French Ordonnance and Italian Condotta

French Ordonnance

During the Italian wars, Swiss mercenaries formed the bulk of the infantry for which two elements of Swiss supported by Gascon skirmishers are present. In addition, French pikemen’ (7Hd) are listed representing the ‘old bands’, these were present at the Battle of Ravenna (1512). Currently, horde are on 30mm deep bases, but as this did not look right alongside the Swiss I increased their depth and added more pikemen.

Blue is the theme colour for the French uniforms, a nice contrast to the red seen on many flags. The Swiss are of Bern as can be seen with their banner and a second element carry the red/yellow of Bern with the cross of St. Denis to signify French employment. A red flag and white cross in differing shapes and sizes can be seen in many period illustrations and here they are carried by the French pikemen of Picardy, the mounted archers and an element of French knights. Anticipating the expansion of the French Ordonnance, I have flags for the Swiss of Uri and the ‘old band’ of Navarre done.

Italian Condotta

After 1405, the Republic of Venice had increased its domain by annexing the cities of Vicenza, Belluno, Feltre, Verona, Padua & Este to name a few. To bring more contrast to the ranks, the infantry represent four; Venezia, Verona, Bologna and Brescia. Spearmen and crossbow are separately based as my research found Florence as the sole candidate to field a double based unit of 8Cb at this time.

Flags were taken from the city coat of arms and uniforms reflect a similar colour combination. Lacking concrete information of the noble houses of Brescia and Verona the ‘elmetti’ carry flags of the same colour combination but in a different pattern. I did not use the ‘Lion of St. Mark’ as the banner for the general, but an alternative emblem, the cross. My plan is to expand the Condotta to 24 elements which would rectify this and include infantry from other cities.

Flags; Venezia (red ground/white cross), Verona (blue ground/yellow cross), Bologna (white ground/ red cross) and Brescia (white/blue).     

Danish (Union) and Swedish army

 

The Swedes

The allmoge form the core of the Swedish infantry. A few livery can be seen, but the majority wear earth coloured clothing to signify their militia/yeomanry status. This meant leather items needed a bit more red or orange to be noticed. Mounted elements are better dressed and even horse were given a darker colour wash then later highlighted. Garish colours were avoided as these are reserved for the Condotta.

Flag designs were taken from armorials of the noble houses, cities and municipalities. Another useful option is to find illustrations of the battles that took place between the Danes and Swedes. 

The Danes

In contrast to the Swedes, the Union have uniforms of a sort. The infantry was split into two groups and painted with a red-white theme for the Danes and green-yellow for German mercenaries. Both groups have a mix of spearmen, bill and crossbow or skirmishers. During the last two decades of the 15^th century, the pike would replace the spear and Landsknecht figures have arrived and will be painted soon.

Flags are for the most part red and white in a variety of shapes and sizes, only the commander carries the ‘Dannebrog’ flag. No early photos were taken so it is not possible to compare the change, but the photo below during the test games, but the photo below shows the effect that banners and flags have for a collection. 

Scots Common and Tudor English

 

During the test phase of this project I was very surprised how well the Scots Common and Tudor English are evenly matched. Historically, this was not so, but such is the charm of DBA3.

Following the army lists, 24 elements were set aside for some alterations.  

The Scots

Ground colours were darkened so highlighting became noticeable; a vast improvement over the ‘splash and dash’ method used previously. Clothing colour for the pikemen was varied as were the Highland rabble and archers. In George Gush’s Renaissance Armies states the blue bonnet did not become fashion until the next century, yet I found many depictions of Highlanders at Flodden wearing them. These will be fashioned later with Milliput as there are figures in other armies that will need similar treatment.

James died among his pikemen, so he is depicted fighting on foot under the royal banner. In the six tests this did prove effective. The flags are a small sampling of brigades led by Lord Home and those led by the King. I do have a flag painted for the Highlanders of Lennox and Argyll but,  I am still unsure if the Highlanders carried any flags at all.  

Tudor English

The army, led by the Earl of Surrey were for the most part assembled from the northern regions with the exception of those that marched from London. Therefore few figures have the green and white Tudor livery, but sport an array of colour in a similar fashion as the Scots. The original painting lacked detail and this was added enhancing the figures by a mile. All weapons and armour were redone. One element required rebasing and these were the cavalry converted to a LH Borderer. 

