Perry European Mercenaries - Averland, er...Uri Crossbowmen

These are the crossbowmen from the box of European Infantry 1450-1500 'Mercenaries.' Wanted them in fairly simple, but also eye-catching livery, and settled on the yellow and black scheme of the Swiss canton of Uri. Troops from Uri participated in many battles, including the Battle of Sempach in 1386 to the Battle of Marignano in 1515. They also were on the winning side at the Battle of Kappel in 1531 during the Reformation in Switzerland. Oh, and the livery is also that of Averland...

The figures were block painted, then given a Minwax stain, followed by Testors Dullcote, and finally a bit of highlighting.

Not sure if they participated in any Wars of the Roses battles, but wanted the livery to stand out against the usual English colors of reds and blues.

They can also be part of a Dragon Rampant warband, since there was interest after the Lion Rampant game day last week.

A mixture of white, black and blue was used to highlight the black. Adding a bit of blue gives it a nicer tone, in my opinion, than a gray if only black and white is used.

So far, I've had good results using 3 figures per 40mm squares. They speed up movement and only need 2 casualty markers before removing the entire base.

The last unit from the box are the 12 pikemen. Not sure what livery colors to paint them as, but only a little will be showing as they are more heavily armored.