really dark. This is partly due to wargaming in South Wales in December and partly because the biggest scenario we played out was a dawn attack (a Camisado perhaps!) by the English on the French earthworks. I really like the night style photos and they look fine on my PC but I apologise in advance if they don't really work on the device you are viewing them on. Perhaps "night time raids" may be a good excuse for future games played in the evening when the light isn't great! Stuart took command of the English for all of the scenarios with myself in the General's Saddle for the French.

As the English army marches towards Thérouanne they encounter this small village, hastily fortified by the French.

Beyond the river we'll encamp ourselves

For our first game we played out a fictional scenario where a contingent of the English army had been sent to remove a French force that was attempting to slow the English advance into French territory. The French had hastily fortified a small village in an effort to stall the English progress or at least prove to be a thorn in the side of the English if they ignored them and marched on. The game started with half of the French force deployed in the fortified village and half off the table, entering from behind the village on a "move" activation. The entire English force started off table as well, similarly entering the game to the front of the village, on the other side of the stream, with a "move" activation.

The barricades counted as rough terrain and gave a +1 to the "armour" of units within 3" when shot at. We also had a rule that the barricades themselves could be targetted, counting as large targets, with an "armour" of 3 that could be destroyed in 3 hits, although targetting the barricades never happended in the game. The English and French both had to try and occupy the two terrain tiles in which the village was set up in order to achieve victory. The forces were as follows:

The English

2 Units of Foot knights (One is Sir Richard Carew - Retinue Leader)
1 Unit of Garrison Bow
1 Unit of Garrison Bill
1 Unit of Shire Bow
1 Unit of Shire Bill
1 Culverin
1 Organ Gun

The French Defenders

Starting in the village:
1 Unit of French Men-at-Arms (Retinue Leader)
1 Unit Landsknecht Arquebusiers
1 Unit of Aventuriers
1 Culverin

Entering during the game:
1 Unit of Aventuriers
2 Units of Dismounted French "Archers" with halberds
1 Unit of Landsknecht Halberdiers

The English Archers lead the assault.

The French Aventuriers leave the defences of the village to harrass the English as they advance.

The English advance in numbers.

This was a close fought game. The English advanced only be fired upon by the Culverin in the centre of the village and by the Aventuriers who advanced on either side of the French stockade. The French were further cheered by the arrival of a band of Stradiots in the pay of the French King who were patrolling the area and joined the village's forces for the fight. The English Archers suffered badly from these ranged attacks and it looked for a moment that the Tudor forces may never even successfully cross the stream let alone take the village.

The tide turned once the English Foot Knights and Billmen did reach the barricades. The first fighting took place on the French right flank where the Foot Knights under George Neville attacked the dismounted French Cavalry and sent them back. The Stradiots rode off seeing things take a turn for the worse. The English Billmen clambered over the improvised barricades and managed to lure the rash French Men-at-Arms, who were waiting as a reserve within the village, into attacking them. In the confused melee admist the defences the Billmen were sent back but the French Heavy Cavalry were disorganised and defeated when they attempted a second less effective charge.

The French left flank was held by a force of Landsknechts and Aventuriers. The Aventuriers skirmished with the English but were eventually put to flight by the English Bows. The Landsknechts then began to panic as the English rolled up their organ gun and events on the other side of the Village left them as the only troops still in good order. The German Mercenaries melted away and the English had taken the position.

A view of the French defences from the side. Aventuriers skirmish on either flank of the position with Landsknechts and French Men-at-Arms holding the village.

The Landsknechts in French Service.

Dismounted French Cavalry engage with George Neville, Third Lord of Bergavennny, as the English storm the village. A group of patrolling Stradiots in French Service has also joined the engagement.

The English Bill cross the defences and the French Men-at-Arms loose their discipline, charging in to fight amongst the defences.

Despite the Men-at-Arms being disadvantaged in the village fighting they still succeed in pushing the English back.

The English set back is only temporary. They clear the French right flank of the village before then mopping up the French left flank and putting the Lansknechts to flight.

A view of Thérouanne from the English siege lines.

