The Swiss-Burgundian Wars in 28mm

[Stärn vo Buebebärg]

Hello all,

Welcome to this new thread following my efforts to assemble Swiss and Burgundian troops for the conflict opposing the two parties. I have long been an admirer of the work of the talented people like painterman or Charlie who have inspired this foray in the late 15th century. Here is the first unit I am happy with, the first of many I hope!

Burgundian men-at-arms

This is the first unit of ordonnance men-at-arms for the Swiss Burgundian Wars. The figures are Perry Miniatures plastics from the Men-at-arms box set.



The unit is ten men strong, on three 75x50mm bases. The flags are both downloads from the Krigspil website, accessible through the Web Archive. The miniatures are mostly straight out of the box, with a couple of small modifications to make them look more Burgundian, like two crosses of St. Andrew made of Green Stuff or the addition of a plume to one of the helmets.



The unit has a flag showing the ducal arms of Burgundy on the right, and the ordonnance flag of St. John on the left (seen from the front). The latter is found in the Altes Zeughaus in Solothurn (http://sammlungmaz.so.ch/eMuseumPlus;jsessionid=4453CE796F72AA8BCCA967814B5B4B57.node1?service=direct/1/ResultDetailView/result.inline.lightbox.t2.collection_lightbox.$TspTitleLink.link&sp=13&sp=Sexhibition&sp=SfieldValue&sp=0&sp=0&sp=3&sp=SdetailView&sp=0&sp=Sdetail&sp=0&sp=T&sp=0&sp=Slightbox_2x3&sp=0&sp=F&sp=Scollection&sp=l6385)  and is well worth a visit if you ever are in the region. The knight with the mace in the center bears the arms of Guillaume de Vaudray, a noble from the Franche-Comté.



On one end of the unit, we find a more Italian looking man-at-arms, with a barbute and a mazzochio, perhaps a mercenary in the service of the Duke of Burgundy. The man-at-arms on the other end of the unit is mounted on a horse wearing a metal caparison with the rear half painted in Burgundian heraldic devices, as can be seen in certain illustrations of the Schilling chronicle (that only half the barding is painted is purely conjectural on my part, it looked better that way). The Schilling chronicle can be found here: https://www.digibern.ch/katalog/berner-chronik-diebold-schilling.



Finally, you are welcome to step over to take a look at my blog! It still is in its infancy, but I hope that in due time it will grow to become more interesting. https://derstaernvobuebebaerg.blogspot.com/2024/07/burgundian-ordonnance-men-at-arms.html

[Thew2]

Lovely work, they look terrific! I particularly like the chap in black and white livery coat, with yellow trim.

[Charlie_]

Excellent work, great to see Guillaume de Vaudrey there!

Looking forward to seeing more.

[painterman]

Hi
Great work on those figures - please keep posting as you progress!
Simon

[Basementboy]

Cracking work, looking forward to seeing more! I did take a peak at the blog, and I'm looking forward to seeing it expand

[Mellal]

This look so nice... I love chivalry miniatures and you did a really great job here !

[Maxromek]

Fantastic horsemen! Burgundians always look quite noble and regal with the white, blue and a smidge of red

[Stärn vo Buebebärg]

Thank you for all your kind messages, it is very encouraging!

Swiss mounted crossbowmen

Another cavalry unit for the Swiss-Burgundian wars, this time Swiss mounted crossbowmen. It is hard to determine exactly how the Swiss used cavalry in the period. The focus is very much on the infantry in the written sources, as the civic structures making up the Old Swiss Confederation very much placed a premium on the infantry made up of citizens and people from subject or allied regions (Burger, Untertanen, zugewandte Orte), rather than valuing an aristocratic heavy cavalry like the Burgundians, for whom the knightly cavalry was the gold standard (the little value placed on the infantry, despite its alleged importance in the Burgundian order of battle, might help explain its lack of cohesion in the field - it is hard to find motivation to stand and die when your lord thinks you inferior and of little value). On the other hand, the Schilling chronicle show a number of cavalrymen in the Swiss armies, including mounted crossbowmen, which are often heavily armoured and charging alongside what looks like men-at-arms. Puzzling.

