A rebel leader emerges - converting a young Gustav Vasa
The image of the old Gustav Vasa with his characteristic beard and haircut is recognisable for most Swedes. But when he marched into Stockholm he had just turned 27 years old - how did the king look as young and how do we represent him on the tabletop?
How Gustav Vasa looked is well known in Sweden. His portrait used to be on the money and there are several well known national romantic paintings of him. He appears in commercials, tv-shows and movies every so often. His pageboy haircut is commonly known as a Gustav Vasa haircut and a long beard could similarly be described as a Gustav Vasa-beard. In other words - he is instantly recognizable.
From left to right: Portrait of Gustav Vasa from 1558 by an unknown artist, Statue of Gustav Vasa in Nordiska Museet by Carl Milles from 1925 and a scene from an Ica (Swedish supermarket company) commercial from 2017.
Source: Nationalmuseum, Mike Peel/Wikimedia Commons, Ica/Youtube.
But these all portray the king long after his rebellion in the later part of his life, so what did he look like as a young man?
Unsurprisingly there is not a wealth of sources here, especially not contemporary. The best source is probably the coins Gustav Vasa minted during and directly after his rebellion. The coin on the left here below were minted in 1522, before Gustav was elected king. The one in the middle was minted the same year as his election and his victory in the rebellion in 1523. In the latter one you can see him wearing the royal regalia such as the crown and the apple. This is actually a copy of coins minted by Christian II, the Danish king, which you can see on the right. The biggest difference actually seems to be that on the Swedish coin the king has the characteristic Gustav Vasa-haircut and beard.
On the left coin, from 1522, Gustav probably looks like any nobleman at the time. To the left of the figure you can see the Vasa family coat of arms and to the right Gustav’s name, GVSTAF. On the coin in the middle you can see the classic royal regalia. Interestingly Gustav carries a sword, something he continues to carry on his coins throughout his reign. I am not sufficiently versed in numismatics to know the meaning of that unfortunately. Also notice the coat of arms which now, besides the Vasa family symbol, incorporates the crossed arrows of Dalarna.
Source: Bonnevier, Helena, Ekonomiska museet - Kungliga myntkabinettet/SHM, Oslo Myntgalleri
The details here obviously aren't great but it’s good enough to get us started. The armour doesn't seem to be of the most modern type and maybe that’s because the coins are based on Christian II’s coins which were minted a decade before and perhaps they too were based on something even earlier. Right before his rebellion Gustav had been a hostage in Denmark, fled back to Sweden through Germany and then lived as a refugee in Sweden. At Stockholms blodbad (Stockholm bloodbath) his father, two uncles and other relatives had been killed and all his family’s estates and farms had been confiscated. It’s understandable if he didn’t have access to the latest innovations in armour.
The miniature I chose as a base is a foot knight from Steelfist Miniatures. These are great not just because they are great sculpts but also because they come with separate heads. I wanted to portray Gustav without his helmet, as on the coins, so decided to use a ”Tudor head” from Perry Miniatures instead of the helmet that comes with the model. This was pinned to the body and I added a feather from a Warlord Games landsknecht set. Last but not least I sculpted some beard on him to complete the “Vasa-look”.
As for the painting the main part is obviously his armour and I wanted it to stand out a bit so I used a gold colour to create some gilded edges here and there. It gives him a bit more of a regal appearance.
To complement the future king I decided to create one of his lifeguards, a drabant, named Måns Nilsson from the family Svinhufvud (literally swine or boar head). Måns came from a wealthy noble family who owned several farms, mines and estates, mainly in Dalarna. During his lifetime he acted as a money lender and a judge, he collected taxes and also represented his province at different meetings. It is probably at one of these meetings he first met Gustav Vasa in the 1510s. In December of 1520 when Gustav was on the run through Dalarna, Måns Nilsson convinced another nobleman not to betray the fugitive and thus kept him safe. In April of the next year Måns Nilsson was one of four “men of age” to join Gustavs lifeguard, probably as commanders.
As a base for Måns I used one of the standing Tudor-dollies from Steelfist miniatures. He got some armoured arms from the Perry Miniatures European Mercenaries command sprue, one carrying a sword and the other a banner pole. I cut off the plastic banner pole and replaced it with a metal one. I used some putty to model sleeves over the arms to tie them in a bit better with the dolly. I also gave him a head from the Warlord Games landsknecht set.
The Svinhufvud family’s coat of arms was a red boar head on a yellow background so I decided to use these colours on Måns but reversed them. I also wanted Måns to carry the Swedish banner with the three crowns. As with many other things here we don’t actually know if Gustav Vasa used this symbol although it had been a symbol of the Swedish crown for over a hundred years and Gustav did incorporate it into his sigil later in life. So I designed a flag based on a painting of Albrecht of Mecklenburg who was king of Sweden in the late 14th century. This was printed and cut out and then I used regular white glue to shape and glued the flag to the banner pole.
Gustav Vasa, at the time only 25 years old, directs his army towards Västerås. Västmanland, late april 1521.
I’m really pleased with how “young Gustav” came out, I think you can recognize him from the coins minted during his rebellion. I haven’t based him yet because I don’t really know how to use him in games. Although he might have the appearance of a warlike figure who didn’t hesitate to use violence on a large scale he wasn’t really a military man, general or soldier. He never directly led troops in battle either during his rebellion nor afterwards. Such matters were delegated to men like Måns Nilsson and others.
Flags add movement and flair to wargames unit and here we take a deep dive into what we know about these in the late middle ages.