Mounted longbowmen in Lion Rampant

Recently a friend of mine asked some rules for dismounting troops in Lion Rampant, since in the original rules this option was not included, I wrote some.

The Grand Chevauchee, by Peter Dannis

I'm thinking mainly about HYW mounted longbowmen. Probably they represented the wealthier fraction of commoners (yeomen) hired for campaigns in France during the HYW. They could afford better equipment (bucklers, falchions and some armours) and even an horse. Usually only nobilty and their retinue could afford war horses, so those used by mounted longbowmen would be more probably second class horses. There are no records of any mounted combat, nor mounted shooting. even considering medieval chroniclers uninterested in tactical minutiae, it seems just weird, since no tradition of mounted archery was recorded in England in that period among that social class.  

A plausible role for mounted longbowmen is to act as a mobile reserve and allowing quick deployment during a battle or during a campaign, reaching a strong position in which they dug in to fight on foot.

Back to Lion Rampant now! The following upgrade can be purchased by archers and crossbowmen. Replace some or all the figures with mounted models or mounts and horse keepers.

I found this picture surfing the net, judging from the layout should come from some Osprey book

New upgrade: additional mounts @1 point

Purchase additional mounts, gaining some extra movement capabilities. 

On a move order (5+) a mounted unit can move up to 10".

On a dismount order (6+) the models are replaced by the same number of appropriate figures on foot.

Mounted unit cannot charge nor shoot. If contacted by an enemy unit, the models are immediately dismounted. Unit can never remount.

Miniatures suggested

1st Corps produces nice mounted longbowmen for HYW, Casting room and Perry Miniatures for later periods (WotR and early Renaissance).

Venetian sortie with Lion Rampant

At Model Expo Italy, a convention held annually in Verona, Luca and I had a demonstrative game of Lion Rampant.

Northern Italy, 15th century. 

A Venetian castle is about to be encircled by a Milanese force. The stronghold commander decide to lead a sortie to prevent Visconti's army to mount a proper siege.

Thus said, it's a classical Bloodbath scenario from Lion Rampant rulebook, with an asymmetrical deployment (Venetian retinue must first exit through the main castle door). 

Walls do no provide any help, since all the garrison is rushed against the enemy.

The crowd gathers to cheer its heroes

Some food is also provided to the Men at Arms

Forward! Stradiotti led the sortie!

Milanese forces approaching the castle

Stradiotti are quickly routed by a terrible crossbows shooting, leaving the Venetian force without light cavalry. Luckily enough, Venetian archers soon do the same to Milanese mounted crossbowmen.

Battered mounted crossbowmen on the right

Mounted Men at Arms clashes but the Venetian leader is forced to retreat 

The Venetian leader demonstrates that courage isn't enough. "Maybe a sortie wasn't a good idea", he thought, while his unit is decimated.

Visconti are now charging against Venice infantry, which resists

Ineffective, the most I can say of these arquebusier (bidowers)

Some modern firearms aren't enough to stop foot knight advance and the poor skirmishers are forced to make way.

Venetian Fanti da Mar tries to arrest Milanese foot knight

Fanti da Mar (Marine Infantry), were a Venetian troop usually embarked on the galleys of Serenissima. They often were dismounted in raids or used (in the Colonies) as garrison troops. Usually they were partly armoured and armed with a warhammer of other short weapons (better suited to naval combat). In this game, I tried to represent them as Foot Men at arms, but I feel that Foot Sergeants with switched values of attack and defense (as suggested here), could be a better representation, after all.

The survivors take shelter behind the castle walls.

Doors are closed and Venetian now prepare for a siege.

Shakò64 Borbonic Hunters (2) - Painting guide

Cacciatori and Carabinieri esteri (1859-1860)

Documentation about uniforms in the Kingdom of Two Sicilies army during its last period is fragmentary, and few dedicated volumes exist, for this reason I decided to write this guide to help new wargamers getting started in this fascinating period. Few depictions of this army arrived to us, and I chose to follow the Vinkhujzen collection watercolors, which follows the description of the 1859 regulations.