Piercing the night's dull ear

In the next scenario the English were now at the walls of Thérouanne. Before they could invest the town more closely they had to clear the French from the earthworks in front of the medieval walls. Our scenario played this through with an initial English raiding force attempting to surprise the French troops and force them out of the "Sconces" they were holed up in. As dawn broke, relief forces for both sides would enter the table from a random table edge as the Garrison became aware of the attack and the English threw in support in their attempt to move nearer to the walls.

We modified the "Beating up Quarters" Scenario from The Pikeman's Lament for this game and had the Sconces with troops in them instead of houses. The French troops in the Sconces had to be awakened as in the original scenario but once awake they didn't need to come out of the Sconce they could remain in it. The Sconces could not be destroyed but could be occupied. They counted as rough terrain and gave a +2 to the "armour" of troops inside when under missile attack. We kept the rules in the scenario about poor visibility until the day broke and decided that reinforcements would arrive for both sides once it was daylight. The reinforcements were both Retinues in their own right with their own Leaders. Victory would go to whoever could occupy as many of the 5 Sconces at the end of the game.

We used some Irish Kern in this scenario and the one following it. I am aware that although they were employed extensively in France and Scotland by the English in the 1540s there are no records, that I am aware of, of them being recruited in the 1513 campaign. Despite this we wanted to give them an outing as we are currently trying to develop our Irish lists for this period, and they are of course great figures. This historical inaccuracy aside the armies were as follows:

The French

The French in the Earthworks

1 Unit of Foot Knights - The French Captain (Retinue Leader)
5 Units of French skirmishers (we trialled the smaller units of "Commanded Shot" from The Pikeman's Lament for these defenders)
1 Unit of Landsknecht Shot
1 Unit of French infantry with polearms

The French Relief force from inside the Walls

1 Unit of Gendarmes (Retinue Leader)
1 Unit of Stradiots
1 Unit of Landsknecht Pike
1 Unit French pike
1 Unit of Aventuriers

The English

The English Raiders

Sir Richard Carew - 1 Unit of Foot Knights (Retinue Leader)
2 Units of Shire Bow
1 Unit of Shire Bill
2 Units of Irish Kern

The English Relief force from the English Camp

2 Units of Demilancers (one is Sir Rhys ap Thomas, Retinue leader)
1 Unit of Border Horse
1 Unit of Landsknecht Arquebusiers
1 Unit of Landsknecht Pike

In the darkness the English guns can be discerned in the foreground with French earthworks in front of the Walls of Thérouanne.

In the darkness Irish Kern hired by the English storm a French Sconce.

Another Sconce is assaulted by the Kern.

We started this game in the evening to give the impression of a dawn assault and then ended (for the obligatory trip to the pub) once we had rolled for the sun coming up, continuing with the game the following morning. The fighting started when the Irish Kern crept up on two of the Sconces and attacked the stunned guards inside. The Irish managed to clear one of the earthworks but were defeated at the other. As the defenders awoke they began to fire upon the English and Irish attackers from the safety of their defences and were successful in keeping them at bay. In the light of the morning the French Captain and Sir Richard Carew lived up to their chivalric ideals and fought a brief but inconclusive duel in no man's land.

Alerted by the fighting in front of the walls some Landsknechts from the English camp entered the fray but in the early light they stumbled into a strong French force who sallied out in defence. Chaos reigned as more English joined and most of the fighting focused around the single Sconce that was initially cleared by the Kern. It was then taken by some French Aventuriers who were attacked and killed by the English Border horse. They themselves were then chased off by the French Garrison's Stradiots!

The fighting centred around this one earthwork and the area where both the French sally and the English relief force had arrived. The rest of the Sconces were held successfully by the French. The English could not get near to them as the defenders of each earthwork could keep up a withering rain of crossbow bolts and arquebus shot, mutually supporting each other against attack. The English Archers who had been part of the initial raid drove back the Landsknecht Arquebusiers in French pay who came out to meet them but the Germans rallied and sent the Archers reeling with a hail of shot. As the troops from the Garrison's sally and the English relief force engaged in various melees in the open ground the English broke off the engagement realising that the element of surprise had been lost and that the earthworks would not be taken so easily.

French infantry patrol the earthworks after hearing disturbances in the night.

A view from the Walls of Thérouanne.

