Landsknecht Arquebusiers

Something of a long overdue addition to my ranks here we have some Almain, Landsknecht or Lansquenet arquebusiers depending upon which of my army generals pays the most.

These are a mix of Wargames Foundry and Pro Gloria Miniatures which mix quite well and I find the different sculpting seems to emphasise the variety in Landsknecht dress. The PG figures to my eye seem to represent Landsknechts of the 1520's whereas the foundry Perry's look a little earlier. I found them different to paint too, the PG for example are quite characterised as is typical of Paul Hicks' work and have very defined and broad slashing which makes for ease with stripes whereas the Perry's are a bit more fiddly as they're laden with kit - not a bad thing but something to give careful attention for a good result. I think they could integrate quite well so I may try a mixed unit in future as I have found the pike figures work well together.

I have based these in a fairly loose skirmish formation mainly so that each figure can be fully appreciated but from a gaming perspective and for some variety I intend to add to them with some much more closely packed arquebusier companies taking some inspiration from the Pavia tapestry;

this unit had an interesting development; I began with the Perry figures in something of an interpretation of the painted woodcuts of Erhard Schoene, you can read about this in depth over on my other blog here.

Whilst doing this I was approached by Stephan of Pro Gloria who asked me to paint a few figures and write an article for him about my approach to painting Landsknechts, so I added some Pro Gloria figures to this slowly expanding unit.

The arquebusiers I chose from the PG range below illustrate from left to right, simple through to complex, slowly increasing the palette and variety.

The article is still a work in progress and will feature a selection of their range - more on this soon.

Here's some more close ups, you can never have too many when it comes to Landsknechts;

These two figures (above) take inspiration from Schoene's work, particularly in the brim of the hat and the depiction of rich damaskened cloth on some doppelsoldners - a long process for an arm but worth it I hope.

I also used this as an opportunity to do a first (i think) Tudor / Valois skirmish mock up, the light isn't brilliant but may I present a scurrers eye view;

Bye for now

Stuart