Landsknecht Command

 

This unit has been a little delayed, I meant to complete this command when I revived my Landsknechts last year, more of that here.

However, in the intervening period I've had time to think on the matter and Landsknechts have certainly never been far from my mind. In particular I wanted the standards to come together and represent those typically seen in early images of Maximilian's landsknechts, particularly those of Albrecht Altdorfer in which three flags are repeatedly shown together, a simple cross of Burgundy on a yellow ground, the arms of Austria and Burgundy ancient.

Maximilian's duchies of Austria and Burgundy feature in the centre of his arms.

and.......spot the mistake I made, In depicting the blue and yellow stripes as horizontal rather than diagonal I created the standard of the Fugger family, which is a happy mistake as they financed a lot of Maximilian's wars. I will no doubt correct this in some way one day, the best manner will be to create a new unit of course so watch this space. Progress not perfection is the mantra.

What have I learned in a year since visiting Landsknechts? i'd say i've really got to grips with using Citadel contrast paints as part of the process by blending washes with them. The results are really vibrant colours. I don't like to use them as intended but to mix them with existing wash formulas and highlight / blend on top. It's a slower process but the results really make these figures pop. Here they are prior to basing.

Using the Red as an example here are the stages for the red bits;

1. Black undercoat
2. Foundry British Redcoat Shade 
3. Citadel contrast Blood Angels Red as a wash
4. Foundry British Redcoat Shade, Mid & Highlight.
5. Foundry Orange mid as a final highlight

A similar approach is used for the other primary colours, experiment with it and enjoy the results !

The figures are all from Wargames Foundry with the addition of flag pennons from Front Rank Figurines, now available from Gripping Beast.

Each figure is based upon a coloured woodcut, the flags are hand painted.

Here they are forming the centre company of banners with my existing imperialist pike

I have three bases of Swiss banners on the same formula to make it an interchangeable pike block, I have left room to create a stand to represent Richard de la Pole who will no doubt form the nucleus of my next Landsknecht painting project.

Figures with levelled and horizontal pikes are added to those standing, the banners are now at the centre of the 162 figure company.

As is apparent, I want to do more, I've done quite a bit of research on this subject this year (more on that soon) I have more Imperialists on the workbench now but lets see what fate decides to be the next finished project to share, there's 'currently' 5 units in various stages of completion, such a masochistic hobby at times !

Bye for now

Stuart

Scots Artillery

James IV's army continues to grow.

To support the existing pike I thought it was about time they had some artillery to represent the 'Seven Sisters' which battered English castles with ease on the Flodden campaign though through circumstances not of James' choosing performed less well in the field. I also wanted to represent James' Senior Gunner, Robert Borthwick.

Borthwick was initially taken into royal service for his abilities as a founder, he was put to use repairing the existing arsenal and then founding new pieces along with a team of six French gunners including a Jean Vielneuf. 

Borthwick's talent was recognised by generous grants of land from the King, some of which are still held by his descendants. From the time of his appointment in terms of pay and status it seems that Borthwick was the senior gunner in James' household but he is not officially referred to as the Master Gunner until 1515.

That title seems to have gone to Henry Lord Sinclair of Fife who was appointed in 1510/11 and was killed at Flodden, he may be the 'Master gonner of Scotland' who according to Hall's chronicle was slain by the English Guns in the opening artillery duel. That a senior gunner was seen to fall appears possible and this may be the candidate. What is sure is that it was not Borthwick.

Alongside Borthwick at Edinburgh castle there was John Drummond a cartwright and gun carriage maker with 7 workmen under him. Assisting were Robert Barker and Robert Scott, both Smiths assisting in the making of ironworks and fittings for the carriages.

Gunpowder was milled and mixed by a Wolf Urnebrig of Nuremberg. Also on the Flodden campaign were another two from German lands, Master Hans and Jacob who assisted with Gunfounding in Glasgow.

Records record other gunners with Scots names such as Seton, Wardlaw, Anderson and Lawson. 

