Gonzalo -The Final Furlong

 

Above, Blue Moon Spanish Heavy Cavalry, some are fully equipped Gendarmes barded horses and all. Others have lesser armours. This is my take on the Spanish noble cavalry. 

A lot of the lesser nobility were in financial difficulties and it showed in their armament. Distressed Gentry supplied much of the military momentum across Europe. Assets and wealth were flowing relentlessly upwards. Centralising as we might say today.  

Those with good titles but empty purses sought military success to restore the family fortune.  It was worse for the poor of course. They joined the Army too but were unlikely to enjoy the tangible benefits of Royal attention.

I will note that the Caballeros were quite prepared to stick a lance into a French destrier if they thought it would defeat its rider. The French hated this. Good horses were very expensive. Also, Spanish Heavy Cavalry could and did fight as Genitors if circumstances required it.  I cannot say where the first flag above came from. The second is from David at Not By Appointment.  

Blue Moon Genitors above and below.  Good figures with a fine variation of pose and equipment. Note the feathered darts also found in Ireland.

Blue Moon Stradiots next.

Again fine variety of pose and equipment. The resulting units look the part.

I intend two units of these Stradiots. They could after all be found on all sides.

Venexia arquebusiers and crossbows. Mostly I have kept the Blue Moon and Venexia cavalry in separate units. I will make an exception for the Gendarmes. They work well together.

I thought I might usefully add a few flags. Imperial imagery for the Spanish and their Allies.

Pretty good Stradiots from Blue Moon.

A Venetian influence for these Blue Moon Stradiots. Another stronger unit below. I actually have Stradiots from Venexia and Mirliton too. All are good figures. I guess I just like Stradiots.

With that the project is nearly done. A base or two of gendarmes.  Another Colunella and more German Pikes for France are in the works. A unit of Italian swords and halberds and a couple more of crossbow skirmishers. We are near done. Parades will then ensue for each army. 

Italian Wars- The Italians!

 

Italy was the crucible of military innovation back then. That was where the real experimentation took place. The reasons are not hard to find. Warfare was near constant. It was fought by hired soldiers. Who could, more or less, find endless employ.  If something was militarily worth doing these soldiers did it. They were their own capital and wanted to live to enjoy their wages.

Also we should consider geography. Some Italians did a lot of Turk fighting. Turk fighting was different and no joke. Did it require Horse Barding? What with all those arrows flying? Maybe so. Whatever, the Italians liked it.

Hard lessons were learned, and disseminated. Gun powder was a winner. The composite bow had its fans and the crossbow was everywhere. It was the Italians who reintroduced horse hardened leather barding to the West. As a rule of thumb they had it, the French quickly imitated and Spanish mostly didn't.

Time was we thought the French swept down and pushed the mock fighters of the Duchies, Principalities, Republics and mercenary companies aside. The truth in that lay in two hard charging troop types. Swiss and Gendarmes. Even so neither proved bullet proof. 

The big winners were the Spanish. They learned their trade in Italy. Consider the Spanish Armies pre the Italian Campaign. I must write about that. Light Horse and swordsmen and crossbows. Some Knights of course. Never many. Then consider what Gonzalo made. Very different indeed.

My Italians are intended as the Mercenary Companies. I wanted them to be available to either side in any battle. You see them here. Toys from Alternative Armies (Pike Men) Blue Moon (Trumpeter) and Venexia. I hope you like them. Flags from Pete’s Flags. Note how well those Alternative Armies pike men fit with the Venexia archers. Not all soldiers from those two outfits work as well as that. Where they do, it is well worth exploring.

I’m having a stab at modelling the multi troop type formations the Italians liked to field. I wonder how they do?

Next time with the Italians we will see (Venexia)Arquebusiers mounted and foot and some (Blue Moon) Stradiots. I'm minded to add another base of Gendarmes. I also have some of the new Alternative Armies Florentines. We will have a closer look at them some time subsequent.

Lastly, if you fancy buying some Venexia don't hang back. Lancashire Games will put the prices up in May.

Figure Compatibility for the Italian Wars (15mm)

 

More of my collection for Gonzalo here today. I thought it potentially worthwhile to identify different Manufacturers figures that work well together.  The times being what they are are one firm has already died with its creator. RIP Giuseppe of Legio Heroica.  All "bigger" 15mm should you be unfamiliar with the brands. 

Here and at the top of the page another Swiss formation. Terrors of the Age and can you spot the two Venexia figures amongst the Blue Moon majority?

Next an all Blue Moon Italian formation. Front rank pavisers seconded by Crossbow men. The actual formation showed significant variation. Like this or with swordsmen or halberdiers in the second rank. The whole thing supported by small units of pike men and additional shot.  The Swiss tended to roll over them.

A gun and crew from Venexia.

At the time of writing Venexia are part of Lancashire games Spring Sale. Very good prices for Venexia.

French pole arms (Blue Moon and Venexia) with supporting (Venexia) crossbows.

Mounted Crossbows from Venexia alongside Khurasan French Archer cavalry.

That's it for now. I hope you find it useful if you are considering collecting for the Italian Wars.

Gonzalo Rides Again

 

Last year I noted that my Italian Wars Game "Gonzalo" was completed two years previous. That's 3 years in all, and counting. Gross neglect, and tardy of me to be sure.

Now my Italian Wars interest is back and so is Gonzalo.

David at Not By Appointment made me some flags for the famous Captains of the day. We are going to see them below, and one from Stuart at Army Royal. The command stands each comprise of two Venexia Gendarmes (Big 15s) and a Blue Moon trumpeter. Let me introduce them to you.

