French infantry (early 1790s)

by Michael Schwab

Hagen-Miniatures (link to the figures) have a small range of French infantry of the early 1790s in their French revolution sets wearing the so-called "Kaskett", which is closely related to the Tarleton helmet.

With some additions from ART-Miniaturen (mounted officers) and Italeri (grenadiers and one officer) the available figures are painted as the 25th (facings rose) and the 40th (light blue facings) de Ligne in their white uniforms and the 13th de Ligne already in blue (originally violet facings). Especially the latter reflects the often delapidated appearance of revolutionary infantry. The guys in green faced yellow represent the 4th Chasseurs a Pied.

Battalions were of 8 companies fusiliers or chasseurs with one company of grenadiers or carabiniers added respectively. The line units here are made of four stands each (representing two companies = a division) with one stand for the grenadiers. The light infantry has company stands. The figures are rather large for 1/72, plasticsoldierreview.com would rate them as the fourth figure in their height scale (if they were plastic, of course).

Photos (click to enlarge):

Vienna 1683 - On the run

Historical background

In the year 1683 the Ottomans started their second attempt to conquer Vienna, the seat of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and the door to further conquest in Europe. It was a major effort with a huge army (170.000 men at the start of the campaign) - too much for the Emporer, who left the City before the Ottomans arrived. After an epic two months siege an allied relief army (Imperial and Polish troops) reached the outskirts of Vienna and in the final battle the Ottomans were decisively beaten and had to retreat the way they had come.

The moment depicted is the rout of the Ottoman army after the defeat in battle. A Polish winged hussar attacks two fleeing janissaries as a symbol of victory on one side and of total defeat and disorder on the other.


The diorama

The figures are all from Zvezda. Only minor modifications were necessary.


Photos (click to enlarge)

Video (Youtube)

Sources

John Stoye - Die Türken vor Wien
Simon Millar - Vienna 1683 (Osprey Campaign 191)
Richard Brezezinski - Polish armies 1569-1696 Part 1 (Osprey Men-at-Arms 184)
Richard Brezezinski - Polish armies 1569-1969 Part 2 (Osprey Men-at-Arms 188)
Richard Brezezinski - Polish winged hussar 1576 - 1775 (Osprey Warrior 94)
David Nicolle - Armies of the Ottoman Turks 1300-1774 (Osprey Men-at-Arms 140)
David Nicolle - The Janissaries (Osprey Warrior 58)

Vienna 1683 - No quarter given

Historical background

In the year 1683 the Ottomans started their second attempt to conquer Vienna, the seat of the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and the door to further conquest in Europe. It was a major effort with a huge army (170.000 men at the start of the campaign) - too much for the Emporer, who left the City before the Ottomans arrived. After an epic two months siege an allied relief army (Imperial and Polish troops) reached the outskirts of Vienna and in the final battle the Ottomans were decisively beaten and had to retreat the way they had come.

The moment depicted is the clash between Polish and Ottoman troops (Janissaries) during the battle. The Ottomans are already tired of the ongoing siege and the Polish troops are also in a bad state, as their way to Vienna was a long and exhausting one.


The diorama

The figures are from Zvezda (Poles) and Orion (Ottomans). For reaching the interaction between the figures some conversions had to made and also the Poles had to be trimmed additionally to reach the desired appearance (originally they were Russian streltsi). Uniforms were not very developed in this period, so each figure has its own colours or colour variations.


Photos (click to enlarge)

Video (Youtube)

Sources

John Stoye - Die Türken vor Wien
Simon Millar - Vienna 1683 (Osprey Campaign 191)
Richard Brezezinski - Polish armies 1569-1696 Part 1 (Osprey Men-at-Arms 184)
Richard Brezezinski - Polish armies 1569-1969 Part 2 (Osprey Men-at-Arms 188)
David Nicolle - Armies of the Ottoman Turks 1300-1774 (Osprey Men-at-Arms 140)
David Nicolle - The Janissaries (Osprey Warrior 58)

Pavia 1525 - Push of pikes

Historical background

In 1525 a large French army on its way to capture Milan besieged the town of Pavia garrisoned by a much weaker Imperial detachment. An Imperial relief army was already on the way. The struggle between the two opposing armies culminated in a full scale battle, that nobody wanted or expected, in which the French were decisively beaten and their king captured.

The moment depicted in the diorama is the beginning of the fighting between French landsknechts (The black band) and Imperial landsknechts in the park of Mirabello. The two blocks of soldiers advanced against each other and and when they made contact they pushed with their up to 6 m long pikes at each other (= push of pikes). In this case it was a fight to the death with no quarter given - also known as "bad war", opposed to "good war" where prisoners were taken - and the French were completely annihilated.

The diorama

The figures are from Dark Dream Studio (not really the best) and come with separate arms to allow more diversions. All pikes had to replaced and are scratch built out of styrene strips by Evergreen. Apart from the usual problems with glue on plastic figures, the assembly of a body, two arms and a pike was a very tricky business. And of course the poses of the assemled figures had to interact with each other.

The extravagant costume of the landsknechts (even to contemporaries strange and partly obscene) was a real challenge, as there was no such thing as a uniform and everyone wore what he likes. Only the black band wore a mix of black, red and a little white as a general line.

As it is not exactly known how a meadow in a park in Italy in 1525 looks like I attempted this variant with a quite short cut grass, as I read somewhere that in the renaissance this was state of the art.

Photos (click to enlarge)

Video (YouTube)

Sources

Angus Konstam - Pavia 1525 (Osprey Campaign 44)
Douglas Miller - The landsknechts (Osprey Men-at-Arms 58)
John Richards - Landsknecht soldier 1486 - 1560 (Osprey Warrior 49)
Liliane & Fred Funcken - Historische Waffen und Rüstungen