Charlie's 15th century - Burgundian handgunners (Sep 23)

[whill4]

Nice work. I have been following this thread with interest. If you get a chance would you please offer some tips on how you make your banners and standards interchangeable. Thank you.

[Charlie_]

If you get a chance would you please offer some tips on how you make your banners and standards interchangeable. Thank you.

I do plan to do a post about that in the future, I'll take some pics when I next make some new flags!

[whill4]

Thank you! Looking forward to the post.

[Cacique Caribe]

Wow, what a thoroughly inspiring thread!  Thanks so much for that treat.

Dan

[Metternich]

Some very nice painting there Charlie.  And thanks for including the very helpful size comparison shots.

[Charlie_]

https://fullharness.blogspot.com/

Slow work in progress...

Been a while since my last post - October is a very busy time of year for me, so painting slows to a glacial pace. I still manage to get at least a little bit of paint on most evenings, but it takes much longer than normal to complete a batch of figures this time of year.

The current focus is on French 'heavy' infantry, and as I said in a previous post it will be some time before this results in finished units. I'm approaching it in a slightly different way to normal, as I haven't yet decided how I'm going to group and base them. So I'm just converting and painting up a random batch of figures which I plan to use in the unit(s), and will decide how to group and base them when they are all done!

Therefore I thought it would be worth sharing some 'work in progress' posts along the way.

Here's the current rather small number of finished figures. Almost all of them are converted in some way or another, and not all of them are Perry Miniatures.



Let's take a closer look at some of them.

These are both Perry metals, the captain on the right has had a headswap.



This is a Perry plastic with a Steel Fist head, from their Italian Wars light cavalry packs.



This conversion (using the same Perry plastic body as the last one) has had nice riding boots and mail under his brigandine sculpted with green stuff. His arms are also made from various different plastic parts.



These three are Perry metals and have had new clothing layers sculpted on. All three have been given livery jackets, and the mail shirt and padded jack of the two on the left are also new additions (previously they were wearing just plain doublets, ideal for sculpting new layers on to). The two on the right have new heads from Wargames Foundry.



And here's an example of mixing different manufacturers together. On the left is a Perry metal (with a Wargames Foundry headswap), in the middle is Front Rank (with the oversized halberd head replaced by a better scaled plastic Perry glaive) and on the right is Grenadier (again with his oversized weapon removed and replaced, this time by a Front Rank pollaxe). I'm not a fan of the whole Front Rank and Genadier ranges, but have found certain individual sculpts I like from both.

[HappyChappy439]

Great work on the conversions! The subtle swaps go a long way, they're really effective!

[commissarmoody]

Nice conversion work.

[MaleGriffin]

I love the conversion work, especially the boots!

[bluechi]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/Wappen_Philippe_de_Hochberg.jpg/544px-Wappen_Philippe_de_Hochberg.jpg

this is the heraldry of Philip....1476

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Burg_R%C3%B6tteln_-_Unteres_Tor.jpg

difficult to say whats right.

it must be the Baden/Neuenburger/Savoyen so it is on the gate of the Palas of Castle Rötteln he build . Next visit make a Picture

[Charlie_]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/Wappen_Philippe_de_Hochberg.jpg/544px-Wappen_Philippe_de_Hochberg.jpg

this is the heraldry of Philip....

Ahh yes, well found, I had found that one myself but decided it was not actually his heraldry, but rather his family arms and his wife's together. My reasoning being....
1 - The shield is captioned below as "Phillippe de Hochberg 1487-1503 / Marie de Savoie" (the date being when he succeeded his father as Count of Neuchatel). The right hand arms would indeed be those of Mary of Savoy, a daughter of Amadeus IX Duke of Savoy and Yolande of France (sister of Louis XI of France, thus the Savoy/France quartering).
2 - Apparently this is found at Neuchatel castle. I have also found the image below (1) which, with identical surrounds, is surely from the same location, perhaps alongside it. It is for his father, Rudolf de Hochberg, and again shows the family arms alongside his wife's family (Margaret de Vienne, and that is indeed the Vienne family arms).
3 - All other sources I can find show the seals of both father (Rudolf) and son (Philippe) once he had inherited as being the images below (2), including his/their seal.

Thus I've taken this to mean that the shields on the wall at Neuchatel castle (presumably there are others) show the family arms of the ruling Hochberg-Sausenberg family halved with those of their wives, with dates for when the count ruled. These are NOT actually their coats of arms.

(1)


(2)




EDIT responding to your edit
I hadn't seen that second image before, again it looks to be the same as all my other finds for both Rudolf and Philippe. Good find!

My heraldry for Philippe is supposed to be his during his father's lifetime, before he inherited, so he presumably would be using something different. It just happens that the arms for Badenweiler, which he was lord of before inheriting, are the same in different colours, so seems like a fair bet to me!

[bluechi]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/Siegel_Philipp_v_H-S.jpg/658px-Siegel_Philipp_v_H-S.jpg

 i think that is the Neuchatel colours red/silver(white). While Rötteln/Badenweiler/Sausenburg going 1447 together and build since than the "Markgräflerland". who comes 1503 to Christoph1 of Hachberg(Hochburg).

but this is "Dipfeleschisserei" in "Markgräfler slang" ;-D

next time visiting Rötteln gonna make a Picture of the Palas gate....thats interrest me....thanks for new adventure in history of my area. At the moment reading the history of Peter von Hagenbach/Bilgeri von Heudorf/Wilhelm Herter von Herteck....

[bluechi]

Here it is...
https://wappenwiki.org/index.php?title=House_of_Baden-Hachberg

[Charlie_]

https://fullharness.blogspot.com/

Burgundian halberdiers

Question - How many times can a unit be rebased?

Apparently the answer is currently three! Most of the models in this unit have been rebased three times. Originally they were based singly, and then were among my first units to be redone in the multi-base format. There were lots of them back then - some of the models here are actually among the first ever Perry Miniatures I painted about seven years ago. Over time the number of polearm troops grew until I could group them into I think five units of thirty. When I made the switch to a true historical project, they were re-organised into two large units. And I've now decided to reduce them further into one single unit of thirty. Why?

- Most of my German infantry should really be pikemen. Two over-large units of halberdiers didn't quite feel right. One small unit to accompany the larger pike blocks seems better.

- They look best in three ranks of ten, all in advancing/attacking poses, weapons at 45 degrees or lowered. I like the close-packed 'forest of polearms' look.

- A lot of the ones I'd painted years back haven't held up alongside my more recent units, both in terms of painting and posing. I've chosen the best of the bunch for this one unit.

- I want this unit to definitely look German in its weaponry and armour, so have made sure they are mostly armed with halberds of various styles. A scattering of glaives, and no bills.

- I also carefully chose some of the less German-looking ones to use for the future French units.

So here they are - German halberdiers in the service of Burgundy. German infantry were hired in large numbers from 1477 onwards to help defend against the French invasion, and over the years Maximilian relied on them more and more.

They are of course mostly Perry Miniatures (all metals, no plastic), with a scattering of Wargames Foundry and Steel Fist. Many headswaps and other minor conversions.

[MaleGriffin]

Magnificent polearms-men! Absolutely gorgeous! Pray tell what caused your dislike of plastics?