Swiss Mercenary Band Types for Fornovo

It has been a bit of a week. A few days ago I somehow inexplicably managed to drop a large heavy Jamie Oliver wok crashing into my right hand! It was not hot, but it bruised my hand and it was too damn painful to lift a brush up until a few of days ago. Then just to add to my misery and from out of nowhere, a somewhat vicious cold suddenly came on within a few hours. I am officially Clinically Extremely Vulnerable so the anxiety took over and would not let go. I have had my two jabs, about three weeks since the cold hit me so at east I would have some protection if it was indeed Covid. I did manage by doing an hour here and and hour there over a three day period to complete more "speed painted" Swiss. The irony of using the phrase "speed painting" is not lost on me but it was the same technique I used on the "speed Painted" Swiss I completed a few days ago so I am stuck with the label.

These chaps have been given the "mercenary band" treatment in terms of their dress as illustrated by Massimo Predonzani in the book, The Italian Wars Volume 1, The Expedition of Charles VIII into Italy and the Battle of Fornovo. 

I have gone for the something close to the garish mix of colour as seen on Massimo's illustration above. I am not yet sure whether I will add all eight miniatures to one base or sprinkle them around in the 64 figure unit with their more conventionally dressed comrades. They might look a bit odd sitting in their own base so probably sprinkled around un the unit?

This cold has quite a lot to answer for as looking at the pictures on my screen I have just noticed that I have failed to add any crosses to the hose or tunics. Luckily these fine fellows have not entered into the varnishing process so there is still time to potentially save their souls!

Swiss Pike and (sort of) Stradiots

It has been a bit of an odd week. First, two posts in one day; I am not sure if I can remember that ever happening before. Second, I have been cleaning up some Perry European Armies  metals for my Italian Wars, Battle of Fornovo 1495 project. There were some spectacularly difficult lumps of metal on some of the miniatures and I am not talking flash or run offs here, which are both a good thing. I am talking chunks of the mould missing that creates ungodly lumps on the miniatures that are extremely laborious not to mention dangerous to remove, that is, without taking a digit off! I know, I have come very close to suffering this fate before. Definitely chunks of mould missing. I bought quite a few packs when the EU codes were first released and compared to the packs that arrived sometime in December of last year there is s huge difference in the quality of the castings. I realise that I am treading on hallowed ground here.....

I did manage to get the eight Swiss from a former post matted down after a long wait for the Gloss varnish to go off.

Anyway, enough of my whinging. I chose an all metal Swiss Bike Block of a total of 64 miniatures per block. That's quite a few to clean up so I really ought to be happy that I managed to pull it off, but, there is always that nagging feeling that I have not done enough painting at the back of my mind. If you're interested in what I have decided, or not as the case may be, for the Livery colours of the Swiss at Fornovo then hop over to this blog post for a brief discussion HERE. I have mixed in some of the beautiful Steel Fist, Swiss Front Rankers, some with the variations supplied and some applied to Perry Plastic European Mercenaries bodies. no pics as they are awaiting to be cleaned up with a bit of soap and water as I had to use some ProCreate putty to fill in a few of the gaps. I'll photo them as they are painted.

I also managed to complete four horses for the Stradiot Light Cavalry with three more including their riders in various stages of painting and varnishing.

The horses have been speed painted (i.e. at least fast for me!) and are not of the same quality as my Early Byzantines but hey, I have to get this lot painted before I pop off this mortal coil and this really is the only way! :>) To give you some idea of the speed, all eight Swiss were completed in one sitting last Sunday so I'm not sure in terms of hours as I was not counting. next time I will take note of the painting times.

Very Glossy and Still very Tacky:

Nicely Matted Down:

Swiss Pike at The Battle Fornovo 1495 Livery Quandary/Question?

I've started speed painting up some Swiss Pike for my long overdue Battle of Fornovo 1495 project. Please excuse the gloss varnish in the picture; the miniatures are patiently waiting another six days before they see any matt varnish. I decided to go for a speed painting method as realistically this was the only way they are ever going to get onto the table top before I kick the bucket! It was a simple choice between speed painting leaving the miniatures to languish in the box or clean them up and start painting! The mini's have been painted in the Canton colours of Lucern and Zug. It seems clear that the Swiss did not fight in their traditional Canton liveries at Fornovo (see below) but a few here and there sprinkled in will not look too out of place. 

I will be putting much more effort into painting the command stands and vignettes but the rank and file will have to make do with what they get for the reasons outlines above. It must be nearly a decade since conception of the project and the one vignette so far is really not doing the job of putting on a display game! LOL

These will be representing the Swiss pike hired by Charles VIII during his Invasion of Italy culminating in the battle of Fornovo. The question I have is what sort of liveries would they be wearing? Given the vast wealth of the Kingdom of France it seems only logical that many of the mercenaries would have been given a livery coat or at the very least a least a sash. Or alternatively would at least some of them have fought in the colours of their Canton? They were certainly hired as Mercenary "bands" It is a question that I find some difficulty in answering to my satisfaction. I think I may have to compromise and go for both interpretations. Possibly have a few Canton liveries at the back of the pike square and something more akin to that of the image below taken from The Italian Wars Volume 1, The Expedition of Charles VIII into Italy and the Battle of Fornovo, Massimo Predonzani, Rahelel Tico, Vincenzo Alberici, Helion and Company 

It does seem that the Swiss were given to more lavish, dare I say garish, clothing during the campaign.

At present I have eight painted up, completed in one sitting, in the colours of the Canton of Lucerne. I will be adding to these while I work out how to go about speedily representing the multi coloured hose and sleeves. 

I am also in a bit of a quandary over whether to add in any Canton banners. There is extant evidence that the Swiss fought under banners supplied by Charles VIII as seen below:

From The Italian Wars Volume 1, The Expedition of Charles VIII into Italy and the Battle of Fornovo, Massimo Predonzani, Rahelel Tico, Vincenzo Alberici, Helion and Company:

They bear them in front of the square shaped flag with a rounded fly end displaying a white cross in the middle on a field of azure and gules (blue and red). These colours do not belong to any of the cantons of Switzerland of the time; therefore, the group of soldiers must be part of a free company. One hypothesis could be that the depicted infantry kept the same banner they bore under the French; in fact the Aragonese and Italians sported the red cross to set themselves apart from their enemies beyond the Alps.

"The Battle of Fornovo", preserved in the National Gallery of Art in Washington (see below), is another iconography depicting Swiss flags of the time. This print is interesting because it accurately portrays the battle; the weapons used and the garments.

The infantry square of the Swiss troops in the pay of France is in the meddle of the scene, and exhibits among the pikemen's ranks five flags with a slightly pointed fly end displaying the cross. However, since the etching is on black and white, the field colours of the flags are not visible.

If anyone reading this has any info regarding the clothing, liveries and banners carried by the Swiss at Fornovo I would love to hear from you. There is a contact form on the right panel of my blog if you wish to get in touch.