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Later Medieval German

Late Medieval German

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Historical Overview Section

From the High Middle Ages onwards, the Holy Roman Empire had an uneasy coexistence with the dukes of the local territories as to their autonomy, leading to a fractured political and military reality across Germany as Imperial and "Free" cities jostled for economic power. In the later Middle Ages, many free cities formed alliances (Städtebünde); most notably the Hanseatic League. The resulting money economy provoked social discontent among knights and peasants as the knightly classes found their monopoly on arms and military skill undermined by the introduction of mercenary armies and foot soldiers.

The beginning of this list is really co-terminous with the reign of Charles IV, who was elected him King of the Romans in opposition to Emperor Louis IV in 1349, and also crowned in 1346 in Bonn. After Louis IV died, Charles was re-elected in 1349. In 1355 he was also crowned King of Italy, and Holy Roman Emperor later that year. With his coronation as King of Burgundy in 1365, he became the personal ruler of all the kingdoms of the Holy Roman Empire. His most important act was to promulgate the Golden Bull of 1356 whereby the succession to the imperial title was laid down, which held for the next four centuries. He also organized the states of the empire into peace-keeping confederations in which the Imperial cities figured prominently. The Swabian Landfriede confederation of 1370 was made up almost entirely of Imperial Cities. In wargaming terms, he was a bit of a cheat as he exercised dominance over the eastern borders of the Empire through a succession of treaties with the Habsburgs and the purchase (yes, purchase) of Brandenburg. He also claimed imperial lordship over the crusader states of Prussia and Livonia.

Despite the Golden Bull of 1356, the rules of how the king, the electors, and the other dukes should cooperate in the Empire much depended on the personality of the respective king. It therefore proved somewhat fatal that Sigismund of Luxemburg (king 1410, emperor 1433–1437) and Frederick III of Habsburg (king 1440, emperor 1452–1493) didn;t spend much of their time in Germany proper and instead lived mostly abroad in their own lands. Without the presence of the king dukes often went into feuds against each other that, more often than not, escalated into local wars. The Church were also unable to provide a stabilizing influence and a conflict between several competing popes was only resolved at the Council of Constance (1414–1418) through a pope-on-pope table football tournament, and after 1419, much energy was spent on fighting the heresy of the Hussites.

When Frederick III needed the dukes to finance war against the Later Hungarians in 1486 and at the same time had his son, later Maximilian I elected king, he was presented with the dukes' united demand to participate in an Imperial Court. For the first time, the assembly of the electors and other dukes was now called Reichstag (to be joined by the Imperial Free Cities later). While Frederick refused, his more conciliatory son finally convened the first Reichstag at Worms in 1495, after his father's death in 1493. Despite being militarily rather useless, and losing to a variety of enemies including the Later Hungarians, the Ordonnance Burgundians of Charles the Bold and several minor nations deemed not worthy of their own lists such as the Bohemians, Bavarians and Austrians, Frederick prevailed in all those conflicts by outliving his opponents and sometimes inheriting their lands through marrying their daughters - not a strategy recommended in wargaming circles if playing in a 3 hour time limited game.

At the age of 77, Frederick III died at Linz in a failed attempt to have his left leg amputated, to be succeeded by his son Maximilian I of Habsburg in 1493, who ruled as Holy Roman Emperor from 1508 until his death (although he had ruled jointly with his father for the last ten years of his father's reign, from circa 1483). Maximilian had a busy wargaming life, After he married Bianca Maria Sforza, a daughter of the Duke of Milan on 16 March 1494, Maximilian sought to expand his power in parts of Condotta Italian Italy, bringing in turn Ordonnance French intervention in Italy and inaugurating the prolonged Italian Wars. He also was trhe German Emperor who ended up at the 1499 Treaty of Basel acknowledging the de facto independence of the Swiss confederacy from the Empire as a result of the Battle of Dornach - possibly inspiring him to form the Landsknechts.

User-contributed links about this army:

Tournament Performance

2 / 10 Later Medieval German Britcon 2008 25mm (open)
4 / 10 Later Medieval German Britcon 2008 25mm (open)
4 / 14 Later Medieval German Roll Call 2008 25mm (open)
12 / 12 Later Medieval German Leeds Doubles 2008 (SoA)
15 / 62 Later Medieval German Britcon 2008 15mm (open)
16 / 27 Medieval German Britcon 2007 15mm (open)
8 / 12 SA18 Later Medieval German Northern League R2 2008 (open)
10 / 12 SA18 Later Medieval German Northern League R2 2008 (open)

