Steel Fist Gendarmes.

 I purchased a group of the new Steel Fist Gendarmes last year and have finally got around to painting them up. I dont need anymore really as John helpfully pointed out. He reckoned I had more gendarmes than actually existed. I think he was exaggerating although I must admit I have always been fascinated by them and have a lot.

These are probably the most expensive ones I have ever bought, well apart from a small group I obtained that had belonged to the late gret Peter Gilder. 

 To be honest putting them together was not a pleasurable experience as they have separate heads, plumes, and lance with hand connected.I also drill them onto their mounts so they are effectively held together with super glue and piano wire. Saying that, the actual models are first rate with well sculpted plumes, helmets and bards. The company sells bard transfers which I will buy, just in case I want to increase the unit to the customary twelve figures.No matter how steady ones hand is I think the transfers look well worth their money. How lucky are wargamers?

 Pete of Pete's Flags  has recently created another set of wonderful flags for the Italian Wars and I used them. They are of Pete's very high standard again. For the armour I used the Dark Star range of metallic paints. These aren't cheap but are top quality with great coverage.The range includes a renaissance gilding colour and an old gold which after a wash with my trusty Games Workshop Devlan Mud give a lovely effect.So there you have it, another unit of French Gendarmes to bulldozer their way through the Spanish and dastardly Swiss.
                                     

Venetian Archers.

 Christmas was a busy time for me with my grandchildren descending on us, so wargaming naturally took a back seat. In between all my duties I managed to paint up a couple of figures including these Venetian archers.They had been sat in a box for well over a year and I nearly didnt bother painting them up. But the Perry twins do make some exceedingly good figures, so what the hell.

 I think its sometimes forgotten that the renaissance period is not just about pike and arqubusier units and did also include more exotic types such as these. Now if I can just crack off another unit of heavy cavalry before the New Year.

French Landsknects.

 I think its fair to say that the last thing I need are more pike blocks, and certainly no more landsknects. However in my defence three things conspired against me which caused me to paint up another block. Firstly I saw Steel Fist miniatures had produced some dismounted gendarmes and men at arms. I had to have these figures and bugger the expense. Secondly Warlord finally released their plastic landsknects or should I say they released the ex Pro Gloria ones. Thirdly Pete Smith of Pete's Flags produded a new set of French Landsknect standards. So it was a given that I had to join these things together to paint up another block.

 The Steel Fist figures are beautiful if a little fiddly to glue together and drill, but they look great once they are painted.

 The plastic landsknects may be only in one pose as regards the common soldier but they are very nice with some characterful heads to mess about with. Of course the flags Pete created are lovely, as is everything he releases.So an unneeded pike block, but it was enjoyable to paint them so no complaints there.

Another command group for my Italian Wars Armies.

 In between painting ACW figures and preparing the new Warlord plastic landsknects for painting I completed these two likely lads. They are doing what they do best and just standing around looking pretty.I was a bit concerned about the plastic landsknects as they look a bit wooden, but now I've put a few together, they are growing on me.Hopefully I will have a unit completed fairly soon.I just wish Warlord would release the plastic gendarmes that they also bought from Pro Gloria although I dont really need any more.They were great looking figures.

Lost in Italy?

 During the time I was building my replacement Renaissance armies I squirreled  away various figures that invariably I forgot about and never painted. Now that I am between projects and thinking about what I will do next I dug out a few of these figures to paint. As is usually the case I am now painting up a new pike block using a combination of Steel Fist figures and the ex Pro Gloria plastics. That is if they are compatible. If they don't look right together, I will end up buying some more metal from Warlord. These two gentleman that I found are a sort of tester for the unit. I was never any good at woodwork but somehow cobbled together the table. The maps are made from some Japanese paper that I had laid around to make a couple of flags once.

A Turkish Delight.

Well its been a long while since my last renaissance post, but obviously I have been a regular poster on my other blog. However after John and I fought a Pike and Shot battle yesterday  I thought it appropriate that it be recorded on here.