For the Flodden campaign records indicate that Borthwick had 26 men under him to 'bere his chargeouris' but unfortunately no detailed list of the gunners survives.  Of note also are that a number of 'gentlemen volunteers' also took an interest in these dark arts and assisted. What is clear is though they had experience in manufacture and maintenance of artillery their experience as crew in siege and on the field would yet be put to the test.

*  *  *  *  *

There are a lot of 28mm heavy artillery pieces out there to choose from. I was keen to use guns that were different from the Nuremberg Pieces typical of Maximilian's artillery train;

The artillery train that accompanied James IV's invasion of England in 1513 consisted of five cannons, two culverins, four culverin pikmoyens, six culverin moyens and other smaller pieces not listed individually. The principal use for these guns was siege rather than in the field. All were pulled on the journey over the border by teams of oxen, horses, labourers and pioneers accompanied by carts of equipment and a crane in flat pack form.

I wanted rather to give the impression of the Flemish and French influence at James IV's foundries. The easy notion is to not paint the carriages red and black but the influence is also in the more slender designs and long barrels of the culverins as in these images of Flemish and French origin.

Flemish School, Meeting of Henry VIII & Maximilian, after 1513

Treatise on the Art of War, Beraud Stuart, 1508 (unknown artist)

I considered the demi culverins from Steel Fist Miniatures perfect for this brief. These are available in two packs, each with an interchangeable barrel and crew either firing or manhandling the gun.

The barrels are either Imperial or French however I contacted Steel Fist and asked if it was possible to have the barrel without the designs around the base and Simon happily obliged providing 3D printed barrels sans design, result !

The guns are very cleanly cast and required very little cleaning and filing, painting up very nicely. I opted to paint the wheels a lighter wood than the carriage for difference and as wheels were often replaced - especially if guns are being brought over the border with considerable effort.

The crews are taken from those that come with each gun along with the crew from the Peasant Wars cart gun, some standing peasants from the same range also made for great labourers. I also added a Tudor dolly standing in as a gunner. In addition there are also two old Citadel gunners which do still crop up on eBay from time to time. I'd had these for a while and they fitted in perfectly.

I used a range of figures for the guns in this manner as I wanted to represent the experienced Flemish and French gunners of James IV's court alongside their Scots Master Gunner, Robert Borthwick and his Scots labourers and men of his retinue.

Here's the first gun and mixed crew, Wardlaw, Seton and another assisting Master Hans perhaps?

The gun barrels were painted using the Burning Gold triad set from Wargames Foundry. The shade tone was applied over a black undercoat. This was washed with a mix of Bay brown shade, GW contrast Gore Grunta Fur and a little water after which the shade, mid and highlight tones were drybrushed then painted until they looked about right. The barrel designs picked took this really well.

No livery as such but an obvious difference in the well paid continental gunners and poor Scots labourers, some wear livery badges.

Below is the second gun and mixed crew. This includes James IV's Master Gunner, Robert Borthwick along with two gunners in his white and black livery and a German gunner - Wolf Urnebrig i'd like to think.

The extra bits (barrels, cannon balls, bucket, spade with doublet) are from Wargames Foundry and The Assault Group. Prior to basing I paint the bottom of each figure in an earth tone, this really helps to blend the figures in when basing.

I have hit and miss luck when painting black. I usually use black on a black undercoat for a neat flat colour base which I then highlight with incremental blue/grey tones, not always with success.

For Borthwick's coat and hat I tried a different method based on a few online tutorials; Black undercoat, Dark Blue-Grey shade which was a mix of dark blue and black. The mid tone was the shade tone plus a little more white and dark blue and more again for the highlight. You'll then have what looks like a shaded grey coat, then the magic happens.

Over this apply a 50/50 mix of GW Nuln oil and black with a drop or two of water, leave to dry and repeat with another two or three washes until you're happy with it then a final highlight of blue / grey. 

I was quite happy with it and shall try it again when the opportunity arises.

