Siege of Neuss - Part 3

After his offer to surrender had been declined, Charles moved his army into position. Surrounding the town (except for the River Rhine which was passing directly beneath the eastern city walls), Charles put his forces opposite the 5 city gates. His main force, soldiers from Burgundy and Picardy, were arrayed in front of the Obergate.The second largest unit, Lombardian mercenaries, were put in front of the Rheingate. The English had their camp southeast of Neuss.The Neussers had not been idle in the meantime, they secured their already strong gates with Bollwerke, additional structures of earth amd timber. More important, they stocked massive supplies of food and gunpowder.

Charles wasted no time: on 29th July 1474 he attacked with 6.000 men towards the Obergate. The Neussers, boasting with confidence, made a sortie and challenged the Burgundian force in an open field battle. Greatly outnumbered though, the Neussers had to withdrew quickly behind the gate. The approaching Burgundians were met by a hail of gunfire from the walls and had to withdraw. In the words of a Burgundian nobleman writing a letter home: The bullets were flying denser than arrows in a battle with the English.

Figures are Perry and Crusader with Perry head swaps.

Siege of Neuss - Part 2

The Burgundian army arrived at the gates of Neuss in July 1474. Before engaging into costly siege operations, Charles sent his heralds to town to demand surrender. In the words of the chronicler Christian Wierstrait the herald asked:
"Yr Burger uch sy allen kundt,
der Printz gesynt van uch zur Stundt,
as myr bevoil syns selues Mundt,
dat yr yn laist herynnen."
However, the Neussers didnt want to let the prince (duke) in so easily and the mayor of Neuss replied equally polite:
"Herr Herald uch sy vry bekant,
wyr stayn an Paes ind Kaysers Hant."

Nurgle Warrior No. 6

and the last one for now.

 and all together

Nurgle Warrior No. 5

The Shrimper.

Siege of Neuss

Nurgle break - and finally an excuse to paint some Burgundians! In 1474 - under the pretext of helping the archbishop of cologne who had trouble with the city of cologne as well as the surrounding towns - Charles the Bold entered the Rhineland with a mighty army of at least 13000 (according to others 18000) men. Among them Flemish, English and Italian mercenaries. He decided to lay siege to the city of Neuss, a stronghold of opponents of the archbishop. Neuss, a heavily fortified town, was defended by the Landgrave of Hesse who had been appointed episcopal administrator by opponents of the archbishop. The town was held by a force of 60 Hessian knights along with 1200 Hessian levies,some 500 mercenaries from Cologne and Bonn and of course by the citizens of Neuss.

Burgundian Pikemen

Neuss Pikemen

Nurgle Warrior No. 4

... and slightly converted.

20mm WWII Japanese Comparison

For those interested in 20mm WWII Pacific Theater wargaming I put this one up with the recently re-released 20mm foundry japanese troops. Sizewise they belong to the smaller 20mm figures. A major drawback is that they come in no more than three different poses.

From left to right: Grubby (some of the best 20mm figs), Foundry, Warmodelling and Britannia. Eureka is missing, their japanese troops are also quite nice.