About Renaissance

- By Michael Anastasiadis

The Renaissance period of wargaming, from c. 1480 to 1700, is one of the most fascinating and colourful periods of warfare. The era was dominated by military developments in Western Europe. In the beginning, there were the aristocratic gendarmes which were the pride of France, Swiss pikemen, the colourful German Landsknecht pikemen raised in imitation of the Swiss, and the battle-seasoned veteran armies of Spain. Added to these was the complication of firearms which became a prominent feature of warfare. The Spaniards, Swiss and Germans all used arquebusiers, while the French and Italians stuck to the crossbow and the English put their trust in the longbow and bill. The Ottoman Turks, relying on their mounted exponents of lance and bow, erupted into Central Europe and overran Hungary and then thundered on the gates of Vienna.

This is a period when the technological equilibrium between gunpowder and bow was finely balanced in the 16th century, but eventually saw the bow supplanted by the all-conquering bullet. But the arquebusier and musketeer were still vulnerable to cavalry and needed the protection of the 'Queen of Weapons', the pike. By the third-quarter of the 17th century, most European armies were uniformed standing armies and were beginning to receive a flintlock musket and bayonet, which allowed the infantryman to exert both firepower and shock action combined in one. However, the old ways still persisted in Russia, Turkey, the Far and Near East but the lesson was clear: evolve or decline.

The Renaissance period also witnessed some of the more unusual and colourful troop types ever: Polish winged hussars, German Landsknecht pikemen, French gendarmes, Japanese samurai and Ottoman janissaries. No other period can compete for sheer flamboyance in the costumes that some of these warriors wore. If you are interested in modelling or want to have figures that possess style and panache, Renaissance wargaming will not disappoint you.

The most popular set of rules used in Renaissance wargaming is De Bellis Renationis, published by Wargames Research Group, together with their three accompanying books of army lists. This gives you over 100 armies to choose from for the period. The best introductory guide to Renaissance wargaming is George Gush's Renaissance Armies, 1480-1650, who almost single-handedly created Renaissance wargaming.

There is a specialist society devoted to fostering Renaissance wargaming: the Pike and Shot Society which also publishes a bi-monthly journal, Arquebusier. There are also some specialist societies worth searching for their gems of information: www.lanceandlongbow.com and www.landsknecht.com.

The most popular scale to play in is 15mm due to its relative inexpense to get started, but there are also some 25mm armies used by the older hands. Figures are mostly produced in England and some of the more popular manufacturers include:

• Essex: www.essexminiatures.co.uk
• Old Glory: www.oldgloryminiatures.com
• Dixon: www.spiritgames.co.uk/dixcont.html

So, if you fancy your hand as the 'Grand Captain' Gonsalvo Cordoba, Ivan the Terible, Soliman the Magnificent, Gustavus Adolphus, Oliver Cromwell or Tokugawa Ieyasu, Renaissance is the period for you.