Monday 22 April 2013

Landsknecht Pike



Presenting my latest distraction, a base of attacking Landsknecht pike.

Beautiful as they are, these were not really supposed to be created at this juncture but I got a bit carried away. The unit started life as 2 Pro Gloria figures which I used to add a walk-through painting guide over on my other blog.

I knew these fitted rather well with the existing Perry sculpted Wargames Foundry pike but to be absolutely sure I thought it worthwhile putting a base together so I've had a bit of a hiatus from the Tudors but an enjoyable one nonetheless.

My conclusion is that they work splendidly; The PG figures are sculpted with the hands at a higher angle than the equivalent WF figures which really adds to the movement you can achieve in the unit. I use the 45 degree pose as halberdiers so the PG figures represent those moving from the rear of the group with the WF figures working their way forward about to burst out of the unit so the overall effect is very complementary, hopefully these photographs help illustrate this.




This base also gave me the opportunity to experiment with my palette a little; I have muted quite a few of the colours to give a more lived in feel and also as a reflection of the natural dyes that were available. This was predominantly achieved by using the brown wash method and then only highlighting to the mid-tone of the WF 3 pot palette as the wash gives an extra shade (hope that makes sense).


As for the arrangement and basing, you can find a whole essay on my approach and thinking behind it all here.

Next up some Tudor longbo.......more Landsknechts! - I now have 3 bases of these attacking pike and well, 4 would be perfect and I've already started so I might as well keep going while I'm in a Landsknecht place.




13 comments:

  1. Splendid! They look great on the huge base.

    Cheers, Simon

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  2. Wonderful paintwork and composition (again) Stuart.
    Am sure the forthcoming PG gendarmes will prove irresistible too?
    Simon.

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  3. Fab work Stuart! All my Landsknechts are of the Artizan variety, which I'm beginning to regret now as the Pro-Gloria mini's fit in so damn well with the older Foundry Perry stuff.

    How do you feel about the Artizan Landsknechts fitting in with the Foundry Perry ones?

    Darrell.

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    1. I don't really like them that much to be honest. I bought a few packs of two handed swordsmen to integrate with bases such as this one and they're too chunky and Games Workshop esque for my liking.

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  4. Beautful and very impressive!!! Stunning work on those Landsknechts!
    Phil.

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  5. That's right, impressive indeed!

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  6. Stunning work Stuart !!!

    Best regards Michael

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  7. Outstanding work as usual, very nice. The bases set them off really well. What flock/ground cover do you use?

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    1. Good question! I bought some in bulk qite a few years ago so i'm not sure as it's in a plastic box. The tufts are silflor tufts I know that. I think the dark green flock might be noch but that's a guess.

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  8. A beautiful work, very realistic... Congratulations from a French.

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