Sunday 5 February 2012

Hussite War Wagon and Command (Orion) Pt 1

A bit of a mixed bag this one as the PSR review reflects.  Jan Žižka.  He was blind in one eye...which eye is difficult to acertain, I´ve done a LOT of research and come up with either.  As most of us only have at most two, it must have been the left one or the right one..but the bod in the set appears to have the use of both.! There is no indication as to wether one of them is in fact blind, we can´t ask cos it´s a lump of plastic but in ALL the woodcuts, statues etc of him one at least eye is covered, wether it be the left one or the right.
I´ve gone for the right eye as it´s the one shown as covered on the statue on Viktov Hill, Prague (btw, it´s the largest stone statue of a horse in the world!!) and as he was nicknamed "One-eyed Žižka", without any mention of which eye...the right one  is ok by me.
The 3 mounte bods in the set. Jan Žižka in the middle, Prokop the great (Procopius the Great) and a standard bearer. The standard beare comes with an embossed flag bearing a goose emblem. I now know this is an invented insult and have replaced the flag with one bearing a chalice.
Eye bandage on Jan created with..wait for it..Toiletpaper :-D  I tried with having him totally blind, the bandage across both eyes but it looked..well, stupid.The other "mistake" with the sculpt..his mace. he is always protrayed as carrying a mace in the form of a clenched fist holding a dagger.
Prokop the great, later leader of the Hussite / Taborite army until his death in the Battle of Lipany, 30 may, 1434
Something not mentioned in the PSR review..the size of the horses supplied with the set. 6 horses and only 3 riders is a bit of a mystery but the size is odd to say the least. To the left, Italeri and the right..Orion. They aren´t badly sculpted, but they are just too small!!
Next part, the Wagon...:-D

24 comments:

  1. It looks like you went with Italeri horses. True?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry Sean..I forgot to say that I used the italeri horses. I tried the unpainted bods on the ones supplied but the looked like they were riding ponies!
      They are taken from different medieval sets...exactly which ones I can´t remember because I took them from my spares box.
      Cheers
      paul

      Delete
  2. Very nice, simple, and affective addition to Jan.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Excellent work as always. The horses are, as you pointed out, puzzling. Best, Dean

    ReplyDelete
  4. Excellent stuff Paul. I especially like the horse colours. I struggle to get my horses to look "natural" but you've got these just right, especially Prokop's horse.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Looking forward to seeing you assemble that warwagon... Can´t you make a very detailed instruction? Cause they are right on PSR, there is absolutely no guide as to how to assemble it.

    Good work with these figures tho :)

    Claus
    ancminis.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I´ve already built it :-/ It is very very easy to build. I will go into detail when I put it up, but it´s quite basic..you really don´t need any instructions. It took me about 1/4 of an hour to put together. A very nice wagon, the axle at the front even moves!! :-D
      Cheers
      Paul

      Delete
  6. They look great Paul, I have read a few books on the period as well and have been thinking about diving into a new collection..might have to do just that. Thanks for sharing

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great paint jobs Paul, and impressive improv with the toilet paper - just hope it wasn't the last sheet in the house! :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Nicely done, he was a colourful character.......

    ReplyDelete
  9. Toilet paper eh! Cunning use of materials to create a great character.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Great as always!
    You could have used a spare harm (with dagger) to replace that mace...
    But if he was blind from birth, he wouldn't use a bandage like that! That's for recent wounds...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks david.
      I might get the set again..if only for the wagon which is a lovely piece of kit and I have come up with a solution to the daggerhand mace.
      I agree, it does look a bit temporary but there are a lot of images of Žižka, some with a pirate type eye patch, some with a bandage..the bandage was the easiest to do ;-D I did it twice...first time covering the left eye because I read that he lost the right in a battle, but the book also had pics of hussite troops with a goose emblem so I went for the statue version which shows him with a bandage over the right eye.
      http://www.zlate-mince.cz/i/F729_Zizka_1.jpg
      Cheers
      paul

      Delete
  11. Another great work with a very well documented revue!! Thanks!
    I like!
    (always those problems with the horses!! too small, too big, odd poses, etc... !!! The sculptors could take time to make some researches !!!)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Paul, 'Jan Ziska', found it on youtube:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zapSxda7HY

    ReplyDelete
  13. Beautiful figures! Note for Prokop Naked /Great/. As a priest was not involved in the fight and did not carry weapons. Only commander.

    ReplyDelete
  14. They look fine, I just can agree with all other comments here.

    ReplyDelete
  15. They look good, specially the horses! And thanks for the historical background of these persons!

    Greetings
    Peter
    http://peterscave.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  16. A 'Chalice'? are you sure it's not a Grail...

    "Oi! Arthur...I've found it! Only trouble it - we've got to get it off this bunch of continental ruffians....with War Wagons!"

    Nice little group
    H

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. :-D
      "we have one you see..it´s very nice" :-D
      Cheers
      paul

      Delete
  17. Nice group of figures! - the horses look much better on the figures than the ponies...!

    ReplyDelete
  18. nice & interesting stuff! just got into reading a lot about Hussites & Zizka & the 'wagenbergs & the early artillery, 'flails', commoners (for the most part) with great military leaders vs. Papal and/or dynastic German Crusader armies. Hus truly launched the reformation. Zizka was the Hussite's Subodei of defensive then offensive warfare...sorry. very nice work.

    ReplyDelete