More renaissance infantry - mercenary men-at-arms on foot

More Perry plastics, this time a mixture of armoured types mostly from the Foot Men-at-arms box, but with a few from the European Mercenaries set to bulk it out.

As you can see, they aren't all fully armoured and they are equipped with a mixture of weapons, mostly with swords. I wanted to give them the appearance of a hard-bitten bunch of experienced mercenaries who might not be from the upper echelons of society but who can be relied upon to do the dirty work for whoever pays them the most.

Their standard is a Burgundian one, so perhaps they might be a remnant of the army of Charles the Bold that was destroyed by the Swiss at the Battle of Morat in 1476. I like the blue and yellow colour scheme I've chosen, which sets off the red crosses rather well, I think. 

I am pretty happy that I have got this 15th century project back on the rails. My next step will be to create another, final group of dismounted men-at-arms and then create a number of groups of billmen/halberdiers and archers using the Perry Wars of the Roses Infantry boxes. There will be a lot of glueing involved, but I have made a start on it already.

More renaissance troops have arrived

Twelve more crossbowmen, to be precise, again all Perry plastics.

I decided to give these a blue and white colour scheme, with red crosses to denote that they were working for the Papal army. Of course, blue and white was also a colour scheme associated with the Duchy of Burgundy, so maybe they could be Burgundian mercenaries recruited to serve in my condottieri's band? 

In any case, it doesn't really matter, it is just nice to see a few more troops finished for the project.

I now also have three groups of twelve missile troops who could be an interesting component of a Saga: AoM Great Kingdoms army.

Back to an old project - my Renaissance Condottieri

It has been ages since I've worked on this project, but I really wanted to get back to it.

My first finished figures are six more Swiss handgunners from the Canton of Uri, which gives me a total of 12 now. You can see the original six here, but you'll have to scroll down to find them.

Clearly these are more Perry plastic figures from the European Mercenaries 1450-1500 box set.

These can fit in easily as troops for Lion and Dragon Rampant, Saga Age of Magic (in a Great Kingdoms force) and also Never Mind The Billhooks, which wasn't part of my plans back in 2019 but most certainly is now.

The LBWS TTS is back!

 

Yes, the famous LBWS TTS is back to its proper date and time at the end of May.

We have sold all the available tables, so there is going to be plenty of stuff to buy, hopefully with bargains galore to suit whatever gap in your collection you need to fill.

So, put the date in your diaries and bring plenty of cash. You never know what treasures you might discover.

Hot drinks and snacks will be on sale too, so no need to go hungry!

The club meets on Sunday afternoons too, so if you feel like a game, why not stick around? New members are always welcome.

The Night Watch

Here are my final four figures from the Bloody Miniatures Company of Wolves set.

They are collectively called The Night Watch, presumably as a reference to the famous Rembrandt painting, which is actually called "Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq", but it also reminds me of the King Crimson song.

These four musketeers are suitable for lots of things, camp guards, a colour party, a town Watch, part of a unit of musket-armed troops and so on. 

I decided to paint one in a green and tan palette because I thought that he would look good as an additional figure for my previous four musketeers and gave the other three a blue and red uniform appearance because I thought that the cassocks looked like something that a rich town council or a regimental colonel might equip officers with, so that they would stand out. The other chap on the left could be from the rank and file of the same unit. I have a couple of packs of Bicorne musketeers in my painting queue, some of whom are also going to get the red/blue treatment. The rest will be, unsurprisingly, green and tan.

I need to crack on with those pretty soon, and I also have Bicorne pikemen to paint up as well.

Four Musketeers

These are called "The Squire's Men" on the Bloody Miniatures website;

The idea here is that they are the retainers of some local magnate who have been called upon to defend their master's property. Therefore, it seemed logical to me to give them a matching livery theme and green seemed perfect. To make an even stronger link, I have given them yellow trimmings on their clothes too.

Obviously, as gamekeepers and suchlike, these men might be considered as expert shots and I like the way that they are posed. My favourite is the kneeling chap with feathers in his hat.

I have four more figures to post, and I will get them up on the blog tomorrow.

More good news from Bloody Miniatures too. The next tranche of 16 figures is now available on their website. Collectively, they are called "A Parcel of Rogues", but the four sets of figures can also be bought separately,

Once more unto the breach dear friends .......................................

 .......... well, sort of. 

More of my Bloody Miniatures 17th century figures. These are called The Storming Party. From left to right we have a trooper carrying a barrel of gunpowder, another trooper wrapped with a long length of rope and a grapple, carrying a pick-axe and a pistol, a heavily-armoured guy to hold off defenders and a grenadier with an axe. They are definitely going to be trouble for someone.