Category: Italian Wars

One of the most commonly seen features in the Battle of Pavia artwork is the Pavia city walls. In order to give my game context, I wanted to capture some of the key features including the city walls and park walls. I have just completed the city walls and I am now working on the park walls (which will be a feature of an upcoming blog post). This post concentrates on the city.

The above image from the Pavia tapestries shows the look of the city that I was trying to capture. The main features are the large gatehouse on the left, the city walls with smaller towers and the large towers with battlements throughout the city. I also wanted to capture the color.

At Historicon 2022 I put on the Battle of Ravenna. This battle took place outside the city and I decided to create the city itself as a backdrop to the game. I used walls from a company called Table Top World out of Croatia. They are excellent resin cast models. To save cost these walls formed the basis of the walls for Pavia. They may not be identical to the Pavia walls but they were close enough for my needs. In a previous post I covered how I painted and weathered the walls.

As you will notice from the above photo, the walls were limited in extent and did not have a gatehouse. The main reason is that Table Top World do not produce a gatehouse compatible with the period. Their gatehouse is fantasy based.
Inside the city I had buildings which I will use again for Pavia.

Walls and gatehouse

For Pavia, I wanted to increase the size of the city and include a gatehouse. I found a 3D print called Port Winterdale gatehouse. It was available in 28mm but was much too small for what I needed. A 3D printer that I use managed to scale it up to give the effect I was looking for. I then painted and weathered it in line with the other walls. I also bought additional walls and small towers from Croatia.

In the above image you can see the effect of scaling up the gatehouse. I places a 28mm SteelFist pikeman in the entrance for scale. In person the gatehouse does give the imposing visual that I am looking for.

The above image shows the increased length of the city walls, they occupy the best part of a 4′ x 6′ terrain mat.

Towers

The other item in the Pavia tapestries that I wanted to represent was the tall towers with battlements that stand over the city. Charlie Foxtrot models do a nice tower with a Pantile roof in mdf. I really liked the model but towers were not tall enough for my walls and the roof wasn’t what I was looking for. The owner agreed to sell me the towers without the roof section but with two extra middle sections for each tower to raise the height. I purchased three towers from them.

I then had a tower top scaled and printed from a Norman Fort 3D print. This fitted perfectly on the mdf tower. I then spackled and sanded the walls to get the texture I was looking for.

The work in progress is shown above, with the finished painted and weathered model shown below. I kept the same color scheme as the city walls.

The image below shows how the towers rise above the city walls. The combination of the walls and the towers achieved the appearance that I was looking for. I have two of the towers completed and plan to complete the third next week.

Closing thoughts

When I put the Pavia city walls on the table at Historicon I will populate the inside with buildings and figures from my existing collection in the same way that I did for Ravenna.

Overall I am very happy with the way the city is turning out. I know that a lot of people plan to run Pavia as a game next year. I don’t know if my city of Pavia will be the largest amongst those put on the table, but I suspect that it will be in the top five. If someone does something larger, I can’t wait to see it.

The next blog post will be on either the park walls or the Landsknecht pike blocks. I am working on both at the moment and I am not sure which will be finished first.

As a bonus image or two here is the pontoon bridge from the Pavia tapestries. It was created from 3D printed boats and some cut and weathered balsa wood.

The Castello Mirabello is a central feature of the Battle of Pavia, with most of the battle taking place around the building. I therefore decided that making Mirabello for Pavia was important and that using a generic building would not give me the look I wanted. Unfortunately no manufacturer currently makes a model suitable for Mirabello, which left scratch building as the only option. This post details how I constructed Mirabello.

Reference photos.

The buildings at Mirabello consist of a main building, outhouses, walls, a gate and a moat. Unfortunately only the main building exists today. A photo of this building was the main source material.

This photo set the main layout of the building. However, it looks like stucco was originally on the building as shown in the attached drawing.

