Uniformity of Mercenaries in W o t Roses

Started by Last Hussar, 09 November 2015, 06:44:56 PM

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Last Hussar

My retinues (ie anyone serving a lord, regardless of if peasent or trained man) have a mixture of clothing under the livery.

Could I justify mercenaries being more uniform- tunic and leggings all the same?
I have neither the time nor the crayons to explain why you are wrong.

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."
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Ithoriel

I'd assume it would depend on the mercenaries, mercenary captain Schwarz's Germans or Margaret of Anjou's ill-disciplined Scots would, I'd have thought, have dressed in whatever they had.

Some, like the Burgundians and French lent by their sovereign, might have been more uniform - if only to remind the recipient who they owed favours too! - but campaigning in a foreign land, how long that uniformity would last might be another matter.
There are 100 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who can work from incomplete data

Leman

Probably not, although it would look very smart on the table. The most uniform item of clothing was the livery jacket. When I started my WOR armies I did every contingent in the livery of its lord. However, it would now appear that major players, such as Warwick, the various varieties of Plantagenet, Mowbray and Northumberland, often handed out livery jackets to the troops of their lesser noble followers, so a battlefield might end up with troops mainly in murrey and blue, blue and white or red jackets, but it is highly unlikely that they would wear matching hose and the like. I think this would be even less likely with mercenaries.
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Last Hussar

Just getting bored of doing all the English in their own clothes (not often you hear a wargamer complaining of lack of uniformity!)  I wondered if a mercenary captain, because he was paying rather than levying, might do that.

I'm not doing any specific mercenary troops - too much hostage to fortune, and I want to be able to use them on both sides.  As I understand it, just because the Duke of Somewhere sent his men, doesn't mean that they would use the duke's livery-'Military Advisors' sometimes want to be discrete!

The Lion Rampant Bidowers are going to be the Perry Hand gunners.  They get the skirmish rule, and these ones will be dressed in green... Dark green
(half with a yellow cross on the front, half with a white cross)
I have neither the time nor the crayons to explain why you are wrong.

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."
Franklin D. Roosevelt

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Orcs

Sunjesters your man for that query LH.  he is an expert in WOR Livery
The cynics are right nine times out of ten. -Mencken, H. L.

Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well. - Robert Louis Stevenson

Last Hussar

I'm seeing him Wednesday, hoping he'd pass through here.
I have neither the time nor the crayons to explain why you are wrong.

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."
Franklin D. Roosevelt

GNU PTerry

sunjester

The honest answer is we don't know.

It is unlikely that a mercenary captain would have paid out for clothing for his men, beyond a basic livery jacket (if even that). I don't think even rich lords did so for campaign wear. I know on at least one occasion the Duke of Burgundy ordered cloth to provide matching clothing for all his court, but that was not for military use.

However, it's not impossible, so it's up to you. They are your mercenaries, so if you want to give them all matching hose, no one can say you are wrong for certain  ;)!

toxicpixie

Paint them all the same muddy brown linen ish? Probably accurate, if dull... undercoat, spray a tan colour, pick out faces, weapons, leather work/armour, dirty wash, and TO THE TABLE!
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Last Hussar

My handgunners with skirmish rules are  in dark green.  Can't be be rifle green   because no such colour  for 400 years.
I have neither the time nor the crayons to explain why you are wrong.

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."
Franklin D. Roosevelt

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Orcs

Quote from: Last Hussar on 11 November 2015, 09:52:53 PM
My handgunners with skirmish rules are  in dark green.  Can't be be rifle green   because no such colour  for 400 years.

The colour probably existed, but not the name
The cynics are right nine times out of ten. -Mencken, H. L.

Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well. - Robert Louis Stevenson

Last Hussar

Nope, never. definitely not rifle green. Capitaine Pointu and his chosen handgunners. In Green. Just some skirmishers for Lion Rampart. Nothing else.
I have neither the time nor the crayons to explain why you are wrong.

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."
Franklin D. Roosevelt

GNU PTerry