About eight months ago I was able to pick up at half price a large number of Games Workshop's boxed Imperial regiments. The breakdown was three boxes of Imperial Soldiers Regiment, two boxes of Knightly Orders and a box of Imperial Militia. So armed with these likely recruits I set about considering what armies would suit. The first candidate that came to mind were those pike wielding terrors of the late medieval period, the Swiss. Having decided upon one army the next step was to find a likely and plausible opponent to make use of the GW figures. This was a real no brainer: An Imperial army made up of lots of Landknechts, amongst other troop types.
According to the lists supplied with DBA 2.0 the very Late Medieval Germans consist of a General's element (1x4Pk or 1x3Kn), 1 Knight's element, 2 double based Knight's elements, a Cavalry element, 3 Pike elements, 1 Psiloi element, 2 War Wagon elements and an Artillery element. As this army contains two War Wagon elements no camp is required. There is also a requirement for a compulsory BUA, as a terrain feature, when the Germans are defending home territory.
By the mid 15th Century the armies of medieval Germany could call on a wealth of experience in battling armies of a very diverse nature. This experience is reflected in the "all arms" approach of these armies. The deployment of war wagons in Germanic armies came about as the direct experience of having to fight the Hussites, renown users of war wagons, in the early to mid 15th Century. The pike forces that made a substantial contribution to a German army reflect the experience of coming up against the Swiss. Firearms were also important to the Germans. Mention has already been made of the war wagons that conveyed crossbow men, hand gunners and light artillery pieces. There were also skirmishers armed with handguns and crossbows, and artillery in significant numbers. Finally, the mounted portion included poorly armoured sergeants, knights of mediocre performance and hard charging knights.