Italeri 100 Years War English Knights and Foot Soldiers

(Scanned @ aprox. 100%)

(Scanned @ aprox. 200%)

Again, like the French, these are lovely figures. Along with 8 horses (6 caparisoned in two poses + 2 non-cararisoned horses for your mounted archers), you get...

1 Mounted King (well, he's got a crown on his helm anyway!) 1 Mounted Standard Bearer 4 Mounted Men At Arms 7 Dismounted Men At Arms 4 Billmen 7 Longbow Men 2 Mounted Longbow Men

Note the Long bow men. Three poses, two of which have seperate arms. Nice figures, but I do kinda wonder if the seperate arms were actually necessary. I mean, longbowmen poses are naturally "flat", and don't benifit a great deal from having extra bits - they'll still look flat, even after being assembled. Compare these with Italeri's French crossbowmen, where the seperate arms really add dimension to the shooting figure. Don't get me wrong, I still think they're a nice touch, just a little un-necessary.

So how do the figures in the box stack up against the DBA 100 Years War English Army Lists?

IV/62 100 Years War English. 1322AD-1455AD.
	1x3Kn//4Bd(Gen), 2x3Kn//4Bd, 6x4Lb, 1x3Sp or 2Ps, 1x4Lb or 4Bd, 1x3Cb or Art.

Pretty simple list this. As near as I can figure it, you'll need at least three boxes of these guys to have enough long bow men to make the minimum 6x4Lb required, and that only by substituting the three archer figures you're short of with, I would suggest, this fellow to the right. Ok, so his legs might be a bit over armoured for a pleb foot soldier, but...you're short three bow figures otherwise! Unless, of course, you want something to use for the 3Sp option...

They are the sorry sods with chamber pots on their heads with the long spears and no shields in all of those pictures of the period.

I'm using the chamber potted [Accurate/Revell's 100 Years War] English bill men as the clothes are perfect. I will have to change the bill to a spear (just a little bit of shaving of the sharp bits off the bill should do it).

They are a perhaps a little bit over armoured (esp. knees), but will work for the later sub lists or could shave them off as well.

Dave Wallace

As Dave has kindly pointed out, you could use Accurate/Revell's 100 Years War British foot soldiers in this role. And even if you chose to go with the Psiloi option instead of the 3Sp, you could use the handgunners from this Accurate set to fill in this roll.

And of course, you'll have eight more longbowmen left over (you get eight per Accurate box) - four for the seventh bow element and another three to fill out the three elements where you didn't have enough Italeri bowmen to complete the job.

Incidentally, that will also give you enough crossbow men so's you can do away with having to produce (and use, which I always find difficult) that artillery piece at the end of the list! (You'll also end up with a heap of English Billmen, which I would suggest would be used for the fourth blade element - mind you, three boxes of these Italeri figures will give you more than enough Billmen anyway!).

Three boxes of these Italeri English will also give you plenty English knights left over as well. You could use the excess to suppliment those of the corresponding Medieval French army (!).

You'll also end up with six of these rather cool looking mounted longbowmen. Ok, so you can't use them in the DBA list, but, if I remember right (keep forgetting to check), the DBM list actually has these as compulsory troops. English Longbowmen as Mounted Infantry. Since they never fought from the back of a horse, you could base one mounted figure per element (bit like my alternatley bases 'Orcs'), and replace them with fully fledged bow elements when you dismount them to fight. In fact, can't see why you can't do that for the DBA list as well...

All in all another lovely set. And, ok, so to pull together two opposing 100 Years War DBA armies out of these (and the French) it's gonna take you seven boxes - $NZ 68.00 (well, if you buy them from me!). But don't forget that'll give you two French as well as this one English army. And that will also give you more than enough for an 100 Years War100AP DBM army!

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