Showcase

Italian Wars  1494 - 1544

Few troops can match the full colour and splendour of the Landsknechts (German mercenaries of the 16^th century). The legendary “Black legion who served the French army are depicted here too, along with landsknechts of the Holy Roman Empire (once described as neither Holy, Roman, nor an Empire!). Most of the figures are made by Foundry, with some Old Glory cavalry, and some Games Workshop knights added in as fully armoured Gendarmes. The landsknecht handgunners and halberdiers are also from the Games Workshop Empire range and some of the Milanese figures are drawn from the Front Rank “Wars of the Roses” range. 

This period works well for umpire controlled multi-player games, with various mercenary factions having ulterior motives for fighting, and forging complex alliances and webs of intrigue. It also lends itself to my penchant for devising fictional scenarios and colourful characters as the protagonists.

Such characters as...

I took the lead on this project as a “League of Augsburg” club demo game in 2002/2003. I wanted to depict the fusion of medieval and renaissance of the late 15^th/ early 16^th centuries. The addition of monks rescuing art treasures from the church, a painter at work and a violinist playing from a nearby balcony gave the game the required “renaissance” ambience!

The rules I use are my own adapted version of “1644” (which is in some ways the fore-runner of Warhammer ECW rules). Although they were designed for battles some 140 years later, I simply took the basic troop types of Horse, Musket, and Pike, then added in some new factors for more heavily armed troops and the more “agricultural” nature of the firearms. The release of the Armies of Chivalry supplement for Warhammer Ancient Battles probably offers a better option for gaming this period. There are other rule sets which should also be considered… such as DBR and Maximillian, to name but two.

The French Army  

a mixture of Black Legion Landsknechts, Heavy gendarmes, Crossbowmen and Swiss pikemen. One of the Gendarmes has been rather too keen in plunging into the stream before testing the depth. Very rash these heavy cavalry chaps.

The Imperialist army

won the Skelp Wargames show 2004  painting competition for Best Wargames Army. The flags are conjectural, but based on those typical of the period. The motto on the white flag in the pike block does appear as a slogan used in the 16^th century. Can you translate it? Perfect for the common Landsknecht foot-soldier, I think!   

The striped pikes are conjectural... but why not! In many periods I use this as a means of identifying units, and I think it works particularly well here.