Elements used in the test games. 

Same elements made over. 

Further Test Games (1490 – 1515)

To explore conflicts outside the Italian peninsula I began with the Spanish invasion of Portugal. This will be followed by a number of nations bordering the Baltic Sea, such as Poland, Livonia, Lithuania, Muscovy. This should be interesting.

The Portuguese vs. the Spanish

Fast and furious can best describe the six matches. The Portuguese infantry are all classed as ‘fast’ (3Pk + 3Bd + Ps) which gave them an edge, whereas the Spanish were mindful of their pike block of four elements. Both sides ended their tests scoring three victories each.

Later Polish (IV/66) vs. Livonia (Teutonic Order IV/30)

Wooded landscape did not deter the Sword Brothers from trouncing the Polish in the opening game (4 – 2). The Polish countered enveloping both Livonian flanks earning a 4 – 0 victory. Livonia bounced back to winning game three, however, the best is yet to come. Bizarre can best describe game four as the Polish Hetman fell in turn two. Most of the Polish units were engaged leaving a column of Hungarian horse archers to fall on an exposed Livonian flank initiating a chain reaction to include the death of the Livonian Landmeister and the collapse of the entire army (5 – 2). The town militia (8Cb) were exchanged for war waggons in the last two games. The WWg earned their keep by supporting a third and fourth win for the Later Polish. In retrospect all were great games.

Muscovy (IV/44b) vs. Finland (Swedish list IV/54d)

The Swedes held an advantageous position between two woods leaving only half their army exposed. Muscovy failed to lure the Swedish out of their position and seeing their indecision the Swedes moved their archers forward to disrupt their formation. Taking advantage of the chaos, the Leidang closed on the Boyars to scatter the Muscovites (4 – 1). The Muscovites came close to winning game three with well-coordinated attacks by boyar and tartar horse archers, but this was not to be. The Muscovites lost all six test games mainly to cavalry lines falling in disarray by archers leaving surviving boyar to confront Leidang blade.

Tudor English (IV/83a) vs. Scots Common (IV/16)

Like Flodden Field both commanders dismounted, leaving the Border pickers the only mounted unit for these tests. Simulating Landsknecht pike tactics, the Scots handily won the opening test (5 – 1). However, a second win was not to be as the English blade fell on an open flank of a pike column to tip the scales in their favour (4 – 3). In the following test, the Scots held favourable terrain however, it also offered the English an opportunity to chip away at the pike blocks of the Scots earning a 5 – 1 victory. Game four was long and tenacious, both commanders locked in personal combat, however the deafening yells and shrill of Highland bagpipes signalled the defeat of the English left flank earning the Scots another victory (5 – 4). The next game is better described as a brawl than a battle, the Scots won a narrow victory (4 – 3) again through the effort of the Highland rabble. The final game was nearly a repeat of game four, long and tenacious struggles with both sides incurring even losses. An unlucky pike column sealed the fate of the Scots and England held the field with a 5 – 3 victory.

Summary

Of the three tests, the army of Ivan the Mis-understood was disappointing. Their composition is not unlike the early Byzantine which have proved successful in the past. Yet in contrast, the Swedes, well supported by their archers, were not averse to taking the battle to the Muscovites. The test games between the Scots and English were a nice surprise. All games were close with the artillery of both sides doing excellent work.  

After the completion of eight test matches of six games each there are not many more left to do. Between matches, I had time to rebase a few figures to make sword and buckler men, fast pikes and jinetes for the Spanish and Portuguese. After the final test matches, I can determine which armies I would focus on. This will mean some repainting to correct livery and of course adding flags.

Revisiting the Renaissance (1490 – 1515)

To asses which armies to focus on I decided to test a number of historical pairings that were involved in the Italian Wars, principally, the French Ordonnance, the Medieval German and the Italian Condotta. Standard size armies were used in the test but the primary goal is to build double size armies. 

Six games were played with each pairing as this would generate enough variation in deployment, terrain and combat opportunities. This generated some surprising results.

French Ordonnance vs. Italian Condotta

All six games were quick lasting an average of three or four turns (25 min.). Both sides made use of their mounted arm and artillery to score three victories. There were a few games where infantry played more that a support role and launched their own assaults. Doing so, they frequently prohibited the artillery to be fully employed. Condotta crossbowmen were 4Cb and not DBE in these tests. 

