Friday 12 October 2018

Great Italian wars 24 more landsknechts

At Salute 2017 my nephew drew my attention to a couple of bags of second hand Artizan landsknechts at a great price, inevitably I bought them.
Unfortunately they were double handed swordsmen and I didn't really want blocks of doppelsoldiers.
So they hung around until at Colours 2017 I bought some Foundry landsknecht command and some more Pikemen with levelled pikes ,combined with some of the Artizan doppelsoldiers to give me enough for three bases of levelled pike with doppelsoldiers pushing forward to hack down the opposition pikes, encouraged by both the Foundry officers and some Warlord command figures I picked up in Rochester when I bought the Warlord plastic landsknechts (of which more anon,assembled and primed but others are ahead of them in the painting que). One of the Foundry officers was missing his right arm and I have replaced it with a spare plastic ECW warlord command arm, I think it works alright.












The casualty figures are Artizan too. The rest of the Artizan figures are being painted up to add to the first unit I posted on this blog,I'm going to (deep breath) rebase them,there I've said it! 
It's mainly because they just don't look dense enough four to a base so I'm going to squeeze more figures onto the bases to bring them up to the same size as all the rest of my pikemen. Also the basing didn't match all the rest of my Italian wars forces.
So maybe them next or possibly some Napoleonic cavalry.
All the best Iain

34 comments:

  1. Lovely Landsknechts and clever use of casualties with the levelled pikes!

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    1. Thanks Cyrus,I think I saw Stuart on his Army Royal blog use casualty figures like that and thought"thats a good idea!"
      Best Iain

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  2. The leveled pike stands look really cool but they take up a lot of space on the gaming table.

    Fab work!

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    1. Thanks Jonathan! I know they do but I like them, the first batch were partially accidental as the levelled pikes were part of a bigger eBay purchase,these on the other hand I bought new!
      Best Iain

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  3. Very nice mix. Well worth the wait to finally getting them ranked up.

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    1. Thanks Dean,yes I think the mix of figures works fine, especially in a non uniform era!
      Best Iain

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  4. Replies
    1. Thanks Michal,that's really very kind of you!
      Best Iain

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  5. Masterpieces!! It's rare to create an atmopshere with a single vignette...Done!

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    1. Thanks Phil! High praise indeed from you!
      Best Iain

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  6. Fantastic looking unit Iain, and the basing really compliments them. It also gives some protection against knocking off those levelled pikes, something I had a habit of doing. The mix of figures works just fine too.

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    1. Thanks Lee,yes I've based them to protect my levelled pikes and I don't think the mix of manufacturers is too noticeable!
      Best Iain

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  7. The casualties are a greatidea and the wholeunit looks the [art, but I hates my ECW pikemen who had 'charged' pikes.
    Good luck with the re-basing, another jib I reckon everyone hates.

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    1. Thanks Joe! It's funny but I don't like my levelled pike in my ECW army either,I guess I haven't based them like this and they're just a pain, and rebassing oh no!
      Best Iain

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  8. Very nice Ian...
    I have never really got my head round painting Landsknechts... I fear painting units would drive me up the wall.


    All the best. Aly

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    1. Thanks Aly! I'm sure you could do it, it's just a matter of keeping on going!
      Best Iain

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  9. Great work in really quick time. Rebasing - a job I have managed to avoid to date, I am happy to say. I find it hard enough the first time around.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence! A year to eighteen months is a quick turnaround in my book, trying not to think of the whole rebassing thing too much!
      Best Iain

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  10. Rebasing, ugh.
    The pikemen and great swords guys look good.
    Leveled pikes are intimidating (from a miniatures standpoint - seems like they need an extra long base to help protect them from being damaged too easily).

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    1. Thanks Fitz! Rebasing ugh is what I should call it! Yes I think I need the extra long base to protect the pikes,I blame an illustration in a Funken book in part showing a Rennaisance pike block and I thought "oh that's what I want mine to look like!"
      Best Iain

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  11. Love the look of the leveled pikes, shame it doesn't work so well for rules I use.

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    1. Thanks Mark! Not convinced that it works for the rules I want to play but I like them and it's what I've got!
      Best Iain

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  12. Really dynamic bases Iain, they look great.

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    1. Thanks Oli, the levelled pike pose and the double soldiers really add some movement to the blocks!
      Best Iain

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  13. Those look great and I really like the deep base.
    Rebasing is such a pain, I’ve never done it, but I hope the effort will pay off. But nice consistent basing across a whole collection really does add to the appeal and bring it all together. 😀

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    1. Thanks Stew! I like how they look and the thing is because they didn't look right they haven't been used, once they're done they'll fit right in!
      Best Iain

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  14. The depth to the bases looks excellent! What a fearsome sight to face down.

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    1. Thanks Dai! I do like them at the front of my pike blocks!
      Best Iain

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  15. Lovely diorama bases and a clever way of getting a sense of depth of pike (as well as protecting the pike) without having to really rank up the figures.

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    1. Thanks Norm,its sometimes beneficial to break up the uniformity!
      Best Iain

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  16. Those are superb and I love your bases with the casualty figures. I'm going to have to do something similar with my ECW pike now because yours look amazing!
    Best wishes,
    Jason

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    1. Thanks Jason, adding the odd casualty figure really helps I think,l lookin forward to your ECW pike block!
      Best Iain

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