This drawing also shows the outbuildings which I still need to construct. In addition to this drawing, many of the art pieces of the period also show an observatory. Probably the most famous is the Pavia Tapestry image.

The tapestry also set the color palette for the building.

Making Mirabello for Pavia.

I decided to construct the main building using foam as the base structure. The doors and window frames were purchased from “Things from the Basement“. They also cut me a piece for the balcony frontage. These were all custom parts. I would recommend this company for all mdf laser cut parts.

I contacted a local 3D printer to make the pantile roof. One recommendation is to buy the roof first and then make the building to fit it. I have found that 3D pantile roofs are a very easy option rather than try to make pantile roofs from scratch.

The balcony was a combination of a laser cut part backed by foam.

The building after the windows, doors and roof are added is shown below. This photo shows a temporary assembly to test the fit of the parts.

The next stage was to texture the building, the first thing that I did was to fix some brick paper in several locations. These would show through spaces where I left off the texture.

The next stage was to use spackling to texture the surface. This texture was added by hand, allowed to dry and then sanded down.

The building was then painted and weathered. As a base coat I used Vallejo German Camo Beige. I then dry brushed with Vallejo White Grey. Finally I used a Vallejo powder of European Earth. This last powder was applied sparingly, but it rally brings the building to life. Lastly, on the south wall I used a dark green wash sparingly in places to add algae to the walls.

Building the observatory.

The observatory was built using two different 3D printed buildings purchased from Etsy. The first was entitled Minature Arcane Dome. It is a very sci-fi type dome and I had to sand off many of the rivets from the roof. However, it provided a great top of the observatory tower. Below is a picture of the building after sanding and priming.

The base of the structure was another 3D building from Etsy entitled Harbour Watch Tower. This was a turreted tower. I removed the top of the turret and used the rest as a base. To join the buildings I needed a sloped surface as shown in the Pavia Tapestry. I constructed this slope from foam and finished the surface with spackling.

The finishing of the making of Mirabello for Pavia

The following two photos show the finished buildings. I still need to do the outbuildings, gate and moat. The overall building length is about 13″.

The making Mirabello for Pavia was really my first attempt at scratch building structures. I think that it turned out quite well. It is a little larger than most commercially available buildings, but will form a good centre piece for the battle of Pavia.

I just recently received some pictures from Sijie Hao showing the next set of Pavia Commanders that he has painted for me. They are currently being shipped. This post is just a short one to show the latest pictures.

The second set includes:

• Georg von Frundsburg
• Marx Sittich von Ems
• Ferrante Kastriota, Marquis Civita Sant’Angelo
• Robert de la Marck, Seigneur de Fleuranges
• Guillaume Gouffier, seigneur Bonnivet, Admiral of France.

The next image shows the command bases of Fleuranges on the left and Bonnivet on the right. I just love the painting of both the figures and the flags on these bases.

The next bases are the commanders of Imperial Landsknechts. The Landsknechts took the field in two pike blocks of around 3500 men in each. One of these pike blocks was commanded by Marx Stitch von Ems and the other one was commanded by Georg von Frundsburg. There were also many Landsknecht arquebusiers that operated independently of the pike blocks. The picture below shows the flag bearer of Marx Stitch on the left and then von Frundsburg and his flag bearer in the centre. The figure on the right is Sant’Angelo.
Von Frundsburg is painted as he appears in many images with the red and white sash across his chest.

The image below shows a close up of Marx Sittich with his flag bearer behind. The flag pole draped over his shoulder is a great touch.

Below are a couple of additional close ups of Fleuranges and Bonnivet

These are the latest Pavia Commanders. I still have additional commanders that Sijie is painting. While Sijie has been progressing these figures, I have been working on the buildings for Pavia and an additional 144 figure Landsknecht pike block. I hope to post pictures of both very soon.

