As I´m from Sweden I will make me a "Rebell" Swedish and a Union/Danish army dated 1463-1471 that was a realy turbulent time in the Swedish history, much like the WOTR.
Sweden had several noble Houses that was fighting for personel power, for and against the Kalmar Union...many using nationalist propaganda to cause dissatiatisfaction amongst the Allmoge to gain there needed support.
I have painted up a test base of some Swedish Allmoge... They was all freemen working as Farmers, Yeomen, Mainers, Craftsmen etc. Thanks to the many Rebellions during the last 30 years they had become a Powerfull factor that no Noblemen could overlook if they wanted to retain there power and wealth.
The Allmoge troops prefered to fight in quite dense terrein, luring their opponents in to Ambushes. They were unusually well equipped and effective for non-professional medieval infantry and fought in mixed formations of men with polearms and crossbowmen/bows. The numbers of polearms and crossbows/bows in the formation seems to have been roughly equal with 2-3 ranks of crossbow-/bowmen and 2-3 ranks of polearms.
I don´t realy like the classing in Extra Impetus 3 (Spliting them in 2 groups)I would have rather classed them as FL with a Crossbow B capability and a option to make Large Units...more about that later then I have had the possibility to make some playtesting:)
Thes minis are some Perry Plastic and some old metel ones from Essex and Foundry. I wanted to make the mixed look, thats why there are both men armed with polearms, crossbows and bows. The Base are 12x6cm
The flag are the from the Swedish provins of Västmanland.
The fense are a typical Swedish called Gärsgård in Swedish:)
They are looking very nice,I just started thinking of doing a 10mm Medieval Scandinavian.Any books with pictorial references you could recommend?
ReplyDeleteJason
The figures look great, that's a period I know nothing about, Sweden in the 1400's. I'll have to do a bit of searching on the web for some info.
ReplyDeleteThanks ! glad you like my forst 28mm Impetus base I hope there will be more...
ReplyDeleteRay I hope you find some info about Sweden in the 15th centery, please check out the Kalamar union likn in my post.
Jason are you making a early or late medieval scandinavian army ? focus on Sweden or Denmark in sweden and denmark or maybe a Swedish or Danish army on crusade in Balticum??? Please tell me a little more about your tought about your project.
Best regards dalauppror
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking early as I want to use TB Line figs, If they are the right style of armour etc.Not sure if it will be Danish or Swedish.I saw the cover of the Osprey book(I think it was Osprey) and thought it would be good to do something a little different.
Regards
Jason
Hi Jason
ReplyDeleteLong Answer…
Sounds like a plan:) I my self have had some Idea about making a Early Medeval Swedish army, Focus around the Swedish crusade to Balticum in 1240 and the Battle at Neva. Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Neva
The Battle at Neva was fought between the Swedish Crusading force (including Bishop Thomas of Finland) under command of Birger Jarl (might be Birger Jarl? At least in my version) and The Russians under command of the Novgorod Prince Alexander Yaroslavich (to become Alexander Nevsky after this victory)
The lovely minis from TB Lines seems to perfect for this as they both have the western medieval minis to use as Swedes and a Range with Eastern European minis, could not be better:)
I can´t much about the Russians but I think there is a beta army list for Impetus…
About the Swedish army I can tell you a little;) By this time the Swedish army was composed of Some Noblemen and their Hird(the only pro soldiers in the army), that was probably mounted i.e knights,
I would mix the full armoured knights with a lot of less armoured ones, Probably not more than 2 units, like 1 for Birger Jarl and one for the Bishop Thomas…
The Infantry was the Swedish Ledunge(Leidang), freemen that was oblige to serve for the King/Jarl some time every year. They probably still fought in Shieldwall formation and in quite out dated equipment (round shield was still often used) mixed with the latest (if you can get hold of some Viking and Norman minis mix them in), and led by some dismounted noblemen… So I would use the ordinary infantry mixed up with some dismounted knights and some peasants and vikings. Alsoe mix in one or two bow/x-bow men in the back of the units…
As Finish Auxiliary units I would use the Russian peasant minis and mix in one or two bow armed minis.
Lastly I would make some skirmish units…one with Bow and One with X-Bow as mostof the missile armed men fought in the back of the Shieldwall.
There is not many books in English about Sweden in this period but Ospery have 1 that you need? And one that you might need…
Osprey - Men At Arms 436 The Scandinavian Baltic Crusades 1100-1500
Osprey - Men At Arms 396 Medieval Scandinavian Armies (1) 1100-1300
Both books have the Swedish David Lindholm as authour he are a MA of University of Lund in Sweden where he studied medieval archaeology, history and ethnology. He is also a specialist of medieval weaponry and warfare, and I think he have made a good work with these books.
As there are no army list for the Swedish army I have put together a small one bases on my opinion and knowledge in the subject…
And here a sample army list…
Swedish Crusades (1150-1300)
CS: Poor (0 pts)
Nr/Type/M/VBU/I/D/VD/Pts/Notes
0-4/CP-Feudal Knights(*)/8/7/4/C/3/29/Impetuous
10-40/FP- Leidang(*)/5/5/2/C/2/14(11)/Shieldwall, Large Units
0-2/S - Archers/8/2/0/C/1/7/Shortbow B
0-2/S - Crossbowmen/8/2/0/C/1/7/Crossbow B
0-4/FL – Finish Auxiliary/8/4/1/C/2/14/Javelin
I hope that this helps you out a little bit
You can find a realy nice picture of Birger Jarl here:
http://dalauppror.blogspot.com/2010/09/birger-jarl.html
Best regards Dalauppror
Hi,
ReplyDeleteWow! Great answer,thanks for the info :-)
Jason
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Jason
ReplyDeleteGlad to be of help, Looking forward to see the project at your blog:)
Best regards Dalauppror
Jason
ReplyDeleteHere you have a film clip from a Russian film about the Battle at Neva 1240 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgmsjezMC7c
I hope it gives you aditional inspiration:)
Best regards Dalauppror
Great mix of medievals, well painted and based.
ReplyDeleteGreetings
Paul