I took command of the Spanish while John was in command of the Turks. We used Pike and shot rules and based the battle around a points based set of opponents. I managed to buy back the Turks that John had originally owned and painted which was great. They were sold back in 1988 so it was really nice when I managed to get them. They are still a beautiful army that has stood the test of time.

We did dice for commanders to see how good they were, or in my case just how bad they could be.

The Turks unusually fluked a level 9 General while my Spanish managed an average 8 general.

However when it came to my sub commanders the Spanish had clearly been out on the drink and three out of the four were just 7's. If one doesnt use Pike and Shotte, effectively what it means is that in order to move your troops you need to throw under the command rating to get cracking. Now with two dice you would think it would be fairly easy but I can tell you its not.

Luckily John had a very dodgy cavalry commander who wasn't keen to get to grips with the infidel and held up the advance of a lot of Akinji and tartars.

I will admit that I had a lot of confidence in my three colunellas and thought they would soon see the Turks off.However between faulty/cowardly generals and every Turk having a bow or arquebus they were peppered.When the commanders did get the blocks moving I found that the incessant firepower of the Turks made short work of my two main commands. 

I also found that the three Turkish primitive guns were effective and kept hitting anything they fired at.I knew I was in trouble when I charged with my Spanish noble cavaly against a bunch of Turkish foot archers. Somehow, the damned troops although beaten refused to rout and actually rallied after a couple of moves. John did manage to throw a double six to test their morale state. Anything less would have taken them off the field of battle.

This block was commanded by the worst of my sub commanders and spent all day attempting to move forward.

Not a good thing, jannisaries, spahis and akinnji with turkish bowmen still peppering my Spanish.

A very common sight for my Spanish, a shaken and disordered marker on the same unit.Never good.

I mentioned Johns judicious dice throwing of a double six. Well this was my riposte.......the Spanish pike legged it back to safety.It was fair to say that John gave me a lesson in how to use the Turks. Three of my commands were classed as spent and my cavalry were in no fit state to help. Contrary to this report it was a great game and I did enjoy using my renaissance armies.

One wargamers good news,.............

 Great news for some Renaissance wargamers, but clearly an issue for me, as I will HAVE to buy some, even though I really dont need anymore [well maybe I do ] These were some of the original figures that I hoped to have when Pro Gloria were on the go. I only hope Warlord actually release the whole range, because they were simply tremendous. Of course it would be even better news if Warlord released the plastic gendarmes that were made at the same time by Pro Gloria. Not that I need anymore gendarmes either.

Warlord Games: Hard Plastic Landsknecht Miniatures Inbound

Warlord Games will be releasing some cool hard plastic landsknecht miniatures designed and sculpted by Michael Anderson of Games Workshop' Warhammer Empire Fame!

Many will remember these cool plastic Landsknecht miniatures as they were designed by Pro Gloria Miniatures when they tried to crowdfund their creation on Indiegogo. The crowdfunding didn't succeed and the range both metal and plastic miniatures were bought by Warlord Games for their growing Black Powder miniature ranges. 

Now they have finally resurfaced and according to Warlord Games' CEO John Stallard these miniatures will become available in about 6 months. The original owner of the range Stefan over at Pro Gloria Miniatures commissioned loads of cool bodies, weapons and other options from Michael Anderson. But according to the online source not all of these parts will be produced as there were simply too much parts to be feasible. Shame as they all looked excellent but the sprue will eventually contain sufficient parts to make 10 miniatures allowing you to assemble 8-10 pikemen and/ or 1-2 handgunners.

Below you can find pictures of these sculptures when they were being funded by Pro Gloria Miniatures so note that not all of these bodies and parts will eventually be available. We can only hope all the cool poses and weapons will be on the sprue but that said, I haven't seen any official Warlord Games news about these splendid miniatures so we can't be sure yet.