Thursday 14 March 2019

Great Italian wars 31 Mounted crossbow men

The big aim of this challenge ( apart from a big push on terrain) was to paint up some light cavalry units for the Great Italian Wars, so I have painted command bases, pike blocks, artillery and wagons, none of which I really need (I now have 3'0" of artillery pieces for the Italian wars lined up side by side!). So finally I have a unit of mounted crossbowmen finished! Most of these are Hinchcliffe figures with Perry head swaps, which I think works pretty well, the change of heads help because they are all in the same pose, still I quite like them, which is good as I have two more units primed up! There is also an unknown ebay purchased mounted crossbow man, the flag bearer is an old glory spare and the slightly anachronistic Henry VIII type chap (who I am using as the unit proprietor as it were) is a Hinchcliffe one piece moulding.

The colour scheme is inspired by Simon Miller's recent Italian army over on his Big Bat Cave blog. We seem to be going through a phase of warlord Pike and Shotte games (ECW campaign at the moment) and I'd like to have a go with the Italian wars, but we will no doubt go back to To the Strongest as we really enjoyed that ruleset too.





















I hope to add some more troops in the last phase of the challenge, this should take me past 500, halfway to my rather optimistic total and so half of what I achieved last time out (who knew painting renaissance figures takes longer than WWII Soviets?!), still I'm happy with what I have painted with eleven days to go, so eight X 28mm mounted figures is 80 points?

All the best Iain

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29 comments:

  1. Nice work!

    You may be stunned to read that a part of my Italians Wars collection will take to the field on Saturday using TtS! Yippee!

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    1. Thanks Jonathan! Stunned and delighted,I look forward to an AAR!
      Best Iain

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  2. Nice grouping. The Henry VIII figure sets it all off rather nicely.

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    1. Thanks Norm! Yes he might be anachronistic but he kind of works!
      Best Iain

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  3. "who knew painting renaissance figures takes longer than WWII Soviets?"

    Who didn't. LOL (seriously though - I find some older periods with lots of color and details take longer than more modern periods (or other eras/genres) without lots of different colors and details to be quicker to paint - not that I am ever fast)

    Nice work! The plastic head swaps to add variation is a good way to go. I'm not generally a fan of multi-part plastic minis, but I do like some of the kits as a sort of bits boxes for shields, conversions, head swaps, weapon swaps and such. Even if I'm working with metal minis it's a lot easier to swap in a plastic bit than a metal one usually, especially if I'm pinning any of it.

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    1. Thanks Fitz! I mean,I didn't get the memo,it's funny block paint, wash, highlight done as opposed to the full spectrum. I really like having all the spare Perry plastic heads, it's so easy to do conversions!
      Best Iain

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  4. Excellent mounted crossbow, the staggered basing works well.

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    1. Thanks Cyrus! Slavishly following Olicanalads basing for light horse I'm afraid!
      Best Iain

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  5. Nice looking unit Iain.....not sure I could cope with this period 🙂

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    1. Thanks Matt! If you can paint Berber shields I'm sure you could cope!
      Best Iain

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  6. The head-swaps are undetectable and really add to the unit's look.

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    1. Thanks Joe! I think they work pretty well!
      Best Iain

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  7. Beautiful mounted crossbow men, splendid units!

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    1. Thanks Phil! Good of you to say so!
      Best Iain

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  8. Nice looking figures! Of course these took longer than Soviets with all the colors and head swaps. I really like the command figure too. 😀

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    1. Thanks Stew! Longer to paint but actually the Warlord plastic bolt action figures are madly fiddly!
      Best Iain

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  9. Really nice results. Do not despair, you are totally up to the challenge!

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  10. Very nice job Iain - I was never a fan of Hinchcliffe even back in the 70's but you are right, the head swaps have given great life to these crossbowmen!

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    1. Thanks Keith! They've come out better than I expected to be honest!
      Best Iain

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  11. Great work, and the head swap idea is quite inspired.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence! Yes they seem to have worked quite well!
      Best Iain

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  12. Nice additions to your Italian Wars project, Iain.

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  13. Nice looking figures, and the staggered basing is interesting and effective!

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    1. Thanks Peter! Yes the staggering is a nice idea courtesy of Mr Roach!
      Best Iain

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  14. Beautifully done Iain, a unit of real character. I always liked mounted crossbowmen, the variety within the unit really works well with the basing style. Great painting!

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    1. Thanks Lee! Yes I think they're pretty characterful considering over half are the same pose and horse!
      Best Iain

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