Burgundian War Wagon

Circle the wagons!

What's this you say? Well, its a long story... over a years worth actually. I was looking at some wood cuts of renaissance camps and fortifications and there is a particular wagon that keeps showing up in the Burgundian and Landsknecht era pieces. Basically a movable wall with fire ports, doors that slide, and often depicted with a swivel gun int them. I was intrigued and wanted to know more. Whom to turn to?

War wagons used as a defensive wall. Not the cannon placed between them

Luckily we are part of a community that has widespread talent and focuses, and I was able to draw upon the brains of both  David Imrie, aka Saxon Dog (owner of Claymore Castings) and Simon Chick (now owner of Steel Fist miniatures) for more information and inspiration. For one I learned that they were primarily Burgundian, and Simon provided me with a plethora of period images, some of which are shown here.

Another period drawing, showing swivel gun. 

I like how the rein-actors have removed the back doors and use them for extra cover. 

inspiration for crew- also shows you these wagons are not that wide...

With new information, I went about making several mock ups and prototypes. Challenges were using materials that 'felt" the right thickness for the scale, how to make the yoke look the part, sliding doors, and eventually could I design this to be a production model where it is easy to build and use.

Early scale tests. Doors and roof were first made with thick matte board

Getting scale down. I eventually swapped to a 1.5mm matte board which really works well

A shot of the undercarriage; ease of assembly and strength work to balance accuracy.

The big finish

So I worked off and on on this project for over a year, with stints of working, sending off pics or actual pieces to Simon for critique. Once it was where we both liked it, I talked Drew Day Williams into sculpting a swivel gun and had some cast.  I used this as the model for the piece.

 Then it was assemble paint and see how it all shook out. The main body is 3mm MDF and the doors, angled rooftop and hubcaps (to give the wheels that period feel) are 1.5mm matte board.

With a Steel Fist mini- love that armor!

Peekaboo!

Here with the better 1.5mm roof and sliding doors- also the hubcaps

With swivel gun. 

So now what?

Well, after some parlaying, I've turned the design to Steel Fist Miniatures, where they will be sculpting a crew for the swivel gun, and some gunners I believe. I'll either cut the pieces here and send them over the pond, or, we'll find someone in the UK to cut them. All that is somewhere in the process now, and out of my hands.

On my end, I'm going to make up a bunch for my self, and most likely have a "skeleton crew" sculpted up for them to add to my Triumph of Death line. 

Thanks for taking a look and I'm keen on what you think of them.