The Scots at Flodden

Now the additional figures have come from QRF. I can finally get some units completed.  Above James King of Scots.  

Above, the Guilds and levies of Edinburgh.  Note the very nice flags from Ray at Don't Throw a 1.  The first flag shows St. Margaret who began life as a Northumbrian princess.  She married the King of Scots. 

Next, I need to do the Earl Marischall's retinue.  That will give me three units for the Scots centre. And the guns of course.

The Scots artillery, 3 guns in all.

More pike men.

The Men of the Borders under the Home and Maxwell banners.

With Highland flank guard under a Gordon flag. I need to add another Highland unit for the Borderers other flank.

On the other side of the central units there will be more Highlanders.  One unit is done and another is in preparation.  Below, you see Clan Campbell.

 

Both of these will be full Clan levies.  The well armed Nobles and gentry supported by less well armed clansmen.

 

There we are, three units to go, one of pike men and two of Highlanders. In time I'll add some Border Horse too.  I have the figures already.  Baring a few that I'll badge with the St. Andrews or St. George's crosses the rest will be interchangable. As they were in life.

More for Flodden

 

Today’s post features a range of manufacturers 15mm offerings. Let’s start with these fellows from Khurasan.  I’ll use them to represent the Lord Admiral's Marines.  That said their fine armour and St. George and the Dragon flag enables them to represent the English royal infantry in France too.

 

Next, we have Scots artillery.  A big gun with crew from Alternative Armies.

Khurasan Bill Men in Tudor livery.  QRF command.

 

Lord Scrope’s Bill Men from QRF above and below with archers.

 

Most of the English are now done.

English archers all from QRF and with Bill men below.

 Another English Commander.

Another noble Howard -they got about. He's wondering where the gunners went.

I calculate that I have another one units of English Bills to do and one of archers.

The Scots have finally been ordered from QRF.  They will have painting priority once they arrive.

After that on to the Border Horse.

And so, to 12th Century Spain!

 

 

 

Who doesn't like a purple horse, or a green one? I'm much taken by the image above.  Let's take it line by line.

 

In the first line we have two archers, unarmoured and, judging by the tall pointed caps, Muslims. The cap being required of them by law. A trumpeter of sorts also un-armoured but he carries a sword and shield.  Then, a front rank of well armoured men.  Banners are flying, shields are mainly round with a couple of kite shapes.  Infantry or dismounted hidalgos?  In either case I'd say the archers are firing over the front rank.  We will keep that in mind. There are lots of arrows coming the other way too.

 

The second line next.  Has the lad on the lower left lost his cuddy or does he represent infantry ready to exploit a cavalry success? The hidalgos ride with a long stirrup and have quite high cantel saddles.  That's the sort of thing I associate with hard charging cavalry.  Note the over hand spear grip.  Good to thrust and to throw.  

 

 

That would be the old Visigoth tradition. Older still the Celts of the region liked to thrust and throw spears from horseback.  The British refugees to Asturias also came from that cavalry tradition.  Then we have accounts of Spanish hidalgos joining in the skirmishing between vying light cavalry.  Something to think about there.

 

 

It could be, in Billhooks terms, pre- game that the owning player must declare his hidalgos "knights" or "cavalry".  Or, a "special card" enabling him to reverse the choice, should that card appear. 

 

 

Two things more to consider.  Spanish hidalgos mostly had the close combat edge over their Muslim mounted and armoured opponents.  Likewise hidalgos took on Frankish knights on a seemingly equal basis.  On balance it looks like Knghts.

The last line seems to be a king doing king stuff.  Judicial  murder in this case.  There was a lot of that about.  The fetters indicate it is formal rather than informal homicide.

 

Now, to the point.  This is the first post of a new Spanish Project.  This one is tentatively called "Tell Cid".  As is becoming my practice it will feature two or more armies and a new set of rules. More on that as we go.

I have some new toys from Donnington New Era.  You have to drill hands and stick on shields.  I've broken 4 figures so far.  That said the results with the survivors are very nice.

Above we have the hidalgos of Asturias and Galicia.  The banners may not be historical but to me they speak to something of Green Spain.  I'll probably expand this into two units.

 

Here we have some Berber cavalry.  The flag is one currently favoured among some Berber people and I'm sticking with it.  

 

 

These lads could fight for or against the Arabs on their own part.  They also hired out to Christian armies betimes.  When not doing those things they raided Christian Spain and beyond.

 

I wish you a Happy New Year for '23.  More soon.

 

 

Billhooks Deluxe - A Flodden Project

 

Regular readers will know that I have been putting together both Armies for the Battle of Flodden and related encounters imagined and real.  I'm using Billhooks Deluxe as the rules for the project. As Billhooks Deluxe doesn't have a Flodden section we need to adopt a toolkit approach. All the troop types needed are there-just not in the same section.  Let us start with the Scots. Below half of the King of Scots own unit. 

The Italia section of Billhooks Deluxe offers a range of pike unit types. Degrees of armour protection are also clearly defined.  This is sufficient to differentiate between the King of Scots Battle and those of the rest of the Army.  The former are all Men at Arms with pikes.  Formidable, but vulnerable to bad terrain. Heavily armoured pike men were.  At Flodden the Scots nobility fought pretty much to the last man.

The issue of better armoured front ranks for the rest of the Army is easily accommodated without adjustment. You can even add pavises should you wish. More on this subsequent as new units are completed.

The Highlanders are covered in the Hibernia chapter. There are two types, clan and mercenary company.  They have both missilery and melee capacity. For Argyle's wing I'll opt for the clan stat’s. 

 

Consider Argyle's fellows above and below.  To the front mailed gentry to the rear un-armoured clansmen. At Flodden the English arrows fell on the rear ranks of the Highlanders.  Result, complete collapse.  Easy to replicate with Billhooks, if you can get your English archers in the right place.

 

Highlanders also fought on the other flank at Flodden.  I'm tempted to use the mercenary company stat's for that contingent.  Their role was to protect the flanks of the Border pike men.  Note how the degree of armour fades down the ranks of pike men.  It is the sort of nuance Billhooks captures nicely.

 

Another Highland clan unit below. Many Irish figures will do nicely as Highlanders in this period.  No javelins though. Highlanders preferred the bow.

My Highlanders are from a mix of ranges and manufacturers. I think it helps create the right image.

The respective abilities of both sides’ artillery deserve attention. My current thinking is to give the English light guns.  The idea of making the English guns mobile as per the rules also appeals.  I should say they wont be very mobile.  

Here are two of mine.  

 

Guns from Donnington and very nice they are too.  

 

The crews are what I had lying about.  QRF I think. 

 

The Scots get heavy guns, great for making castles surrender but once placed on the battlefield they are stuck.  Here are mine  above and below.  I'm following the Billhooks convention of separately based guns and crews. Thus English heavy guns in France just need to add the crews.

The English Army at Flodden was quite an old-fashioned affair.  Mainly Bills and Bows, the innovative types were off in France. This means the troop types can be lifted directly from the Albion section of the rules.   

 

The Border Horse can come from the Northumbria chapter.  All very straight forward.

I'm putting together a QRS for Flodden and related engagements.  Play testing will commence once the troops are done.  I'm still wondering about the Special Event cards.

That’s it for the moment.  As for painting there is not much new to show.  I found a few more Scots and got them done.   QRF have re listed the rest I need but have yet to re stock them.  The artillery shown above is new.  English progress fell victim to my sudden need to complete my SYW collection.  They are now getting my attention.

The rest is history, appropriately enough.

More soon.