Monday 25 August 2014

Italian Wars French 2 – Reisläufers 2


Here are the next two bases of pike armed mercenaries for my French army for the Italian Wars. They are either Landsknechts or their Swiss counterpart Reisläufers.

I actually finished these earlier in the summer, but I just now took the time to finally photograph them.


The miniatures are from Foundry, the classic sculpts by Alan Perry, and I have to say I like them a lot. The models looked a bit dodgy in the bare metal, so I wasn't too sure about them, but they painted up really, really nice. In my opinion they certainly hold up well against the much more recent Pro Gloria.


After posting up the first batch, I got some comments on the basing – more specifically some people thought they looked too regular and ranked up, and lacking that "push of pike" feeling. In hindsight, I do agree and for these new bases I tried to position them in a more irregular manner. I think they look much better for this.


As you may remember, I had some problems with the first bunch I painted using the straight Foundry triad system. For the new models I reverted back to my standard method, relying more on washes and sharper highlights. As a result, I'm much more happy with the look of these. The problem now is of course they have a slightly different look than the first bases – a bit darker or dirtier and with more contrasts between the layers. I haven't yet decided if the difference is too noticeable or if I can pass them off OK.

Here are some shots of the finished bases to date. You can clearly see the difference in painting styles.


Lots of pointy stuff.


I will not field the pike block like this, but nevertheless it's nice to get a feel for the finished unit.


As always, thanks for reading and I hope you'll have a great week!

16 comments:

  1. Great looking unit Jonas, and I agree - they actually mix in wonderfully with the Pro Gloria minis. Lovely animation too, your rebasing really gives it the right feeling of charging pike. I don't think you need to worry about altering any of the previous painting, they look very nice and coherent to my eyes anyway. I'd much rather see you do some of those spectacular French Gendarmes :0)

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    1. Thanks Søren! I think the irregular basing looks so good I'm really tempted to redo my first batch.

      But maybe I should focus my attention on some iron clad French nobility instead ... ;)

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  2. Wonderful work Jonas! I think both lots look good to me too!

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  3. Looks terrific, the colours really pop.

    FMB

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  4. Very, very nice work Jonas!

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  5. Very nice! Good choice of colours. And I like the more animated formation.

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  6. Hello,
    Very nice pikemen and bases !!
    Good effect of mixing minis.
    Nikko

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  7. Stunning work Jonas !!!

    The placement of the minis on the base get the highest grade;) Looking realy, realy good !

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