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.

Painting Zulus

 

Time was Zulus got painted black because they were (and are) Black People. Except Zulus aren’t very black, Black People. So that won’t do. You can see photos of Zulus and skin colour tends lighter as Black People go.

I’m currently half way through painting a bunch of second hand Zulu figures. The previous owner had undercoated them black. That makes it difficult to see the head ring that denominates the experienced warrior who got to marry. The non head ring lads are younger and perhaps fiercer. The Zulu Nation was quite strict about pre- marital congress. You got to marry after being successful in battle. Call the young fellows incentivized.

The head ring lads are combat veterans who have seen it all before. Maybe a little slower but boy were they steady.  Marriage might do that to a man.

Anyhow, there is a lot of skin to paint with your average Zulu warrior. Getting the skin tone right is a major part of a good result. Here is how I painted mine. I hope it is of some use to anyone interested in painting Zulus.

Black undercoat is good. Sort your head rings from non- head rings first.

Paint loin cloth, monkey tail kilt and whatever, rear of shield and weapons and hair.

Use a mid- brown to pick out muscles, knee caps, elbows, including brow and nose.

Highlight the above with a leather brown. Paint the head ring grey.

When dry apply a wash of undiluted nut brown ink.

Let it dry overnight and varnish the next day.

Now turn to the front of the shield. Any unit with a head ring will have more white in their cow hide shield. The most experienced units might have white shields. The new boys (no head rings) have mainly dark coloured shields albeit with the odd splash of white.

Getting the shields right is demanding because of the laces that run in a line down the centre. It is easier to create a visual impact by using a contrasting colour for the lace.

There we go, Zulus hopefully looking like Zulus. Mine are intended for TMWWBK.

While we are on TMWWBK. It advises us to deploy a token when the unit's Leader becomes a casualty leaving it leaderless. The token indicates the unit is leaderless. Why not just add a non fighting leader figure and remove it when the leader becomes a casualty?

My Zulus are from Lancashire Games and Essex Miniatures. The former tend slender but both are OK together. BTW, Lancashire British do not size well with their Zulus at all.

Luckily, Essex and Minifigs British do size well with my Zulus. See above.

Next time we will see the British and some interesting bits and pieces I picked up via ebay.

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.

League of Augsburg - Huguenot Horse and Foot

Ian Kay of Irregular Miniatures who supplied nearly all of my League of Augsburg Collection has retired. A great lad all together who has done good service to the hobby. And, let us not forget, ran a very successful business. All in all one of life's good bloke's.

Today's offering comes in the form Huguenots and English Dragoon Guards. Fittingly all figures are from Irregular Miniatures. The flags are from David at Not By Appointment.

Schomberg's Horse above. I intend a second squadron. Note both variants of the flag.

The English Dragoon Guards. Both squadrons and the Flags are from David once more.

Top of the page and below Cambon's Huguenot Regiment of Foot. David freshly researched the flags.

I have modelled the regiment as Pike and Shot in Beneath the Lily Banners speak. Note the Grenadiers on the left of the formation.

Paraguayan Progress in 15mm

 

Back in October '25 I announced that I was waiting for a deliver of Paraguayan Horse, Foot and Guns in 15mm.  These have now begun to arrive in increments. I'm painting by order of arrival. Above you can see a battery of artillery. Much to like here what with kilts, kepis and shakos.  

The guns are Naismith from Keep Wargaming. I'm utterly charmed by these little pieces. I have Parrot's, 12pdr's and Whitworth's, very nice. Let us acknowledge the excellent and speedy service from Keep Wargaming. 

My concept of the Paraguayan Army is very brave but often poorly equipped infantry, courageous cavalry and good artillery. Those Paraguayan fellows liked to pound and charge.

The first  of 2 squadrons of regular cavalry. Note the interesting headwear. Lancers to a man as were almost all Paraguayan cavalry. These are quite detailed to paint. Sticking the paper pennants to their lances can be tricky.

More Paraguayan cavalry note the painted tri colour on the shakos. No cloth needed. Again, 3 squadrons are the goal.

My first unit of Paraguayan infantry. Some units included spear men. One or two were very well armed. All liked to charge home.

All figures from FK 15 a venerable make. I intend 6 battalions of these. As you can tell by the pic's the light was extremely variable this morning. I'm making an attempt at Indian flesh tones above. Oriental Flesh with a wash of Burnt Sienna.

I have much more to come and in future we will see a mixed presentation of units by nationality. Triple Alliance soldiers and Paraguayans depending upon what I have painted.  

If you are waiting for the second part of my Balaclava piece my apologies. I'm checking some source material. Hopefully it will be done next week.

The Armies of Ptolemaic Egypt -First Impressions

 

More properly The Armies of Ptolemaic Egypt - Cleruchs, Mercenaries and Machimoi by Stéphane Thion. New and expanded and in English for the first time. A book then, from Helion.  Why First Impressions? Because there is an awful lot here. I cannot hope to review with justice the scholarship therein. Space prohibits it.

I can say if you fancy doing a Ptolemaic Army this book will see you alright  for the early, middle and last armies. The page count is 151, a paper back with 30 pages of full colour  illustrations by the author. 

The style is reminiscent of the old WRG books if your memory stretches that far. The illustrations are first rate and the product of diligent research. Mind you, conjecture finds its place too.  You see two plates from the book on this page.

For example we have a page showing the colours of soldiers chitons and chlamydes (tunics and cloaks) incredibly useful.

There are other photographs and black and white drawings of surviving depictions and reconstructions of the Ptolemaic soldiers. You can see some of mine on this page.

Here are the chapter headings ignoring the dedication (to Angus McBride) acknowledgements, sources and intro etc.

The Ptolemaic Dynasty

Main Components of the Ptolemaic Army

Organisation of the Ptolemaic Army in the Third Century BCE

Ptolemaic Army in Battle Gaza, Raphia and Panion

The Transformation of the Ptolemaic Army in the second century BCE

The Fall the first century BCE

Military and Civilian Dress

An opponent of the Ptolemaic Dynasty: The Jewish Army of the Second and First Century BCE

Conclusion and Appendix: Numbered and ethnic evidence of hipparchies.

I paid less than £20 for my copy including postage. Money well spent. If you are interested in the Diadochi or Ptolemaic Egypt this book will not disappoint.

We will be back at Balaclava next week.