Irish Marine | 27 Oct 2019 7:49 a.m. PST |
Hi, can anyone give me some advice as to which figures would work for Habsburg troops for 1520's to 1550's. I've been reading a lot lately about the advance of the Ottoman army and the fighting in Hungary, Malta, and the Rhodes. |
Fanch du Leon | 27 Oct 2019 11:43 a.m. PST |
Hello Irish Marine, try The Assault Group (TAG) link Maybe you'll find here what you're looking for. |
IGWARG1 | 27 Oct 2019 1:04 p.m. PST |
Also, Redoubt miniatures. |
Rich Bliss | 27 Oct 2019 3:19 p.m. PST |
My 1500 Hapsburg forces are Old Glory and Foundry. I would also recommend TAG. |
Henry Martini | 27 Oct 2019 3:28 p.m. PST |
Any figures for the Italian Wars of the early 16th century should work. At this point Habsburg armies would have contained large numbers of landsknechts combined with inferior gendarmes (except mercenaries) and mercenary arquebusiers. Crossbows had been abandoned. Nominally 'Spanish' (often anything but) troops also turned up all over Europe. It's claimed that the first reiters appeared on the battlefield in 1544, so you could justify including some for the end of your selected historical 'window'. As mentioned by other posters TAG has a huge range of Renaissance figures, and Old Glory's Italian Wars range is extensive (but not expensive). The siege of Malta occurred in 1565, and would most accurately be depicted with mid-late 16th century figures. Again, both companies and others besides, such as Warlord games, have this era well covered too. |
Irish Marine | 27 Oct 2019 5:04 p.m. PST |
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Travellera | 28 Oct 2019 6:34 a.m. PST |
I would guess that you would not see many Landsknechts in action against the Ottomans. In the 1522 Siege of Rhodes it would be Italian/Venetian infantry and Knights of St John. TAG would be the way to go! |
Marcus Brutus | 28 Oct 2019 7:06 a.m. PST |
No landsknechts at Rhodes for sure but at the siege of Vienna in 1529 (which was the culmination of the Hungarian campaign) it would be surprising if they were missing. |
Travellera | 28 Oct 2019 9:15 a.m. PST |
Good point, missed that one :) |
Malatesta1500 | 28 Oct 2019 10:19 a.m. PST |
Yep, there were Landsknecht at Vienna in 1529 with more arriving outside the city once the siege had begun. They sallied out to engage the Turks and defended a large breach against a major assault. At Leobersdorf in 1532 a large Turkish raiding force was ambushed by Landsknecht and destroyed: link At the siege of Buda in 1541 Landsknecht under the Habsburgs clashed with the Turkish relief army and many were slaughtered: link Landsknecht were also present at the sieges of Tunis, 1535 and Algiers, 1541. Although these were North African Campaigns, these cities had become Ottoman bases and had Ottoman support. |
Irish Marine | 28 Oct 2019 12:17 p.m. PST |
Malatesta1500 that's really interesting, would the Landsknecht still be wearing their colorful dress even for the desert. |
Henry Martini | 28 Oct 2019 12:52 p.m. PST |
The coastal regions of North Africa aren't desert, and can be surprisingly lush and green in the cooler months, so I see no reason why landsknechts would aver their normal outrageous costume. |
Malatesta1500 | 28 Oct 2019 1:22 p.m. PST |
They certainly kept their outlandish dress when fighting the Ottomans. This book has loads of contemporary images of all of the campaigns I mentioned above. The text isn't great but it's all about the images really: link |
Puster | 29 Oct 2019 9:30 a.m. PST |
I would guess that you would not see many Landsknechts in action against the Ottomans. The Habsburg armies would be a multinational as you can find an Army, with a core of Spanish and Lansknechts units, reinforced by Italian and Imperial contingents as applicable. It depends on where you want to fight. The Conquistadores where nominally as "Habsburg" as the fronter Croats. The major clash between Ottomans and Habsburgs happened from 1529 to 1532 – the year in which Charles assembled an army of roughly 120.000 men to defend Vienna against Suleyman – though the siege of Güns delayed the Ottomans up to the point that he saw no point in advancing further. The largest battle of its age that was not fought. More then half of these would be raised forces from the Empire, so the majority of these could be classified as Landsknechts. In the same campaign a "raiding force" of some 12000 Akinci – if you can call a force that size whose task it is to burn and devestate a landscape and murder and enslave its population – was cornered and largely destroyed (~7000) by an Imperial force unter Schertlin, mainly Landknechts with local contingents of Knights and foot. The siege of 1529 saw Spanish and Landsknechts supporting local forces in the defense – with a duel between a Landsknecht and a Portugese captain fought upon the parapets of Vienna, cut off by an Ottoman attack during which both died defending each other – anectodical perhaps, but not unlikely and a good story. The main assault by the Janissaries into the breach was allegedly broken by pikes (and probably handguns), and the legend goes that they did not want to attack again and forced the Sultan to retire. In the early stages of the siege the defense was pretty active, with assaults upon the besieging forces, some with more and many with less success. Vienna 1529 makes a fascinating story, and imho that siege was far more decisive for Europe then 1683. That said, minis… Most minis work perfect for the 1520-1530 era – lets say 1535, though the siege of Tunis is well documented and you start to see the fasion shift. I am not sure wether the armies of the 1540ies – Mühlenberg or Drakenburg – would look identical, though you still could get away with individual outfits of the 1520ies. The main fashion difference probably came with the spread of the still wider trousers and the cylinder style felt hat – something that you would not see in any army pre 1530. In the armour for the Gensdarmes the wedged belly starts to show up around 1540, and gets its pike after 1550. No armor looking this way should be used (though there are not many on the market anyway). Apart from that Gensdarmes are pretty constant – armour was worn a long time. So: Foundry, Steel Fist, Artizan, Warlord Games (metal) etc for the early phase. TAG has a fine line of French and English for the 1540ies, and many of these can be used to give a later appearance to your forces. Old Glory has many nice minis especially for Eastern forces, so light Croats or Balkan Stradiots would work. I would include Pistol armed riders only in the latest phase of that era, if at all. For the Spaniards Warlord Games can be used, though they are actually for a slightly later phase. Enough ranting …. |
GamesPoet | 03 Dec 2019 9:51 a.m. PST |
Perhaps Eureka's Conquistador line? My understanding is these are good from around 1490 to 1550. Although latter years of that time period perhaps not for in Europe. |
Condottiere | 03 Dec 2019 10:22 a.m. PST |
My understanding is these are good from around 1490 to 1450. You mean 1490 to 1550? |
GamesPoet | 03 Dec 2019 10:40 a.m. PST |
Yes, and changed it, thank you! : ) |