Kepis and Bayonets- Italian Wars of Independence

 

Pleasingly Old Glory figures for this period match nicely with those of QRF. Today  we have Piedmont troops and Garabaldini. Let's start with the cavalry, Lancers from Old Glory.

Piedmont Regular infantry. These were an ebay bargain, sort of. There were equal numbers of command and private soldiers. I hadn't noticed. Good castings mind you.

Still, scope for expansion.  They are from Old Glory.

QRF Bersaglieri above and the two pics below. Good troops that can skirmish and form line.

They fit perfectly with Old Glory 15mm.

Next, my penultimate unit of Redshirts.

I need to work on the multi-bases to get a satisfactory look. They are new to me. All part of the fun. They are from Warbases who enjoy a justified good reputation.

Not much left to do for these chaps. A gun and crew, the command figures and the final unit of Redshirts.  Then we will have a parade. On the other side I await the Papal Zouaves from Blue Moon. Happily there is a lot of manufacturer compatibility with this project.

Back to the French and Indian Wars next week. I'm putting the finishing touches to my Compagnies Franches de la Marine today.

 

 

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.

The Queen of Battles- Great Italian Wars

 

When thinking of pike, it is hard not to bring to mind the Great Captains, De Cordoba, Montluc, and, of course, Mainwaring.  Really though, it’s all about the Swiss.  If you didn’t hire them, how did you stop them?

There were different approaches.  

De Cordoba put his faith in entrenchments and fire power backed by pikes and swords of his own.  That was informed by repeated Spanish failures to hold the Swiss. In ideal circumstances it worked.

French commanders liked to blow them apart at a safe distance with concentrated artillery.  That could work but mostly didn’t.  Gendarmes could stymie a Swiss charge too, at a cost.  Sensibly, the French mainly hired the Swiss and encouraged their own pike soldiers to emulate their methods.

Germans decided to take the Swiss on at their own game.  Indeed, they went further, developing a pike fencing skill set that the Swiss didn’t have.  They had a great victory surrounded and over shadowed by a halo of Swiss inflicted defeats.

The Swiss were poor men with a poor man’s weapon.  Armour was limited to the front ranks.  Most Swiss went into battle with sword and pike and if they were lucky a helmet.  Consequently, they moved fast unencumbered and superbly well drilled.  Morale was sky high.  They not only expected to win, they knew they would.  Wisely they refused to fight each other when those who hired them fell out.

It took a long time and a very bloody defeat to check Swiss elan.

It follows then, that any consideration of the Great Italian Wars should reflect on just how much the activities and abilities of the Swiss shaped events.  The Swiss weren’t just pike men they were the pike men.  Generals opposing them had to plan how to contain the Swiss charge. I kept all of this in mind when writing Gonzalo.

Currently, I'm giving each Swiss unit 2 cards in the play deck. All other units get one.  That means the Swiss will be unpredictable and able to close much faster than other pike men.  They will also hit hard.  Should they be held other considerations might come into play.  I'm thinking of Spanish Rondeleros and the pike fencing techniques of Landsknechts.

You can see some of my pike formations above.  I intend to have more.  The Spanish will have four Colunellas, the Swiss three units and there will be both Imperial and French Landsknechts.  The Black Band? Certainly, and painted in accordance with the latest info' on favoured colours and flags. French Old Bands? Probably two units.

In terms of fighting pike ranks I've opted for three in Gonzalo, with an option for a, non fighting, fourth to replace casualties in the front ranks.  On that basis the unit below is either two thirds or half finished.  For pike unit width I'm going with two bases as below, or three or four.  Spanish Colunellas will deploy as you see in the pic's above, or two such side by side.

 

You may be asking what about the Italians?  I think they deserve a post, or maybe two, of their own.  The figures are being assembled.

More soon.