More Landsknecht Pikemen

Here's the latest batch of Landsknecht pikemen from the 1/72 scale set by Dark Dream Studios.

The flags are from Stuart Mulligan's Landsknecht painting guide, which you can find here:

http://www.stuartmulligan.com/landsknechts.htm

A huge thank you to Mr Mulligan. The painting guide is brilliant, and makes the confusing job of painting Landsknechts much easier.

Good news also for early C16th armies in 1/72 scale, with these new figures on their way from Dark Dream Studios: http://www.bennosfigures.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4571

Renaissance Cavalry

The next stage of my Maximilian Imperial army for DBA-RRR is complete - the cavalry. These figures are a box of Renaissance Knights from Dark Dream Studios. Great figures - some of the horse poses leave a little to be desired, but the riders are beautifully detailed, with very fine detail on their armour. They take some putting together, with separate swords, scabbards, crests etc, but I think the results are worth it.

I just made one small conversion, giving the commander a head from a Landsknecht rather than an enclosed helmet.

It seems that Dark Dream Studio are making a follow up set to their Landsknechts (http://www.bennosfigures.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4571) , and I for one am a happy man. I just wish they would go the whole hog and bring out Renaissance Swiss, Italians, Spanish, English .... Maybe one day.

Landsknecht Pikemen

Here is my first batch of Landsknecht pikemen, double based for DBA-RRR. Like the review on Plastic Soldier Review says, they are a bit of a nightmare to put together. But I'm pretty pleased with the end result.

Work in Progress: Landsknechts!

My next big project for 2010 is to paint up a Maximilian Imperial army from the early 16th Century for DBA-RRR. All the figures are from Dark Dream Studios, comprising a box of their Landsknecht Dopplesoldners and Arquebusiers, a box of Landsknecht pikemen and a box of Renaissance knights. I've finished the first batch, the Dopplesoldners (double-pay men) whose job it was to hack their way into the enemy pike blocks using their monstrous two handed swords.

The first element completed for the army is the forlorn hope, who were identified by carrying a plain red Blutfahne ('blood banner')

I haven't based the other Dopplesoldners yet. The plan is to base the pikemen on extra- deep bases, and to include these figures ahead of the pikes.

Landsknechts are very tricky to paint, with their layers of slashed clothing revealing different colours. The best book I've found so far to explain how the clothing was actually made is the Osprey Landsknecht Soldier by John Richards, from their Warrior series.