"Burgundian Field Artillery" Topic

"Although gunpowder weapons had reached Europe during the 14th century, they were in the form of bombards, usually very large and heavy barrels on thick wooden beds that needed much time to set up, and so were useful for sieges but little else. Slowly the technology improved, and fast-forwarding to the middle of the next century we find these enormous guns largely abandoned in favour of lighter pieces, increasingly mounted on their own wheeled carriage, which meant they could be moved much more easily and so used on the field of battle, where they were generally placed in front of the main battle or on the flanks. Although their particularly good record-keeping may distort the picture today, it seems the Dukes of Burgundy were major players in the development of artillery, with both Philip the Good (duke from 1419 to 1467) and his son Charles the Bold (duke from 1467 to 1477) being very proud of their large and advanced artillery park. The unsuccessful campaigns of Charles meant the Burgundians lost most of their field guns to the French, Swiss and Lorrainers, and what little remained was taken by the Habsburg Duke Maximilian of Austria, future Holy Roman Emperor. By this time however it was the French that lead the field in artillery, as they were to prove in 1494 and 1495 when they invaded Italy.

Each box of this Mars product contains four sprues, each with the six figures pictured above plus one carriage and a choice of two barrels. We have pictured both complete guns, even though there are only four carriages, and therefore four guns, in the whole set, basically because we really liked them. That is not something we find ourselves saying about any Mars product, but there you are. The carriage is perhaps a little simplified, though in truth the original was pretty simple too, and both guns are of the split trail elevation sort typical of the time. The lower part of the trail is a separate piece from the upper, which also has the barrel, so you can adjust the elevation (and even ‘peg' it there if you provide your own pegs) to your own taste, and it works well. The main difference between the guns is in the length of barrel, with the one on the left being 17mm (1.22 metres) long and the shorter one, looking more like a howitzer, being about 10mm (720mm) in length but of a bigger calibre. Both are properly bound to the carriage and have the reinforcing rings you would expect. The longer one may even have a separate chamber so it can be loaded at the breech, which is authentic. The wheels of the carriage, which stand about waist high as they are 15mm in diameter, seem to have metal plates on the sides of the rim, which is odd because we cannot think why anyone would do this. We could find no evidence that it happened, so unless the sculptor completely failed to understand the concept of a tyre, we would have to put a big question mark against that feature, though it is easily trimmed away anyway…"
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Amicalement
Armand