The amount of work needed to get the Pavia project finished in time for Historicon in July 2025 is huge. I still have a vast number of figures to paint, buildings to build and trees to make. In my next post I will do a review of the buildings, which ones I have finished and which ones I am still working on. I always wanted to spend some time creating command bases for Pavia featuring the actual commanders at the battle. However, I was coming to the realization that the time for researching each commander and creating the base would not be possible in the short time that I have.

That is when I came across Sijie Hao on the Italian Wars Wargaming Facebook page. He is both a superb artist and someone who meticulously researches the Italian Wars. I was immediately drawn to the quality of his work. Luckily he agreed to do some commission work for me on Command Bases for Pavia. I have never had commission work done for me before as I prefer to paint my own figures. However, his work will truly put my Pavia project over the top.

I initially gave him six command bases to do just to see if everything went smoothly. It did and I have now agreed to purchase an additional ten command bases from him. The first order consisted of:

• Francis I King of France plus three of his Royal Retinue.
• Palice and his standard bearer.
• La Tremoille and his standard bearer.
• The Marquis del Vasto and his standard bearer.
• Charles de Lannoy and his standard bearer.
• Charles, Duke of Bourbon and his standard bearer.

Photos of Command bases for Pavia

Now that I have received these figures, my second order includes:

French

• Charles Tiercelin, Lord of Roche du Maine
• Francois of Lorraine and the Duke of Suffolk – Richard de la Poole
• Anne de Montmorency
• Florange (Robert de la Marck, Seigneur of Fleuranges
• Bonnivet
• Duke D’Alencon

Imperial

• Georg von Frundsburg
• Marx Stitch von Ems
• Ferrante Castriota Marquis de Sant’Angelo
• Marquis de Pescara

After these ten bases arrive I will only have three more command bases for Pavia that I need. These will be Antonio de Leyva, Captain Hernando de Alarcón and Gallot de Genouille. I may make some of these myself or depending on time I may make another commission order.

I was feeling a bit out of control on my Pavia 2025 project following Historicon. I needed to identify what units that I had and what units that I still need to paint. Over the past few weeks I have formalized the order of battle that I am aiming for. With over 400 figures still to paint (mostly Landsknechts and heavy cavalry), there is a lot to do before Historicon, but at least I now have a plan.

Terrain

In addition to the figures there are five main terrain items to complete:

• The terrain mats – these are being made for me so I do not need to worry. They should arrive before the end of the year.
• The park walls and gates – I am working on these at the moment and my next post will probably concentrate on them.
• Castello Mirabello – I plan to scratch build this important feature and have ordered most of the parts I will need. Construction will start in November.
• The trees – there are a lot of trees to do.
• Movement trays for the figures. I will complete these in December.

Figures for Pavia 2025

Here is my order of battle. I have highlighted in green those figures that I have painted already.

From this chart it easy easy to see that the bulk of the work is Heavy Cavalry and Landsknechts. With over 400 figures still to paint, I took the unusual step for me of outsourcing the command stands. The main reason was time, but I also came across an artist who can really do superb command stands and does a lot of research on Italian Wars commanders. I will post pictures when they arrive.
Finally here are a couple of pictures of some Italian and Landsknecht shot that I recently completed for this project. There will be a lot more posts on the Pavia 2025 project in the next few months.

Even though I am working on my modern game for Historicon 2024, I am still also working on Pavia for Historicon 2025. The terrain mats are something that I plan to have custom made, as I just do not have either the time or the space to make them myself. Also, I would prefer to work on the figures, buildings and other terrain rather than spend too much time on the mats. As custom mats are a long-lead item, I need to get them ordered.

Type of terrain mat.

For the Italian Wars games that I have previously put on at the club or conventions (Garigliano, Novaro, Bicocca and Ravenna), I have used the teddy bear fur mats by Killing Fields Terrain. These have served me very well and have even helped me win Best of Show and Best of Theme awards. However, for Pavia I want to use something different.

