Although long spears or pikes had been used in the medieval period, it was in the late 15th century that Swiss successes really made the pike popular again, and this example was soon followed by the Germans and then the rest of Europe. This growth in popularity initially had little impact on England, however, where the bill remained the most popular polearm, and so for much of the Tudor period (1485 to 1603), relatively few Englishmen carried a pike, so when an English army was formed, particularly for service abroad, most of the pikemen were mercenaries, largely recruited from Germany. After the death of Henry VIII, the use of mercenaries by the English crown rapidly declined, but the use of the pike was gradually increasing, and was seen as the prestige modern non-missile weapon, despite those conservatives that still wished to retain the traditional bills and bows that had served so well in the past. This trend continued through the later Tudor period, with the pike becoming the dominant weapon, and by the 1590s it (and the halberd) had virtually replaced the bill entirely, finally catching up with the trend in continental Europe that was many years ahead.
The eight basic poses in this set cover a lot of the ways that a pike would be handled. Three are holding it horizontally, but at different levels, and so are the best for forming a pike block. A fourth pose has his pike diagonal and resting on the ground in the posture used when repelling cavalry, and three are just moving around while holding their pike. The final figure is just standing and holding his pike casually, so does not seem to be in action. That lot does a good job of depicting the pike in all the major ways it might be held, which is great, although it does mean few of them can meaningfully be placed together into one block, which is how pikes must always be used when in battle. The stances and the way the pike is held look good to us, however, so there are plenty of options with these figures.
The command figures here provide some interesting additions to the basic pikemen, starting with the fifer. Fifes were not used for anything other than to provide entertainment and encouraging martial music, but that is a good enough reason to have them, and many units did, so nice to see one portrayed here. The man with the banner is of course an important addition to any military unit, and this one has a banner on a short staff which is being held aloft, making a useful figure. The last man in our bottom row is clearly an officer, and he simply stands and rests a baton on his hip. Next to him is his ‘boy’, a youth who would carry items for the officer such as weapons, a shield or, as in this case, his helmet. Although he has a knife, this boy is a non-combatant, but nice to see him included here.
The Tudor period saw the decline of plate and mail armour after its high watermark in the late medieval period, but some remained throughout the century and more, and this included the pikemen. For obvious reasons the best protected men were placed at the front of the block, and four of these poses are wearing a cuirass, which includes a plackart in one case. Two also have tassets protecting the upper leg, and a couple also have pauldrons to do the same for the upper arms. Otherwise there is no armour on the legs, although one man wears long leather boots, but six of the eight have a helmet, including a couple of morions, a couple of burgonets and a great bascinet. Some of this would be considered very old-fashioned later in the Tudor period, but not unknown, and the sole buckler shield carried by one of the men would be considered in the same way, as well as being something usually associated with Scottish pikemen rather than English.
Other than the armour, the men wear normal costume for the period, including jacks or coats, bonnets, breeches, hose and shoes. One man has a padded jack that includes the sleeves, and another wears a sleeveless version, showing the mail corselet he wears beneath it. Several wear gauntlets, which makes sense in the circumstances, and perhaps some of the others wear thinner gloves too. The fifer has slashed sleeves on his coat, and the fashionable slashes are also clear on the coat of the man holding the banner. Both men also have a prominent codpiece, which was in fashion for most of the 16th century. The boy wears ordinary doublet and breeches, but the officer has gone the extra distance to make his appearance spectacular, clearly influenced by the look of the landsknechts, many of whom served in the armies of Henry VIII in particular. His ensemble begins with his enormous and multi-feathered beret, and he wears full armour on his torso and arms, which completely cover the upper part of his gown. The gown is only visible below his waist, and his legs are fully armoured, like his arms. While he would don his helmet if going into combat himself, he has made sure that he will be easy to see, and we might assume from the nature of his costume that he is something more senior than just a captain. Some of the armour here rather dates the wearer to only part of the period, but with only minor exceptions the clothing looks suitable for more or less the whole of the period.
The pikes are all about 45 mm long, which equates in our scale to 3.25 metres. Generally a pike was supposed to be at least 5 metres long, though some authors of the time suggested a somewhat shorter pike of 4.6 metres might be better (and some men illegally cut theirs down anyway). Either way, those here are quite a bit shorter than would be ideal, though given the arrangement of the sprue, it is easy to see what a difference having full-length pikes would have made to the production process, and these pikes do at least look pretty long, so the impression is reasonable even if the reality is rather too short. However, the pikes are square in cross-section, which is not correct as they should be simple poles with a head. All the men are also armed with a sword, of different styles, and the officer is armed with a large sword with a long hilt.
These are highly-detailed figures, as there is a lot of complex costume and armour on display, and the sculpting rises to the occasion with some really nice work. The faces are nice, and all the slashing and other detail is easy to see and well done. Proportions too are fine, and all of the poses look natural, while any bending of the pikes in the confined space of the bag and box they come in is easily fixed by immersing the figure in boiling water vapor for a few seconds. What lets the set down is the quality of the mould, because there is a large amount of flash on pretty much all of the seams, and it is quite uneven and really detracts from the look of the models. Occasionally the mould seems to have damaged the sculpt, so for example the face of the last figure in our third row is sort of partly duplicated down the middle, giving the man two noses and three eyes, and the face of the last man in our second row is almost entirely missing, replaced by a tangled mess of nondescript plastic. The pikes are variable too, so some have a decent head on them while others have very little at the sharp end. From the pictures of the masters it is apparent that these items were correct originally, so much harm has been done during the creation of the mould, unfortunately.
The defects in the manufacture of the mould spoil what is otherwise a nice array of 16th century pikemen in some useful poses and with a pleasing mix of armour and costume that is appropriate for at least much of the period in question. For the many mercenary pikemen employed by the English crown, Redbox have produced other sets to portray them, but those in this set are very useable, with the main distinguishing feature being the large cross some have on their coats, and the cross engraved in the corner of the otherwise plain banner. An advantage of the pikemen in this set over some that have gone before is everyone already holds their pike rather than having to assemble this separately, although there is much work needed to remove the various imperfections introduced by the mould. Yet this is an appealing and colourful subject, and helps to illustrate a turbulent period in English history with some useful and appropriate figures.