Battle of Bicocca Set-Up - Death and The Landsknecht

Just finished setting up the table for the game on Friday - got back from a late dental appointment - I now have another implant/crown! Anyway, here're the photos of the tentative starting positions of the units. I may allow the players to reposition some of their units, particularly the artillery pieces.

Imperialist forces on the left behind defensive positions; French forces on the right; Toy Poodle in the center (the wife wanted her in the picture).

The Imperialists' baggage camp - a victory condition for the French if captured.

French forces consisting of Swiss mercenary pike blocks in the center, Venetian allies on their right flank, and cavalry on the left flank - including gendarmes and mounted crossbows.

Imperialist forces with Spanish heavy and light cavalry on their right flank, Spanish colunela to the left, and landsknecht pikes on their left flank. Artillery to their rear on higher ground.

French left, with Giovanni de Medici's mounted crossbows, and mounted gendarmes (using proxy models including Warhammer Fantasy Empire Knights).

French center led by Odet de Foix, Vicomte de Lautrec, with Swiss mercenary pikes and supporting arquebusiers.

Venetian allies and light gun on the French right. The infantry are Warhammer Fantasy Empire 6th Ed. figures.

Imperialist right flank with Spanish jinetes and heavy cavalry behind them.

Spanish infantry colunela formations next to the cavalry.

Karl Franz standing in as the Imperialists commander until a suitable figure arrives on game day with one of the players. He's also bring a few more mounted commanders. I really wanted to get a few from Steel Fist Miniatures, but procratinated.

Landsknechts on loan from Emperor Charles V on the left flank, anchored next to the Bicocca manor. 

A post game update will follow; however, I like to get photos of the table and troops prior to, as getting photos can be forgotten during the heat of battle! Until then, thanks again for checking out the blog, and wishing you all the very best.

Foundry Trojan War Archers

 More of the figures recently acquired from David Sullivan's (I Live With Cats blog) collection.

These sculpts have been around for some years, but the still hold up to the highest standards, IMO.

Below, comparison shot; left to right: Foundry, Redoubt, Foundry, Black Tree, Redoubt, Foundry. They all work well together, the Black Tree guy being slightly oversized (heroic). I should add that some of the Redoubt bows (like the one on the left) and quite thin/spindly.

Next up are the armored warriors, but they may have to wait as I need to set up the table for my long-awaited playtest of the Death and The Landsknecht Pike & Shotte game this Friday. Otherwise, thanks for visiting and wishing you all the best!

Foundry Trojan War Spearmen w/Body Shields

Here are the guys with Tower and Figure-8 body shields. The shields are spare Redoubt models that I had from a while ago. Foundry body shields are slightly smaller, but very nice too. These figures didn't come with shields, and probably were javelin men. I gave them spears made from broom bristles, and are shorter than the earlier-period thrusting spears.

Image below shows them compared next to Redoubt figures (on squares), that have the longer two-handed thrusting spears. I added the Green Stuff horns and plumes to the Redoubt boar's tusks helmets.

Next up will be either the bowmen or armored warriors. Thanks again for checking out the blog, and hope you all are doing well.

Foundry Trojan War Figures - WIP +1

Finished the flesh/faces. Went the extra mile in honor of David's memory, and did the eyes - something I don't normally do these days. Flipped through the Iliad a little for inspiration.

Thanks for checking out the blog; and wishing you all the best!

Foundry Trojan War Figures - WIP

These are the figures that Kevin Smyth brought to Fix Bayonets that belonged to David Sullivan. I've added lead foil straps to the figures with the body shields (Figure-8 and Tower). The tower shields themselves are Redoubt spares. The spears are plastic broom bristles. 

Image below is a close-up of the Lion Hunt dagger. Note the shield straps are worn over their left shoulder. The Iliad references the shield and sword straps crossing each other.

I was looking through the Tribal rules last night, and decided to use One-Hour Skirmish Wargames Ancient & Medieval rules instead. The two main reasons are: one - Tribal has specific troop types in units of 5 figures - whereas, One Hour Skirmish uses individual figures in units of various troop types; and second, One-Hour Skirmish Wargames is slightly faster-playing and a bit more simplified - which is also what I want for a convention game for players with little or no previous rules experience. Anyway, just a quick update. Thanks again for visiting, and hope you all are doing well.

Giovanni de Medici's Black Band Mounted Crossbows

These figures are kit-bashed from a box of Perry Light Cavarly 1450-1500 and parts from Wargames Atlantic Conquistadors and Warlord Games Landsknechts. The crossbow firing arms from Wargames Atlantic, and the heads a mixture from the three sets. The leader with the sword is a Wargames Atlantic figure that was given a bit of surgery at his groin area to have his legs sit closer together to fit the Perry horse better.

The flag is from Pete's Flags. The color of clothing was kept to a minimum, with a higher percentage of black to give the unit a more somber look. The horses are all in a uniform dark brown with red, blue, or green saddles and straps.

I also used some swords/scabbards from the Warlord Atlantic set - the ones with the curved guards for more of an Italian look.

This unit should be the last one for a playtest in a couple of weeks. Although I do want to add a few more command figures - particularly mounted guys in wearing big, flamboyant hats.

I should mention that I picked up a bunch of Foundry Trojan War figures yesterday at the Fort Steilacoom Fix Bayonets game day. These were figures from David Sullivan's (I Live With Cats blog) collection which Kevin Smyth (A Gamer's Tale blog) brought over for anyone who was interested in them. Of course, this period was my first venture into wargaming with Redoubt figures, so I jumped at the chance as no one else in the room seemed interested when it was announced by Kevin - or maybe I was just too quick. In any case, I intend to paint them up and use them with Tribal rules - as David had with his other Bronze and Stone Age figures, in his honor. Until next time, wishing you all the very best!

