Schilling Vignette (I) - completed

Paintwork and basing on the vignette all done.

This is based on a detail from a Berne Chronicle illustration, for which see the previous posting. I contemplated adding another Swiss halbardier, but decided to stay true to the illustration. A nice model for my transition from Burgundians to Swiss - the planning for the latter has progressed nicely this week.

More anon.

Schilling Chronicle Vignette (I)

My thoughts are turning to planning the build of a Swiss Confederation army, to oppose my Burgundians. My primary visual sources for getting a contemporary 'look and feel' are the illustrated chronicles complied during and just after the wars by the cities of Berne and Zurich - to record their civic history, defiance against Charles the Bold and military victories.

Whereas I used to scour publications to find relatively rare images from these chronicles, several complete volumes are now online and I've started to click through the pages for useful references - of which there are plenty. One of these showed an image of a rather panicked Burgundian man at arms being attacked by a Swiss halbardier (Berne Amitliche Chronicle, volume 3 folio 727). So I thought I'd start off my Swiss additions with a version of this.

The horse and rider are from Perry's mounted men at arms, the only major change was to use a horse head from their ACW cavalry box, to provide a bit more movement as it's reins are grabbed by the assailant. The Swiss soldier is a plastic body from WotR box with arms selected from the Agincourt French Infantry sprue and a Swiss metal head. The joins have been covered with green stuff, to represent a coat, rather than the livery vest that's designed on the plastic body (which the Swiss don't appear to have worn), although I've not added a breastplate which the image seems to show. Like the illustration, a discarded lance and halbard will lie on the ground.

Now on to the painting stage.

Crapaudeau

A relatively quickly assembled and painted artillery piece - a Crapaudeau - which was one of a number of contemporary terms for a cannon with wrought iron barrel looped with iron staves on a wheeled carriage. This has been done as a generic gun, no specific signage or colours for any late fifteenth century army, so it has potential usage with my Burgundians, Swiss or any others

 

The gun itself and carriage is Front Rank (I think...it's been sitting in my stash for some time); wheels from another source. The crew are Perry metals, all with some minor conversion. The labourer's spade has been made into a ramrod, a headswop for the onlooking gunner with folded arms and the master gunner, who is a wagon driver, has a new plastic head and replacement hand (from Ansar box) holding the linstock. The only other work was to add a discarded doublet from putty on top of the barrel; its my first attempt and I'm happy with the overall shape (it just maybe a tad too small).