"God save us from famine, plague and the Croats!"
German prayer during the Thirty Years War
This blog post describes the latest unit for my Thirty Years War collection, based on the armies at Lutzen, 1632; the Croats.
Surely the most colourful troops that fought during the Thirty Years War were the Imperial Croat cavalry. These light horse men were recruited from the Imperial lands that bordered on the Ottoman Turkish empire. Originally made up of Croatians, as time went on their ranks were filled from many ethnic groups from the South East of the Empire, such as Hungarians, Wallachians, and even Cossacks. All experienced in the frequent minor border clashes with the Turks. What ever their origin, they became collectively know as the Croat horsemen, and became feared wherever the Imperial armies campaigned.
A Croat horseman |
The Croats were classic light cavalry. Unarmoured, and riding hardy but nimble ponies, they would skirmish with their carbines and pistols, before closing with their sabres when they had found an advantage, or sufficiently weakened an enemy. They were famed for their canny ability to lay or avoid ambushes, after many years learning from the wily Turks and their Tartar allies. Even rivers were no obstacle, as they were able to cross bodies of water thanks to their strong swimming mounts.
I have been looking forward to collecting and painting the Croats since I started this period. They are something quite exotic compared to the more regular pistol armed horsemen of Central and Northern Europe. Warlord Games make Croats for the Thirty Years War (here), and The Assault Group (TAG) also have Croats (here) as well as covering Poles, Cossacks and Tartars that can be used for Croats. Wargames Foundry have a set of Cossacks (here) in their Severn Years War range, including mounted Cossacks that I think also can work as Croats. They are riding really characterful ponies, and have a great range of poses.
This unit is made up of the Wargames Foundry figures, with the addition of a TAG Croat trumpeter. They carry a banner of a shape peculiar to the Croats, made by Flags of War (here). The figures reflect the typical clothing and equipment of the Croats; brighter shades of red, blue and green, the long eastern style of coat, sometimes worn as a cloak, often braided, knee boots, fur trimmed hats, curved sabres, pistols and carbines. I think they look like a fearsome bunch, and my Swedish baggage train had better look out!
Until next time!
Andy @ FOGH.
Super brushwork Andy! I like the basing and stand composition too!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jonathan, much appreciated :-) This lot got extra tufts on the bases as the small ponies meant there was more space, and I thought they'd appreciate the extra cover!
DeleteWonderful and dynamic looking cavalry, lovely paint work and basing!
ReplyDeleteThanks Phil, you're very kind :-). I'm looking forward to doing the foot versions from Foundry as well.
DeleteLovely looking bunch of cut throats! Tons of character, nicely done!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thanks, Iain! Really glad their character comes across.
DeleteThey look excellent!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ray, much appreciated!
DeleteBeautifully painted figures!
ReplyDeleteThanks Dean, much appreciated!
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