For my recent modern Afghanistan game I used a custom mat from Warsigil.com. I was very pleased with how this mat turned out. So much so, that I have ordered another custom mat for my modern Historicon game for 2024. The new mat should arrive in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I have been working with Warsigil to produce mats for Pavia – I expect them to delivered by the end of the year.

The reason that I chose Warsigil is the high quality of their work. Also, the Battle of Pavia was severely influenced by both the terrain and the weather. There were extensive wooded areas and the ground was very wet and muddy. The last thing that I wanted was a lush, bright green terrain mat. Below is a picture of a wooded mat that Warsigil custom made for another customer. This surface is the type of thing that I am looking at for Pavia.

I will use the brown areas for the woods and the greenish areas for the grass of the park.

Design of terrain mats

At the moment I have ordered five mats, each of 4′ x 6′. These are intended to represent the park. Later I may order two additional mats to represent the walls of Pavia and the area around the Five Chapels.

Without going into too many details in this post, the five terrain mats will go in a “U” shaped design. The area between the two sides represents the course of the Vernovola stream as it proceeds through the southern end of the park. In this area it was impassable due to marshy ground on each side of the stream. Also there were raised roadways on each side of the stream, so firing was impossible from one side to the other. The only area where the Vernavola could be crossed was near Mirabello and further north. This meant that a “U” shape could be used, which would allow players to reach troops in the middle of the park. They would in effect be able to stand in the middle of the park.

The following is the image that I sent to Warsigil and the key below is my details that refer to the wooded Warsigil mat photo above.

The brown areas will be the wooded areas and the green areas will be the grass areas of the park. The stream at the top is the northern part of the Vernovola. Mirabello will be located at the southern part of the mat with the stream on.

This layout will give a lot of room for fighting, but have the constraints of both the wood and the stream.

Upcoming work on the terrain.

The next thing that I will need to consider is the large amount of deciduous trees with no foliage. The Battle was fought in February and I want this to be represented. I still have to figure out how to make these trees as they are not readily available on the market. I will keep on working on Pavia for Historicon 2025 despite still having a lot to do for Historicon 2024.

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This week the subject of my blog post is Pavia a project update. I have been working on both the park gates and the Spanish light Cavalry.

Park gates.

The only park gate that is somewhat intact is the gate at Certosa di Pavia. This gate is in the New park. I have not found much information about the design of the gates around the old park. I am going to assume that all of the gates, around both parks were of the same design. This assumption will have the added benefit that they will be easier to mass produce. As I am going to need six to eight gates for the old park, that is an important decision. Here are some images of the actual gate courtesy of Google Street View.

Making the park gates

I contacted a couple of terrain building manufacturers to see what was possible. However, I eventually came to the conclusion that I was going to have to scratch build these gates. Foam was selected as the base material. I decided to buy a decent foam cutter to make the job easier. I will also be building many of the five chapel churches and the Castle Mirabello. With all of these buildings the cutter should be a good investment.

Here is my second attempt at cutting some of the front facade of the gates. The first attempt is in the bin. The cut facades are sitting on the foam cutter. This is my first attempt to make a foam building. The process is interesting. Don’t be too critical of my first attempts.

Here is my first attempt to carve the brick and paint the walls. I still need to weather and dull down the brick. As you will notice the bricks are larger than those in the original. This is because the required skill level to make smaller bricks is beyond my current ability. With eight gates and fifty feet of wall, I think that the overall impression will be good. It is a compromise that I am prepared to make.

Over the coming weeks I plan to finish two or three gatehouses. There is still a lot of work to do, I need to make the sides, back, roof and details at the top and then glue everything together. I also plan to use some pigments to improve the bricks. They will be minus some wooden arched doors in the centre at the moment. The company “Things from the Basement” are selling me some custom doors. These will be made from laser cut wood and they will be bringing them to Historicon for me in July.

Spanish light cavalry

I had 32 Spanish Jinetes and for Pavia I need 62. Over the last few weeks I painted up the remainder. I still need to touch up the flag edges of the new figures, but other than that, they are done. The first picture shows the Jinetes and the second picture includes a few mounted arquebusiers in support.

