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:

Early Byzantines on Parade and Future Plans for the Army

I took the opportunity to take some snaps of my Early Byzantine Army on Parade early this morning. I must apologise about the pictures, I seem to have altered the length of exposure without realising it; perhaps I should have waited until my morning coffee had kicked in before taking these pictures!

Without further ado here are the photos..... 

Formed Infantry Units

My plans are to add another unit of Dismounted Bucellarii/Extra Heavy Infantry (who will act as another Dismounted Heavy Cavalry unit), another Armoured Skutatoi and another unit of Unarmored Skutatoi too to fill out the ranks of the infantry.

Dismounted Bucellarii/Extra Heavy Infantry and Armoured Skutatoi

Skutatoi ,Attached Torsion Engine and Command Stand

I'm in the process of painting up an extra three command bases for the three other infantry units, two for the Unarmoured Infantry units and one for the Dismounted Bucellarii/Extra Heavy infantry.

Armoured Skutatoi and command Base

The Elites; Bucellarii and Dismounted Bucellarii/Extra Heavy Infantry

There is a heck of a lot more to come in the way of cavalry. I have two more units of Lancers  on un-barded horses, I will add another two on barded horses too! Then there is the Heavily Armoured Mounted Archers (these will also double as being placed in the back ranks of the army to move it forward in time a little toward the beginnings of the "Heraclian era". Oh, I forgot their Steppe Allies too so expect a few units of Horse Archers and a unit of Steppe Nobles or two!

Dismounted Bucellarii/Extra Heavy Infantry and Armoured Skutatoi and Army General Command Stand

I recently heard from Keith of Aventine Miniatures that Adam is sculpting some Army Generals so I suppose I will have to add another one or two Army general Bases too! It would be rude not to!

Psiloi with Slings

I will be adding the missing base of Slingers as well as two units of bow armed Psiloi. Possibly some Psiloi with javelins too.

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.

Belisarus' Boukellaroi

Carrying on from my overly enthusiastic post yesterday, Sneaky Peaky, I present to you Belisarius' Boukellaroi/Bucellarii. I have enjoyed painting up this unit more then any of the rest in the army and I think that is really says something! Every unit from the Aventine Early Byzantine range so far has been a real pleasure to paint up. Minimal cleaning up, perhaps a little filing here and there and very crisp castings. Adam's sculpting is sublime. I really think the whole range is exquisite.

The banner will be a dead giveaway to many so it will come as no surprise that I have painted up this unit as Belisarius' Boukellaroi. I have tried to include as much variation in colour on the horses to keep a real sense of individuality. Same with the bards on the equines. I have equipped the Boukellaroi in similar colours as their equipment would have been personally handed to them by the general himself and a degree of uniformity with minor variations such as patterns on the caparisons beneath the horse armours to allow for a small degree of individual expression without diminishing the uniform look.

I have been debating with myself as to whether to include pennons at the end of the kontos. I am almost certain that pennons would not have been used to decorate such a lengthy weapon as it was used as both a thrusting weapon and a fencing weapon. Fencing with a four meter long "spear" would have been almost impossible with the added encumbrance of the pennon.

As usual all the images are "clickable".

The Front Rank:

The Second Rank:

I have included a Draco standard in the back rank, carried by an officer, as I believe dressing the ranks would have been paramount for the unit as it entered combat at a cantor. The Draco standard also helps to offset the whopping great banner of Belisarius to the right centre of the unit. In art college speak by placing the Draco where I have the eye will move around the unit. Or at least that is my hope!

The Unit from Just Above Eye Level:

From a Higher Angle: