Monday 8 February 2021

Knights in white satin or the Portable Wargame as toolkit

 At the weekend I heard Bob Cordery talking about his rules being a toolkit for others. I have been musing on this for some time. I am particularly interested in the art of the late 15th century and this fits in well with my gaming interests too. I have long had a liking for the world depicted in such work as this-

 
Pre Lockdown I had begun a German army to oppose my friend’s Swiss. As face to face gaming is off the agenda currently and we are playing other games via Zoom I have decided to use the figures in a Portable Wargame context that of warfare in the late fifteenth German Lands. To extend to the Burgundian Wars or include the French would involve bowmen and rash knights not to mention speedy Swiss Pike who are almost unbeatable . The WOTR would mean mainly bow and sharp things on poles, maybe later. So the German Lands it is! I imagine an ongoing rivalry between two towns that has been going on for centuries sometimes spilling out to actual conflict. But what troop types to portray? Here goes with initial thoughts-
Knights- less rash than their French counterparts and more likely to use swords than the Lance.
Medium Cavalry- like the chaps in the picture above, less well armoured and could use crossbows. Could support the knights or even replace them.
Light Cavalry- as above bit more skirmish duties, need to think about this...
Pike- town militias bolstered by mercenaries 
Skirmishes- hand gunners often from town shooting clubs or fraternities mixed with crossbows and the odd short/long bow
Heavy infantry- dismounted knights and blade armed towns militia. Small numbers .
Artillery- many towns had quite a bit in this period 
War wagon- wagon forts to be defended or attacked 
That’s about it so far, all thoughts welcome. Next job is to move some lead or plastic about...


9 comments:

  1. Tradgardmastare,

    Are you using the recent PP&SW rules or the Ancient ones in DTPW as your starting point? You might wish to contact Gary Sheffield, as he is working on a Medieval variant of the PW rules.

    All the best,

    Bob

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    1. I am starting off with the Ancient ones Bob. I might well contact Gary, good suggestion.

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  2. I will follow your progress with interest. I am currently trying to analyse the rules for use in 1531. I need pike companies and arquebus companies considered separately. It looks like the “Samurai” rules in PP&SW are closest to my needs.

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    1. 1531 sounds an interesting project, can you tell us more ?

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    2. My ECW rules in PP&SW do allow for all-shot and all-pike units if that helps.

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  3. Interesting project, I will be interested in the figures you choose. Not a period I know much about so will enjoy your progress.

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  4. Perry plastic 28mm mainly supplemented by some older Foundry metal ones.

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    1. Can't go wrong with Perry in my humble opinion, I do like their figures.

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  5. No, Alan, I'm sorry, I can't stump up any Geek points of enthusiasm for this overplayed / overheard song / title ... which goes on and on and on ... which I now have as an ear worm. You need some new Court musicians in The Duchy.
    Can't they speed the song up and cheer the song up, maybe get George Formby to come back from the dead and rerecord it for them in his own inimitable lamppost ukulele style?
    Rant over.
    Best wishes for your new Satinate K-Night (Fever) project. Mark Man of TIN

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