My latest four foot figures from Bloody Miniatures

Here are my final four completed 28mm 17th century figures from Bloody Miniatures.

These are pikemen who have abandoned their pikes to fight face-to-face with their opponents, apart from the one on the right who is using a broken-off pike head. You'll note that I have stuck with my red and blue colour palette for them. They can definitely play a part in skirmish games but perhaps also in a large pike and shot unit to break up the monotony of having all standard pikemen? Anyway, they are nice figures and I'm pleased with them.

Once again, I'm using a Jon Hodgson backdrop.

I've currently got some mounted troops ready to photograph, so I'll post them as soon as I can be bothered to set up the lightbox.

17th century Pike and Shot (scroll down, lots to see)

Ages ago, fror Christmas 2022, I was given several packs of pikemen, musketeers and command groups from Bicorne Miniatures to augment my Bloody Miniatures figures and turn them into complete units. I finished off the musketeers back then but never finished the pikemen and leaders off. Basically, I got bored with painting 17th century stuff and set them aside. Finally I've got round to completing them. So, here are three blocks of pikemen and command figures. First, in green coats;

Next, in burgundy coats;

And finally in blue coats;

The flags are just simple generic ones, based upon banners used by anti-Imperialist troops in the Thirty Years' War. I cobbled them together on a spreadsheet and printed them off. I was happy with the green and yellow one, but the other two needed over-painting by hand to make them look different to one another. They aren't great, but they'll do for now. 

I had already painted musketeers in green and blue, but didn't have enough musketeers to complete the burgundy-coated unit, so I bought couple of extra packs from Bloody Miniatures (who now have a few nice unit builder packs), so here they are;

As you can see, I intend each of the three battalia to have a central block of pikes and officers etc on a 4 x 3 hole movement tray and two sleeves of six musketeers on a 3 x 2 tray.

I've taken pictures of each of these units, but sadly, they are two wide for my Jon Hodgson A4 backdrops book. Still, you get the general idea how they will look on the table.

I'm pretty happy with how these have turned out and I'm planning to use them for Never Mind The Matchlocks, which is a set of rules we have recently started playing at the club.

I have a few spare command types which is making me think about doing another pike and shot unit, but for the moment, I am switching my attention to mounted troops.

Anyway, here are the spare officers. Clearly, another set of bluecoats is in my future plans.

A bit of background on Orangenland, my 17th century imagi-nation.

In a previous post, I introduced Orangenland, a minor North German state of the 17th century. In this post, I will be describing the place in a bit more detail.

The origins of Orangenland lie in the early mediaeval Kingdom of Lotharingia, created out of the protracted period following the end of Charlemagne's Frankish Empire. Little is known about the early histories of the three component territories of Orangenstadt, Orangenwald and Orangenburg, although it is clear that the origins of Orangenstadt lie in the building of the Abbey of Saint Octavius the Martyr in the 12th century and the development of the town that grew up around the abbey. This town, originally known as Octadorf, grew in importance until it was recognised as the seat of the Prince-Bishop of Sankt Octavius in 1312. When the House of Chalon-Arnay acquired the three territories through marriage, they were known as Bisschoppenstadt, Osterwald and Nordburg. They were renamed following the acquisition of the Principality of Orange by the House of Chalon-Arnay. Bisschoppenstadt was renamed as Orangenstadt in 1473 when it was rebuilt following a disastrous fire in 1469 that destroyed much of the older city.

The population of Orangenland is split between Limburgish and Brabantian Dutch speakers in the east, speakers of the Rhenish Franconian dialect of German in the west and some Picard French speakers in the south.

The seat of the House of Orangen is the city of Orangenstadt, which is dominated by the late mediaeval Chalonerschloss and the Cathedral of Sankt Octav, which was rebuilt on the ruins of the earlier Abbey, destroyed in the Great Fire of 1469.

Other prominent towns and cities are Nordenstadt, Catieau-Arnay, Wijndorp, Druckerburg and Salzfischstadt.

The flag of Orangenland is a golden Lion Rampant bearing a sword, on a field of red, although a standard showing a red cross on a yellow field is also carried by some troops.

The House of Orangen has long maintained friendly relations with a number of other small dukedoms and counties in the region, most prominently the County of Pirlouit, whose ruling family, the House of Schtroumpf is related to the House of Orangen by marriage. Indeed, one member of the Schtroumpf family, Armin von Schtroumpf currently serves in the Orangenland army. Although he is young and a relatively junior officer, he has gained a reputation of being a brave, if occasionally hot-headed leader, who is loved by his troops, many of whom were recruited in his homeland. Troops under his command usually wear a blue sash and occasionally blue and white plumes on their hats and helmets, these being the colours of the House of Schtroumpf.

In other news, I have acquired enough figures now to create a variety of units for my Orangenland army for The Pikeman's Lament. These are all from Warlord Games and consist of;

From these boxes I will be able to build one unit of 12 Pikemen, two units of 12 Musketeers, a unit of six Gallopers, a unit of six Trotters and two elite units of Gallopers and Trotters in cuirassier three-quarter armour. I will also be able to build units representing a Forlorn Hope and Commanded Shot, so there will be plenty of variations for the troops that Armin von Schtroumpf will be able to call upon in his battles.

There will probably be a few spare figures that I can use for other things that I currently haven't even thought about, although I am definitely planning to do Armin von Schtroumpf in both mounted and foot versions.

The Condotta is recruiting Swiss troops now

I have always wanted an army with Swiss pikes in it, so now I have the chance. There is something about the Swiss that appealed to me when reading about the Italian Wars. Not as flashy as their Landsknecht imitators but brutal and efficient, possibly the most feared opponents of all on the battlefields of Renaissance Italy.

I was going to work on some crossbowmen next, but the allure of the Swiss Pikes, plus the fact that I could get away from the red and white major theme of my mercenary army won out when push came to shove.

Once again, these are all Perry plastics from the European Mercenaries 1450-1500 set.

I chose to paint my Swiss in the yellow and black of the Canton of Uri, because I love the colour scheme, and it also echoes the Warhammer Averland army that I used to own a long time ago. Here are the 10 pikemen and a musician that I completed this week;

The musician is a horn blower, and the horn was taken from the Gripping Beast Dark Ages Infantry set. It fits perfectly.

The reason I only painted 11 figures is because I already had a standard bearer/leader figure. Here is the finished 12-man unit;

Here they are as a 4 x 3 block of figures, which seems a reasonable way of fielding them in a Lion Rampant force.

I am really very happy with the way that these have come out. They are quite well-armoured and to my eye represent the tough and uncompromising Swiss mercenaries who dominated the early period of the Italian Wars and earlier conflicts. Of course, I can also use them as an Averland contingent in an Empire army for Dragon Rampant against the foul Orcish green hordes or other enemies.