Hello!
To mix things up from the past infantry posts, here is a unit of Gendarme heavy cavalry.
These are 28mm metal models from Eureka Miniatures. I found them to be very good figures, providing excellent examples of the bewildering variety of martial fashion and armour design found during the late fifteenth and sixteenth century. The figure packs come with a wide assortment of weapons, horses and plumage, so you can mix and match to your heart's content.
I armed this unit with the classic heavy cavalry lance (instead of sword and mace) as it seemed so iconic to the period. The stock lance that comes with the figures is quite nicely modelled, but since they've been cast in soft white metal, they're very prone to bending and so are difficult to keep straight.
So, with this in mind I clipped off the lance shafts, drilled-out the grips and replaced the lot with sharpened steel rods. It was a bit of a hassle, but I think it pays off in the end (and it allows me to petulantly poke my opponents if things don't go my way during a game).
I was planning to paint the lances in the classic 'barber-pole' fashion, but discovered that the painted lances were often reserved for parade events and tournaments, whereas the 'war lances' were typically raw, unfinished wood. This appealed to my sensibilities, as in my mind's eye I think that when one saw these guys arrayed with plain wood lances it would send a message that they weren't there to pick up ladies' hankerchiefs - they were there to get things sorted.
It's easy to think of gendarmes as being a uniquely French formation, but in fact most of the nations involved in the Italian Wars could draw upon heavy cavalry formations arrayed similarly (though the French were reported to have the edge in horses and experience). As such, I wanted to be able to 're-flag' the unit depending on the scenario. I unashamedly stole James Roach's brilliant idea of sleeving the flags so they can be easily swapped in and out. Basically this involves cutting a plastic or brass tube with which to wrap the flag around. Glue a finial on top to complete the ruse de guerre. The flagstaff itself is left bare at the top so the sleeved banners can simply be socketed on as required.
The banners are from Pete's Flags' excellent Italian Wars range.
As many gendarmes were of noble birth I thought it would be fun to tart up the bases with a pack of hunting hounds to add a bit more visual interest and reinforce the sense movement to the unit. I sourced the wolfhounds from Gripping Beast (I did a bit of reading on the subject of sporting dogs and indeed, there were French wolfhounds bred during the period).
The groundwork is the same autumnal theme that I've been using for my other Italian Wars units. Admittedly it's a bit over the top, but hey, it's Renaissance Italy, it should be a riot of colour. This all being said, I've been going through tufts and shrubs like crazy, so a resupply will be needed very soon...
To close off, here is a shot of some poor Bolognese crossbowmen about to serve as a speed-bump for a unit of papal heavy cavalry. Yeah, that's gonna hurt...
Thanks for dropping by! I hope to be back in a week or so with an update.
19 September 2010, 06:53:43 PM
