Ordonnance Burgundian

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Historical Overview Section

Charles the Bold was born in Dijon, the son of Philip the Good and Isabel of Portugal. In his father's lifetime (1433-1467) he bore the title of Count of Charolais; afterwards, he assumed all of his father's titles, including that of "Grand Duke of the West". He was brought up under the direction of the Seigneur d'Auxy, and early showed great application to study and also to warlike exercises.

Following his accession he relinquished, if not the stately magnificence, at least some of the extravagance which had characterized the court of Burgundy under his father, he had bent all his efforts towards the development of his military and political power. Since the beginning of his reign he had employed himself in reorganizing his army and the administration of his territories. While retaining the principles of feudal recruiting, he had endeavoured to establish a system of rigid discipline among his troops, which he had strengthened by taking into his pay foreign mercenaries, particularly Englishmen and Italians, and by developing his artillery. Once in power Charles involved himself in a series of difficulties and struggles which ultimately brought about his downfall.

He embroiled himself successively with the Archduke Sigismund of Austria, to whom he refused to restore his possessions in Alsace for the stipulated sum; with the Swiss, who supported the free towns of Upper Rhine in their revolt against the tyranny of the ducal governor, Peter von Hagenbach and finally, with René II, Duke of Lorraine, with whom he disputed the succession of Lorraine, the possession of which had united the two principal portions of Charles's territories— Flanders and the Low Countries and the Duchy and County of Burgundy. All these enemies, incited and supported as they were by Louis, were not long in joining forces against their common adversary, and Charles and his new Ordannance army suffered a series of crushing defeats at the hands of the Swiss and was killed at the Battle of Nancy (5 January 1477).

Charles the Bold has often been regarded as the last representative of the feudal spirit—a man who possessed no other quality than a blind bravery. He cannot however be said to have embodied chivalric notions, as did his father, for even by the standards of the time, he displayed wanton cruelty. In view of Charles' irrational behaviour in the last year or so of his life, it has even been suggested that he became mentally unstable

Allied Contingents

• English, Wars of The Roses English (Yorkists) : Any Storm of Arrows 15 Longbowmen and billmen. Hoorah!

Using the army in FoG

• If you are going to be tempted to actually use the Average Knights whilst mounted, make sure to take them in 6's rather than in 4's, although 4's can exploit the fact they are drilled, so move well...
• So far only limited experience with it suggests it is best used as an all-arms force with a mixture of Men-at-arms, Pikes and Longbows (plus supports).
• Longbows can take rough and shoot up troops.
• Pikes can take on 'superior' knights, while Men-at-Arms support/posture/kill easy stuff.
• Stakes - as with many armies - can plant you firmly on the defensive, and a wise opponent will walk away. maybe best not to take them as your men are still quite tough
• The jury is out on the value of mixed pike and longbow units. Their main function is on a flank to drive off mounted skirmishers, but they will struggle in combat against proper line of battle troops.
• Lots of artillery may have been fun in DBM, but its a recipe for a non game in FoG. Avoid.
• The 4-strong crossbows can usefully support 2 8-strong units by forming a column behind them both

UK Tournament Results with this army

36 / 62 Ordonance Burgundian Britcon 2008 15mm (open)
1 / 10 Ordonnance Burgundian BHGS Challenge 2008 25mm (open)
18 / 20 Ordonnance Burgundian Warfare 2008 15mm (S&S, SoA, EE)

Collecting and Painting the Army

• Burgundians are reasonably popular, so a quick Google search will throw up many well painted examples.
• There is some debate as to whether the "armoured barding" horse armour was fully implemented by this period, but most people seem to pick it

Useful Links

User-contributed links about this army:

• Burgundian flags to download from Kreigspeil.dk
• Register and you can put you own link in here and then write some brief detail about the link here
• put the link text readers will see in here write some more detail about the link here

15mm Manufacturers supplying figures suitable for Late Medieval Armies

You can see some of the figures in the Ancients Photo Gallery also on this site

• Essex Miniatures - vast range of generic medieval figures
• Donnington C15 Europe Range, 36-strong WOTR range,
• Museum Miniatures 100YW & WOTR ranges with nice generic mounted and dismounted knights
• Gladiator Miniatures by Fighting 15's (Previously Black Hat) 40+ Medievals, 18 WOTR, plus Feudal/Crusade ranges
• Corvus Belli 30 or so figures in a well-regarded 100YW range
• Old Glory 15's, large number of medieval figures
• Minifigs 2 large and separate 100YW Crecy & Agincourt ranges, plus large WOTR selection
• Irregular Miniatures 60 medievals in a range spanning East/West Europe from Late Feudal to C15
• Lancashire Games Around 30 generic & English medievals
• * QRF Models The LAN (Early Renaissance) range can provide most of the infantry and bowmen, alternately the WOTR figure codes.
• Tin Soldier 40 C14 & C15 medievals, including Swiss and equipment
• Battle Line Miniatures (NZ) 60 generic Medievals, some noted for WOTR
• Vexilia Extensive Mirliton & Venexia Italian/Burgundian Wars ranges for C15 armies
• Isarus - sold by 15mm.co.uk 70 codes in their C11-C15 Medus ranges
• AlainTouller Figurines A dedicated Spanish/Almughavar late medieval range
• Gallia 21 Late Medievals (a little small)

Core Troops

• When building the army make sure to use the available flags from Freezywater as they can make it very colourful.

Army Lists

My current favourite list is:

• 4 * TC
• 6 Ord Hangunners (LF, Prot, Av, Drill, HG)
• 4 Ord Xbow (MF, Prot, Av, Drill, Xbow) — used for rear support (& flank protection)
• 4 Italian Xbow (MF, Prot, Av, Drill, Xbow)
• 4 Mtd Xbow (LH, UnP, Av, Drill, Xbow)
• 12 Low Countries (HF, Prot, Poor, Drill, Pike) - anti-superior knight force
• 8 Ord Pikement (HF, Prot, Av, Drill, Pike)
• 2 Household (Kn, HvArm, Dr, Sup, Lance, Sw)
• 4 Ord Men-at-arms (Kn, Hv Arm, Dr, Av, Lance, Sw) — don't use as you would Sup Kn
• 4 Ord Men-at-arms
• 4 Ord Men-at-arms
• 8 Longbows (MF, Prot, Av, Drill, Longbow, Sw) — I like 8's for staying power in combat
• 8 Longbows

12 BGs.

Sample army lists for this army

• 1 * FC CinC
• 3 * TC
• 6 Ordonance knights (Dr/HARM/Avg/lance/sw)
• 6 Ordonance knights (Dr/HARM/Avg/lance/sw)
• 2 household knights (Dr/HARM/Sup/lance/sw)
• 6 Ordonance longbow (Dr/Prot/Avg/Bow/sw)
• 6 Ordonance longbow (Dr/Prot/Avg/Bow/sw)
• 6 mixed pike/longbow
• 3 (Dr/Prot/Avg/DefSp)
• 3 (Dr/Prot/Avg/Bow/sw)
• 6 mixed pike/longbow
• 3 (Dr/Prot/Avg/DefSp)
• 3 (Dr/Prot/Avg/Bow/sw)
• 6 mixed pike/longbow
• 3 (Dr/Prot/Avg/DefSp)
• 3 (Dr/Prot/Avg/Bow/sw)
• 4 Ordonance Crossbow (Dr/Prot/Avg/Xbow)
• 6 Italian Crossbow (Dr/Prot/Avg/Xbow)
• 4 Handgunners (Dr/Unprot/Avg/Firearm)

Remember to leave a line before you copy the above section as a template for your own list

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