Landsknechts for Novara

 Aside from the artillery and flags, this is the entire landsknecht contingent I need for the battle of Novara. Combined with the crossbows from a few weeks ago and the Swiss (who you've mostly seen but will soon see a nice group pic of) I've completed all the infantry I need. 

Cavalry is next, and I'm not gonna lie, I find Renaissance gendarmes pretty intimidating. At least I've got a unit of stradiots too, which can break up the gendarme slog. Then its just commanders (any recommendations?) and artillery.

Halberdiers for the Swiss

 Here's the unit of halberdiers I need for Novara. Many of these are Warlord/Perry plastic mashups like I've been posting for a while now, but there's also four Assault Group minis, one Old Glory figure, and even a Games Workshop head. Probably more heavily armored than they need to be, but I like the look.

Landsknecht shot

 Same source kits in slightly different proportions.

Swiss Shot

 Another mishmash of Perry and Warlord plastics...

Crowds of Crossbowmen

I've been able to get a decent amount of painting done over my holiday break, even if I haven't been particularly inspired to blog the past month or so. But here's a bunch of crossbowmen! They are a mix of Warlord and Perry plastics, and Old Glory metals. In Novara the crossbowmen were Gascons and Navarrese, but since they are on the same side as the Landsknechts I let some of them have poofy sleeves for variety. You can also see some of the terrain I've been building from Tabletop Scenics.

Primavera Occulta playtest thoughts

 Played a quick solo game of Primavera Occulta (52-card version). Still toying with some details, but feels fun to play overall. Lots of tension in the rolls, plenty of options to consider for each turn, the occasional moment of crystal-clear hindsight. Maybe next time I'll manage to make a proper battle report of it.

The turning point turned out to be the shooting of the priest, and the subsequent defection of his summoned spirit (in cat form) to the rival gang. Unbalanced? Or an appropriate risk/reward trade-off? Also, still considering where playing a card (as opposed to drawing a card or rolling a die) is or isn't appropriate. Gonna try a few more games and see... 

more objectives for Primavera Occulta

 Treasure chests are all well and good, but I wanted a few more objectives with a little more character...

The Caryatid Column (statue lady) is the only unconverted purpose-built item here, from Reaper. The goat statues are little knicknacks tied around the necks of a certain beer brand that unfortunately I cannot recall the name of, based on pennies. The emerald tablet is the butt end of a plastic fork, with some "carvings" poked onto the surface with a knife. The skeletons are made from the Warlord Games (formerly Wargames Factory) skeleton infantry sprue, which is also the source of the horned skull. The pedestal for the horned skull is a pushpin.