Swiss Pike Block

Finished a few batches of Swiss, a fairly haphazard mix of Perry Mercs and Warlord Landsknechts. Some combos turned out better than others, but overall I'm pretty happy with the approach.

Italian Wars officer types

I tried mashing together Landsknecht and Perry Mercenary bodies with ECW arms and bits, I think it works out pretty well even if the details are a bit off. Also trying out the camera on my new cell phone, not bad.

bonus pic

Landsknechts, now with arquebuses and doppelsoldners

Oh yeah, this project is coming together. This is basically 1/3rd of what I have in mind for the Landsknecht component of my Italian Wars collection. Overall, my plans are mostly modeled after Olicanalad's interpretation of the Battle of Novara.

Landsknecht Pike Block

Since I was pretty pleased with how the test Landsknechts went, I painted up a couple more batches. Mixing them all together works out quite well, I think! Such a colorful bunch.

No flags until the end of the whole project, sorry.

Italian Wars - infantry proofs-of-concept

So I painted up the landsknechts in the previous post, and a few more infantry as well. The Swiss are a mix of Warlord Landsknecht bits and Perry Mercenaries (including some separate metal heads the Perrys produce), with some greenstuffed codpieces to boot.

(Yeah, I know that neither side of the Italian Wars wore uniform colors, I'm just going to batchpaint different color combos out of laziness and then mix them up when they're all done.)

Italian Wars, because why not

Picked up a bunch of Warlord Games plastic Landsknechts a while back, just for funsies. A lot of them are being assembled as-is, but I can't help adding a little variety here and there. I took a pic of some typical examples.

Conversion details from left to right: Warlord Celt head; press-molded hat; greenstuff sleeves; greenstuff beard; head and body from ranged weapon kit; Warlord Celt head and Perry Mercenary arms.

Celtic and Germanic cavalry

Still Warlord, still unconverted. I'll get to the shield transfers eventually...

Project Barbarian returns! German and Celtic skirmishers

Getting inspired by the release or Warlord's SPQR skirmish battle system to catch up on my ancients backlog. Just some unconverted Warlord Games metals here, simple but fun.

Ottoman Light Cavalry

Nothing too fancy here, just some Besli (conscripts, in the white turbans) and Gonullu (volunteers, in the colored turbans). Essentially unconverted from Gripping Beast Arab Cavalry (again!), I think maybe two of the turbans are greenstuff.

Voevode (Russian Commander)

My Muscovites need an officer, and while I believe The Assault Group is working on one, I'm impatient! So I made this guy mostly out of Gripping Beast Arabs, with a Warlord head and horse and a TAG mace.

I gotta say, the Gripping Beast Arab Light Cavalry plastics have been an absolute godsend for Eastern Europe kitbashing. The long-robed legs and embroidered-front torsos are just so handy!

Muscovite Reiters

Been a while since I tried any really interesting kitbashing, so here's one. the torsos are from Warlord Games' (formerly Wargames Factory's) War of Spanish Succession cavalry, the horses and some arms are from Warlord Games ECW cavalry, and the heads / legs / other arms are from Gripping Beast's Arab cavalry. These represent the "new style" reiters incorporated into the Russian army post-Smolensk to supplement the traditional feudal horse. I will field them in Pikeman's Lament as Veteran Trotters.

Apologies for the gaps and mold lines on the horses, guess I'm a little out of practice.

More Nobles

NPCs or future PCs, here are some noblemen equipped as more than civilians:

Flashing Blades - the gang's all here

The last player character has been rolled up and modeled, so here is a revised group shot:

From left to right:

Baroness Villanelle de la Croix, a noblewoman of remarkable aptitude. Capable even in fields of endeavor that she has not studied, and certainly no stranger to the blade, Villanelle is toying with the idea of developing a masked alter-ego to escape the confines imposed on her by the patriarchy.

Baron-Viscount Sadko Stroganoff-Rachmaninoff, an eccentric boyar from distant Muscovy. Due to some combination of privileged upbringing and a rather, um, "recursive" family tree, Sadko is as feeble as a child, but he does not shy away from adventure or romance, and thus far his luck has steered him well.

Pierre de Bourdeau, rich Parisian moneylender. Already wealthier than large swathes of the nobility, the studious Pierre is at risk of developing a somewhat unsavory reputation. Aware of the possibility, he has adopted a scrupulous code of honorable behavior to deflect such aspersions.

Valentin de la Fontaine, an apothecary of Paris. Well-connected and upwardly mobile, this ambitious gentleman may in fact be living a bit beyond his means, so he is always on the lookout for a chance to augment his income.

Lachlan MacCailin, Scottish mercenary. With his strong arm and large sword, Lachlan is something of a medieval throwback, with a temper to match. Fortunately, military technology has not yet progressed to the point where a big fellow with a big sword serves no purpose.

Joelle de Villiers, spy and assassin. Devious and utterly ruthless, Joelle is a master infiltrator and a versatile combatant, but her consistent misfortune adds an element of risk to even the simplest of missions.

(all descriptions are my own; the actual players might see their characters differently...)

Specialist Swashbucklers from the collection

Been sorting through my miniatures for ones that might come in handy for Flashing Blades. Since I recently made all those unarmored swordsmen to represent the more average duelists of the setting, I can now broaden my scope a little to include a few minis to represent the more specialized and well-equipped antagonists that might appear as the campaign progresses.

None of these have been painted recently, I just wanted to consolidate my more characterful Early Modern infantry minis in one place for inspiration.

Noble Duelists for Flashing Blades

Eventually the Player Characters will come into conflict with fancy-pants aristocrats, so here are a few built from the Warlord Games pike & shotte infantry command sprue.

Swordsmen for Flashing Blades

I threw together some goons for Flashing Blades. The pictures are bad, but the painting was rushed anyway, so whatever. These are all based on Warlord Games plastic infantry, with sword hands/arms from the plastic cavalry, and random other kits for left arms.

Swashbuckling Heroes for Flashing Blades

Oof, life's been busy these past few month. Not even in a bad way, and I did manage to get some hobby work done, but most of it wasn't really blogworthy.

Here's something though: a set of miniatures representing the characters my game group rolled up for a Flashing Blades campaign.

The two on the left have been posted before, the lady in the middle is an old metal fantasy mini I've had for ages, and the last two are kitbashed plastics specifically made for this campaign.