randynovotny wrote:I'm painting a lansknecht formation for the Catholic armies of the French Wars of Religion,which consists of 6 bases of pike and 8 bases of arquebusiers. I'm wondering
how they would be formed. Would they be in an Early Tercio formation without being classified as one, or would it be a keil or a pike and shot unit?
1) Nothing is an Early Tercio unless it says it is in the army list.
2) A kiel needs two 4+ deep files of pikemen/HW
so it would be an ordinary pike and shot BG.
However, you will see in the list that the maximum number of arqeubusiers in the landsknecht formations is 6. (There would not be much point in their being more anyway, as they are obliged to form up in one single file each side of the pikes).
For best effect then, I would recommend 10 pikes (or 8 pike and 2 halberdiers) and 4 or 6 arquebusiers.
This formation will
1) Count as a kiel until it has lost 2 pike/halberd bases (which might not take long if shot at by artillery)
2) Count as a Grand Battle Group
Even better would be
12 pikes (or 10 pikes + 2 halberdiers) + 4 arquebusiers.
This will count as a kiel until it has lost 4 pike/halberd bases, so has a much better chance of getting into close combat with a POA advantage for the 4 deep pike/halberd files.