Tactical Tips

  • It's a right dogs breakfast this list, but one with lots of bits that are gristly and tasteless.
  • You can take lots of Knights and a few skirmishing foot, but that sort of misses the point of this list - there are better lists to do that with.
  • BGs of 6 knights are probably too wide to use effectively
  • Average Knights are the wrong choice in 99 out of 100 possible situations – even if they are the only drilled ones you can get.
  • The meat of the army are the fairly decent foot. Pikemen, Armoured Spears are all very good in period and will beat up most opposing protected spears and also give insurmountable problems to enemy knights if they co-ordinate well together.
  • Defensive spears struggle to push forwards against most things - only take them if their role is going to be to hold up the enemy, or you are building a plan on having lots and lots of them and forcing the enemy to beat them to win.
  • Co-ordinating Defensive and Offensive spears together is a nightmare. Best to give them separate jobs in separate areas of the table if you can.
  • A deployment that alternates Knights and Crossbows or Knights and Spears may not be a bad choice against enemy LH/Cv. It lets you deploy knights with some ranks in reserve with the gaps filled with Xbows to help chase away (or at least make life challenging) skirmishing enemy
  • Crossbow units generally are troops which do not win battles. They can cause heavily armoured and armoured knights pause for thought and are pretty good against cavalry but generally unless you expect to face off against lots of knights, or cynically plan to use them as a unit of 6 in column to support spearmen from behind you may be better spending points elsewhere on game winning units.
  • Difficult terrain is a mixed blessing - it;s good, as your army will be small - but gives lots of places to hide for enemy LF and MF and so you may find you are unable to beat them.
  • If you like Knights, go big and have lots. Take only the minimum formed foot and use them to guard the camp, and then attack in a wall of knights across the table supported by lots of LH and LF units to bulk out the army size.
  • The Wagons are viable in this army, with 1-2 units acting as a clever flank guard for your narrow yet tough force. The army will only advance slowly anyway, so their need to pass CMTs to move is not that much of a hindrance - especially if you can squeeze in an IC.
  • LF archers and crossbowmen are generally better value than MF ones.

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

Image Image Image Image Image Image

Army Lists

Sample army lists for this army

  • 1 Handgunnners 4 Light Foot Handgun, Average
  • 2 Light Horsemen 4 Undrilled Average Bow Light Horse
  • 3 Light Horsemen 4 Undrilled Average Bow Light Horse
  • 4 Knights 4 Undrilled Superior Heavy Armoured Knights with Sword & Lance
  • 5 Halberd & Sword & Spear foot 8 Undrilled Medium Protected Foot Offensive Spearmen
  • 6 Halberd & Sword & Spear foot 8 Undrilled Medium Protected Foot Offensive Spearmen
  • 7 Crossbows 8 Drilled Protected Crossbowmen
  • 8 Men at Arms 8 Drilled Armoured Heavy Weapon Foot
  • 9 Nastly Little Spearmen 8 Drilled Armoured Defensive Spearmen
  • 10 Knights 4 Undrilled Superior Heavy Armoured Knights with Sword & Lance
  • 11 Knights 4 Undrilled Superior Heavy Armoured Knights with Sword & Lance

See this army used at Britcon 2007

Post 1450 Version

  • 1 Hungarians LH Unprotected Average Undrilled bow - - - 4
  • 2 Hungarians LH Unprotected Average Undrilled bow - - - 4
  • 3 Pikemen HF Protected Average Drilled - Heavy weapon Pikemen - 8
  • 4 Pikemen HF Protected Average Drilled - Heavy weapon Pikemen - 8
  • 5 Pikemen HF Protected Average Drilled - Heavy weapon Pikemen - 8
  • 6 Halberdiers HF Protected Average Drilled - Heavy weapon Heavy weapon - 4
  • 7 Halberdiers HF Protected Average Drilled - Heavy weapon Heavy weapon - 4
  • 8 Wagons BWG - Average Undrilled Crossbow Heavy weapon Heavy weapon - 2
  • 9 Wagons BWG - Average Undrilled Crossbow Heavy weapon Heavy weapon - 2
  • 10 Knights Kn Heavily armoured Superior Drilled - Lancers Swordmen - 6
  • 11 Knights Kn Heavily armoured Superior Undrilled - Lancers Swordmen - 6
  • 12 bowmen MF Protected poor Drilled Crossbow - - - 6
  • General TC - - - - - - - 1
  • Subbie TC - - - - - - - 1
  • Subbie TC - - - - - - - 1
  • Subbie TC - - - - - - - 1


This is intended to attack across 1/3-1/2 of the table, with pikes in the center, flanked by the 12 knights, and then the (poor) crossbows making up the rest of the line to the edge of the table or terrain. The Wagons protect the flanks of teh pike block, and the 2 units of hungarians try to mess around on the empty half of the table and delay the enemy whilst the main strike force (24 pike & 12 Kn) get into whatever is in front of them. The 2 halberdier units can provide rear support to the Pike, and the average knights, of join the battle line if needed. 24 Pike and 12 Kn shoudl cover a frontage of 16 bases comfortably with the Kn deployed 5+1, and with the wagons - even in column - and some terrain the arms soon starts to fill 20 elements width - close to half the table in 15mm

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Created by admin. Last Modification: Tuesday 12 of November, 2019 19:00:13 GMT by admin. (Version 20)
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