"Should I painy my (Hussite) wagon" Topic

So I have a pile of wagons for a Hussite army. Should I paint them a pale brown for the faded wood look or go for faded red, green blue and such?

The case for brown:
The period picture of a wagon lager on wikipedia (Hussite wars) of a Hussite lager shows brown wagons.
Modern Romanian wagons of a similar appearance are muddy brown
The Czek 1950s Jan Zizka film (check it out on YouTube) shows off brown wagons in action.

The case for colour:
The wagons should look prettier
Medievals liked bright colours as evidenced by paintings in Churches and houses, including those in Bohemia.
Some sort of paint would protect the wagons
Being military the squaddies would paint the wagons (ie painting coal white and grass green)
UK 19th century wagons were painted.
The 15th century peasant may have been relatively more wealthy (in terms of liesure and expectations) than the 20th century peasant and hence had more time or inclination for painting

Discussion invited

i would go for painted, not only does it look better, but in real life it would help protect the wood and metal from rust etc.

regards

jim

I've seen some painted like church scenes in full vivid color like shields or banners of the time period. Of course, I think brown would be just fine.

>>The wagons should look prettier

I would agree with this one.

yes definitely. painy in the assy. death to all crusaders.

If they smeared them with linseed oil or some thing similar, then go with the brown. IIRC the Funkens book shows most gun carriages and wagons as natural wood. If they were to be shot at and or hacked upon; I don't see the need to waste paint on them.

I am sure that whoever paid for the wagon, whether it is a noble, a guild, or a city militia, has livery colors. Go for it. Everyone wants to look their best, and identify that wagon as theirs.

My Polish tabor wagons are painted with alternate planks. I have two schemes: red and white, and blue and yellow

Gotta dream boy
Gotta song
Paint your wagon
And come along

I took this shot of a (presumably reconstructed, I don't read Hungarian) war wagon at Visegrad Castle in Hungary last month. They've gone for the plain look:
link

Dave

If you want to be historically accurate, paint them brown (wood). Hussite war wagons were not painted. A Hussite army operated with about 300 war wagons, so I can hardly imagine the men painting the wagons instead of learning how to operate them.

Additionally, some Hussite factions had fairly strong iconoclastic tendencies, so ornate visual decoration would probably have been controversially vain.

The wagon at the Hussite Museum in Tabor is varnished plain wood.

Personally, I'd paint mine all a faded red, green, or ochre. Given the efficiency of Hussite drill (signal flags, songs outlining the duties of each wagon crewman, dedicated engineer teams, etc.), it would not suprise me to see different colors used for different divisions.

Lucius beat me to it -the reconstruction at the Tabor Museum,and all the pictures I've ever seen, contemporary or otherwise are wood.

I doubt that the 15th Century peasant had more leisure time and then indulged himself painting wood. The old CSSR government used to brand the Hussite movement as a Socialist movement -which it wasnt per se. However it was diffucult to argue fully when one rememebers the conditions of the peasants and there were no doubt political movements attached to the religeous. I would have thought the 15th century peasant far too busy trying to stay alive than looking for ways to occupy his spare time.

Best reason for painting Hussite wagons in colour – historical sources. Find some and then paint to your heart's content.