15mm Blue Moon Italian Wars Venetian crossbow and Arquebusiers

Four units of Blue Moon Italians completed; x2 Crossbowmen and x2 Skirmishing Arquebusiers for Impetus and or Pikette.

15mm Venetian Italian Wars (Blue Moon figures)

here's the beginnings of a 15mm Venetian Army which will be based for Pikette/Impetus, the figures are from the new excellent Blue Moon range and the decals are home made by me, cheers Pete.

Charles V heraldry

Charles V



Charles V camp

Battle of Pavia

Jacobite Ensign Clan Chattan

After a trip to Highlands with the old fella I couldn't help but take a shine to the '45 Rebellion. So after a slow start here's my take on the a Clan Chattan standard bearer  who according to my dad who should know as he's from Glasgow is the family clan. Clan Chattan is a bit of a mix of family's who stuck together for mutual protection and also  took a bit of a hammering at Culloden. The flag is conjectural with the shape of the  scroll and the motto taken from an old image of a Mackintosh coat of arms found on Pinterest and the Scottish wildcat badge is from a 19th century depiction however seems to be the most common  emblem used to illustrate Clan Chattan.  The figure is from Crann Tara; I've got quite a few of these to do on my painting table and cracking sculpts they are too; now I just need to decide on the rules.  

Battle of Frankenhausen 1525 by Doug Miller

It's been a long time coming but this little beauty landed on my mat this morning, 135  pages,

85 illustrations - mostly contemporary, 3 colour plates plus photos of models and dioramas including one painted by yours truly and with a foreword by Gerry Embleton.

Here's Doug's blurb on the book and a couple of pics:

Over 2 days in May 1525 some 8000 rebels faced the combined armies of Philip of Hesse, Duke Henry of Brunswick and Duke George of Saxony at the salt town of Frankenhausen in Central Germany. Many of those present amongst the insurgents had been drawn by the teachings of the radical cleric Thomas Müntzer who openly challenged the princes to embrace his communitarian theology. In this richly illustrated book, Doug Miller seeks to piece together the events leading up to the massacre of some 7000 rebels and place it in its wider historical context. Frankenhausen remains something of an enigma and the author makes the case for battlefield archaeology to shed light on some of the unanswered questions concerning  what many consider to be the most decisive ‘battle’ of the German Peasants War.

 

Front cover

Peasant baggage train painted by me

The book is available direct from Doug however I'm sure Caliver books has a few in stock, cheers Pete

Italian Wars French Flags

Here's a pic of the next 11 French Italian Wars  flags that I've put together and will be mixed with the sheet I already have done. Other than the central flag (6)is  in  Francis I's livery colours all the flags are copied from contemporary imagery. Flags 1, eight and 11 are taken from a Flemish painting of the battle of Pavia, 2 and 3 are taken from a picture of Pavia in the Royal collection and flag; similar flags are also depicted in a contemporary painting of the Battle of Marignano and 3 is also depicted on Francis  I's mausoleum. Flags 4, 5 and 7 are taken from the Van Orley Pavia tapestry (4 and 5 are being carried by Swiss and flag 7 is thought to be one of the flags carried by the Landsknecht black bands).  Flags 9 and 10 are taken from a painting of the Battle of Marignano dating from the 1520's and depict Francis I's banner of the salamander and the banner of St. Michael.  I'll have my French sheets reorganised and up for sale sometime early next week. Cheers and thanks for looking, Pete

Landsknecht Flags 2

Here's a set of flags for flags for Landsknechts in French Service. information on these flags is a bit scarce  and requires a bit of faith. The dark blue flags are taken from an anonymous painting of the Battle of Pavia (please see below) showing what look like Landsknechts attacking Imperial arquebusiers. Nevertheless given the artistic conventions of the time these could quite easily be French infantry flags; the same goes for the yellow flag with the cross of St Denis. The other two flags are courtesy of Stuart Mulligan and can be seen in his excellent blog here: http://stuartsworkbench.blogspot.co.uk/ and the Van Orley tapestries. The next Landsknecht flags will be 'Landsknechts in Imperial Service and these will be followed by some generic and heraldic flags, Cheers Pete