Hungarian Knights!

Hungarian knights in the 14-15th century were equipped much like their western counterparts.  Unlike their western counterparts, Hungarian knights didn't routinely charge everything that moved on the battlefield.  Repeatedly facing Ottoman Turk light horse tactics must have taught them to be cautious.  These knights are the core troops around which Matthias Corvinus' Black Army was built.  Much like a game of high stakes poker, you are "all in" when the knights go in! 

These are all Essex figures and they were a joy to paint.  Essex horses are just fantastic with a great variety of poses and figures.  I would say these figures represent my best work to date.  I took the time to black line the tack on the horses and I think it was worth the extra effort.  I also tried painting faces for the first time.  Not so easy with old eyes but its a start!  Forgive me for the number of photos but I'm pretty pleased with these 3 battlegroups.  I need to savor my painting victory before moving on to the command stands and camp.  The end of the Hungarian project is in sight! I'm really interested to see how they do against the Ottoman Turks. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hungarian Lights

Matthias Corvinus' Black Army contained Hungarian Light Horse, Serbian Hussars, Szekely, Cumans, Wallachians and Moldavians.  The two battlegroups below represent Hungarian Light Horse.  Their role was to skirmish and chase away the Ottoman Akinji Light Horse to prevent them from interfering with the deployment and charge of the Hungarian knights. I plan to pair each unit of Light Horse with a unit of Serbian Hussars in my Field of Glory games.  This will give the Hungarians a powerful one-two punch that the Ottomans don't have an answer for.  

These Essex figures are quite lively and I mounted a couple of bases with the "shoot and scoot" scheme of two figures facing in opposite directions.  I think it works but I'll leave it to viewers to decide for themselves.  I think using a limited palette of colors paid dividends here as well. 

 

 

Last up are my Hungarian handgunners.  Medieval gunpowder was very expensive and the firearms of the day were of limited effectiveness due to being inaccurate, slow to load  and sometimes self-exploding. Even so, they  provided a kind of shock and awe on the battlefield.  Corvinus utilized the defensive tactics of the Hussites by placing his  infantry behind  pavises or wagons while his cavalry  harassed the enemy and I plan to do the same when I field these troops.  Handgunners need to operate from behind the safety of a shield wall, wagons or cover.  If they're caught unsupported in open, they'll be obliterated in hand-to-hand fighting.  These figures also appear to be a bit on the plump side so I'm not sure they'll be able to run away from a determined charge!  

Clipeati & Armati heavy infantry

The Clipeati were armored footmen equipped with huge shields known as pavises.  The Clipeati formed a shield wall from which the Hungarian infantry could fight. Crossbowmen and handgunners probably operated behind the safety of their shield wall. 

The Armati were the armored footmen who fought alongside the Clipeati. It is not clear what the Armati were armed with but it is reasonable to assume that they utilized pole arms for fighting from, over and around the Clipeati pavises.

I sometimes think I should paint every army twice.  The first time through would be for researching, profiling, choosing figures and color combinations.  In the second pass, I like to imagine that I’d get just the right figures with the perfect color combinations.  If I were to paint the Clipeati & Armati battlegroup a second time, I’d look for different figures for the 2nd rank.  The first rank looks good with the pavise shields but the second rank would ideally be pole armed figures with no shields.

I'm a little unhappy with the faces on these figures so maybe its time to try a new technique.  My face painting technique is very simple.  I put down brown for the base on skin, then flesh and then bring it down with an Ogryn Flesh wash.  The wash didn't take well here for some reason.  I'll have to give it a 2nd wash and maybe when I finish my knights, I'll change my technique.

64 shields in two battlegroups.  A tough looking bunch but I wonder if they can withstand a charge by knights?  I'll have to answer that question on the field of battle.  And I'm sure Al will be happy to run the other side of that experiment!