Wars of the Roses: Retinue Billmen of Sir John Audley

This colorful retinue Bill unit belongs to Sir John Tuchet, 6th Baron Audley.

	Sir John Audley of Audley

	Sir John Audley of Audley

Sir John was captured in Calais by the Earl of Warwick in 1460. 

There he met the future Edward IV, and was convinced to join the Yorkist cause.

He fought for the Yorkist cause at Mortimer's Cross, Barnet, and Tewkesbury.

The units is outfitted in the Gules and Or livery of Sir John.

The Audley shield, in contrast is Ermine, a chevron gules. 

Guardias Valonas - Spanish Walloon Guards, 1808

 

Another unit of Spanish Napoleonic infantry marches off the painting table!

These nattily dressed hombres are the Walloon Guards; in Spanish, Guardias Valonas. 

Yhe Wallon guards were first raised in 1704, at a time when Spain controlled the Low Countries. The Spanish Netherlands,. more or less modern Belgium, was their recruiting grounds. 

Because of their lack of attachment to the general population, they were often used as a kind of Police force by the King. 

 

When the French Republic annexed the Austrian Netherlands in 1794, recruitment became difficult. his lead to first Germans and Irish joining the ranks of the Regiment. 

When the French invaded Spain in 1808, several battalions of the regiment were in Madrid, and were taken into French service, but the remaining battalions continued to fight the French.

These are Perry figures; flag by Adolfo Ramos. 

I chose to use a color close to Dusty Mauve for the facings for this unit. More properly, they should have been red. I also left out the buttonhole lace. 

Uniform plate for the Walloon Guards circa 1808. 

Wars of the Roses: Retinue Archers of the Duke of Exeter

These men belong to the retinue of Sir Henry Holland of Darlington, 3rd Duke of Exeter . 

They wear his livery, Argent and Gules. 

The Duke was a steadfast supporter of the Lancastrian cause. 

He and his men fought at a number of the battles of the Wars of the Roses.

These included Blore Heath,  Northampton,  Wakefield 

Second St Albans,  Towton, and Barnet.

Regimiento de Infanteria de Linea "León"

Needing to take a short break from painting units for the Wars of the Roses, a new Infantry Regiment is added to my Spanish Napoleonic Army. 

This regiment has its origins dating back all the way to 1695, when a 1,000 man "New Tercio of  León" was raised.

The regiment had red/scarlet facings on the lapels and cuffs, white piped red on the collar, and brass buttons. These are Perry figures. 

Seeking a bit of differentiation form the other Spanish regiment that I had painted with red facings, I used Delta Ceramcoat "Poppy Orange" here. It still looks pretty red/scarlet in bue, although the differe3nce in color can be seen in contrast with the red plumes. 

The Colunella (Colonel's flag) flag bears the shield of Leon in the corners - a red (originally, purple) Lion on a white field. 

The Kingdom of León was of course joined to Castile at the time of the Reconquista of the Iberian peninsula from the Moors, forming the foundation of modern Spain. 

The Price of Crowns 2 Kingdom of Wurttemburg Kickstarter delivers... and another begins!

 Several days ago, a rather large and quite heavy box arrived from Germany, containing the spoils of this great Kickstarter by Lucas Luber and Piano Games. It was well packed in eco-friendly shredded paoper4 and cardboard to protect the figures. It was quite a treasure hunt searching through it for the goodies, and I could easily have missed a smaller pack or two, but ultimately the weight of the metal gave them away, and they were all tracked down, including a single figure that had escaped from his baggie somehow! 

I then set about the pleasant task of organizing the figures into the units that they will ultimately become!

I got enough line infantry to make 6 units (my usual Napoleonic infantry units have 18 figures). The gap in column 3 above was left by the figure who had deserted from his company but was later successfully found, and returned to the ranks! 

An unfortunately blurry photo of the Grenadiers with the transverse crests; I don't know anyone else who makes these. There has been speculation as to their reality, but Rawkins book and drawings by Faber du Faur. I will include three of these in each unit.

Because I only use 1 flag per unit, I got three of command set 3 and one of set 2 (from the 2nd Kickstarter, which has only Officers, NCO's, and a drummer). I now see that I need a second of set 2.  Like the rest, these are really excellent figures. At the toop is the infantry casualty set as well. 

I went all in on tjhe cavalry, too; these are the Leibjager Guard - green and black uniforms, bearskin, etc. There was only one squadron of them!  They may get repurposed as pre 1810 French Carabiniers Cavalry in the bearskin, which I don't have in my collection. 

