History of Artillery-- 17th century

ohhh, Stryker, you read my mind!

skywalkersaga wrote: ...who is the rugged looking fellow with the crossbow? And the blond guy... is that a Heath Ledger sculpt? And did you re-hair him?

blond guy is the Coomodel Order du Temple knight, not re-haired, (I experiment with the hair thing but always panic when it comes time to make it permanent!),
crossbowman sculpt is from the early days of DML, excellent repaint by someone more than ten years ago..... thanks for your kind comments, Sky!

Tenochtitlan, 1521
Allied with Tlaxcaltec warriors, gunpowder, and smallpox Hernan Cortes laid siege
to the Aztec capital in small, hastily constructed ships armed with cannon.
Three months later the last great Mesoamerican civilization had come to an end.


the conquistador outfit is another creation of my late mother, the sword is from John Carter of Mars,
the background cannon was a rare garage sale find, I put the cannon deck together myself
and made the carriage of the foreground falconet based on this pic--




(if you're a fan of Werner Herzog films, "Aguirre, the Wrath of God" is a must see)

edit: well, I'd not seen this before--
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1zRGAXTlT8
yikes!

Wow, your mum really brought such beautiful things to life, she made that million pearl dress too, if I remember correctly?

But the history behind it all...so depressing. Small pox indeed. And he probably was not the nicest guy out there.

Btw, did you ever come across a 1/6 Morion? The only one I ever saw was from a Swiss Vatican Guard set. My brother is in the process of 3d printing some for a friend.

Ovy wrote:...did you ever come across a 1/6 Morion?

I have one that's, how shall I say.... toyish.
and one that's very, very nice. I'll post a pic if you like

That is another impressive display. What a great thing your mom made for you.

The conquistador outfit is amazing. And so is the rest of your scene, including your own work.

That is a beautiful creation by your mom!

And thanks for explaining about the headsculpt -- I guess that was from before my time (I've only been in the hobby a few years). Would have definitely snapped it up otherwise!

skywalkersaga wrote:And thanks for explaining about the headsculpt -- I guess that was from before my time (I've only been in the hobby a few years). Would have definitely snapped it up otherwise!

I came across this one recently. I thought it might be inspired by Heath Ledger's character in A Knight's Tale. Of course, it is possible it is, even if applied to a (supposedly) Templar knight set.

GubernatorFan wrote:

skywalkersaga wrote:And thanks for explaining about the headsculpt -- I guess that was from before my time (I've only been in the hobby a few years). Would have definitely snapped it up otherwise!

I came across this one recently. I thought it might be inspired by Heath Ledger's character in A Knight's Tale. Of course, it is possible it is, even if applied to a (supposedly) Templar knight set.

That was my guess too.

GubernatorFan wrote:

skywalkersaga wrote:And thanks for explaining about the headsculpt -- I guess that was from before my time (I've only been in the hobby a few years). Would have definitely snapped it up otherwise!

I came across this one recently. I thought it might be inspired by Heath Ledger's character in A Knight's Tale. Of course, it is possible it is, even if applied to a (supposedly) Templar knight set.

Quiet possible. The first coomodel knight had the head of Sean Connery, probably isnpired by the movie "the first knight" which is quiet fitting. Which was also MY first figure haha so many firsts.
I skipped on the Ledger knight character back than...

For the pics: Your characters are really nice! I love them, so many realistic outfits and not the fantasy style you normally get when buying stuff. Great to see one other user here having interest in this. (I also have some plans in the near future)

So good.

Valiarde wrote:
Great to see one other user here having interest in this. (I also have some plans in the near future)

You are definitely not the only one with an interest in this kind of figure -- I just have limited funds/time/space to delve into it at this time. But I'm a medievalist at heart and for now I enjoy seeing others' works! :')

skywalkersaga wrote:

Valiarde wrote:
Great to see one other user here having interest in this. (I also have some plans in the near future)

You are definitely not the only one with an interest in this kind of figure -- I just have limited funds/time/space to delve into it at this time. But I'm a medievalist at heart and for now I enjoy seeing others' works! :')

You seem to like all knights, even the skyknights of the Jedi order Good to know having some medieval interested people here

I’m also one of those interested in all things Medieval, but I just can’t possibly get into another genre financially at this time. I’m waiting on some stuff so I can delve into the Old West period (a period in American History that my wife says I should have been born in) — and that is going to get costly as all get out.

