An Old Midlish Rhyme
The wind from the North sings of heroes of Olde
The wind from the East makes our blood run Cold
The wind from the South smells of Spices and Gold
But the wind from the West tells of warriors Bold.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Mercenaries or Militia?

I should really be painting up some more Midland...Midlander? Midlanish? Midlish? archers or knights  or billmen but I have a hankering to do these crossbowmen. I was picturing them as the light infantry-ish type but Rob threw in some pavises  and I was very tempted to do a crossbow and pikearmed pavise bearer unit but I've decided to hold firm and do them as just crossbowmen.  Whether or not to permenantly attach the pavises to the bases or leave them separate and how having them should affect their movement are questions that remain.



More importantly, who are they?  The yeoman farmers of the midlands are archers or spear and bill men. The cities would have more foreign influence and money and of course the use of mercenaries has long been widespread. The figures are very uniformly dressed but that need not apply to colours.
Since I'm discovering this fictional history as I go, what do people think?
A. City Militia in uniform surcoats over their clothes?
B. Individually recruited mercenaries wearing whatever?
C. A Free Company of mercenaries wearing the Corporate Colours over their clothes. Perhaps with a cavalry contingent to match? White with a red lion perhaps....... or Black or......
D. Royal Guards in livery. 

11 comments:

  1. Hi Ross,
    Maximum flexibility would be individually-liveried mercs, so they could be assigned as needed; but I would probably go for a unit of mercs in matching uniforms, possibly in green and black checks.
    BTW, which fictional history is this?
    Regards,
    John

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is part of my 5 kingdoms 'campaign' in particular this is for the Midland Kingdom see I the last battle report.

      Delete
  2. City militia Ross as this builds the story and set a colour scheme for future reference...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmm good points but might hold true for a free company as well. Thanks.

      Delete
  3. I think City militia as it gives you an opportunity to think about one of your cities, it's history, why it has a militia and so forth.

    Greg

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good point there's a lot to think about because it'll be hard to back out once I create a situation where the king can demand that a city produce a company of militia for foreign service anytime he wants. I hadn't thought of that angle before.

      Delete
  4. I would tend to think of crossbowmen as being mercenaries. For city militia, spearmen or pikes. But that's just me thiking a bit too historically, Flemish pikes and Genoese crosbows!

    Rob

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We're not so far off when you mention Genoese. In the back of my mind I was thinking Italian city militia, Guelph and Ghibelline so and so on. Seems to me that the Italian mercenary crossbows had their roots in the militia. Good weapons for defending city walls.

      Delete
  5. I like the Free Company, as long as you have a few other figures to add. A cavalry contingent would be good.

    ReplyDelete