Pierre Terrail, Seigneur de Bayard. Universally acknowledged to be without peer or reproach. Incredibly he paid the peasantry for provisions rather than plundering them. A true paladin and popular with everyone. 

As you can see Venexia and Blue Moon work well enough together.

Louis de Tremouille, top of the page and above. You can see the cross of St. Denis replacing impressa on the French Commanders surcoats.

John La Palais, as above, so below as the Occultists used to say. Stuart Mulligan made the flag.

The last of the French today.

Two pic's of Berault Stuart.

All French so far of course. Well Berault was a Franco-Scot. He was also one of those Stuarts and therefore if I recall right, of Breton descent. So going back far enough, a Dumnonian.

To catch up I have more Spanish Commanders to do.  

The first is Diego Mendoza. His impressa was Fortuna’s Wheel.  The Spanish heavy cavalry could not match the numbers of the French gendarmes. Interestingly they seem to have trained to fight as both impact lancers and skirmishing jinetes. Even de Cordoba might fight as a jinete if he thought it called for.

Note the two versions of Fortuna's Wheel below. Favoured by Louis de Tremouille and the Spanish Commander Diego Mendoza. 

Being a fighting noble was chancy. Capture by a fellow noble mostly meant ransom. No such surety pertained if the commonality got their hands on you. A nod to Fortuna must have seemed a prudent precaution. 

The Spanish Colonela combining targeteers, pikes and shot.

I intend 3 of these. Not all of the same size because that varied.

Note above front a Gladiator Arquebusier wearing a feathered beret matches nicely with the otherwise all Venexia formation.

Next, we have some Imperial Landsknects from Venexia. The flags are from Pete's Flags. In Gonzalo I differentiated the fighting style of these German pikemen from that of the Swiss.

There we go, back with a bang. While we are on the Italian Wars let me commend the Helion series to you. Refreshingly good.

Unfinished Business-Outstanding Projects

You may have noticed that of late I have been completing projects, some of them quite big.  This is deliberate policy rather than hobby whim.  There is a certain satisfaction in this.  Job done, as it were.  Let the games now begin- sort of thing.

I still have some outstanding projects that demand completion.  At least that’s how I see them.  Let’s see what’s in the queue.

First is Gonzalo-a game for the Great Italian Wars.  Gonzalo is written. It was completed about 2 years ago. 

I re read it again this week.  Satisfactorily, it is clear as games systems go. By which I mean readers could play it without puzzling what they should do next. 

I thought it timely to knock out a couple more units.  Gascon Crossbows for the French should you have wondered.

Then, I thought again about the basing system I used for Gonzalo.  Currently it uses multiples of 30mm frontage.  

I’m minded to change that to multiples of 40mm. For the pure look of the thing you understand. Gonzalo is base size agnostic-providing you use the same sizes for both sides.  

As part of this I see the Genitors and Stradiots, looking better on hexagonal bases. Thus giving a visual clue to their fighting style.

Anyhow, the die is cast. 

You can see the new Gonzalo basing system in the pic’s above.  Lots of rebasing to come.

Next is "Never Mind the Ghulams" a Crusades Game. As the name suggests it owes some inspiration to "Bill Hooks". It works nicely and we will be seeing more of it shortly.

Very much in the same vein is Flodden which covers the Wars of Henry VIII should you wish an Anglo-centric shorthand.  This needs more work but not that much more.

You may know of my Spanish Civil War game Arriba é Non Pasaran. That’s done and it works beautifully.  Should you be curious you can see a couple of games elsewhere on this blog. It seems games can be professionally printed for a reasonable cost.  I may do this for Arriba é Non Pasaran.

On the horizon is a game for the Nine Years War in Ireland, Tyrone’s War if you like. Currently, that’s in the active development stage. I have written quite a lot on that conflict and you can follow my thinking by clicking the relevant tags.

I’m also about to return to the Spanish Conquest of Mexico.

A lot to do and all of it pleasant labour. 

Of course, this is merely the plan. 

Men plan and the Gods laugh.  Mike Tyson had thoughts on the durability of plans too. No doubt I will get side tracked. Luckily, it is said it is the journey that counts.

Meantime Dear Reader, a belated Happy New Year to you. May some Joy come your way and your endeavours be garlanded with success.

Swiss Pike for Gonzalo

 

After much delay I've returned to the Great Italian Wars.  First on my to do list was completing the Swiss Pike units. All of them intended for the French Army, hence the profusion of white crosses.  I had two units complete and one to do.  The outstanding one was one of the biggest so I prevaricated.  Above Venexia's offering and a fine one it is.  Lots of variety.

Below, we have the Blue Moon Swiss.

Another pic' of the same troops in a deeper formation.  Note that these fellows mainly lack armour even in the front ranks.  They have the long white plumes indicative of young Swiss heroes.  Accordingly, in Gonzalo, they will mover faster than their compatriots-themselves no slouches at the rapid advance.

There is much to commend the Blue Moon figures, not least an abundance of poses.  Next, we see mainly Legio Heroica figures, once more variations abound, with a few Blue Moon thrown in. Call this band the interim stage.

Finally, the completed unit and the complete Swiss contingent.  There's over 100 figures all told.

With officers from Blue Moon, one for each unit.  Swiss command was collegiate.

 

Lastly,from Museum Miniatures.

An Organ Gun, this one is destined for Imperial or Spanish Service. So, I found myself on a roll, a Swiss roll in fact. That's not a sentence you often get to write.

Consequently, I have finally got to the Imperial Landsknechts, the French ones are already done. Four bases done so far, that's 24 figures.  I'll be able to cheat of course, deploying back ranks to and from either formation.

Version 2 of my Gonzalo rules for The Great Italian Wars has been printed out too. A game is imminent.