XVIIth century mod

[thrashing mad]

Hello! With Empire:Total War coming, there`s 130 years gap from 1570( when M2TW ends) to 1700 ( when Empire:TW starts). XVIIth century was always most fascinating period of military history for me, when gunpowder replaced swords, and professional soldiers replaced old feudal armies. I was eagerly awaiting for 'Pike and Musket 2' mod, but it seems that it`s dead.

What I would wish for, is detailed total conversion of M2TW where attention to historical detail and realism is equally important as gameplay balance. This would be a hard and huge undertaking, that will require whole team.

Myself, i`m just newbie modeler/skinner with decent skill at photoshop and Cinematic Editor. If you are interested in that period, and you can help - let me know!

I already started works on Polish-Lithuanian units - I`ll just post screenshots from time to time, and hopefully someone would want to help me at some point. :)

[thrashing mad]

Name: Heavy Hussars

Faction: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Period: 1570-1600

Qualities: Fast, Powerful Charge, Medium Armour

Flaws: Vulnerable to Pikemen

Description:


Initially the first hussar units in the Kingdom of Poland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Poland_%281385%E2%80%931569%29) were formed by the Sejm (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sejm) (Polish parliament) in 1503, which hired three banners of Hungarian mercenaries (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercenaries). Quickly recruitment also began among Polish and Lithuanian citizens. Being far more maneuvrable than the heavily armoured lancers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uhlan) previously employed, the hussars proved vital to the Polish Crown (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_Crown) and Grand Duchy of Lithuania (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchy_of_Lithuania) victories at Orsza (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Orsza) (1514) and Obertyn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Obertyn) (1531). By the reign of King Stefan Batory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Batory) the hussars had replaced medieval-style lancers in the Polish Crown and Grand Duchy of Lithuania army, and they now formed the bulk of the Polish and Lithuanian cavalry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalry).
Over the course of the 1500s hussars in Hungary (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungary) had become heavier in character: they had abandoned wooden shields and adopted plate metal body armour. When Stefan Batory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Batory), a Transylvanian-Hungarian prince, was elected (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Freedom) king of Poland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_Poland) in 1576 he reorganized the Polish-Lithuanian hussars of his Royal Guard along Hungarian lines, making them a heavy formation, equipped with a long lance as their main weapon. By the 1590s most Polish-Lithuanian hussar units had been reformed along the same 'heavy' Hungarian model. These Polish 'heavy' hussars were known in their homeland as husaria.


Note: Heavy Hussars are not famous Winged Hussars, they`re just a evolution stage between light 'Rac' cavalry(vanilla M2TW 'hussars' unit), and Polish Winged Hussars of XVIIth century.

Historical images:


https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj51/Arek_Mich/Clipboard01-2.gif



Screenshots:

Lance pennants covered with historical patterns (3 types of them). Also, notice that lance is by 1/3 longer than vanilla equivalent:


https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj51/Arek_Mich/13.gif


Some soldiers could wear regular, red cape, or fur, to make each of them more individual. (based on historical pictures):


https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj51/Arek_Mich/12.gif


Total number of 10 shield textures - Polish and Lithuanian coats of arms, as well as heraldry of some of Commonwealth`s Voivodeships: (Kievan, Samogitian, Sandomirian, Poznańskie, Ruthenian, Podolian, Kievan, Pomeranian, Kuyavian):


https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj51/Arek_Mich/9-2.gif


Also, a handful of soldiers would have plain red shield with attached feathers, like here:


https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj51/Arek_Mich/11.gif


While working on those winged shields I`ve noticed that CA screwed them (they were horizontally inverted :laughter: )

3 different versions of helmets, and 3 versions of heads:


https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj51/Arek_Mich/5-2.gif


https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj51/Arek_Mich/10-2.gif


Sabre is now longer and narrower (I`ll still have to work on pommel, to make it historically correct):


https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj51/Arek_Mich/1-2.gif


https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj51/Arek_Mich/2-2.gif



Few more screens:


https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj51/Arek_Mich/6-2.gif



https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj51/Arek_Mich/8-2.gif



https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj51/Arek_Mich/7-2.gif



https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj51/Arek_Mich/4-2.gif


Note: This unit will be also included in new version of Stainless Steel Mod.

[thrashing mad]

Name: 'Hajduk' Infantry

Faction: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Period: 1570-1630

Qualities: Good Morale, Medium Fire-power, Decent Melee skills

Flaws: Defenceless against Cavalry Charge

Description:



The word hajduk entered the Polish language (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_language) from Hungarian in the late 16th century. It was initially a colloquial term for a style of footsoldier, Hungarian or Turco-Balkan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkan) in inspiration, that formed the backbone of the Polish infantry arm from the 1570s until about the 1630s. Unusually for this period, Polish-Lithuanian hajduks wore uniforms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform), typically of grey-blue woollen cloth, with red collar and cuffs. Their principle weapon was a small calibre matchlock (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matchlock) firearm, known as an arquebus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arquebus). For close combat they also carried a heavy variety of sabre (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabre), capable of hacking off the heads of enemy pikes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pike_%28weapon%29) and polearms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polearm). Contrary to popular opinion, the small axe they often wore tucked in their belt (not to be confused with the huge half-moon shaped berdysz (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Berdysz&action=edit&redlink=1) axe, which was seldom carried by hajduks) was not a combat weapon, but rather was intended for cutting wood.
In the mid 17th century hajduk-style infantry largely fell out of fashion in Poland-Lithuania, and were replaced by musket (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musket)-armed infantry of Western style. However, commanders or hetmans (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hetman) of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish-Lithuanian_Commonwealth) continued to maintain their own liveried bodyguards of hajduks, well into the 18th century as something of a throwback to the past, even though they were now rarely used as field troops. In imitation of these bodyguards, in the 18th century wealthy members of the szlachta (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Szlachta) hired liveried domestic servants who they called hajduks, thereby creating the meaning of the term 'hajduk' as it is generally understood in modern Polish.(1)



Historical images:


https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj51/Arek_Mich/5-4.gif
https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj51/Arek_Mich/6-4.gif




Screenshots:


https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj51/Arek_Mich/10-3.gif

https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj51/Arek_Mich/9-3.gif

https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj51/Arek_Mich/8-3.gif

https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj51/Arek_Mich/7-3.gif

https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj51/Arek_Mich/6-3.gif

https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj51/Arek_Mich/5-3.gif

https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj51/Arek_Mich/4-3.gif

https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj51/Arek_Mich/2-3.gif

https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj51/Arek_Mich/1-3.gif

https://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj51/Arek_Mich/3-3.gif


(Note: There are still few things to add, like small wood-axe (that was part of their equipment), and more variety to their uniforms.)

[Ignoramus]

Nice work. How's the mod coming along?