For this unit, I have decided to stick with the more commonly seen type of Swiss mounted crossbowmen in the wargaming community, as a force of light cavalry mainly used for reconnaissance or to watch the flanks of the main body.



The figures are all by Perry Miniatures, in plastic. There are ten of them, on four 50x75mm bases. The flag is hand-painted, representing a Fribourg "Schützenfahne", the flag for a company of crossbows.







I added a greenstuff "bend" to the banner bearer, inspired by the illustration of a Unterwalden banner bearer in "Historische Waffen und Rüstungen" by Liliane and Fred Funcken, which is a beautiful book full of valuable illustrations and details about medieval arms and armour.



https://derstaernvobuebebaerg.blogspot.com/2024/07/swiss-mounted-crossbowmen.html

Thanks again, and happy hobbying!

[Basementboy]

Fantastic! Love the guy with the longsword urging the others on, really dynamic pose, and photographed very well. I love the small details you've added too, such as along the banner-bearer's sash, really brings the models to life

[Corso]

Lovely project 

I like the use of varied colours and great basing too!

[Stärn vo Buebebärg]

Hello all,

It has been a while, but I have not been idle. Thank you for all your kind comments!

First, we have some Burgundian infantry: archers, halbardiers and handgunners.



Here are two units of longbowen, probably English in Burgundian service. Once again the miniatures are from the Perry plastic box set, 20 men per unit on 200x50mm.One unit is stationary and shooting, while the other is marching, some of the men with their bows still in their covers. In the marching unit I tried to create an impression of slight disorder, some of the men discussing and arguing, looking at each other, pointing in different directions. The idea was to represent the confusion created by the unexpected arrival of the Swiss, be it in Grandson or in Murten, where the Burgundians were caught unaware and struggled to find the right response.








The halbardiers are lead by a man-at-arm with a converted bend, the pattern for which I shamelessly copied from Simon's excellent blog. The flag is from the Krigsspil website (https://web.archive.org/web/20120117013854/http://www.krigsspil.dk/). The miniatures are plastic Perry War of the Roses figures. They are based on a 200 mm frontage. The aim here was to represent professional ordonance troops, but ones that haven't had too much money showered on them, as the basic, boring infantry wasn't necessarily at the top of Charles the Bold's priority list. I will make both feudal troops as well as more menacing mercenary units in the future, but I thought that a middling unit would certainly have its place.







Finally, we have a unit of handgunners skirmishing ahead of the main line of battle.






https://derstaernvobuebebaerg.blogspot.com/

[Mad Doc Morris]

Quite an impressive force. Love me some Burgundians, and yours do look the part
Next some pikemen? Artillery? Or the quick-tempered duke himself?

[bluechi]

Another cavalry unit for the Swiss-Burgundian wars, this time Swiss mounted crossbowmen. It is hard to determine exactly how the Swiss used cavalry in the period. The focus is very much on the infantry in the written sources, as the civic structures making up the Old Swiss Confederation very much placed a premium on the infantry made up of citizens and people from subject or allied regions (Burger, Untertanen, zugewandte Orte), rather than valuing an aristocratic heavy cavalry like the Burgundians, for whom the knightly cavalry was the gold standard (the little value placed on the infantry, despite its alleged importance in the Burgundian order of battle, might help explain its lack of cohesion in the field - it is hard to find motivation to stand and die when your lord thinks you inferior and of little value). On the other hand, the Schilling chronicle show a number of cavalrymen in the Swiss armies, including mounted crossbowmen, which are often heavily armoured and charging alongside what looks like men-at-arms. Puzzli

what picture/battle of the Schilling cronicle shows swiss cavalry at the time of the Burgundia wars ? The picture of the battle at Dornach shows how cavalry with crossbow works. Most used on the right side of the heavy cavalry to shoot before the cavalry clash into the pikeblock.