Also new for me was trying Wargames Foundry's triad set of British Redcoat which I applied a diluted wash of GW Contrast Blood Angels Red to the shade tone then re-applied the shade tone as a mid-tone then the mid and highlight tones from the triad with a final highlight of mid-tone orange. A really nice finish.

Prior to basing I then mixed up the crews.

Then on to basing, each gun has a 120x60mm base from the lovely people at Warbases, the tufts are from Gamers Grass which though a little more expensive are very much worth it, there's a huge range and the various sets complement each other well, you can easily achieve a natural layered effect tailored to climate (these are highland and moorland sets combined).

I intentionally didn't add any gabions or mantlets as I have some siegework bases, see below.

Then for some fun with the camera, here they are set up in a siege arrangement.

'Gentlemen volunteers' taking an interest

I hope you enjoyed that, this was a great project and I look forward to gaming with them.

Bye for now

Stuart

Scots Pike part III

 

I'm very happy to be unveiling another batch of Scots pike. These do take a little while and are something of a labour of love but one which has improved with each iteration.

I think the first unit developed an approach, the second honed that and now with these i've refined it.

The main driver in this batch has been the release of late medieval dollies and heads from Steel fist miniatures as well as their new(ish) Swiss marching pike one of which I used for the standard bearer as well as using some of their heads.

These dollies and heads make for relatively quick conversion straight out of the box for gentlemen and men at arms in the front ranks. There are also a few dollies with knee length gambesons which I thought would represent the Gordons from Aberdeenshire and Inverness under Huntly's command rather well. 

As with my approach in my existing collection of Scots in this batch I aimed to have an armoured caparison in the front ranks through to light / no armour in the rear ranks. This can be seen in this image when I was abut 2/3 done;

It feels like with each batch i'm getting a bit more authentic and better at an overall image. There are a handful of gentlemen in fine armour, a French captain, a Galloglass, a few in livery coats of Huntly's blue and yellow and the vast majority in a mix of light armour. A bit of a muted palette and a bit more blackened armour features here too. This really makes the faces pop, which i must add a few unshaven types to but always forget.

I did these in batches of 8 or thereabouts, here's a few development photographs to see some of the individual characters;

The Piper is from Pete's flags, available via ebay or direct contact with Pete.

In this batch I also wanted to show the St Andrew's cross on a red background, At this juncture if I understand correctly the white saltire was the adopted Scots field sign but the background was yet to be standardised as there are examples in black, blue and as here in red.

This was inspired from a 1503 image from a Book of Hours belonging to Margaret Tudor commissioned by James IV;

The Treasurer's accounts detail banners made in preparation for the 1513 campaign, It's mentioned that the St Andrew's banner was on blue taffeta this was likely a saltire but may have been iconography.

Interestingly the King's banner is mentioned as being red (rather than the lion rampant on gold) which, given the above source may refer to this banner and/or the heraldic Unicorn standard above;

 'August 1513

Item, for four ells of blue taffeta to make Saint Andrew’s and Saint Margaret’s banners, price of the ell 20s; Total £4

Item, for four ells of red taffeta to be the king’s banner, price of the ell 20s; Total £4'

For the figure I added some greenstuff to the arms of this Steel fist miniatures marching Swiss pikeman to make a fine slashed doublet for the bearer;

In so doing It did make me think this approach would work really well for a unit of Picard Pike.

Here they are based up;

Advancing alongside their compatriots;

As one unit (108 figures)

With Galloglass in support

Advancing toward the English 

Fabulous images, they really are quite a sight, you can almost hear the pipes and war cries.

As I mentioned, there's more to add to these, Huntly will be added rather soon I hope and then it'll be on to the next batch of 36 at some point. The next batch I suspect may be command heavy, James IV is notable by his absence alongside some other key commanders. 

Really enjoying creating this army. A tragic beauty to them which just makes it all the more alluring.

Until the next time, cheerio for now 

All the best

Stuart