Tuesday, November 12, 2013

The battle of Milan 1522

We played a big Pike and Shotte game up at the club on Sunday.
I set up a semi historical scenario based on the battle of Bicocca.
The rules were fun and not a lot different to their parent Black Powder. I gave the pike a massive 8 stamina (that including their bonus for being a large unit) in the game just to make them last longer....i think back down to 6 next time....the Imperial/Papal right flank was smashed but on the left the Pope and his Swiss had seen off the French Royal Gendarmes and proceeded to smash up the French pike. In the middle the Swiss and the black Band had managed to come over the wall but were locked in bitter struggle with Frundsberg and his boys. The Pope called it a draw but truth be told i think the French/Venetians would have ground down the middle, just dont tell them that!
You can see some photos on my mate Thoran's blog http://northernsydneywargamesclub.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/battle-of-milan.html?showComment=1384242253726#c1297445644932294933

And here are some of my photos of the day! Apologies for the poor quality
The Pope watches over his flock....
The imperial/Papal line

The French and Venetians attack!

I wish this one was clearer...the Swiss lead the way for the French!

Great day!!



Friday, October 11, 2013

My collection as it stands and plans for the future.

I sold off most of my Italian Wars collection a while ago because it was more for the 1494-1505 period and I am more partial to the 1520s- Pavia etc.
So I have restarted the collection looking for a more puffy shirt style! :)

What I plan is a quasi-imaginations Italian Wars in the 1520s. The antagonists will only be referred to as "The French King" , "The Emperor", "The Spanish King" and "The Warrior Pope"....you get the idea.

I am using the Pike and Shotte rulesets and the plan is to use 24 figure units for pikes, 12 figures for Heavy infantry like halberds and sword and buckler men, 8-10 figures for missile troops and 6 figures for cavalry units.
Thus far I have a unit of Landsknecht done with two units on their way to be painted soon. I am using Artizan, Foundry and ProGloria figures for these guys and I have a foundry unit to start with.
I have 3 units of Stradiots using the Perry figures. These are based with a mix of weapons as in P&S I can rate them with a missile number and a melee number so mixing them is more historical I feel as I doubt we had the 1st Royal Stradiot Lancers or the Royal Stradiot Mounted Crossbows :) Stradiots being very much light cavalry marauders would have been armed however they like.
Of course my other unit i have at the moment is the Swiss Guard- no Pope would leave home without them!
Here are some photos- i rebased the Warrior Pope and he now has a mounted flag bearer as well as 2 Swiss Guardsmen and his faithful hound whom he calls "Borgia".:) Note the Coat of arms which follows the conventions for Papal crests. It has the cross Keys which are St Peters symbols. the papal crown and the Heradlry of the Della Rovere family the golden oak on the blue field (Julius II's original name was Giuliano Della Rovere and this is his actually Papal symbol)


The flag



Landsknecht- painted by myself


Landsknecht Commander- painted by The Cardinal

Stradiots- painted by the Cardinal




Monday, October 7, 2013

The Warrior Pope Himself

Here are some piccies of the Warrior Pope himself......I have actually just rebased him and will take some new photos and post them.

And his Swiss Guard





Thursday, October 3, 2013

Resurrecting the blog

Ok so its been along time....but i thought i couldnt let this one slip away....so where am I as far as Italian Wars goes....I have sold off a large chunk of my stuff that was really 1495-1505 and I have decided to expand now with later Italian Wars in mind so loads of Landsknecht and puffy clothes.....today I have ordered a unit of Progloria Landsknecht  http://www.progloria.de/
When they come in I shall review them.
I have also just sent a unit of Artizans Swiss down to the good Cardinal for him to paint.

http://thecardinalspaintingblog.blogspot.com.au/2010/11/painting-service-details.html

My plan is to collect a few Landsknecht and Swiss units and then some Spanish, French and Italian style pike later.

Some photos from a game at the club

http://northernsydneywargamesclub.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/renaissance-battle-in-holland.html

http://northernsydneywargamesclub.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/reniassance-battle-in-italy.html