Showing posts with label Renaissance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Renaissance. Show all posts

Thursday, 2 December 2021

Jengaaa!


In the (no doubt temporary) absence of any meaningful numbers of mid c.16th miniatures in the BigRedBatCave, I've been mocking up a couple of armies from wooden blocks (Jenga and birch cubes). This is a portion of the units- the big blocks represent roughly 3000 pike, the smaller blocks arquebusiers. The taller blocks to the right are cavalry, there are also guns (not shown). Eventually I plan to put flags on the tops which will show facings. I have most of the minis for Ceresole 1544 which I plan to use as the first test game for Renaissance, I'll probably also look at a French Wars of Religion battle, too, to test troop types such as Reiters that weren't present earlier on.

Thursday, 27 August 2020

More knights and coustilliers

 

I'm in the process of adding rear ranks to my six units of Italian knights, bringing each unit to 18 strong, and adding a seventh unit. I need a total of 63 coustilliers for this- I'm now around 2/3 of the way there. Above are 15 painted by Shaun McTague and finished by me, and another 8 that I almost completely repainted from an eBay purchase. I'm just about to start another bunch, this time armed with crossbows. I love the Perry miniatures- such great models! The picture is clickable.

Thursday, 7 May 2020

Knights of Terra Firma II


Here's my second unit of Venetian knights. These are a repaint, re-base and  and expansion of an earlier unit (below); they look all the better for it. They were too drab, before. There's a WIP shot, here.  On the painting tray, I have the figures required to add a second rank- I'll be using units of 18 knights and cousilliers on a 20cm grid. I find myself drifting towards modelling the battle of Fornovo.


In other news, I'm recruiting players for an online TtS! tournament, called Midsummer Madness, starting next week. If you'd like to join in, please drop me an email at the address above and to the left. It'll be a blast!

Thursday, 16 January 2020

Gonnes


Here are my first medieval artillery pieces, two Perry breech-loading field pieces. The one on the left is in Burgundian livery, and on the right in Italian style. I bought these minis part-painted, finished them off and based.

I have been plugging away at the TtS! Renaissance draft, again, recently. Guns become quite useful in the Renaissance where there can be some very promising targets! :-) I plan to build a fair old artillery park, including bombards, organ guns and some big French field guns.

Friday, 27 September 2019

Bande Nere



Here are my Bande Nere di Giovanni, ready for the Italian Wars, for which I am currently writing rules. I've recently expanded the pike to be 4-deep. The arquebusiers can be fielded as light or massed-light units. All of the minis are Perrys, with most painted by the prolific Shaun McTague, and finished and based by me. You can click the photos for a close-up! The flags are from Pete's Flags.


I have the ratio of pike-to-shot correct; 2:1. This was thought at the time to be too high.


Now, I suppose I need to get someone painted for them to fight!

In other news, it's my Birthday, today, so I have a sale on.  :-)

Wednesday, 24 July 2019

Italian Crossbowmen


In the current sweltering heat, it seems appropriate to be working on Italians. Here's a unit you may have seen before (as a smaller unit), which I've recently expanded from two FK&P6 bases, to three, so that I can field them both on a 20cm grid as well as on a 15cm. The photos aren't the best (too much light), but you can see where I am coming from. The minis are Perry plastic mercenaries. The new minis (top right element, bottom left element) were painted by Shaun McTague, you can see them better, below. Nicely done!


I might, later, replace the flag which is a little anachronistic, with a Pete's Flags condottiere flag. 

I'm just finishing up some more light cavalry, along with some super arquebusiers. Soon, I'll be opening a new Burgundian front. There are a lot of minis going on bases, around here!

Sunday, 26 May 2019

The Black Bands of Giovanni


This is my first proper Renaissance unit, representing the pike element of the Bande Nere of Giovanni de' Medici, as they might have appeared in the 1520s, after his death. Uniform details for his "orphans" are scarce, other than they wore predominately black mourning clothes. They are a sombre unit!

The superb black flags, with demons, are from Peter's flags on eBay. The minis are all Perry plastic mercenaries, painted by Shaun McTague, Richard Hampson-Smith and myself. I based them on my favourite wobbly-edged Batbase, the FK&P06, which I designed for the ECW but which turn out to be good for pretty much everything. I can field two of the elements on a 15cm grid, or all three on a 20cm grid.

Below is a shot including a command stand. I am currently raising the Bande Nere arquebusiers- I plan to field at least twice as many as there are pike. I am also sorely tempted to add a fourth rank of pike, and some mounted infantry.


I've no particular idea what I'm going to use them for, yet, but they are too good a unit not to represent!