As dawn breaks Sir Richard Carew, Captain of the Calais Garrison in 1513, engages in an inconclusive fight with a French Captain.

Alerted by the attempt to push closer to the walls French reinforcements sally out of the town only to crash into English reinforcements who are also being sent into the clash.

A view from the English siege lines as dawn breaks.

Not all of the soldiers in Henry VIII's employ are concerned by the chaos developing in front of the town walls!

The English Border Horse have succeeded in clearing one of the Sconces.

English Demilancers and Imperial Landsknechts join the fighting.

The Border Horse flee from the Sconce they had captured as Stradiots in French employ retake it.

A view from the trenches!

On the other side of the field Landsknecht Arquebusiers in French employ see off the English Archers with a savage hail of shot.

Sir Rhys ap Thomas trys to bring order to the chaotic dawn encounter...

...but the English haven't succeeded in clearing any of the Sconces.

After further assualts the earthworks are clear and the English have pushed their guns right up to the town walls.

With fatal mouths gaping on girded Thérouanne

Our final game saw the English beneath the Walls of Thérouanne, having pushed the defenders back. The besiegers have built a heavily fortified battery as close to the walls as possible and are bringing up a large bombard to join the other ordnance and help create a breach. Panicked by the direction the siege has taken the French forces in the locality have gathered and decide to launch a surprise attack in an attempt to halt Henry VIII's progress.

We played this game as a failry straight battle scenario and both chose our forces ourselves from the list and figures availble. The English army deployed in front of the Gun Battery at the walls of the town and the French army would enter on "move" activation orders from the crest beyond the stream. This was the wargaming classic of "lets just see who can do the most damage to the other side" kind of game with victory going to whoever could smash the opposing army! The forces were as follows:

The English

Sir Richard Carew - 1 Unit of Foot Knights (Retinue Leader)
1 Unit of Shire Bow
1 Unit of Shire Bill
2 Units of Irish Kern
1 Culverin
1 Unit of Landsknecht Pike
1 Unit of Landsknecht Shot
1 Unit of Demilancers

The French

1 Unit of Foot Knights - The French Captain (Retinue Leader)
1 Unit of Landsknecht Pike
1 Unit of French Pike
1 Unit of Stradiots
1 Unit of Ordonnance Archers with Bows
2 Units of Gendarmes

The besiegers have heavily fortified a forward battery and are bringing up a large bombard, see the wagon in the centre of the picture, to open a large breach.

The French, aware of how close the English are getting to succeeding, have sent a force to skirt around the siege lines and attack the forward battery from behind.

This game turned out to be a bit too much like the historical "Battle of the Spurs" for my liking! I had gambled on choosing a French list with two units of Gendarmes which I hoped would smash the English if I kept them close together but events went rather differently! As the English turned and organised themselves for the unexpected attack the French mounted archers were successful in riding forward, dismounting and sending a rain of arrows at the Irish Kern. The unarmoured Kern were caught in the open and fled from the field.

During this opening exchange the English had managed to get their Landsknecht Auxiliaries in good order and they tempted the hot headed Gendarmes into a series of charges. The Landsknechts defended themselves admirably but the repeated attacks by the heavily armoured cavalry were enough to defeat them. Unfortunately for the French however, seeing this bloody engagement from the crest of the hill the Landsknechts in their own pay decided they had seen enough and promptly turned around, leaving the field in good order!

Despite the loss of their German Mercenaries the French continued to press the attack but their elite cavalry had been severely weakened by the fight with the Imperial Landsknechts and the English had by now had time to form a defensive line ready to meet the French attack. The English Archers and Foot Knights together were succesful in defeating the French captain and his own retinue of Foot Knights while the French pike, packed in close order, suffered badly from the fire of the English Culverin. The French were quickly defeated, allowing the besiegers to turn their attention back to breaching the town's walls.

French Gendarmes and Pikemen lead the assault on the English earthworks.

Maximilian's Landsknechts see off both bodies of French Gendarmes as they attempt to sweep away the English army.

The Landsknechts in French employ have fled, leaving the remaining French force, having also lost most of its cavalry, to continue with the assault.

The English have time to form a defensive line to protect their guns and easily see the French attack off.

