Slitherine

I have obtained a substantial number (160+) of painted 'spearmen' and am trying to work out what they would best be used for.

Looking at the Essex catalogue it seems I have an assortment of MID32-35, 38-43, 45 and 50. http://www.essexminiatures.co.uk/gal_mid32.html

Any thoughts on what these figures are best representative for?

I am not an expert, but I have seen that some of the models you have are in the DBA Later medieval Scotts. I think you can use some of them to have spearmen units and men at arms. Then you simply add the other units and you will have a complete army.

I am waiting on delivery of some of these same figures. They will be used as Welsh and Eastern European foot. Some of the Eastern European guys will have bardishes replacing their spears.

hammy wrote:I have obtained a substantial number (160+) of painted 'spearmen' and am trying to work out what they would best be used for.

Looking at the Essex catalogue it seems I have an assortment of MID32-35, 38-43, 45 and 50. http://www.essexminiatures.co.uk/gal_mid32.html

Any thoughts on what these figures are best representative for?

Add 24 crossbow figures, 24 knight figures and 8 LH figures and you will have pretty much every army in Oafs of Fuility

My main concern is that there are several different combinations of kit and I didn;t think that they would all be present in the same formation at any given time.

There are four different types of headgear
- A brimmed helmet, a plain helmet, bare head and a hood

Multiple different shields
- Round, round with centre boss, large kite, large kite with boss, smaller kite, large heater, smaller heater

And some in what appear to be brigandine or padded armour with the rest in tunics.

To my mind the heater shields and brimmed helmets are later but then there are figures with brimmed helmets and round shields and heaters with plain helmets

madaxeman wrote:Add 24 crossbow figures, 24 knight figures and 8 LH figures and you will have pretty much every army in Oafs of Fuility

Yes, it's a bummer isn't it that the army lists correspond to historical reality.

hammy wrote:My main concern is that there are several different combinations of kit and I didn;t think that they would all be present in the same formation at any given time.

It is quite probable that they would have been. These troops were very much "bring what you have" types and kit stayed in service long after it was fashionable.

nikgaukroger wrote:

hammy wrote:My main concern is that there are several different combinations of kit and I didn;t think that they would all be present in the same formation at any given time.

It is quite probable that they would have been. These troops were very much "bring what you have" types and kit stayed in service long after it was fashionable.

So, if you are being picky, field them as an army of a date no earlier than the latest equipment, and the presence of some earlier equipment should be wholly or reasonably realistic.

Eminently morphable, as Tim says.

Consider the Imperial German list. That has a lot of nice spearmen in it.

From what I can recall of the Essex medievals they are pretty well suited to any Feudal period western european army, and even into the 14th century (though no-one would bat an eyelid if they were used in a 15th century force, even as pikes as the spears atre pretty long (scale at around 15 feet from memory).

Eastern european and byzantine foot do seem to look different - teardrop rather than round or flat topped. But you could still get away with it.

I used them in Feudal Sicilian and Feudal French armies and the friend I sold them to used them mainly as spearmen in a late 14th Centry medieval french force.

In short, you can use them for most things. Feudal foot were expected to equip themselves so you should noit expect a uniform appearance and standards of drill were 'limited' so don't worry about poses (though watch how bases fit together with spears poited in different directions)

Hi
I have about 40 of the same and wondered what to do. I want a later Welsh army, but think that I'll use earlier dark age foot for that and just base up these spears as heavy foot for use in a multitude of medieval armies. I spent a long time deciding wether or not to mix them with the Dark Age spearmen for the Welsh, but that and the base size would of made them pretty unusable in anything else. For the Welsh cavalry I have a similar mix of lots of different kinds of mostly Essex mounted. Probably doesn't go together strictly speaking, but should look alright and have plenty of variation.
Will