Warlord Games "Swiss" Pikemen - WIP

These are from a box of Warlord Games Landsknecht Pikemen that a buddy gave me. He decided to go with all Foundry for his Landsknechts. Painted them up to match the Talabheim Empire guys I have. They'll be used as Swiss for Italian War too. As usual, here are pictures of them stained with Minwax, and also before the stain block painted.

On the gaming front we just found out that the Boeing Museum of Flight has decided not to let our gaming group attend their Hobby Day in November. This is something we've been doing for at least a decade or so. Guess the new management didn't want kids seeing grown adults playing with toy soldiers.

Epirote - Greek Army Arrayed

Well, since I added the new Hoplites, figured I'd take some updated photos of the Greco-Macedonian army to date. The army is based upon the one led by Pyrrhus of Epirus. The recently added Greek & Persian Wars Hoplites may look a bit dated for the period, but they're included nonetheless. Most of the figures are Victrix with a few other makes. All of the shields have LBMS transfers. The elephants are Aventine that were painted a long time ago, but still hold their own.

Here are the infantry; again mostly Victrix. The unit front and center of Hypaspist are a mixture of Foundry and 1st Corps. I foolishly sold off my Foundry Phalangites some years ago.

Next, along with the Aventine elies, a 1st Corps Oxybeles and crew. All of these saw a lot of action when I played WAB. I only used them a few times with Hail Caesar. I did use one of the elephants in a SAGA game a couple of years ago.

The Companion cavalry in wedge formation, flanked by Tarantine light cavalry - all Victrix figures.

Finally the command figures; the Pyrrhus figure on the left and Seleukos figures on the right are from Relic.

So much for the roll call. I hope to someday run a game based on either the Battle of Argos (where Pyrrhus met his end), or maybe the Siege of Sparta prior to this. I had co-hosted a Battle of Heraclea with my earlier mostly-Foundry Epirote army when my buddy had his Republican Romans. We also hosted a Magnesia game with the army led by Seleukos - both games used WAB and were run at conventions. Anyway, thanks for the indulgence, and hope you all are doing well.

Victrix Greek & Persian Wars Hoplites - Completed

Finally finished these guys. Added some highlights to the armor and flesh after the Minwax staining. LBMS transfers used for the shields.

These should work alongside the earlier sets, although most of these are in more active poses. They could be used in the front ranks of the earlier sets.

I based this on 20mm metal washers for use in smaller skirmish games. The plastic is very durable, and the spears should take handling well. 

Apologies for not responding to comments of the previous posts, as I was focused on getting these done. Thanks again for your visits, and kind comments as always. Best wishes to you all.

Victrix Greek & Persian Wars Hoplites - WIP

Here's a quick update to the project. Added details to their linothorax, and also painted their plumes. Will go back over the armor to clean up the painting after doing the scabbard and baldric. They look a bit gaudy colored, but the Minwax staining should tone them down a bit - although I think the Ancient Greeks loved "loud" colors. 

Happy Father's Day & A Workbench Update

Hope you all had, or are having, a great Father's Day. Spent some time on the Victrix Greek & Persian Wars Hoplites and Warlord Games Landsknecht Pikemen. Painted the armor, weapons, and flesh.

Victrix Greek & Persian Wars Hoplites - WIP (and a TYW Pike & Shotte game)

Started on some Victrix Hoplites from the Greek & Persian Wars set. These are in more "active" poses than the earlier Hoplite sets. It also comes with a plethora of older style helmets, mostly Corinthian types. Since I plan to use them in "Heroic" skirmish games, I went overboard with the helmet crests. I used a lot of the transverse crest and the twin-horse headed crests - the latter likely very rare. I also used LBMS transfers for the shields.

I also played in a Thirty Years War Pike & Shotte game at my buddy's place a couple days ago. Most of the figures were the ECW ones I sold to him last year. He did add a few cuirassier figures - in fact, I ran these in two units led by Marshal Pappenheim. It was a seesaw battle which ended with a bit of a stalemate. My HRE cuirassiers initially pushed back the Swedish cav on the HRE left flank, but the Swedes later recovered and ended up pushing my guys back. The center had a lot of action going on with infantry pike and shot units. It was very nice playing the rules again, and has inspired me to push on with my Italian Wars project. Here are a few pictures from the game.

My HRE cuirassiers on our left flank. They did very well early in the game.

The center with several pike and shot units going at each other.

A view of the battlefield from the HRE's left flank.

My initial movements - the two units facing towards both sides of the small village.

The HRE center.

My two cuirassier units having accumulated some casualties from earlier rounds of combat.

WHFB Empire Army - Renunited!

Thanks to my buddy gifting back my core foot units, I went ahead and got the entire army out of the cabinet to photograph. Although I've only played WHFB a few times, I did collect the army books - mainly for the pictures of the figures. Besides the final, 8th Ed. book, the rest of them were picked up at Half Price Books many years ago - in the discount section. Most of the figures were painted about a decade or so ago.

Here are close ups of the individual figures and units.

I touched up the white on the swordsmen, halbedier, and crossbow units.  I also made new movement trays for them. All of the figures have magnets and the trays have steel paper inserts.

Next, Pistoliers and a metal Master Engineer on Mechanical Horse.

