Tuesday 14 May 2013

Landsknecht Pike


Further to the previous post here we have a completed base of advancing / attacking Landsknecht pike.

I think I learn or try something new every time I have a period of painting Landsknechts (it does seem to come in phases for me) this time it was tri-colour striped hose as illustrated here;


I had noticed this feature when browsing through some contemporary coloured woodcuts and though it requires a little bit more patience I found that it really helps to give some added detail and make the figures appear more 'Landsknecht' if there can be such a thing.

I've added a little more discussion regarding this and some of the other recent Landsknecht updates over on my other blog. I'll make sure I do this each time I find something of interest or worthy of note so hopefully over time it will make a  comprehensive reference guide for whenever your next Landsknecht painting phase takes hold.

This latest addition now brings the total Landsknecht pike head count to 80 figures, here's how we're looking so far;





At present count I now have four units of attacking pike, each with 8 figures to a base and these are accompanied by three large bases of standing pike, each with 16 figures per base.

I am one base of standing pike away from a pike square of 96 figures in 6 ranks........

Which, ahem, is where I began 4 years ago when I started painting again after a 10 year hiatus. I found this old image which shows what these used to look like, most of the figures here have all been stripped and re-painted - some might see that as taking a few steps back (i'm glad my wife doesn't read this) but my style has changed so much that I couldn't justify doing it any other way. Please tell me you suffer from such bouts of perfectionism too !


Moving on, I'll get that square finished soon but I'm very much at the end of this painting phase and must crack on with some Tudors, the clock is ticking for the 500 year anniversary and mini goal of this project....

I'll be back soon !

Stuart


16 comments:

  1. Stunning paint work Stuart !

    best regards Michael

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  2. Do please keep this going, there's some lovely work here.

    FMB

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  3. The new ones look fantastic, but the old ones aren't exactly shabby!

    Cheers, Simon

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  4. So very nice. Beautiful paint work.

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  5. Very impressive, stunning work!!
    Phil.

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  6. ^These are absolutely wonderful! If the boys at Wargaming in History ever want to do this period you can give them some wonderful figures to use as illustration.
    CC
    A/K/A The Celtic Curmudgeon

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  7. 96 Pikemen in one block!!!! Brilliant!

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  8. Inspiring work as always. Regards, Dean

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  9. The pike bloc is a feast for the eyes and well worth the lengthy repaint...

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  10. I must admit I do the same at times. It's your hobby so you should be happy with it right? The old paint job was nothing to sneeze at but they do look lovely now. The upgraded basing makes as much difference as anything. Thanks for sharing...

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  11. Certainly worth repainting, your "new" block looks superb. Like that tricolour hose. I'll have to have a try of that, once I'm finally happy with my attempts at bicoloured hose( so possibly not anytime in the near future)..

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  12. Actually liked your "new" block so much have just set it as laptop's wallpaper to provide me with inspiration. It is a testament to the standard of your painting that even with the picture blown up to fill the laptop's screen the figures still look great.

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    1. Ah thank you very much, glad to help !

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  13. That is an excellent looking group of figures I'm really impressed

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  14. OUTSTANDING painting skill! You have tremendous talent!

    (*Great* blog also!)

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