Having picked up several boxes of the Perry Agincourt to
Orleans cavalry I’ve been thinking up ways to use them. And this is my first
effort with these mounted archers.
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| Medieval mounted Archers |
This set is predominantly geared for heavy cavalry, but the
Perry’s have very thoughtfully added the options to do mounted archers. You can
get two per sprue, for a total of 6 in a box. To add a bit of variety I have
used a small number of head swaps and used some spare parts from one of the
Agincourt infantry boxes. They’re beautiful to work with and a joy to paint.
Can’t say I like doing horses, but when I do heavier cavalry later for the French/Italians
(Verneuil for the latter if you were wondering) I’ll have more variety as some
of the horses will be in full barding. So that should spice it up a bit
hopefully.
Mounted archers were, from reading Andrew Ayton in the
Soldier Experience, mainly comprised of minor landholders and had been gaining prominence
in English armies since the 1350s. They were a cut above peasants, but not full
Gentry. This is not an absolute thing the author cautions, as many may have
been recruited and equipped by their respective Captain making their social
status less clear. It’s interesting that becoming a mounted archer in such a
way was a means for those from lower status backgrounds to work towards
becoming a man at arms. Indeed a good many started out this way including perhaps
some of the more famous names from the conflict such as the great Routier Captains
Sir Robert Knolles and Sir John Hawkwood.
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| A typical mounted archer. Apologies for the background, I've got a new telly and I'm not sure where to take photos now. I think I have a clever solution for next time though. |
In terms of how they were used, the horses were just to give
them mobility. They would still operate in the same capacity as everyone else
in English armies at the time and would fight dismounted from a well-established
infantry position. This was normally a
successful tactic for the English, but if the position didn’t have time to be
set up correctly it could end disastrously like at Patay for instance.
This was a fun little project and something I’d trying to be
figuring out how to do for a long time, so I was overjoyed when the Perry’s
announced they were going to include these options in this set.
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| The commander in full harness. The options for armour in this set are incredible with everything from orle's to plumes well catered for. |
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| The chap dead centre is one of my efforts with a headswap. |
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| Two standard English archers. |
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| Rear view of the unit. |
