Further research into 16th century combat formations (via a whole slew of new books) has forced me to reconsider the size and layout of the English Elizabethan company of foot I’d detailed in my last but one post.
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| An English Elizabethan company of foot circa 1595. Pikes in the centre, calivers and arquebusses on either flank and a sprinkling of longer range and harder hitting muskets to the fore. Figures are Pendraken 10mm based on 3x1cm stands for muskets and 3x2cm stands for the rest. |
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| Rear view of the same bunch. The central stand at the back is the command group plus a couple of halberdiers to guard the non existant standard - still deciding which one to use! |
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| A contemporary drawing showing several company’s grouped together but still adopting the smaller formation layout. |
I’m now going for a 1:2 ratio and a company of about 150 men. The pikes form a solid 3 base block at the centre of the formation with two sleeves of arquebus troops projecting slightly forward on either flank of them. Muskets were not as common as the lighter arquebus until the very end of the period so I have included two smaller stands of them which can be swapped out for longbows (still officially in use until 1595 with the trained bands - though markedly inferior to the archers of the past since very few people took the time to routinely practise with the weapon).
Blocks of troops composed mainly of pikes, like the earlier Swiss, had relatively open flanks that were vulnerable to sword and buckler men or halberdiers. It is conjectured that the flanking columns of arquebus men eventually helped provide some protection in this regard but the length of the subsequent column covering the pikes resulted in a fairly narrow firing frontage compared to later formations. The concentrated use of short arm melee weapons faded away in all continental armies following this development.
Having finished this company and now adapted my own portable rules (top right) I shall be wrapping up further work until I’m on the other side of the channel. It’s anticipated we’ll be moving (all being well) on the 23rd of the month and that’s close enough now that I need to start packing the last of my kit away.
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| A last march past before going into their box for transport. |
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| How the men are to be arrayed in column - according to Sir John Smith. |
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| On the march to their camp, which they’ve not yet realised is in a big cardboard box. |
The purchase process in France still has a couple of months to run but luckily we will be renting the gîte that comes with the main property - until the acte de vente is signed. I suspect that I won’t be able to get gaming and modelling again until mid October (ish) so for any readers that have blogs of their own I will be getting my gaming fix solely through your posts. No pressure. Lol.
Toodleooh mes amis.