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.

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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