1620s Swedish / Finnish Bowmen - any ideas for figures?

[Friends of General Haig]

Recently  was reading again Michael Fredholm Von Essen’s excellent ‘The Lion From the North’ (volume 1) and was reminded of the tantalising mention of Gustav Adolph hiring (possibly Finnish) bowmen to protect Swedish infantry while on the march when they would not have their match lit.

Idle thinking over the holiday period has got me thinking that there may be some neat little vignettes possible, just to add some colour.  I started to look for potential figures.

Here is the list I have come up with so far, but I would be really interested if the illustrious other members here have other / further ideas? (I’m aiming for 28mm.)

I am assume they will be fairly standard (early) 17th century dress. I accept there will need to be some conversion and so far I’ve looked at late 16th century bow armed figures as starting points.

Wargames Foundry. A couple of poses in their Swashbuckler range, and a pack in their English 16th century range. Possible.

TAG.  Lots of bowmen in their English Tudor range but they look like they would take more converting.

Hoka Hey Border Reivers - Garrison Bowmen look like a head swap and minor conversion to doublet and breeches would work.

I look forward to seeing your ideas. 

[traveller]

I would go for TAG Song dynasty bowmen ( or similar) with a fur hat headswap:

https://theassaultgroup.co.uk/product-category/medieval-asia/song-dynasty/

Finnish peasant soldiers late 16th century:

[Kadrinazi]

Recently  was reading again Michael Fredholm Von Essen’s excellent ‘The Lion From the North’ (volume 1) and was reminded of the tantalising mention of Gustav Adolph hiring (possibly Finnish) bowmen to protect Swedish infantry while on the march when they would not have their match lit.

AFAIK there's no period source evidence of such archers being recruited and/or used at all. Information comes from mid-19th century book by Henning Hamilton and was since repeated by many others authors who never bothered to look into it. Authors of 'Sveriges Krig 1611-1632' that really done great job in digging through Swedish archive materials never mentioned archers, while discusssing recruitment of 1627. There's no mentions in Polish sources about archers in Swedish army being present in Prussia and I dare to say I did fairly proper research in Polish relations from 1626-1629 war. So while story seems interesting and surely will make nice modelling idea, I do not believe is historically accurate.

[Friends of General Haig]

I would go for TAG Song dynasty bowmen ( or similar) with a fur hat headswap:

https://theassaultgroup.co.uk/product-category/medieval-asia/song-dynasty/

That is a fabulous cross army spot, Traveller! Thank you very much. 👍

AFAIK there's   no period source evidence of such archers being recruited and/or used at all. Information comes from mid-19th century book by Henning Hamilton and was since repeated by many others authors who never bothered to look into it. Authors of 'Sveriges Krig 1611-1632' that really done great job in digging through Swedish archive materials never mentioned archers, while discusssing recruitment of 1627. There's no mentions in Polish sources about archers in Swedish army being present in Prussia and I dare to say I did fairly proper research in Polish relations from 1626-1629 war. So while story seems interesting and surely will make nice modelling idea, I do not believe is historically accurate.

Oh dear, Michal, that is disappointing!    Thanks for putting me straight though. I might still be tempted to try the idea, but good to know the actual provenance. The dangers of secondary sources.   

[Paul Richardson]

Andy: I guess two basic questions are: what clothes did Finns wear in the 1620s; and are you wanting them dressed for summer or winter? I know that Daniel Staberg has said that he believes that Finnish cavalry in the 1630s would have been indistinguishable from native Swedes. Does it follow that Finnish bowmen in the 1620s would have looked like Swedes with bows? I have no idea what the answer is, but if it does you could convert an unarmoured pikeman by giving him a bow and quiver. If you want Finns in traditional winter dress, am I right in thinking that 1st Corps does some Finnish musketeers? Would they convert?  I haven't checked and may be getting confused.

[Hammers]

AFAIK there's no period source evidence of such archers being recruited and/or used at all. Information comes from mid-19th century book by Henning Hamilton and was since repeated by many others authors who never bothered to look into it. Authors of 'Sveriges Krig 1611-1632' that really done great job in digging through Swedish archive materials never mentioned archers, while discusssing recruitment of 1627. There's no mentions in Polish sources about archers in Swedish army being present in Prussia and I dare to say I did fairly proper research in Polish relations from 1626-1629 war. So while story seems interesting and surely will make nice modelling idea, I do not believe is historically accurate.

I am sure I have read about archers in the peasant levies as late as that. Let me check my litterature.

[Kadrinazi]

I am sure I have read about archers in the peasant levies as late as that. Let me check my litterature.

There is huge difference between peasant levy (that was raised only to defend country) and recruits that were raised to fill in gaps in regular army regiments stationed in Prussia and Livonia. In 1627 there seems to be shortage of pikes, so at least some companies were musket-only but sending archers to Prussia to fight against Poles would be very bad idea. Swedes didn't have any tactics to train and use such soldiers (and why should they, after all?).

[Araknofobia]

Crossbow would be more probable than bow.
Quick googling and crossbow was used in war to the 17th century and for hunting as late as 19th century (northern Finland).

[Hammers]

Crossbow would be more probable than bow.
Quick googling and crossbow was used in war to the 17th century and for hunting as late as 19th century (northern Finland).

That could be it.

[traveller]

AFAIK there's no period source evidence of such archers being recruited and/or used at all. Information comes from mid-19th century book by Henning Hamilton and was since repeated by many others authors who never bothered to look into it. Authors of 'Sveriges Krig 1611-1632' that really done great job in digging through Swedish archive materials never mentioned archers, while discusssing recruitment of 1627. There's no mentions in Polish sources about archers in Swedish army being present in Prussia and I dare to say I did fairly proper research in Polish relations from 1626-1629 war. So while story seems interesting and surely will make nice modelling idea, I do not believe is historically accurate.

I do agree with Kadrinazi that bowmen are not very likely to have been used. I just went through the appendices of 'Sveriges Krig 1611-1632' which deals with weapons inventory and there is nothing to be found there. However, IF bows would have been mentioned somewhere it would be more likely to be crossbows. To become an archer requires training while a crossbow is much easier to handle. During the "Klubbekriget" ("War of clubs) in Finland 1596-1597, crossbow was the typical peasant distance weapon. If you want historically correct bowmen in the 30YW, the Scots would be a safer bet 

[Paul Richardson]

The Catholic Church at various times excommunicated those who killed a person using a crossbow because a crossbow was considered just a mechanical device which didn't require strength or skill (which were God-given). There was no such sanction for those killing using a long bow because that required God-given strength and skill.

[Paul Richardson]

 What you could do is take the 1st Corps Swedish musketeers in hongrelines, cut away the muskets and 12 Apostles and give them crossbows and quivers. That looks feasible just looking at photos, although it may turn out harder once you get the figures in your hands.

[traveller]

What you could do is take the 1st Corps Swedish musketeers in hongrelines, cut away the muskets and 12 Apostles and give them crossbows and quivers. That looks feasible just looking at photos, although it may turn out harder once you get the figures in your hands.

That´s a good one!

Another option is Bicorne ECW peasants which are mostly empty handed:

https://www.bicorne.net/acatalog/BIC-ECW043---Peasants-Advancing-710.html#SID=24

[Friends of General Haig]

Thank you, everyone, for your fabulous thoughts and ideas. They are very much appreciated 👍. I was thinking of regular doublet and breeches to start with but the hongreline options are tempting.

I will keep the bowmen option on the to do list but just as some colourful vignettes.