new 28mm Conquistadors on Gringo40s site

[Bowman]

bowman

no offence taken im happy to take all comments on board.

Good to know

i will be doing some "bandaged" Maya at some point...i have the
daisy shields done and will add these to the mix.my Maya really are
Huaxtecs i will confess and as they spoke Mayan and in many of the books i have read are considered Mayan i went with this. im sure you know more then me on the subject but great care was taken and i read every book i could and studied avery piece of info i could .

Yes the Huaxtecs were related to the Maya, but were separated for about about 2 millenia. They separated at about 2200 BCE! Their language, Huaxteca, was a form of Mayan, just like Romanian derived from Latin. The Maya in the Yucatan speak Yucatec, the highland Maya speak one of the many Cholan dialects. Culturally and militarily the Huaxtecs and the Maya very very different. Here is a good overview from Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Huasteca

ok bowman im considering making a dog and handler team..but want to go with mastiffs i/o greyhounds ?

Not greyhounds. Use the Mastin Espagnol, or Spanish Mastiff.

[gringo]

Bowman

thanks for the academic and intersting pictorial and writtem input.most welcome. for me personally i will up the Native Armour on my new figures quite a bit..i was already incorprating native sandals and odments of native dress .i guess the practical comabat dress will be the way forward
and will give me enough mounted conquistadors to satisfy all sides

regards
Ged
www.gringo40s.com

[gringo]

Bowman

ref the dog scenario i was going with the mastiffs anyway..just needed that nod in the right direction ..i cant see a Greyhound tearing a native in half though as all dogs are genetically of lupine decent anythings possible.in your opinion is the greyhound scenario partially true or a myth?
regards
Ged

www.gringo40s.com
ps what othe conquistador weapons would you like to see?

[gringo]

Bowman

final comment i will be releasing 3 nore crossbowmen with soft cap..helmet...etc. enough to have a mixture. im aware the strings
rotted  but were replaced and the weapon was considered overpowerfull
but they do look neat.
right ....sword and buckler...any pics from the Bowman collection you could share..and to be honest any infantry pics so i can cogitate..doggy
pics as well would be appreciated. 
regards
Ged

www.gringo40s.com

[Elk101]

An enjoyable read Bowman. My knowledge of the conquistadores is pretty limited, I've only recently started reading up on them as a result of Ged's figures. I do, however, have a pre-existing interest in the Maya and some Yucatán Maya would be great. The most obvious Maya would perhaps be the Itzá? They could, I imagine, also be used for the Itza of the Petén at Tayasal, the 'last city'.

Another option could be the Quiché and the Cakchiquel of the Maya Highlands during rheir brief and bloody resistance against Alvarado and his Mexican allies. A figure of Tecun Uman downing Alvarado's horse before being run through (allegedly with a lance, no less!) would be a great figure. Apparently the Spanish make no reference of this a t all though!

There's also the Tzutujil of the Lake Atitlan area, defeated with the assistance of the Cakchiquel.

Figures that could also cover the Earlier Terminal Classic and Post Classic period would be bloody great though!  

[Bowman]

Bowman

final comment i will be releasing 3 nore crossbowmen with soft cap..helmet...etc. enough to have a mixture. im aware the strings
rotted  but were replaced and the weapon was considered overpowerfull
but they do look neat.
right ....sword and buckler...any pics from the Bowman collection you could share..and to be honest any infantry pics so i can cogitate..doggy
pics as well would be appreciated.  
regards
Ged

www.gringo40s.com

Ged, the rank and file would most likely be wearing a doublet or a jerkin over leggings. The European-style  leather shoe would disintegrate quickly and the indigenous sandal made from sisal fibers would be mostly substituted. These are the best pictures I could find of the typical "grunt" on the ground Conquistador. Being rank and file troops, they end up in the background mostly.





no pictures of arquebusiers or crossbowmen I'm afraid. I assume they'd look the same as they would in Europe, except for a few in ichcahuapilli and sandals. I can find no pictures of conquistadors in indigenous armour. I'd refer you to the Heath Book: Armies of the 16th Century pages 162 to 165.

