At last! Back to the Condotta.

I haven't posted anything about my Papal Condottieri force since the end of May, which is half a year ago, and far too long. What can I say though? Other things jumped the queue and took up all the space on my painting list.

Anyway, I have now finished off a group of twelve Romagnol pikemen, including a leader with a banner and a musician.

The Romagna is a region of Italy to the north of Rome and was in the later mediaeval and renaissance periods usually under Papal rule as part of the Papal States. the name Romagna is derived from the Latin Romania, meaning "land ruled by Romans".

The region was almost constantly at war and parts of the Romagna were at various times ruled by Venice and Florence. It is often claimed the the best Italian pike-armed troops came from the Romagna. Cesare Borgia carved out his short-lived Duchy of Romagna in around 1500, but it didn't survive his downfall in 1504 and the Duchy was reabsorbed into the Papal States.

I have obviously chosen to paint these troops in the red and white livery that the majority of my Condotta troops, apart from the Swiss contingent are wearing.

Once again, these are all Perry plastic 28mm figures, which I really love to work with. They are nice sculpts, with plenty of variations and they paint up really well. In the pictures above, I have chosen to show them in a loose formation of two ranks and also in a tighter column.

I'll obviously be using these for Lion Rampant, but once again, they will also be suitable for Dragon Rampant and Saga: Age of Magic games.

A standard bearer for my Papal Condotta

A while ago, a wargaming friend of mine, Joe McGinn got in touch to say that a friend of his at the Hailsham wargaming club, who makes flags was offering to make me a flag to use with my Italian Renaissance condottieri forces. Well, what could I say, apart from a very firm "Yes please!"?

As it turned out, Mike (for that is his name) actually made me not one but two flags, and linen ones at that! One is a cavalry standard and the other one for foot troops.

I've had the flags for a while now but I've finally got around to getting a small vignette made and painted for the foot standard, and here it is;

First, from the right, showing the detail. The arms are those of Pope Alexander VI, otherwise known as Rodrigo de Borja (Rodrigo Borgia in Italian);

Now, from the left;

And finally, a frontal view;

The Borgia Papacy lasted from August 1495 until August 1503. Rodrigo was born in Valencia, in what is now Spain and his birth name was Roderic Llançol i de Borja in the Valencian language, which is related to Catalan and is one of the Romance languages descended from spoken Vulgar Latin.

Rodrigo Borgia studied in Bologna as a young man and, after the appointment of his uncle as Pope Callixtus III in 1456, Rogdrigo entered the Church. Aged 25, he was was ordained as a Deacon and created a Cardinal-Deacon. From then on he rose steadily through the ranks, eventually becoming Pope. His Papacy is notorious for nepotism, scandals, vice and debauchery, but we need to remember that this was Renaissance Italy, and Papal excesses were hardly a new thing. The Borgia were just more open about it, as well as being hugely successful. 

Cesare was Rodrigo Borgia's second son with his mistress Vannozza dei Cattanei and was originally destined for a life in the Church, being ordained as a cardinal but became a soldier and politician on the death of his elder brother. He was granted the title Duke of Valentinois by the French King Louis XII in 1498 and spent much of his life fighting to create a Borgia "state" in central Italy. He fought as a condottiero for Louis XII.

The vignette comprises two Perry plastic 28mm figures, one wearing Papal livery as the standard bearer and the other as a man-at-arms on foot in full armour, protecting the standard. I decided to put the standard bearer on a small mound, to give him more prominence on the field of battle