These Jinetes complete the dedicated Spanish Light Cavalry command. I always love playing with Jinetes in the Pike and Shotte rules. They use the fire and evade rule, which works really well for them.

Hopefully next time I will have more work to show you on the gates. I also will have 60-70 Italian foot arquebusiers that I am working on. They are beautiful sculpts from SteelFist Miniatures. I am also expecting another 80 heavy cavalry in the post soon and I am looking forward to painting them. That is all for this blog post, Pavia a project update.

In some of the texts about the Battle of Pavia there is discussion about how the terrain influenced the battle. It is important in the recreation to understand the topography of Pavia.

Where are the hills?

Some of the battle descriptions talk about hills used as vantage points and troops taking protection in valleys from artillery fire. The writings of Colonel Hardy de Perini are particularly notable in this regard. The book that I have even has a map with contours showing the church of San Paulo on a hill dominating the centre of the park. To the new comer to the Battle of Pavia, this contoured map is convincing. The problem is that there is no actual hill in the park and San Paulo is not even in the park.

Without visiting the battlefield (which I have not done yet), how can I be so sure of the topography of Pavia? This is where Google Maps and their street view feature comes in. Google allows people to use these images on non commercial blogs as long as full credit is given. All of the pictures in this next section are thanks to Google Maps.

Photos of the terrain.

The above images together view almost every part of the battlefield. They give views from each side of the park looking into the park and views from the center of the park. One thing that is notable is that the park area is as flat as a snooker table (or a billiard table for our US friends).

What is also notable from the images is that both the park walls and many of the woods are no longer there. The flatness of the ground does make it easier to put together from a modeling perspective. I feel that these images have helped me get a feel of the topography of Pavia

What about the five chapels?

The Swiss mercenaries of the French were housed in the area known as the five Chapels. These Chapels were San Paolo, San Spirito and San Giacomo which were close to the walls of the park. San Pietro and San Lazzaro which were a little further out to the East of Pavia. I will probably only include the first three on the table as they have the most influence.

In looking at modern day photos of the area, I imagined that these five chapels were located in small villages. However, I found an excellent website which totally changed my views. I would encourage you to visit this website as the site has some images put together by the author. In respecting the intellectual property of the author I do not want to copy these images. However, there are some images of old art-work which I am free to use. Here are some interesting images of the San Paulo, San Spirito, San Giacomo area.

Images of the five chapels.

One thing that these images make clear is that the chapels were not surrounding by other buildings. They were almost like a monastery complex. Also it appears that San Paulo was on a small mound. So Perini, when he refers to San Paulo being on a hill, was not completely wrong. He just got the location and its role in the battle wrong. The rest of the terrain around the five chapels is also completely flat, just like the terrain inside the park.

This finding about the five chapels has changed my entire view on what role they took in the battle. I will now be re-reading many of the texts with this new understanding.

The roads from Pavia to Mirabello.

There are two roads from Pavia to the Mirabello area. One runs to the east of the Vernavola river and one runs to the west.

I have found quite a lot of information about the road to the East. Many accounts comment on this being a raised road, almost a dyke, to prevent flooding of the park to near Torre del Gallo. With such agreement between sources on this road, this is how I will model it.

The road to the West of the Vernavola is more complicated. There are accounts that say that this road was a huge tree lined avenue used for horse races. The road ran from Pavia to the Castello Mirabello. Other sources claim that this road was also partially raised to prevent flooding. I need to do more work on researching this road. The idea of a tree lined road does appeal to me as it will look good on the table.

Conclusion

Hopefully some of the information of the topography of Pavia will be useful to those trying to recreate this interesting battle.

I apologize that there are no pictures of figures in this post, but I wanted to get some of the information about the battlefield documented. I should have some photos of new Italian Wars figures to post soon.