Another stand of Crossbowmen using bods from ;
Russian army of Alexander Nevsky
Army of Joan d´Arc
Medieval Crossbowmen
Scottish Army of Robert Bruce
It may well be historically innacurate, I couldn´t find any definate evidence of them being used by english crossbowmen at the time , but I´ve decided to give them Pavise.
I was going to use the Pavise from either the
MiniArt French Knights with assault ladders or the
French foot soldiers with rams sets but decided to go old School and scratchbuild my own. Similar to how I´ve made them before (
HERE) but, seeing as the Pavise shape is different and I had to make 20, I simplified the method by using thin strips of coffee stirrer for the central strut.
Most of the bods have had head swops but I got a bit more adventurous with one of them.
He is obviously from the
Strelets Medieval Crossbowmen set but his head comes from the
Strelets Army of Henry V set..the bod 6th row from top, far left.
Not only did the new stand get Pavise added but so did the first stand
Very nice, figures and pavoises...
ReplyDeleteReally effective work Paul, they look great.
ReplyDeleteExcellent painting job, the result unit is very nice to look at.
ReplyDeleteI find something a bit strange concerning the pavises. Why do some of the men wear the pavise on their back ? They become very vulnerable at the moment of shooting... you will answer that it takes much more time to rearm than to shoot :) Do you think that some are specialized at firing, while some are meant to reload ? It's pure guess, I don't know if it was a real practice.
Thanks Phil.
DeleteAs far as I know, pavise were used either with the crossbowmen in a stationary Position using the pole at the back to stand the pavise up or, when on the move, the Pavise were worn on thier backs so they could at least have some cover when reloading. I thought about them becoming vulnerable when using the Pavise in this way so they all ended up in the rear rank so they could get some protection from the Pavise in front.
Some Men-at-Arms certainly wore the smaller versions on thier backs and there´s a contemporary Scene showing two Knights using them the way heater shield would be used.
The one Thing with them doing this. To an enemy, when they are turned to load..it appears as if the shield is placed in a stationary Position and the enemy wouldn´t know exactly when the crossbowman was about to turn and fire. By the time he had turned and fired, it would be too late to shoot back before he then turned again to reload. A sort of "peek-a-boo" game with the Pavise wearing crossbowman at an Advantage.
Later (1400 or so)when the shields became larger, they worked as a pair, one "Pavisier" who carried the shield whilst the other reloaded - fired.
As I´ve written, I´m not too sure wether the english crossbowmen used them at the period..I assume yes..makes some sense,as the Pavise is first shown in contemporary Italian art from 1300
www.istitutodatini.it/biblio/images/it/riccard/1538/dida/18v.htm
Sec. XIV, primo Quarto (First quarter of the 14th Cent..so 1300-1325)
And..if you´ve ever played, or seen played the Medieval Total War game, the Genoese crossbowmen look so cool..they all wear thier pavise on their backs :-)
Looking great!
ReplyDeleteA cracking post for St. George's day.
ReplyDeleteThanks Michael...and, TBH, I never thought about it being St George´s Day...doh!
DeleteSehr gut gefällt mir richtig gut Top mein Freund
ReplyDeleteExcellent job. They look a treat.
ReplyDeleteWonderful work at them.
ReplyDeleteGiven the amount of exchange between armies in Europe, what with the number of English and Welsh mercenaries turning up in Italy, it seems logical to me that the pavise would have turned up. Good enough excuse for a great looking unit, anywat!
ReplyDeleteThanks Alan. That´s the way my logic in adding them worked as well. They had a lot of Exchange and keeping something like a large shield a secret for Long or putting a Copyright on it wouldn´t work.
Delete