These re the Grenadier Guards - blue coats, cuirass, bearskin. The Leibjagers also wore the cuirass on occasions, so I think I may wind up doing 5 figures as them, and 5 as the Grenadiers (borrowing a spare from those above - my cavalry units have 8 figures). 

These are the Wurttemburg Chevauxlagers - excellent sculpts... not sure if the standard bearer in helmet is correct, but maybe! There wwere two regiments wearing dark blue coats, one with red and one with yellow facings. 

These are the Jagers zu Pferde, green coats, once again 2 regiments  with one faced rose pink and the other yellow. Rawkins gives interesting details about the crests (white over green and yellow over green respectively), and trumpeters wearing yellow jackets faced as per the troopers coats. From 1805 - 1810, the second, yellow faced unit, also wore "scharawaden" breeches, yellow from the waist to the mid thigh, and dark green in the lower portions!

The Gar4d du Corps, once again only a single squadron existed, yellow jackets, black facings. 

Wurttemburg Artillery. I got 2 each 6 lbers and howitzers, and one each of the horse and foot crews  in loading and firing poses. I use 2 guns with 6 crew for all but heavy batteries, so there will be a few crew left over. I like to include a mounted figure for Horse batteries, and thus will use spare figures from the Jagers zy Pferde and perhaps the helmeted figure in the chevauxleger pack for that.

Command figures in their baggies; Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm with his Great Dane, French General Vandamme, who commanded the Wurttemburg Corps in 1809, and 3 mouinted officers, one in bicorn, one in helmet, and one in light infantry shako.

There were 2 Jager units - dark green faced black, shakos with green cloth turbans. Snazzy!

Wurttemburg Light infantry; green jackets faced light blue, with yellow crossbelts; quite striking. The light infantry performed especially well at the battle of Eckmuhl; the line infantry were not engaged. 

Finally, we have the Garderegiment zu Fuß; dark blue coats faced black, piped white. Looking suitably relaxed in camp; most of the time these chaps remained in Stuttgart! 

The only criticism I would make about these otherwise superb figures is that the muskets and bayonets are quite slender, and thus prone to breakage. This is particularly true because the white metal alloy used is quite stiff and not very malleable; most likely it is lead free given its relatively light weight and stiffness, as well as origins in the EU (less lead in the environment is unquestionably a Good Thing). It might be worth considering making these a bit more robust in the future.  I won't be using the flagpoles provided for the same reason, replacing them with floral wire,

There are uniform guides and flags for free download at the Pianowargames site; my copy of Rawkins e-book on the Kingdom will come in handy as well. When completed, the force will have:

Infantry

6 Line Battalions (regiments to me)

1 Light Battalion

1 Jager Battalion

1 Guard Battalion

all of 18 figures each, plus a small handful (6) of skirmishers and the Casualty figures (5).

Cavalry

1 Chevauxleger regiment

1 Jager zu Pferde regiment

1 Guard du Corps "regiment"

1 Leibjager/Grenadier Guard combined regiment

all of 8 figures, except 10 for the last one 

A few extra figures, likely to be used as Cavalry brigade commanders 

Artillery

1 Foot Battery

1 Horse Battery

each of 6 crew and 2 guns

a few spare figures, possibly for use as sappers/for command bases. 

Command:

General Vandamme

Prince Friedrich Wilhelm

3 additional mounted command

Total: 173 Foot, etc,,  34 Cavalry, 12 Artillery with 4 guns, 6 command.

Not content to have completed this project, with the last of the figures mailed out, Lucas has started his 3rd Kickstarter, this time dealing with the armies Hessen-Darmstatdt and Wurzburg. I've already pledged for 4 Hessian units, a battery, and High Command, and am eagerly awaiting the availability of the Hessian Chevauxlegers! The base project was funded within 3 hours!

Wars of the Roses: Retinue Billmen of Sir Henry Grey

 

This Retinue unit was raised by Sir Henry Grey, 7th Lord Grey of Codnor..   

The men wear the Gules and Vert livery of Lord Grey. 

Lord Grey and his men fought at Wakefield  and Second St Albans for the  Lancastrian cause.

Ijn true Wars of the Roses fashion, he and his men then fought at Barnet, Tewkesbury, and 

Bosworth for the Yorkist cause!

Interestingly, Codmor Castle and Manor was sold to King Henry VII in 1501, for ghsi son, the Prince of York (aka the future King Henry VIII). 

After I finished thias unit I realized that I hadn't really completed the trumpet banner, so a siomple design was added afterwards.