Ordonnance Pike (II)

The second and final Ordonnance pike armed contingent for my army of Charles the Bold. Given my usual pace of painting, completing a 36 figure unit is a bit of a major undertaking; so most of the front two rankers have been painted for me by Rafa – who’s painting style and detailing is exquisite. I’ve hidden most of my more humble output in the rear ranks!

They are a mix of Perry plastics from the Mercenaries box and some metals from the WR and EA ranges. The captain is one of the newish Italians with a headswop and plastic buckler added; he fits in quite well.

The unit represents an Ordonnance unit raised by the duke from his Flemish territories, specifically Flanders. They are compliant with the ducal ordinance of Abbeville in 1471 which required pike armed soldiers to wear the ducal colours and cross of St Andrew, as well as carry a buckler. The flags are the Burgundian ducal arms, banner of Flanders and flag of the Guild of Silversmiths that originates in the Lowlands.

The Ordonnance foot are now gradually progressing towards a state of near completion. The only outstanding units to do – based on my initial army list which I’m still working to – are another handgun-armed skirmishers, a second halbard unit and ducal guardsmen. All of these I’ve started work on, in some form or another, although I'm unlikely to complete them until we hopefully get some Franco-Burgundian command figures for the Perry's EA range. I’ve plenty of mounted Ordonnance men at arms to do however and these are currently top of the painting pile.

Toodle pip....

Burgundian Ordonnance crossbows (II)

A second unit of Burgundian Ordonnance crossbowmen, which have taken some time to be completed. Most of these figures were painted for me a couple of months ago by Chris Thompson and I’d been dithering about how to base them, knowing that the Perrys were working on metal Italian crossbowmen. I’ve painted up some of these new figures, but then decided that they really needed was a casualty figure – which I added to Chris’s lovely figures. I wanted to create the unit advancing and under fire and using pavises.

It’s probably unlikely that pavises were used in this way in open battle; they were certainly employed in large quantities in both sieges and on board ships to add protection on the decks. However I’ve given myself some margin for historical reinterpretation as the LBMS transfers are so wonderfully detailed  and really look the part, being based on surviving examples – despite being just a tad too small for the plastic pavises and so requiring some paint to be mixed to match and blend the edges a little.

The figures are mostly plastics from the Mercenaries box, with a couple of minor conversions that were done on metal figures from the EA halberdier pack and the WR artillery crew.

I’m now planning to do an additional mixed crossbow and handgun unit of skirmishers – partly as the Italian figures are so nice (and completely usable as Charles employed large numbers of mercenaries from Condottieri captains) and as I have acquired a lovely Ordonnance crossbow flag to use.

I’m  at the basing stage with another Ordonnance unit, so they should be along quite soon…

Peter von Greyerz

The flag sheet of Swiss captains is so good that I had to sneak another vignette in, before concentrating efforts on completing more Burgundian 'rank and file'. So this represents Peter von Greyerz, a captain allied with the Swiss Confederation who was at the battle of Morat (and possibly also at Grandson).

I've not been able to find too much reliable info on Peter himself to date, although there were Greyerz as lords of the town back into the thirteenth century. Gruyeres is a town in the Fribourg canton (Greyerz being it's German spelling) which was not formally adopted into the Swiss Confederation until after the Burgundian wars, in 1481.  In the 1470s it appeared to be under the legal authority of Savoy (an ally to Charles the Bold), whilst also being in the growing political sphere of influence of Berne. Fribourg canton allied itself to Berne in the 1470s, in response to Charles attempts to expand his territory and so this presumably determined Gruyeres fate too. The connection to the town gives me an excuse to add some pics from my visit there last year - it's a really lovely place to visit!

These are Foundry Swiss figures, designed by Dave Andrews. As they're stylistically different from the Perry figures, I'm using them in separate units but they are right for the Swiss armies of the Burgundian wars and great models to paint up. The only amends are that Peter rides an old Foundry armoured Wars of the Roses horse and the swordsman has had a headswop and my addition of a plume on the helm he holds.  The mounted figure was painted several years ago and has waited patiently for me to base him up, so it's been quick to get this base done.

I have one more Swiss captain planned to do - then I'll await Michael Perry to design some Swiss command figures for the EA Range (I hope!) before I do any more. A brief break will now ensue on the blog as I take my summer holiday - but some figures and paints have been packed to take!

