Lockdown landsknechts

 

This pike-block of German landsknechts will always remind me of the Covid-19 pandemic, as they were my main project during our lockdown. I’ve finished them in the nick of time, just as we drop to our single last active case of the virus remaining in New Zealand (touch wood!).

I didn’t use the plastic bases supplied in the Warlord box, as I thought the figures looked too widely spaced on them. So I made my own cardboard bases 30mm wide and 35mm deep. Each base carries three or four figures, and there are a couple of half-bases for the arquebusiers.

The bases are treated in my usual style, using coarse beach sand,and a mixture of various static grasses and tufts. This time I tried something new, adding some model railway lupins. I was pleased how they add some more interest to this already very colourful unit.

Here’s the middle rank of the pike-block so you can see the officer in full armour and the halberdier. It’s been really fun coming up with all these zany and different colour-schemes, too.

As mentioned in my previous postings during my painting progress, I have used GW Contrast paints and Army Painter Quickshade (strong). I have made absolutely no attempt myself at painting any shading or highlights on these figures – what you see here is how they turn out painted straight from the pot! I did make up a couple of new colours myself by adding a few drops of Vallejo paint to some Contract medium. 

I was particularly pleased with how the armour came out. It was simply painted silver, then washed with a mixture of black Contrast paint diluted with Contrast ink medium, and finally coated with gloss Quickshade. You can enlarge the picture for a closer look.

This side view shows the drummer and a couple of the flags. You’ll also see here how my smaller handmade bases make the pike-block look packed together.

I temporarily placed the arquebusiers at the front in this photo. In fact, I have ordered a set of advancing pikemen, with which I can add another rank or two at the front of the pike-block if I want.

I didn’t have quite enough pikemen to fully populate the back rank. So you’ll see there are only three figures across. However, it still looks OK from behind, I think. And, again, all those wonderful colours!

The box only comes with one flag-bearer, so I converted a couple of the figures to take two more flags. The paper flags themselves came with the set. I’m not sure if these patterns would’ve all appeared in the same unit, but I can always easily replace them if necessary.

So there we have it: my first-ever Renaissance unit. Now I just have to steel myself to start all over again and paint another block of them – but let’s hope I don’t need another lockdown to get them done!