It was great to try out the new scenarios, the dawn attack and the fortified village, and put the Sconces and earthworks to good use. What I particularly liked about these games is that if you do any reading on warfare in the 16th Century much of the fighting took place around sieges and earthworks, with set battles being much rarer. It's great fun to actually bring these clashes in front of the walls, that would have been so painfully familiar to soldiers in the 1500s, to life on the tabletop. More detail on the Sconces we used can be found here: http://camisado1500s.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-siege-of-pavia-october-1524.html when they made their debut in our Pavia game, and detail on the mantlets and gabions is here: http://camisado1500s.blogspot.com/2016/08/mantiets-and-gabions.html. Of course these games have left me with many more ideas of what to paint and what scenarios to play out. I think for the next set of clashes with Stuart we may focus on the Siege of Venlo in 1511 and Sir Edward Poynings command of 1,500 English in that campaign.

It's taken longer than anticipated but to start off the new year here is my 1540s Landsknecht Pike block. The figures are predominantly converted "Royal Swiss" from The Assault Group's Valois French range with a smattering of Steel Fist Miniatures and Warlord Games Landsknecht also thrown in. I was going to use most of the poses in this pack of Wargames Foundry figures to form the rear ranks: https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/early-16th-century-renaissance/products/ren011-mercenary-characters. They were also sculpted by Nick Collier who did the TAG figures and they have a slightly later period feel than the other Foundry figures in that range. I painted some of these up but they didn't fit in with the look I was going for with the unit and in the end I used more figures from The Assault Group.

As discussed when I completed the shot for these mid-century Landsknecht: http://camisado1500s.blogspot.com/2018/10/landsknecht-arquebusiers-mid-16th.html I have converted the figures from Swiss to Landsknechts by adding katzbalgers, the characteristic Landsknecht short swords, to nearly all of the figures. The Warlord Games plastic Landsknecht set has lovely plastic ones that were great for this but I also used metal ones from TAG. I added moustaches and beards using green stuff to lots of the figures as most of the TAG sculpts tend to be clean shaven and a quick look at contemporary images of Landsknecht from 1530 to 1550 will reveal that beards and big moustaches were certainly the thing, the chaps in the images below being great examples.

Códice De Trajes, 1547 Habsburg Soldiers. The Assault Group Landsknecht have armour and helmets that match the figure on the left. The Standard Bearer wears a mail "Bishops Mantle" and is in a clothing style that would not seem so out of place in the 1520s.

I have included a smattering of contemporary images in this post that I hope show how Landsknecht fashions were changing as they reached the middle decades of the 16th century. It's a tough one as the very early Landsknecht have a quite distinctive, more medieval, style of dress which I covered in detail here: http://camisado1500s.blogspot.com/2017/03/wip-early-landsknechts.html . Similarly from the late 1550s onwards once they seem to universally start wearing pluderhosen, with characteristically later 16th century hats and helms, they are again very distinctive. When considering what I would call the "classic" Landsknecht appearance from around 1510 through to the 1550s it is harder to gauge the changes. Things definitely change while at the same time there is also more continuity, or at least there appears to be more continuity, with some of the styles. I hope the contemporary art work included here helps to demonstrate this.

Having a look at the first contemporary image, shown above from the Códice De Trajes, and the two images below from Jacob Koebel's "Das Reichs Fahn" you can hopefully see how the armour changes from the ealier 1500s. The helmets in particular start to slowy evolve into the styles more familiar in Elizabethan times and later into the 1600s. The helmet style that later becomes the "Burgonet" is clearly developing. As a side note the whole of "Das Reichs Fahn" is online and it is a great source, not only for the mid-16th Century Landsknecht fashion but also for various colour schemes of Landsknecht clothing: http://daten.digitale-sammlungen.de/0005/bsb00059192/images/index.html?id=00059192&groesser=&fip=193.174.98.30&no=&seite=7. It is well worth having a look through this if you have the time, and a decent bandwith! What is also interesting is how popular mail continued to be into the mid-16th Century, especially the "Bishops Mantle" or large mail collar. A surprising amount of mail is worn in contemporary images, even a quick scan of the ones I have posted here should demonstrate that.

