More Swiss - Berne

More Swiss

another Perry batch...

More Swiss

Perry of course

Burgundian Bombard

Finito. I messed up the gun shield - painted it upside down :-( so I had to do some surgery to make it fit on the scaffold...

WIP Burgundian Bombard IV

Just the remaining wooden cover and some add-ons for the base. I dont have much time for painting recently so you might have to wait some more for all the parts come together...

WIP: More Swiss

This time from Bern. Perry and Steelfist mix.

WIP Burgundian Bombard III

The bombard itself. I shortened the woodwork a bit to make it fit on the base available. I mixed a bit of bronze into the gunmetal grey to make it stand out against the armour of the crew.

WIP Burgundian Bombard II

More crewmen, bombard is next.

WIP: More Swiss

Experimenting a bit with Simons Swiss castings of Steelfist origin (Simon, Oliver - I hope you dont mind me posting the link here - Swiss Castings)

As you can see the  Steelfist Swiss match the Perry late medieval figures very well. In the first picture you see a Perry WOTR metal knight with a Swiss head, a Swiss figure with a Perry plastic head and a Swiss figure "out of the box". The halberds are esp. nice and come gladly a bit longer than the short Perry polearms.

The second picture shows two Perry plastic figures with Steelfist Swiss arms attached. The arms have small splints and can easily be attached to the plastic bodies using a small drill and some superglue.

All in all a very good set and I am certainly hoping for more Perry late medieval "mods"! ;-)

WIP Burgundian Bombard

Some crew members.

Burgundian Horsemen

Finito. Looking at the last pic I just noticed that I forgot to sculpt the back of the saddle for the converted plastic knight...well next time.

WIP: Burgundian Horsemen

Perry minis.

Siege of Neuss -Part XXIII

Mounted Burgundian nobleman

The following book with essays not only about the siege itself but also about contemporary Burgundian politics as well as Burgundian arts and music has an interesting chapter about uniforms. I was mostly under the impression before that uniform-like colouring/clothing was not very common in the Holy Roman empire at that time with few notable exceptions like militia of large imperial cities. 

However, according to the author it was not uncommon for the nobility or the towns to equip "their" troops with clothing items in the same colour. For the "Reichsheer", the imperial relief force on its way to Neuss, there are several contemporary examples about the different colours used: The arrival of the force of the Bishop of Strasbourg appeared to a witness in Cologne like "a red cloud" for their uniform red clothing. The troops of the Duke of Saxony were also dressed in red as well as the contingent of the Bishop of Mainz. Heinrich of Schwarzenburg dressed his troops in grey doublets. The troops of Aachen were dressed in blue and red clothing. The "Reichsstadt" Frankfurt tried to impress Friedrich III by sending their men dressed in red completely and having two chevrons stitched to their left arms. 1.500 men sent by the city of Cologne were issued red and white shirts. All in all, it must have been a very colourful sight and the idea of uniform colours to distinguish between friend and foe - the "livree" - might not have been so uncommon during the siege.

The Pilgrimage

The little scene is inspired by events told by the chronicler of the siege of Neuss. According to Cristianus Wierstrait the following has happened:

On the 17th of April 1475 Duke Charles ordered another major attack on the defences of Neuss. During the heavy fighting Flemish troops managed to breach the outer walls between Obergate and Zollgate. In the end the Neussers could repel the Burgundians once again but the casualties had been extraordinary high. In the following days Landgraf Hermann and the City Council conferred whether it was reasonable to carry on with the resistance or whether they should enter into negotiations to surrender. Still there had been no sign of any Imperial relief force and the siege had been dragging on for nearly a year now.

In this dire situation the City Council decided it would be best to ask for the help of heaven and to arrange for a pilgrimage to the chapel close to the Obergate. Led by the mayor the procession reached the chapel when a messenger suddenly pressed forward. In his hands he held a stone cannon ball which he had retrieved from the river after it had been shot from the Cologne side. The cannon ball contained a paper with the message that the Imperial relief force had finally reached Cologne. All thoughts of surrender were off the table now and the resistance was reinforced once again.

The critical moment was captured in verse form by Wierstrait and later transferred into a poem pictured below.

 

WIP: The Pilgrimage

Slowly getting there...

WIP: The Pilgrimage

Some scenic items and two priests...

WIP: The Pilgrimage

Its going to be a small vignette using some figures from the Perry 15th c European range.

Burgundian Cannon

A bit more artillery support for Charles. Mix of Perry and Foundry.

Knights

Perry late medieval knights.