Fix Bayonets! Game Day At Fort Steilacoom

It was the 15th year of the Fix Bayonets! game day at historic Fort Steilacoom, held in Quarters #2 which belonged to the fort's commander back in the mid-1800's. I've attended most of these, except for one due to other commitments. It's a small venue, but the games and comraderie top-notch. I didn't host a game this year due to being preoccupied with our bathroom renovation - which was finally completed on Tuesday. Anyway, back to today's game, I played in an Modern Africa game using Osprey's Black Ops. I ran some "Drug-Crazed" locals against SAS trying to rescue civilian hostages. Another unit of natives were "Cannibals", but I left my buddy run thoses. It was a fun game with the native Africans winning after the SAS not being able to rescue the hostages. This was in the first period where some of my old ECW figures were used in a TYW game using Pike & Shotte. Kevin Smyth (A Gamer's Tale blogger) ran a Spanish American War game using Rebels and Patriots. Another game was an Early-WW2 tank game using a mishmash set of rules combining a bunch of TFL rules - I playtested this game a few months ago, and posted about it on this blog. Here are some pictures of the games from the first period. I left before the second, afternoon period.

Sttart of the Black Ops game.

The jungle terrain was very impressive for the Black Ops game. The figures are from TAG.

Kevin's Spanish American War game with his lovely figures.

The Early-WW2 tank game with French and German forces.

The tank game used 15mm models; all very nicely painted.

The TYW game with some units still carrying their old ECW colors. My buddy plans to change them all once he gets all of the new ones - he's mainly concentrating on the period with Gustavus Adolphus. In fact, his game today was based on the part of the Battle of Lutzen when Gustav Adolphus was killed.

Although I miss these figures, I'm happy they're in good hands and getting on the table a lot.

He did reflag some of the command bases, but most of the foot units still have their ECW flags.

Well so much for now, and plan to finish up the  Italian Wars mounted crossbow unit. I had planned to host a game next Friday, but will be visiting a family friend in the hospital after his heart surgery. Until next time, wishing you all the best!

Kit-Bashing Perry Light Cavalry 1450-1500 & Wargames Atlantic Parts

Kit-bashing Perry Light Cav 1450-1500 figs with some Wargames Atlantic Landsknecht and Conquistador parts. Plan to have these as a unit of mounted crossbows belonging to Giovanni de Medici's Black Band. They're included in the Battle of Bicocca scenario in the Pike & Shotte supplement.

Firing from the saddle is depicted in period illustrations - so it must've happened!

Just a quick update to show you all what I'm working on. Wishing you all the best!

3D Print Resin Italian Wars Artillery

Finally got the cannon and crew for an upcoming Italian Wars Pike & Shotte playtest. Just four pieces, but enough to try out the rules.

The guns and crewmen are 3D print resin, except for the two guys with the lighting sticks (again, not sure the proper nomenclature) that are Warlord Games figures. The sticks are actually drum sticks for musicians.

As mentioned in the previous post, several of the figures have Warlord Games Landsknecht heads.

Hoping to schedule the playtest in a week or so, however, there's a game day at Fort Steilacoom this coming Saturday which I had intitially intended to run a One-Hour Skirmish Wargames Napoleonic game, but haven't had time to get it ready. I may try to put someting together for this, as the rules are quite simple. Until next time, thanks for stopping by and wishing you all the best.

3D Printed Resin Landsknecht Artillery Crew - WIP

Finally got figures in the mail yesterday, having returned to Florida after initially arriving at Seattle a week and a half ago. My address was correct on the package, so not sure why it did a roundtrip back and forth. I replaced a few of the heads with Warlord Games ones - to give them a more "Landsknecht" look. I also carved off some of the details of the boots so I can paint them up in the traditional looking shoes.

A couple of Warlord Games figures added to have 3 crewmen for each of the 4 guns. The right arm is for a drummer, but will be painted as the fuse stick (or whatever its called). Below image is what the resin figures look like on the website.

Glad these figures finally arrived so I can paint them up and finish the artillery bases. Our bathroom is just about finished - just waiting for the shower glass to arrive and be installed next Tuesday. After that, it'll be time to finally host a game at the house. Thanks for visiting, and hope you all are doing well.

Verlinden 120mm General Bonaparte

Ended up finishing up this figure as my 3D print Landsknecht artillery crew is in USPS limbo. The USPS tracker shows they arrived at Seattle last Saturday, and were supposed to be delivered on Tuesday. As of today, it still shows them as "In Transit to Next Facility, Arriving Late" since last Tuesday with no new update. I'll give it another few days, and if it is still MIA, I'll see if the seller can either refund me or request a tracer on it. Maybe I'm not supposed to get these figures, as these were originally ordered from an Etsy seller in Poland almost 2 months ago, but after a long wait, the seller said he couldn't send it due to increase mailing fees. He refunded me, and I was able to find a seller in the US (Florida), which was quickely printed and mailed to me - but as stated above is now in the USPS universe.

Anyway, on to the this particular figure. A nice sculpt of Napoleon in his early career as a general during the Republic. The figure beside him is a Brigade Games 28mm figure with him in similar uniform during the Egyptian Campaign.

I think his jawline is a bit too broad and overall a bit too well-fed, as he is described during his younger years a looking gaunt and emaciated.

In any case, I'm still planning on hosting a Pike & Shotte Italian Wars game, with or without artillery crew, in the near future. Our bathroom rebuild/remodel is just about complete. Just waiting on new shower glass and some trim to touch up. The wife was finally able to use her bathroom sinks and bathtub for the first in about 5 months. Thanks for check the blog, and hope you all are doing well.