Valiarde wrote:

You seem to like all knights, even the skyknights of the Jedi order  Good to know having some medieval interested people here

Indeed! :') I would love to do some proper historical stuff, and have many ideas for the future. Along with some medieval fantasy-inspired figures for which I've been slowly collecting parts for a while now.


And Stryker -- I can imagine that will be rather pricey, though I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with. : )



(Apologies to GregT for the thread derailment.. ;p )

GregT wrote:

Ovy wrote:...did you ever come across a 1/6 Morion?

I have one that's, how shall I say.... toyish.
and one that's very, very nice. I'll post a pic if you like

Intresting, if you find the time, feel free to post them here.

Ovy wrote:

GregT wrote:

Ovy wrote:...did you ever come across a 1/6 Morion?

I have one that's, how shall I say.... toyish.
and one that's very, very nice. I'll post a pic if you like

Intresting, if you find the time, feel free to post them here.

I second that.

Mixing cultures with Samurai and a (captured?) Chinese cannon



The Bai Zi Fo Lang Ji diagram here shows the type of gun carriage Kong Ling Ge might have based their 1/6 model on--
https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2015/04/breech-loading-cannons-of-ming-dynasty.html
(notice the term "hundred bullet Frankish engine")

from author Tonio Andrade--
https://brill.com/view/journals/jemh/19/4/article-p311_2.xml
"...the rapid adoption of western artillery may have started around the time of the Sino-Portuguese Conflict,
but it continued through the ensuing decades, as the Ming redesigned Portuguese-style guns and adapted
them to their own needs until the only thing western about them was their name: Frankish guns."


This piece is most probably the kind of cannon they patterned the tube on



This is an interesting website--
http://dragonsarmory.blogspot.com/2017/04/death-from-above-rocket-wagons.html


The figures are DiD Hideyoshi and Masamune, just beautiful and very heavy

Another gorgeous bunch!

That is so cool. And your research and sources really paid off. Well done.

That's amazing! Love it!

Another great set of historical figures and artillery, and beautifully presented!

Really liking that conquistador, for the longest time I've wanted to make one but the closest I've gotten is this, I would like to make a figure a bit further back than that sometime.

Also I was having a bit of trouble visualizing the Japanese cannon, It is an interesting piece for sure, I had thought originally that they had some padding at the back to deal with recoil, perhaps this deals with recoil a bit but that's just assuming stuff. Great canons and great figures.

Those samurai looks wonderfully detailed. The person who put the thread through all the little scales really knows what they did in the end of the day. That crazy rising sun headpiece is insane.


I wonder where the history of artillery will end one day. Oribtal lasers? The moon with thrusters?

"C'est avec l'artillerie que l'on fait la guerre."

Napoleon

Theboo-bomb wrote:I had thought originally that they had some padding at the back to deal with recoil...

I'm with you on this, the ball for a cannon that caliber might weigh
17 or 18 pounds. the recoil seems like it would shatter such a carriage.
I thought maybe it was for transport, and the cannon mounted on beds like this for firing--

the weight of the Chinese cannon is far behind the cart axle, but
used in tandem with another two-wheeled cart it seems feasible...
thanks for your comments, Boo!

let's wrap this up with a little bit of the 17th century, and maybe continue with 18/19/20th centuries in another thread later on
with the more commercially available field artillery and uniforms. thanks for all the kind comments, everybody!


Thirty Years' War

this is a Denix cannon with bigger wheels and hubs made out of old sewing thread spools, with a couple of characters
in the Ignite musketeer uniforms soaked in strong tea. the matchlock and powder cartridge belt is from the inimitable
Tony Barton, the rope-wrapped powder barrels were fashioned from chunks of old wood.






English Civil War


this fellow reminds me of the Waggoner in this pic from Haythornthwaite's  The English Civil War--




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I had the tube and the wheels but couldn't find a small split-trail carriage for 'em so I had to make one from scratch



Early 17th century

these are the older SST figures, one in the Ignite French Guardsman outfit (w/what might be the finest 1/6 rapier ever made,
and flintlock pistol by Tony Barton). their facial hair seemed appropriate for the era


Ottoman-Habsburg Wars, late 17th century

Ooooooh, these are awesome!!!!

Wow I love them - stunning realisitc figures and the cannon is on fire

Very cool! Those outfits are the best


30y war ones and ottoman-habsburg are my favourite from among your figures

I love these figures. It is so impressive that you have amassed/created not only a collection of artillery pieces from different eras, but also the appropriate personnel and characters -- and sometimes background props -- to go with them. You can set up a whole museum exhibit!