The more eagle eyed amongst you may recognise that some of the helmets shown in this art work are available from Steel Fist's 16th Century range of Landsknecht, https://www.steelfistminiatures.com/product-category/italian-wars-1494-1538-product_cat-19/. They have a variety of different heads, some of which are great for the 1540s. The Steel Fist Landsknecht cover a few decades, some being in clothing suitable for 1500 with others being in outfits or armour that is more suited to the 1530s into the 1550s. I have used a few of their figures in later styles of clothing and armour as halberdiers in this block, shown below, and also head swapped some of the heads onto TAG figures for greater variety. The Steel Fist Landsknecht paint up really well and at some point I will certainly be visiting that range to paint up some more for the 1520s. After all you can never have enough Landsknecht in a 16th century collection.

Standard Bearer from Das Reichs Fahn published by Jacob Koebel 1545, note the armour and helmet.

Another Standard Bearer from Das Reichs Fahn published by Jacob Koebel 1545, again he has a distinctive style of helmet and armour.

Steel Fist Landsknecht Halberdiers. The helmets and armour work well for the 1530s-1540s. The figure on the right has a plastic head from the Warlord Games plastic Landsknecht set.

The armour and helmets give perhaps the most distinct change in appearance as we move into the 1540s. With the clothing it is tricky. As stated above at the start and end of the roughly 100 hundred years that Landsknecht marched across European battlefields and beyond they have more unique styles, it's during the middle years that the changes in these styles are harder to spot. I have included some images here to show how some styles of dress look little different from those of 1515, I think the Niklas Stör and Heintich Aldegrever pictures below are good examples of this. The big hats and baggy slashed doublets are still worn. A few of the chaps in the Stör images are still wearing the classic close fitting skull caps or coifs so popular in earlier decades. A couple of the TAG 1540s Swiss figures are sculpted in these and this lead me on a mission to check if they really were still worn in the mid-16th Century. There seem to be plenty of images with them still in evidence.

A word of caution to note when attempting to track the evolution of these fashion in the 1500s is that "The Landsknecht" was a very popular motif in the 16th Century and it is of course still an image that endures to this day. A trend in medieval art which persisted into the 16th Century was for artists to use other artists sketches and compositions, as well as their own (Dürer's "Knight, Death and the Devil" directly taken from his "Soldier on Horseback 1498" is a good example of this). The reusing or adoption and adaptation of existing art was not frowned upon at all and artists workshops would share all kinds of motifs for their production of paintings, woodcuts and altar pieces. When looking at the images of Landsknecht from the mid-16th century, and there are a lot, I can't help feel that sometimes they may simply be reused older images as they were so popular with their contemporaries, or perhaps notorious may be a more appropriate word!

Hans Doring's two portraits of Landsknecht Officers, see below, are quite clearly based on the same initial sketch of a figure. The more I have looked at the art from this period the more that kind of thing pops up. It does make me wonder how up to date the images may always really be. It may well have been printed or painted in the 1540s but was the artist using an earlier picture from the 1520s or earlier perhaps? It is something worth bearing in mind.

Council of war during the Schmalkaldic War 1546. Note how the hose are starting to move towards the style more familiar in Elizabethan clothing and how the style of hats is also evolving.

The caveat about the art aside and noting the fact it seems hard to spot the changes in clothing as they develop we can see things changing, perhaps in some images more than others. The image of the Council of War in 1546, shown above, hints at some of the styles of head wear beginning to change and certainly a more "Elizabethan" style of fashion, especially with the hose, starting to be perceptible. The tight fitting part of the hose is getting higher, with more of the knee being visible, and a more puffed and baggier top part of the hose is developing. The hose worn by the standard bearer in the last contemporary image from "Das Reichs Fahn", shown below, are a good example of this. Of course the adoption of the pluderhosen in the mid-1550s would radically change this move towards the "Elizabethan" style of hose, the Landsknecht never could follow the more universal Western European changes in fashion!

Landsknecht, Niklas Stör c.1538. This chap looks very much like Landsknecht from images of c.1515 through to the 1520s. Note he is wearing one of the cloth "skull caps" or coifs that were fashionable in earlier decades.

