Another Gendarme Unit.

Recovering from a bit of a post Covid wobble I have finally picked up a paintbrush to complete these chaps. Yes ANOTHER gendarme unit, albeit Burgundian ones. So only two more gendarme units to do and that should be enough. Its certainly more than enough for the Billhooks rules.

Not my best work, but tidy enough to stand scrutiny. The standards help a lot, and always make the figures look better.

My final 3d organ gun. Its a lovely piece and given there are 4 crew included its pretty good value.

The spare crew were perfect to paint as commanders, albeit in later costume than the Burgundian Wars.

I was given this Wargames Illustrated at the last Billhooks weekend and had to make him a commander. The standard is one of the many Neville tribe and perfect for the Yorkists.

 

More Gendarmes.

I will admit it, I love Gendarmes and have more than I will ever need. However when I was building my new Burgundian army I wanted their own gendarmes. Yes I will be painting up some Perry plastic ones but I thought I should have myself some new 3D ones as well. 

Now the ones on E Bay are mainly for the fantasy market but lets be right all our toys are fantasy in some small way. Well that was my justification for buying these lovelies. They take paint  really well and dont need an undercoat if you cant be bothered. Detail wise they are excellent but I can foresee heavy handling will cause some breakages, especially to the lances. Talking to the manufacturer he is experimenting with a more sympathetic resin. Anyway I completed these boys in record time. 

Because Pete Smith of Pete's Flags has produced more Wars of the Roses flags I inevitably started painting up an additional Yorkist ward.

Thesee chaps are the new ward, minus the Men at Arms which are still being based.

 

Brettonian Burgundians!!!

I used to own a large Games Workshop Brettonian army, they were colourful and I put some real effort into painting them. Like other painting projects I rarely used them [once] and then realised I wouldnt use them so sold the lot. Even now it pains me to think how much time and effort I had put into the army and just how valuable it would be some ten years plus after I sold them. Anyway one of the figures I had always like was the very early Brettonian archers and with them being a generic figure I wanted some for my Wars of the Roses and Burgundian projects. 

Yes they are an anachronism, yes they are well Games Workshoppy but I like them and they paint up well. 

I couldnt help myself and added another Burgundian Pike unit to the army.This time the figures are historically correct.

 

Burgundian goodies.

A few more Burgundians tripping off the old conveyor belt. The standard bearer is a 3D printed fantasy figure from Sundred Miniatures. Unfortunately the flagpole broke whilst painting, so looks a tad wonky. It was a decent figure to paint and takes paint well without the need for an undercoat. The actual design is a generic one. 

Some more Italian light cavalry, this time armed with light lances, again Ive deliberately not adorned them with Burgundian crosses so I can use them in later renaissance games.

                                         More crossbowmen in skirmish order.

 

Italian Light Cavalry.

The beauty of building or in my case rebuilding a Burgundian army was that Charles the Bold was a great innovator who sought out the latest military advances. Renaissance Italy was at the forefront on new militaristic ideas so it was logical that Charles sought out the Italian mercenaries and experts.

These are mounted crossbowmen hired from Italy. He also used many Savoyard troops and effectively took control of the state before the collapse of Burgundia. Although these are painted to use in Never Mind the Billhook rules I also intend to use them for Pike and Shotte but they will have to be classed as a small unit.

The figures are inevitably Perry Miniatures, I say inevitably because the Perry Twins supply the most accurate figures in a more manageable scale size.

 

A new Cesare!!!!

Five years? Five years since I last posted on my Borgia site. However I havent stopped wargaming but felt that running three blogs was a tad too much. Now, well since Ive started painting a new Burgundian 28mm army it seems logical to return to my Borgia blog and post again.

When I attended the Fiasco show late last year Yarkshire Wargames Ken was showing off his lovely renaissance army including units of Cesare Borgia. Ken also had a large command base with the man himself riding by. Even though I already have one Cesare I wanted another as wargamers do and this is my new version courtesy of Sundred Miniatures, a 3D company. 

Yes he is a fantasy figure but near enough to look Italian etc.Plus I could badly paint Cesare's motto on the bard, so why not.

I also bought a lovely 28mm artillery piece and crew from the same 3D company, its turned out very nicely.