Armored vs unarmored Foot

[gmcalum2001]

I have some Swiss armored halberds and unarmored halberds. Does the lack of armor change the troop type from elite foot to Spear or Heavy Foot?

Thanks
Greg

[David Kuijt]

Swiss are Elite Foot or Raiders; never Spear or Heavy Foot.

In some rare cases armor is a marker, but not usually the cause of the distinction. Viking Huscarles are Elite Foot and would have much more mail than the rank-and-file Vikings -- but the mail is not WHY they are Elite Foot. Correlation is not the same thing as causation.

In some cases it does make a difference -- some Warring States "tiger" troops could fight either as Elite Foot or they could discard some of their armor and fight as <I forget what -- Raider?> -- so there it is the same troops changing type. And if you are a King, you are much more likely to try and ensure your elite forces have the best armor. But giving that armor to levy doesn't make them elite, if you see what I mean.

For miniatures gamers this is all complicated by the fact that you will want to ensure that your types X and Y are distinguishable from each other. So in those cases you will often choose better armored figures to mark your elite guys. But in the real world that might not be the way it really worked -- the Spartiates were Elite Foot and seen that way by all in their time period, but they had the same weapons and armor as the allied Lakedaimonians who fought beside them.

One of the ways you could distinguish is whether the poses are active (moving, swinging, striking) or static (standing). Use active poses for the Raiders in the Swiss army and use static poses for the Elite Foot. Not only because they've got more room on the stand for more active poses, but also because Raiders are (in many ways) just Elite Foot who are fighting with a more open order and more aggressive, risky style.

Which Swiss army are you building?

[gmcalum2001]

I have about 110 of the halberds (lol...thank you bulk purchases for cheap prices) and no pikes. Figures. Since the halberds are elite foot I still need to buy some pikes to flush out the armies....My wife will be thrilled that I HAVE to buy more figures:)

I will have enough figures to make the three specific Swiss armies.

Thanks for the info on my original post

Greg