For a free description of the army of Erik XIV as well as a large set of flags for his army visit
link the documents you want is the download for the flags and the Swedish army briefing for the rest. The army briefing is a bit dated as I wrote it several years ago but the errors such as they are are mostly a question of detials.
Unfortunately the "Early Vasa" list bears little resemblance to the actual armies of the period, I suspect that the language barrier was too much for whoever wrote the list. A lot of troops are missing, others are graded plain wrong. Trying my best to reconcile the list with history I would suggest the following
Noble cavalry:
In return for the Noble status Swedish nobles were required to fullfill armed service and to provide the Crown with a set number of cavalry depending on the size of their income.
The Nobility became increasingly reluctant to perform the expensive and dangersous service demanded of them. King Eriks rigid enforcement of the law was one of the factors behind the revolt against him in 1568. In the days of Johan III, Sigismund and Karl IX the Noble levy saw very little action and it was the Landsryttare and Mercenaries which formed most of the Swedish cavalry.
Swedish lancers generally wore a harness similar to those used by Demi-lancers elswhere in Europé, full harness for the upper body but only long tassets or a short leg harness covering the thigh and knee. A small minority of men would be in full head to foot harness.
The lance fell out of use fairly rapidly despite Royal orders and regulations enforcing it's use. Instead pistols became the favour weapon of the Nobility.
Essex makes several usefull figures, notably MER 81/81a Man at arms with lance in ¾ armour and MER 110 English Demilancer which can be mix to form lance armed units.
For the pistoleers which replaced them I would use MER 80 Man at arms with pistols, MER 83 Reiter and REN 109 Herreruelo as poorly equipped nobility. It's also possible to mix in a few TYW Cuirassier figures to add colour, it's not stricly historical but it helps add variety.
Skytter:
Did not exist as a separate troop type, they are really the retainers forming a part of the Noble cavalry. Fought more as close order cavalry than skirmishers. Contrary to the DBR armylist the Skytter were actually armoured with no less than 3 levels of armour recorded. The early skytter wore mail and helmet or back and breast with mail slevees and helmet. In the 1560's the use of mail disapeared. Initialy armed with crossbow but firearms became increasignly common as wheellocks became available.
For the men armed with crossbows Essex MER 60 is probably the best figure available. For the men armed with arquebus MER 89 & 112 are the best Essex figures but I think that Old Glory 15's Early and Late Renaissance Mtd Arquebusier have a better look as far as the equipment is concerned. Use "Early" figures for pre-1560 or mixed with the "Late" ones for 1560's and early 1570's.
Landsryttare
These men were the regular cavalry units established in 1544 and were not converted nobility ( the Noble Levy was a separate force) We know were little about their equipment prior to 1559 but they were probably equipped in the same way as the Skytter. By 1560 the Landsryttare in theory cam ein two types, the first one a native version of the Reiter armed with pistols and sword and wearing Reiter style ¾ armour, the other were mounted arquebusiers with less extensive body armour. In reality many, porbably most of the"Reiters" tended to have only the less extensive suits of armour used by the mounted arquebusiers.
I would use a mix of figures for these units, MER 82 Mtd Arquebusier and MER 83 Reiter are very usefull Essex figures which I personaly mixed with REN 109 Herreruelo and REN 104 Cav with Morion. Old Glory 15's may well come in handy for these troops as well, the "Late" Mounted Arquebusiers would work very well as Landsryttare and some of the Middle & Late Reiters can be used as less well equipped pistoleers. (It all depends on how many of the more "flamboyantly dressed Reiters you want in your Swedish army, I tend to make my Landsryttare a bit drab in apperance when compared to the actual German Reiters)
The Infantry
As a rule most Swedish foot prefered firearms for most of the 16th Century. Erik XIV did introduce the use of pikes & armour on a large scale (50% of a company got pike or halberd) in his reformed army of 1560-1568, however after he was deposed in the civil war of 1568 pikes and armour fell out of use in most of the units. There was a revival of the use of pike, halberds and body armour during the war with Russia in the 1580's as Pontus De la Gardie armed 20-25% of each company with pike or halberd for his successful campaigns. After his death the pikes once again all but disapeared.
Crossbows were discarded by the regulars during the war with Russia in the 1550's, many units started the war with a mix of crossbow and arquebus but crossbows were replaced during the war as fast as was possible. By 1559-1560 all crossbows were gone.
While a suprising amount of detail regarding the amount of cloth issued to the soldiers as well as the quality and colour of the cloth has been preserved we know next to nothing about the design of the clothes made from it. We know that the wealthy classes were heavily influenced by German fashion in the mid-16th Century (like the garments worn by the Stures link ) little is known about the soldiers dress except that it did probably not look like ordinary Swedish peasant dress. The amount of cloth issued was not enough for pluderhosen and it is unlikely that many common soldiers could have paid for the 4-6 yards of wool or silk needed to make the "poufs".
Give the amount of cloth they recived it is likely that the men wore sort of knee length breeches but wether these were in the style seen in some German art or looked like the ones one could find the Netherlands and France is anyones guess.
For Arquebusiers Essex MER 68, 70 and 71 are the best choice for most of the period (ie post 1550 though by the 1590's the figures are a bit dated) Armored pikemen and halberdiers are found in MER 74 & MER 76 while MER 92-94 provides usefull pikemen in lighter harness. Command figures can be found in MER 78, 90 and 114 though the later two coem with cast led flags which is a bit annoying these days as most of us use printed paper flags.
Landsknechts
The best mid-16th C landsknechts are Grumpy Miniatures lads in proper pluderhose. (Available from Eureak) Essex are nicely made for their age but belong to the earlier part of the century, they can serve in a pinch and do well for the "early" Swedish army.
Artillery
Essex MER 79 and MER 109 are the best choices for the mid-16thC
Hope this is some help.