Niklas Stör 1530s. Again these chaps fashions haven't changed that much from earlier decades. Mail "Bishops Mantles" and cloth "skull caps" under their hats are still evident.

Landsknecht, Heintich Aldegrever 1540. This chap wears no armour save his "Bishops Mantle" and he looks little different from Landsknecht of the 1520s.

A technological development that clearly defined the mid-16th Century was the appearance of the pistol. A close look at the Reinhard V. Solms image below will show that tucked in by the Mounted Officer's leg is an early form of pistol. While these were certainly not the weapon of the common Landsknecht they were starting to be carried by the more wealthy Landsknecht Officers, probably if only for the fact they were new and rare as much as anything else! I was really keen to use the Warlord Games Officer carrying a pistol, not only because he brings the unit nicely into this period with the pistol but also because he is clearly modelled on the Landsknecht Feldwaibel by Hans Doring, see below. The miniature has been sculpted with a pistol instead of a halberd but other than that he is pretty much an exact copy. Of course this meant I had to try and paint him to match the art as closely as possible as well. Have a look below and see what you think.

Landsknecht Captains. The figure on the left is from Warlord Games and carrys a pistol, see the image below that the sculpt is based on but with a Halberd rather than an early pistol.

Hans Doring - Landsknecht Feldwaibel c.1545. Have a look at the miniature on the left above, apart from the change of weapon it's a pretty close copy.

Hans Doring- Landsknecht Hauptmann c.1545. Note the polearm as commanders weapon/symbol of office and also the similarity in pose to the above image. It's a good reminder that artists often copied their own or others images and shows that an extra element of caution must be added when trying to date how the fashions changed.

Reinhard V. Solms, 1540. Note how the officer has a pistol by his leg, wealthier Landsknecht were carrying these by 1540.

As with the Landsknecht Feldwaibel I also felt that one of the Warlord Games Standard Bearers bore a striking resemblance to one of the chaps in "Das Reichs Fahn". I have tried to recreate him in his red and green to match the image as closely as possible. To his left is one of the Steel Fist 16th Century Foot Knights, a superb miniature. The harnesses that reflect the puffed and slashed Landsknecht clothing tend to be from around 1520 onwards and certainly this officers helmet is more suited to the mid-1500s than earlier. For this reason he had to be in this unit and I think fits really well into it. It's such a great miniature that I may have to use this command base with my 1520s Landsknechts from time to time as well.

While I have tried to place this unit as accurately as possible in the 1540s I understand for many wargamers any Landsknecht is suitable for the whole 16th Century. This is fair enough, I think it just depends on what you are trying to achieve with your collection. I made the effort with this block because I wanted a unit that would complement the other mid-16th Century figures I have completed, see: http://camisado1500s.blogspot.com/2017/11/1540s-tudor-english-rebased.html and http://camisado1500s.blogspot.com/2016/07/marching-arquebusiers-and-mid-16th.html. Of course it also helps feed my Landsknecht addiction, if The Assault Group have been brave enough to sculpt such great figures for a rarely catered for period, that being the 1540s, then of course it would be rude not to paint some of them up!

The mid-16th Century was an era of intensive warfare, even for the English who had managed to keep out of European Warfare for nearly two decades up to the 1540s, and I love the idea of having a collection that I can refight the engagements of the Enterprise of Boulogne and the Rough Wooing with. Another long term goal, furthering the Landsknecht megalomania, is to do a unit of Landsknecht for every shift in style during their 100 years or so of notoriety. The 1500s, 1520s and 1540s are all done. I just have to paint another 70 or so in pluderhosen at some point! That is a way off for now though. As always I have 101 other projects to be working on at the moment but I think some more stuff for the 1540s will be coming soon.

Happy New Year.

Landsknecht command base, the figure on the left is by Warlord Games and painted to match the image below. The superbly sculpted armoured figure is by Steel Fist.

A Standard Bearer from Das Reichs Fahn published by Jacob Koebel 1545. Note how the hose are starting to look more "Elizabethan" in style.

1540s Assault Group figures with added Katzbalgers and head swaps. The 2 figures on the right have heads by Steel Fist Miniatures while the other 3 have plastic heads from the Warlord Games plastic Landsknecht box set.