The Free Company of Bertrand de Massone,
In the long bitter times of the conflict which history would record as the Hundred Years War, many a stalwart fighter would find themselves leaderless following the capture or death of their overlord.
Some would return to their village, some would join another Lord’s retinue...
...some, however would band together and continue the profession of arms, forming bands of men, experienced to a greater or lesser degree, under a Captain - the Free Companies, or Great Companies as they became known.
These companies would hire themselves out to the greater Lords as a complete unit, often a mixture of missile troops, spearmen and for the richer and better equipped Companies, Men-at-Arms.
The Free Company of Bertrand de Massone represents one such Company which has been successful in battle, or in choosing it’s patrons wisely, and has prospered to the extent that it can field a unit of Men at Arms in full- or half-plate as well as a unit of light horsemen (similar to Stradiots).
As with most of the larger, highly successful Companies, this Company has adopted a livery with most of it’s members wearing it - obviously new recruits would remain in their own clothing until such times as they inherited livery.
To make the visual image of the models more appealing I have assumed that the main Company has absorbed another smaller group which has lost it’s leader. This allows for some models to have the white fluer-de-lys on red of de Massone or the red eagle on white of the other Company while most are in the combined livery as the standard shown above...
At present the company is envisaged as:
a unit of Men-at-Arms,
up to two units of Pikemen,
up to two units of crossbow, one with pavise,
a unit of skirmishers with bow,
a unit of light horse with lance and crossbow...
...but then again, when have we ever known a wargames army which didn't grow beyond our first designs...?
In the long bitter times of the conflict which history would record as the Hundred Years War, many a stalwart fighter would find themselves leaderless following the capture or death of their overlord.
Some would return to their village, some would join another Lord’s retinue...
...some, however would band together and continue the profession of arms, forming bands of men, experienced to a greater or lesser degree, under a Captain - the Free Companies, or Great Companies as they became known.
These companies would hire themselves out to the greater Lords as a complete unit, often a mixture of missile troops, spearmen and for the richer and better equipped Companies, Men-at-Arms.
The Free Company of Bertrand de Massone represents one such Company which has been successful in battle, or in choosing it’s patrons wisely, and has prospered to the extent that it can field a unit of Men at Arms in full- or half-plate as well as a unit of light horsemen (similar to Stradiots).
As with most of the larger, highly successful Companies, this Company has adopted a livery with most of it’s members wearing it - obviously new recruits would remain in their own clothing until such times as they inherited livery.
To make the visual image of the models more appealing I have assumed that the main Company has absorbed another smaller group which has lost it’s leader. This allows for some models to have the white fluer-de-lys on red of de Massone or the red eagle on white of the other Company while most are in the combined livery as the standard shown above...
At present the company is envisaged as:
a unit of Men-at-Arms,
up to two units of Pikemen,
up to two units of crossbow, one with pavise,
a unit of skirmishers with bow,
a unit of light horse with lance and crossbow...
...but then again, when have we ever known a wargames army which didn't grow beyond our first designs...?