Empire Knights or Gendarmes w/o Skirts

As mentioned before, I plan to use them for Italian Wars, although their armor is a bit more fantasy than historical. Proper looking French Gendarmes should have those skirted tunics over their armor. I did leave off their shields, but may add them later for an Empire army.

I used decals that came with the kit for the standard and also the musician's trumpet flag. Although the color scheme and helmets are for the Knights Panther, the decals are for the Order of the Blazing Sun. I thought they looked more like something from the period.

They are old models, and out of scale next to most 28mm figures, but I still like their overall look.

Along with the older Empire Knights unit painted up as Reiksguard.

Have some 3D resin printed Napoleonic Prussian artillery to work on next. Those should be the last figures needed for an 1813 Campaign game I hope to run later this year, in addition to an Italian Wars Pike & Shotte game. Until next time, thanks for stopping by, and wishing you all the best.

Warlord Games Landsknecht Pikemen Painted As Swiss

Not sure how different the Swiss were from their German counterparts, but these will be proxy Swiss for Italian Wars. The musician is a Foundry figure that my buddy included with the box of pikemen. He might be dressed a little earlier, but he fits in with the Swiss "look."

Keeping the clothing in just two colors helped speed up the process. Didn't have to think about color combinations. I did go over the white areas after the Minwax staining to help the colors pop.

I used the Savoy flag from the Perry Mounted Men at Arms set.

Here they are next to the GW Empire swordsmen. They'd be okay on the table together in separate units. The GW guys are a bit chunkier.

Although I wasn't planning on more pikemen, it's always nice to have more.

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.

Warlord Games Landsknecht Command, Handbuchse Light Gun, and Roll Call

Finished the last figures from the Army Starter set. The four officers and light gun and crew are metal. The drummer is a plastic figure. I may rebase them on rounds in the future.

I used references on the internet to set up the light gun and pose the crew. The guy in blue and red is holding up the stock (aiming?). The other guy has one foot on the support of the gun mount and lighting the fuse.

Landsknecht army arrayed below. Except for the three resin command figures in the Black Band, all of the figures are from the starter set, and two additional boxes of pikemen and a box of missile troops. 

I used some of the 40mm square bases that came with the kits with steel paper tops added for smaller skirmish units. There are small magnets glued under the GW-style square bases.

Artillery and cavalry (gendarmes) will need to be added for a proper game - but that will be sometime in the future. Until next time, thanks for stopping in and hope you all are doing well.

Wargames Atlantic Conquistadors

Two units of 24-figures each (from the two boxes). One unit of arquebusiers, and one unit of swordsmen - with a couple of halberdiers to guard the colors. Speaking of colors, the flags are from the Warlord Games Landsknecht Starter Army set.

Their "uniforms" are likely a bit too uniform to be historically accurate, but wanted to keep the color schemes simple. Borrowed the colors from Warhammer Estalia - red and yellow primarily. This not only eased the painting process, but give the units a cohesive (if not historical) look.

The figures themselves are quite robust and in sturdy plastic - very appropriate for gaming. They reminded me of Warlord Games ECW plastics - stylistically, and their poses as well.

As mentioned in the previous post, the sets come with options for crossbows, halberds, and short pikes, in addition to the swords and arquebuses. What little I know of Warhammer Estalian forces, these would be a very decent set to build an army, IMO.

Well, glad to have these done before heading out to host my Imjin War game tomorrow morning. I may also finish up the remaining figures from the Landsknecht start army set - maybe build them as a "Forlorn Hope" unit. Until next time, thanks for stopping by and hope you all are doing well.

Wargames Atlantic Renaissance Heavy Cavalry

These are painted up as Spanish (maybe a bit WHFB Estalian).

The set comes with a lot of head/helmet options, including closed burgonets which I didn't use as those are a bit later than what I intend these for - early-mid 16th C.

There are only four riders in full plate armor (greaves), as well as only four left arms in full plate. There are four "extra" rider bodies in half armor, and plenty of lance and sword arm options.

The horses have separate neck/heads, and there are enough for all 12 to have the armored neck and face, as well as 12 chest plates. Oddly, there are only enough rear barding straps for 8 of the 12 horses. Otherwise, it's still a good set with a lot of optional parts, as well as 8 war dogs.

Everything went together well, however, I would advise to glue on the saddles before adding the barding straps. I glued the straps on first and some were not allowing the saddles to fully seat onto the horse. I ended up carving the insides of the saddles to let them fit. If you glue the saddles on first, you can position the straps afterwards.

Below is a comparison shot, left to right - GW Empire Knight, Wargames Atlantic, and Perry WotR. The GW is much larger than the other two. Wargames Atlantic and Perry match up pretty well - the former might look slightly bulkier overall.

Next up are two boxes of Wargames Atlantic Conquistador foot. Until next time, thanks again for stopping by the blog, and wishing you well.

Warlord Games Landsknecht Command and Pike Blocks

Finished up the command figures for the Landsknecht pike units. Adding a drummer, flag bearer, leader, and either a two-handed swordsman or halberdier, was able to flesh out enough for six 30-man pike units. These should be enough for a core Landsknecht force - although one of the units is the Black Band that served the French. I drilled out the hands of the standard bearers and replaced the poles with plastic broom bristles. This way the flags can be held up higher as the way the ones molded into the hands were a bit low, and some of the larger flags didn't even fit on them.

There are a few more figures left from the Start Army box, including the metal command figures, but will next start on a box of Wargames Atlantic Conquistadors.

Glad to have these done, and happy with how they turned out. Also, nice to have them individually based so not only can the command figures be moved around, but also the rank and file guys too. Thanks for checking out the blog and wishing you all the best.

The Black Band - Warlord Games Landsknechts

Here's the band, together for one last gig, led by a leader wielding a Flammenschwert, drummer, and flag bearer that are 3D prints from ebay. The prints match up well with the Warlord Games figures; in fact, the drummer has a headswap from Warlord Games.

Even though I tried to give them an overall look with black clothing, it appears as much red was also used. White was also used, somewhat sparingly, to give them a bit of splash.

Next in the paint queue are the command figures for the rest of the pike units.