French Ordonnance vs. Medieval German

Surprisingly most were one sided games, the French scored five devastating victories. The last two games, the German swapped their 3Bd for a knight to help their mounted force. This produced a better match in game five forcing the French to earn their victory. The German sole win caught the French Ordonnance in an imperfect deployment. The lack lustre performance of the Germans might change by doubling their command size. 

Medieval German vs. Italian Condotta

The Imperial side won the first match followed by three defeats including the loss of a general in game four. The combination of Condotta artillery and crossbow played havoc with the Imperialist shredding their pike block. Game five, the Imperialist, amassing all their cavalry in one division surprised the Condotta to squeak by with a narrow victory. To repeat their success, the Imperial troops used the same deployment, but the Condotta countered this by neutralising Imperial support troops with artillery and crossbow leaving the Italian mounted to win a decisive victory. One the whole, matches required double the amount of time (50 min.) to reach a decision. 

After 18 games, I paused for a day and searched the internet for other conflicts set in the years 1490 to 1515. This next match was very interesting. 

Kalmar Union vs. Swedish

Like the French and the Condotta, these were brisk and fun games. Both sides had equal number of mounted troops (three elements), but infantry compositions had slight differences to make each game interesting. The Danes had artillery, pike, spear and fast blade to meet the blade and crossbow of the Swedes. Tight games with many troops locked in combat for several bounds with the victor edging the opponent out by one.

Further testing will continue with Poland, Lithuania, Muscovy, Livonia in the east and Portugal and Spain in the west. Certainly after another week of test I should have a better idea of which armies I should focus on and paint up flags. 

Refurbishing the Late Medieval collection (new project).

Back in 2012 I began actively collecting a number of high medieval or renaissance armies and those postings can be found by clicking on the Index scrolling down to the year 1400. Unfortunately, DBA 2.0 and 2.2 did not work well leading to a collapse in interest for the period. The collection was subsequently sold as many other ancient armies.

Playtesting DBA 3 three years later did rekindle my interest for the ancient period, but less so for the later medieval era. Introduced to the Witcher series of books, that opinion changed as I could visualise doing the campaigns between Nilfgaard and the Northern Kingdoms. Pursuing the idea further I bought figures for the period, developed a set of campaign rules, designed maps and playtested. Unfortunately club members had not a clue what the Witcher was about, so the project was shelved. 

Two examples, Redania

Having completed the refurbishment of the Arab armies and further the conversion of the Colonial Sudanese more Muslim armies I began looking at other possible projects within the collection.

It was during this time I had viewed a 10-part presentation of the Italian Wars on the internet. This was interesting as all the participants in the war I could assemble from the dormant collection. Looking at the clothing colours, all were generic and could pass for any Western European army. Excluding the elves and dwarves I had 155 elements to play with, but now a decision had to be made, which armies? 

Next post, the solution.  

The Tuareg 1000 AD

The Tuareg are the latest addition to the collection of Muslim armies and like the others this also of double size (24 elements). Camelry and infantry are conversions from the collection of Colonial Sudanese and the ansar provide the majority of figures with a small number of Fuzzy to represent Iklan skirmishers (negro serfs).

The DBA 3.0 army list for the Tuareg (III/70) has been revised such that a larger number of mountain tribesmen (3Wb) can be fielded in larger numbers as an option to an all mounted force.  This worked well as I could stretch the number of camel mounted figures to build two commands.

In addition to the usual filing and repositioning of weapons all the figures required veils. These were made with Milliput as were the saddle cloths and tassels for the noble lancers. Two such elements were done for the Almoravid and are pictured below. Photo one displays the effort so far and the next step is to fix the figures to plinths.

At the time of writing, all the figures are painted, but shields are needed for all the infantry figures and these will be made with Milliput. Check the link to view examples of Tuareg shields.

A few test shields were made laying each shield flat to be shaped and scored on non-stick paper. I will need about 30 shields. 

22-07-2020

The shields took longer than expected as many needed trimming to reduce their size. These were given to the hill tribesmen that fought with the Tuareg and both commands consist of an equal number of camel mounted and tribesmen. The additional elements represent the slave troops that fought along side the camel warriors.