Karl Franz on Deathclaw, and Empire General and Battle Standard Bearer.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well the feathers took to dry-brushing.

Next, the Celestial Hurricanum in blue, and the War Altar in red. I also have the "laser beam" to make the Hurricanum a Luminark. The wagons and horses are basically the same. Most of the parts are pegged in slots, or magnetized, and can be broken down for storage or transport, if needed.

These kits really made me appreciate the sculpting of GW models - and how well they take to washes and dry-brushing. 

Demigryphs and special characters. The two ladies with guns are metal figures from Ragin Heroes - which may be OOP. The wizards came with the War Altar and Hurricanum sets. I don't think I ever used them in the few games I played.  Not really into sorcery 😄. Although, I do like the look of the Witch Hunter (third from the left).

And finally, a Steam Tank, Great Cannon, and Hellblaster Volley Gun; along with crew and a few special characters.

Thanks for stopping by and tolerating my indulgence. Very happy to have my old figures back together again with the rest of the army. Wishing you all the best!

3D Print "Empire" Faux Kurt Helborg

 Here's another figure from Etsy. He and his horse are sculpted a bit more heroically than the previous "Gendarme" figures. The helmeted head, and horse's chamfron are a lot bulkier than the earlier ones, which makes the figure match up pretty well with GW.

I think he's based on the Kurt Helborg character -  who has similar "wings" adorning his helmet.

Below, he's posed next to an actual GW Empire General model.

3D Printed "Empire" Knights

Here are the figures I picked up from Etsy. Very nice figures, but lack the iconic cloth skirts or tunics worn over their armor.

The material used is very sturdy and not brittle at all.

Kept things simple by given them all a blue color scheme, which works with the French standard.

Below is a comparison shot, left to right: GW Empire; Wargames Atlantic Renaissance Heavy Cav; 3D print; and Perry WotR Mounted MAA. Besides the bulkiness of the GW figure, they all work well enough together.

Below are 3D files of "proper" Gendarmes from Wargames Atlantic Digital. Since I don't ever plan on having a 3D printer, will have to wait until they're available already printed.

Getting these out of the way, I can now start on the Victrix Greek and Persian Wars Hoplites. Thanks for checking out the blog, and wishing you all the best.

Old Glory Italian Wars Swiss Pikemen

Here are the two bags of Old Glory Swiss Pikeman - one each armored and unarmored. As noted in the previous post, the armored bag was missing 5 figures; but the unarmored on had 31.

Old Glory got the positioning of the pikes just right, IMO - not level or upright. The flags for the Uri and Bern Cantons came with the Perry Mercenaries set.

The 56 figures worked out to 14 40mm square bases with 4-figures each. An odd number for grouping into 2 units.

The were painted in four basic colors: red, blue, green, and yellow. Added small white crosses to their clothing to ensure they were cleary identified as Swiss.

Glad to have these guys done, and the next project with be the 3D resin print "Empire" knight. Thanks for stopping by, and wishing you all the best.

Old Glory Italian Wars Swiss Pikemen - WIP

Got them all "piked" and primed. Unfortunately, the armored pack only had 25 figures instead of the usual 30. I was intending to have them in 30-figure units, but since I plan to base them 4-figures per 40mm squares, this will make it easier with having 6 bases per unit. I would've had to base a few as singles or pairs to fit a 30-figure movement tray.

Earlier today, drilling out their hands and using plastic broom bristles for pikes.

Thanks for stopping in and checking out the blog. Best wishes to you all!

Highland Miniatures 3D Printed Sunland Knights, General, and Cannon

Just got the knights and general today in 28mm. A few weeks ago I had ordered and received them in 32mm, thinking it would match the larger 28mm Games Workshop Empire Knights, but when I got them the 32mm guys were way too big. I returned them to the seller on Esty for 28mm ones which match very well. The seller was very accomodating and I only had to ship back the initial figures.

The knights set comes with 10 horses and 11 riders. One of the riders is a musician, which I chose not to use. It also comes with shields and extra helmeted heads. My set only came with two lances, but will likely replace the two with swords or maces, anyway. I'm pretty sure the seller would send me more lances if asked for.

The general figure and horse in 28mm match up very well with GW. 

The cannon are in 32mm, but work fine as I like them looking big. The painted models are old GW metals. I didn't order the crewmen as I wanted to use some from Steel Fist Miniatures, but they are currently not in stock. I may get some from Foundry or Artizan.

I also got a set of Victrix Greek Hoplites (Greek and Persian Wars) today too - and LBMS shield transfers the other day. Along with the two bags of Old Glory Italian Wars Swiss Pikemen, and the 3D printed knights, I should be pretty busy for awhile.

Although I'm trying to downsize my figure collection, I just couldn't pass up these Hoplites as they have some great looking Corinthian and other earlier helmets - which didn't come with the Mercenary Hoplite set I already have. As a kid, one of my first figures were a box of Airfix 1/72nd Romans - which I "converted" to Greek Hoplites using a hot knife to sculpt their helmets into something looking like Corinthian helmets (not very successful) - as best a 10 year old could. I also added round shields using metal soda pull tabs cut with a pair of scissors. Anyway, just wanted to post an update to share what I'm up to right now.