Landsneckts - Warning Health and Safety Hazard!

Not the 96 promised as I was never any good at my 8xtables and above. Just 72 newly based Landsneckts, some bought painted and tidied up to fit in and the other half painted by  me. All basing my my fair hand. The figures are a right old mash up of Old Glory, Artisan, Casting Room Miniatures and even Warlord plastics. I liked pai ting the Casting Room figures the best. The plastics were the least fun. Flags by Pete's Flags. I will check over the bases again this weekend as the photos have revealed a few gaps or mistakes, as is always the case.

I guess I could split them into two units. Depends on the game, the rules and my mood.

Big French Revolutionary Wars game from the campaign in the morning. Using Skype again so go gets crossed the technology does it's job.

The Production Line - more Italian Wars figures

In the previous post I mentioned the production line I have going when my painting mojo is on overdrive, as it is and has been for a few weeks now.

As an example, ALL of these figures reached completion this afternoon.  The gendarmes and the armoured ‘archers’ heavy cavalry were already painted but I did a bit of tidying up and did all the bases. The mounted crossbowmen were only started from scratch on Wednesday but they were very straightforward to do.

Venetian mounted crossbows

French ‘archers’ heavy cavalry

French Gensdarmes. Very pretty.

I hope to show a unit of 96 Landsneckts tomorrow, some of which I bought painted but had to tidy up and enliven a fair bit,  and the rest I did myself.

A few more Italian Wars figures

One advantage of my system for ploughing through the lead mountain is that with half a dozen units on the go at any one time (and full rather than partial ones) is that every so often said system starts chucking out loads of stuff almost all at once. And when my mojo wanes for a week or so every now and then I’m fortunate enough to have as couple of friends who paint stuff for me leaving the basing for me.

That's a rather long winded way of introducing today's output shown above,  which is a block of French pikemen (flags need adding to still) and a unit  (or two?) of Gascon crossbowmen.  I think they're all Perry.

And yes, I am in the middle of mustering a French force to join the Papal, Spanish, Venetian and and sundry other odds n sods like the Florentines.

Hopefully I will have another couple of units to show tomorrow if I can get them based up and flagged.

A Secret Weapon - Italian Wars.....again.

Ages ago I did a search on t'internet to see if anyone made one of the kits shown below in 28mm. Well, someone in China did of course, so I had to buy one. This is long before I decided to pull my finger out and resurrect the Italian Wars project so it was a strange purchase, but now it will take centre stage within my Florentine contingent.

The 'tank with new light gun and crew alongside for scale.

Close up. I think I'll apply some Florentine decals to brighten it up. 

Florenrine mounted crossbows.

Weaternised Stradioti. These are Perry metal riders on Perry plastic horses from the WoR light cavalry set.

The Florentines again. Not photo shy this lot!

The 'tank' is not of course covered in the Pike and Shot rules but does get a mention in the new Furioso set. I've not played the latter yet, as I don't think they will lend themselves to a Skype game, so under Pike and Shot it will have the following characteristics:

Movement 2D6" (any double and it breaks down for 1D6 turns). Blunders as normal.
Shooting :- count as two light guns that can fire in any direction. They MUST shoot together even if they have different targets in order to maximise the chance of the catastrophic double 1 for cannon).
Melee :- One dice to allow for running people over, re-roll if a miss
Morale saves :- 2+
Stamina :- 3

If it looses a melee the tank must take a break test. If it fails it  is deemed to have been destroyed by enemy troops fighting their way inside or otherwise disabling it.

I also have a few more units that I've almost completed today which should appear tomorrow. They'd all been working their way through the production line system I use  when my painting mojo os running on overdrive like it is now, which is how I get through lots of figures quickly so there's lots of grassing and tufting to do once I've unstuck my fingers!

Italian Wars heavy battery

I completed another unit of generic artillery last night in the shape of this heavy battery of cannon. If I use Pike and Shotte they will count as two guns for firing, but must always shoot together and at the same target, thus increasing the chance for a double one catastrophe!

Italian Wars reinforcements

Here are a few figures I completed today. First up some artillery.

These guns have been rebased and will join my generic artillery train.  

This is my third Spanish Colunella, again organised as a mixed unit if shot, pike and sword/buckles. I think they look good but can't take credit for the idea. TAG figures. Flags by Pete's Flags. I started this unit from scratch on Saturday and finished them today. The proportions of shot to pike and swordsmen is not right but unless I was to base the pike on a narrower frontage and have, say, 18 rather than 12 it would be closer. Either way, in Pike and Shot it just works as a large unit with a pike company together with the bonus in melee of having swordsmen in the unit. The effectiveness of the shot appears to have been good so will need some way to reflect this. 

I had two old Landsneckt command figures so based them to give my itinerant Landsneckt band a leader.

Today I made a start on 12 Spanish Jinettes, half a dozen more Stradiots (Westernised ones this time with stetsons and Colts......no, if only) and some plastic pikemen to bulk up the Papal pike units a little, although having looked at my maths again I either don’t need them or need to do half a dozen more. Doh!  I’m also rebasing a unit of Florentine mounted crossbowmen.  Having done a quick inventory I’m actually a little light on mounted crossbows and to some extent mounted arquebusiers. I know I have at least a dozen of the former in the box of doom.....

Lion of the North. The Swedish Army during the Thirty Years War Vol 1

One of the latest publications in Helion’s Century of the Soldier series, is The Lion from the North - The Swedish Army During the Thirty Years War Vol 1, 1618-1632, by regular Helion author Michael Fredholm Von Essen. As one might reasonably expect from Helion, this is yet another excellent and at 272 pages quite substantial offering. 

I know a bit about the subject but am no expert, so found the book a valuable and highly informative addition to my library. For me the narrative covering Gustavus’ campaigns against Denmark and in the east is one of the highlights of the book, with lots of information just crying out to be used as the basis for a wargame  or a campaign. Indeed, the author argues that the Swedish experience of war against the Poles and Muscovites helped shape it into the army we know at the start of its involvement in the ‘German War.’The narrative that makes up chapter 1 takes us up to the death of Gustavus and the end of the battle of Lutzen. The rest of the book gives us a detailed description and analysis of just about every aspect of the Swedish army, such as raising the troops through Oxenstierna’s reforms, weapons, uniforms, organisation, tactics, the all important logistic problems of feeding and supplying the army, and even a section on how ‘intelligence’ was used to effectively support operations. Many of these topics have been covered in other books, but are nonetheless a thoroughly refreshing and in depth review of the army and the major reforms it underwent under Gustavus.  

The book is rounded off with three useful appendices covering the marching order of the army, the order of battle at Lutzen and information on selected enlisted regiments of the army, with notes on their status at the close of the period under discussion. No Helion book in this series would be complete without some useful looking maps, a large number of black and white illustrations (many contemporary) and a whopping 32 colour plates of uniforms and flags! 

Overall then, a great and enjoyable read, full of detail, and is well referenced and researched if the extent of the bibliography is anything to go by. Highly recommended, so if the Swedish army of Gustavus Adolphus is of interest, this is one to get. Roll on Volume 2.