As for the dogs, I haven't heard of the use of greyhounds. Heath mentions wolfhounds and deerhounds in addition to the mastiffs.

[Bowman]

.......I do, however, have a pre-existing interest in the Maya and some Yucatán Maya would be great. The most obvious Maya would perhaps be the Itzá? They could, I imagine, also be used for the Itza of the Petén at Tayasal, the 'last city'.

Another option could be the Quiché and the Cakchiquel of the Maya Highlands during rheir brief and bloody resistance against Alvarado and his Mexican allies. A figure of Tecun Uman downing Alvarado's horse before being run through (allegedly with a lance, no less!) would be a great figure. Apparently the Spanish make no reference of this at all though!

In Guatemala, Tecun Uman is a national hero complete with very "heroic" monument.



I do like his maquahuitl though. Other than that I have no knowledge on how the Terminal phase Maya differed from each other.

[gringo]

Bowman
thanks for that.most informative............i get the impression
the Conquistadors took a lot of armour with them (including
hardened leather jerkins) expecting a tough fight and almost
immediately had to adapt. if a native cotton Jerkin stopped an
arrow or two im sure i would have worn one...not to forget  the
humidity. i stayed in kuwait once humidity was 80pct..godawfull!!

i will look at the figures i have and make a judgement i have Heath]
of course and a pile of notes now from loads of souces and yourgood
self.makes for a different overview.

Elk0101 do you have any pic of the ITZA.............the yucatan Maya i
have enough on. i wish the MAYA had left a big library of drawings..3/4
for the Aztecs is good...still theres always the structures...i have a wotk by a Russian professor..all in russian oi need on the Maya...

regards
Ged

[Patrice]

I love all the details in the picture, it's more fun than the Bayeux tapestry

...especially the guy on the right who seems to give a singing lesson to a flock of turkey birds or whatever.

[cdm]

No worries, 5 images form the Lienzo de Tlxacala (scans from an 1892 Chavero edition, original in my collection). If you'd like other photos from other codexes, you're welcome to a stack more. The Florentine is just as explicit

[cdm]

Florentine Codex - Book 12 - The Conquest. Images by Paso and Troncoso - originals I can't remember when from my collection. As I'm sure you're aware, the island governors of the Caribbean kept up a lively correspondence with the crown begging for armour and arms sending lists of exactly what they wanted including gun powder, pikes and crossbow strings. These are still available though I've only had access to some from a slightly earlier period (1509 IIRC.)

[gringo]

Cmdr

these are sensational thanks for all the effort..........some of the shield
patterns are quite beautifull.....aa is the sheer abundance of detail.
i happy to look at any you could kindly post.

Bowman
thanks for all the splendid input!

Patrice...indeed!

a request ..i have a number of Mayan shield patterns do we have any pictures Bowman or Cmdr could post? cheers Gents

regards
Ged
www.gringo40s.com

[Bowman]

Chronofus de Mer,

Good to talk to you again, after all these years. If you truly believe that the paucity of descriptions of full plate armour in the written chronicles and ethnohistories indicates their ubiquitous use, then I can't dissuade you. I'll just disagree.

[Patrice]

So it's a matter of personal opinions.

I've been wearing good copies of medieval plate armour in re-enactments and it's not so cumbersome. Yes the hot sun is a problem (I nearly fainted once because the breastplate I was wearing was so hot I couldn't put a bare hand on it, and it was a Breton sun not Mexican) ...but knights wore complete chainmail for the Crusades.

I think some Conquistadors could wear complete armour when they really needed it (for planned battles, and for parade) but probably not everyday if they could avoid it. As with any heavy military equipment in any historical period?

[Elk101]

In Guatemala, Tecun Uman is a national hero complete with very "heroic" monument.



I do like his maquahuitl though. Other than that I have no knowledge on how the Terminal phase Maya differed from each other.

There's the figure right there! Yes,  that maquahuitl looks brutal. I've always liked that story.

No Itza specific images in any of my books I'm afraid. Given that the Yucatan Maya referred to them as foriegners and recorded that they barely spoke Yucatec, this has lead to some theories that they were not Maya, but migrated from further south.