Sunday, May 25, 2014

The Great Siege, no the other one

There are various sieges throughout history that have been seen as pivotal events. One of these, now almost forgotten in the English speaking parts of the world at least, is the Great Siege of Vienna in 1529, the highwater mark of the Ottoman Empire. 


Elastolin Turks and Landsknechts.

One expansion to my wargaming collecton that has been on hold for a few years is the addition of 16th Century Turkish forces. Rob has long wanted to put the 1565 Siege of Malta on the table  and at Huzzah I suggested that it was time to resume discussions about it.

So far, all of my 16thC forces are of the 1520 to 1550 era so while I am happy to bring any Turks I have to Malta, I want to stay with the earlier period for my own collection. Since Turks are back on the menu,  I started reading what little I could find on the first Siege of Vienna. It soon became clear why Elastolin produced a range of Landsnechts and Turks without Turkish cavalry. They had produced what was needed for the great sorties and assaults of the Great Siege of Vienna.


The 2nd Quarter (roughly)  of the 16th Century is a fruitful period for wargames. Apart from  the big events like Vienna, Pavia, Pinkie and Rhodes, there were many campaigns of raids and minor sieges where various parts of my existing collection could find employment in places like Italy, France, Scotland, the Mediterranan and in Hungary. 

It might be hard to find useful details of the Hungarian campaigns in English but luckily I am quite happy to make up imaginary castles to besiege.


6 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks, I had to tuck some Scots in the back to make up numbers but over 1/2 are my own original figures.

      Delete
  2. That reminds me I never did get my Prayer Book Rebellion mini campaign going. I sorted and painted, rebased 90% of the figures.When time allows (???????????) I will get them out...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought about doing that based on a magazine minicampaign published way back. But it needs me to cast up a bunch more English for a one off deal so I stalled long ago. Maybe one day.

      Delete
  3. Your own original figures look nice. Have some pictures of them up close?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks. There are some close up pictures if you search for the 16thC label but they are all/mixed together with many conversions with at least 6 figure sources in addition to originals and there is no guide as to which figures are which and it is not systematic. Maybe one day.

      Delete