Carabinieri esteri and cacciatori napoletani (hunters or chasseurs) were  light infantry corps trained in open order fighting and broken terrain operations. I remember most of the Sicilian and Calabrian internal areas are mountainous and impervious. They fought valiantly (even when - often where led by less than competent leaders) during all Garibaldi's campaing of 1860 and 1861 from Calatafimi to Volturno.

In 1859 cacciatori napoletani and carabinieri esteri were reorganized and were issued new regulations about uniforms. They received a tunic grigio ferro (dark grey) or light blue and trousers in dark grey, light blue or white, all with a green line. The third carabinieri esteri regiment was going to wear green tunics with red trousers, but probably they never received the new uniforms.

The everyday uniform or labour uniforms, often wear during campaings was the biggia (lit. grey), actually a light blue grey, obtained intertwining grey and blue wires. 

3rd rgt carabinieri esteri, note the grigio ferro uniform

Miniatures

I used the recently released figures from a newly established Italian company, "Shakò64". The figures are coded as: Comando cacciatori in tunica (grigio ferro) e shakò (covertato e scovertato) and Cacciatore in tunica e shakò (covertato e scovertato). They are suitable to represent both Cacciatori napoletani and Carabinieri esteri. The figures portray troops during campaign, in tunic and carrying all the necessary equipment as haversacks and water bottles. Epaulettes are not shown, probably they've been removed to be preserved from the injury of bad weather. They were kept clean to be used for high uniform or garrison duties. The troopers are armed with 32" rifled carbines and "yatagan" model bayonet.

 

Bavarian Carabinieri Esteri Battalion, in biggia (blue grey)

Painting guide

I chose to paint the tunic in my own version of grigio ferro, so dark grey with a strong blue component, and biggia trousers. Most of the colours are Vallejo model colours. I applied a white primer.

For grigio ferro tunic I used as base color Vallejo Dark Bluegrey 70.867, then I lightened it with Vallejo French Mirage blue 70.900 and then again with a mixture of French Mirage blue and Vallejo Dark Blue Pale 70.904 in a 1:1 ratio. 

For  the biggio coloured trousers I used a 1:1 mixture of Dark Blue Pale and French Mirage blue 1:1 and then I lightened it with pure Dark Blue Pale.

I suggest also experimenting using different washes. If you're using them, I suggest using as base color for tunic a mixture 1:1 French Mirage Blue and Vallejo Dark Bluegrey, and for the trousers Dark Blue Pale only, since I expect the washes to darken the base colour shadowing the model. Then you can lighten it as I suggested before. In the last passage I often add a small quantity of pure white in the mixture with a dry brush, to exaggerate contrast.

For those desiring experimenting with blue-grey tunic I noticed after I painted these models that a good starting point could be  Vallejo Luftwaffe uniform WWII 70.816, let me know if you try it!

Summary table

Item	Base Colours
Tunic and trousers grigio ferro*	Vallejo Dark Bluegrey 70.867+French Mirage Blue 70.900
Trousers biggi*	Vallejo Dark blue pale 70.904+French Mirage Blue 70.900
Shakò, belts in black leather	Vallejo German grey 70.995
Belts in white leather	Italeri Flat Sand
Backpack, waterbottle, carbine wood	Games Workshop Gorthor Brown
Bags, cartridges in leather	Vallejo German grey 70.995, Italeri Flat leather, Italeri Flat Sand
Cuffs, Shakò pompon	Vallejo Deep green 70.970
Steel and Brass	Vallejo Natural steel 70.864 + Italeri Gloss Brass

Update

I just noticed on Shakò64 a fantastic uniform guide for Naepolitan Cacciatori, by CIPA, check it here.

Bibliography

• Giancarlo Boeri, Piero Crociani, Massimo Fiorentino, "L'Esercito Borbonico dal 1830 al 1861" I° Tomo Stato Maggiore dell'Esercito Ufficio Storico.
• Stefano Ales, “L'Esercito delle due Sicilie uniformi equipaggiamento armamento 1850-1860”
• Gabriele Esposito, Giuseppe Rava, “Armies of the Italian Wars of Unification 1848-70 (1)”, Osprey Publishing
• Illustraton from "Vinkhuijzen Collection"