More Burgundian Ordonnance men at arms

I've finally completed my second mounted men at arms for my Burgundians. They've been slow going - from the prep and enhancements done to some of the horses (see previous posts), the addition of cross of St Andrews to the riders' harness, to the final painting (which the horses seems to be a longer process than the men, as the plate armour is largely a wash and dry brushing) - although other pieces have got picked up and completed during that time.

The only metal figures are the Company's captain (the converted Perry Joan figure from their HYW range) and the pennon bearer. The remainder are plastics, largely from the box except for the addition of the St Andrew crosses made from Procreate - another slow process as one 'arm' has to be done and left to fully harden before the other is added. I now start to appreciate how long the process must be to sculpt a full figure from start to finish. Some have had metal plumes attached.

The pennon is of the 15th Ordonnance company, showing St Peter holding the keys to heaven. This company was formed in 1473 by ducal decree and was present at the siege of Neuss in 1475 and at the battle of Nancy two years later, at which time the conductuer was Phillipe de Loyette.

I think that the next men at arms will be in more aggressive poses, to compliment the movement of the horses.

Hans Waldmann

This is Hans Waldmann, a leader of the Zurich contingents who was at the battles of Morat and Nancy.  He originated from Zug canton and through marriage he appears to have risen through the social ranks within the city of Zurich by the time of the Swiss-Burgundian wars. His successful leadership on the battlefield enhanced his political career and he was elected mayor of Zurich in 1483. However he was to be deposed some years later, following his attempts to raise tax rates on local villages that led to an armed peasant uprising against him. He was subsequently tried, found guilty of corruption and executed in 1489 – as depicted in the Luzern Chronicle of 1515 (below).

These are all plastic figures from the Mercenaries box.  Waldmann has a sallet from the mounted men at arms sprue, as is his right arm – with metal halbard attached. His flagbearer also uses an arm from the same box, with the gauntlet replaced with a bare open hand from a longbowman’s arm (...oh the joy of these plastics!) and a metal Swiss head. His style of beard is shown in the Schilling Chronicles for some of the city elders and I’m quite pleased (and somewhat surprised) by my addition using Procreate, to try and represent a man of some status being entrusted with Waldmann’s personal arms. The accompanying halberdier is another plastic and metal head combo; the only addition being his bend – a fairly common method of identification in the later fifteenth century and again shown in the Swiss chronicles. The section of wattle fence is Renedra, cut down and bent to shape. The flag is another one from Pete’s Flags sheet of Swiss commanders (see the previous entry for a link to purchase from ebay).

Now, time to get back to those Burgundian men at arms that have been on the painting table for far too long…

Hans von Hallwyl

Finally a posting…. the first of a number of Swiss commander vignettes that I intend to do. 

This is Hans von Hallwyl (1433 to 1504) of Aargau canton and a leader of Bernese troops, who is known to have been present at the battles of Grandson and Morat. He also continued as a notable Swiss captain, including fighting in the Swabian Wars of 1499.

I’ve had the figures painted and based for a short while and have been awaiting the excellent flags sheet of Swiss leaders for the late fifteenth century Confederation. These are available from Pete’s flags on ebay (in both 28mm and 15mm) and they complement the sheets done for the Swiss cantons - as well as other medieval ones he does. They’re printed on cloth (which is a finish that I prefer) but can be purchased on normal paper too.

These figures are a mix of metal and plastic Perrys; nicely painted for me by Chris Thompson. The figure of Hallwyl is a plastic man at arms on a metal horse, as there are no static poses in the plastic box set; the only enhancement being the plumes (nicked from a Foundry Swiss head) attached to the front of his chapel de fer helmet. The pointing halberdier is plastic with a metal Swiss head, a plastic sallet hanging from his waist.  The flagbearer is a metal Swiss figure from the EA range. The wayside cross is a plastic model railway piece.

Another Swiss captain coming soon…

Joan - converted

A very quick post - taken with a poor picture so my apologies - of the converted 'Joan to a Burgundian man at arms' Perry figure with paint now applied. The highlight tones on the horse have not come out well under the desk lamp (usually I try and take all pics in natural light). However I'm pleased that the idea has turned out well in practice as a nicely posed figure, who should fit well into the next Company (or perhaps the one after that when I make a final decision on basing, we'll see).

The other men at arms are making very slow progress - the horseflesh and trappings seem a bit tedious to paint - at the moment I'm getting more out of assembling and seeking new poses and variations.  So I'm guilty of having diverted into a couple of other vignettes, which I'll post when I have some outstanding items needed to finish them off.

More soon.