Stradiotti

This unit has been a while in the making with the recent Landsknecht distractions but here we have a band of Stradiot light horse in French service.

I last visited this unit some time ago and had completed the four horsemen on either side of the base with the standard bearer, you can read more detail about their creation here.

To complete the unit I recently completed a standard bearer and another Stradiot;

First up, a Stradiot with crossbow;

As with the rest of the unit I was eager to try and use a primary source image as a reference point, the following contemporary wall painting was perfect inspiration for the colour scheme and pattern of the coat;

I liked the mute, rather drab colour scheme and patterning and exaggerated the width of the different horizontal stripes which worked really well on the sleeves, I had to guess what the rest of the coat would be like but I'm happy with the result and will probably experiment further with a different palette when I re-visit these troops (I intend to have a lot of them).

 

The standard bearer was fairly simpler in comparison, his shield is decorated with a sun device - not heraldic as such but more decorative - hand painted, second draft (the first one was a bit cross eyed).

As for the banner, I delayed over this for quite a while as this unit represent the Stradiots which were part of the Therouanne garrison - well, I've assumed that; Tudor sources mention several 'feats of arms and broken lances' were made with Stradiots during the siege but not in sufficient detail to work out whether there were some in the garrison or if these were part of the main body of 800 commanded by the Seigneur de Fontrailles in the relief army of Lord Piennes. I'd welcome any more information on this point from any French sources.

As I intend to represent Fontrailles in another unit I simply opted for a simple cross of St. Denis for these.

When it came to basing the unit I took the lead from James Roach aka Olicanalad who had the notion of basing light cavalry as a swarm to more closely represent their tactics and appearance in action.

I have to second that notion, there's definitely a wild thundering feel to a few bases of these together. I will probably do the same with my Tudor border horse - plus it makes for easier movement, packing and display.

Bye for now

Stuart