1470-1556 era Holy Roman Empire uniform and armor advice :)

[Fjodin]

I've made and order for some minis wich I wish to use for Holy Roman Empire at 1470-1556(I was always loved this faction in Medieval 2 Total War). I am new to  Renaissance   era so this will be my start into this period.

My small order:
8 pikeman landsknechts
8 arqebus landsknecht 
2 early 16 century cannon and 4 crew for each
4 gothic armor knights
unfortunately no regular infantry for now

Now I am reading Opsrey books about Landsknecht, and it says that they was mercenaries without uniform. Each warrior was unique and colourfull, so it will be a joy to paint. 

So my question is only for gunners and knights.
I know that The Empire was something like union of many german kingdoms. Does gunners of each kingdom wear some kind of uniform colours unique for each kingdoms, or I just can choose any colour from picture of Renaissance  artillery crew and apply to them?

And now about knights in Gothic Armor:

Is there are any list of patterns German gothic knights used in this period? I may assum that Medieval 2 Total Wars patterns are not very hictorian accurate

[Mad Doc Morris]

Actually 1470 to 1556 covers a lot of changes in clothing and armour. Think of equal time frames, say 1870 to 1956!
Judging from your order, you'll mainly be prepared for the very early 1500s: Flamboyant landsknecht costume appeared no sooner than 1490, and Gothic armour finally went out of fashion around 1510.

As you already know, back then armies were recruited on occasion. No standing army or stately forces. Soldiers had to provide their own equipment on enlistment, so no uniformity as well. 'Party affiliation' was indicated by wearing badges - or simply by distinct battle crys - and carrying a faction's banner. Sometimes, but rarely the employer provided pieces of clothing, fabric or merely dyes to mark 'his' troops with a distinct uniform (cf. the so called "Black Company" of Florian Geyer).

However, seemingly certain colours were favoured by certain troop types. Landsknecht gunners wore dark colours or black (since they had to deal with black powder a lot, obviously) and their guns' carriages were painted in red and black. But in general nothing to stop you from painting the landsknechte and the accompanying knights as colourful as you wish. There are several Osprey books about landsknecht warfare, and you can happily start from there.

[Fjodin]

Thanx
I am going to get all Osprey books about this era!

[Arlequín]

I'll back up what Mad Doc Morris said. Uniformity was something that was only dictated by 'fashion', very much as now, so while everyone was wearing similar clothes, they came in a variety of qualities and colours. The wide range of figures available, while usually generically termed 'Italian Wars' or 'Renaissance' often cover a wide period within even the same ranges. If you imagine the variety of clothing styles between say 1955-1980, and then imagine mixing all those styles together, you'd get some very anachronistic units. 

The Lansknecht 'style' itself went through several variations over time and each country had its own style variations initially. As units went from their own country to wherever the campaign was taking pace, they lost their distinctive look as they were forced to replace clothing from the local area, or from the battlefield. Therefore in Italy, for example, Spanish and French troops that had been 'in country' for a while would most likely look relatively identical and comparatively 'Italian' in comparison to fresh troops from their respective nations. 

Armour is also a complex subject as there were considerable differences between items produced in different countries. Germany and Italy were the centres of armour production and other nations copied their styles to an extent. The richer you were, the more up to date your armour. The less wealthy would be wearing cheap 'ammunition' (mass-produced) armour along with older styles and anything else that they could loot from the battlefield, this might therefore be a very eclectic mix.

The Assault Group do an excellent and expanding range for this period and I believe Crusader Miniatures were showing some Lansknechts recently too.

[Lowtardog]

Actually 1470 to 1556 covers a lot of changes in clothing and armour. Think of equal time frames, say 1870 to 1956!
Judging from your order, you'll mainly be prepared for the very early 1500s: Flamboyant landsknecht costume appeared no sooner than 1490, and Gothic armour finally went out of fashion around 1510.

I think this is well put you are looking at quite 
a wide time span
http://www.myarmoury.com/features.html
on this site under the section renaissance armies would give you a bit of an insite

[Fjodin]

And again - thanx for links!

[cdr]

you can go for some uniformed units. eg landsknecht I read somewhere that the Willibald Pirckheimer regiment dressed in red. The German guard of emperor Charles in white. ordinance archers (by this time Burgundy is one of the Kreis of the Empire) in livery.

Carl