"Warmaster Empire as Landsknechts" Topic

At the weekend it was suggested that WM Empire are close to Landsknects TMP link

I have quickly painted a couple of strips this evening -- I have gone with 3 colours (green, yellow and dark red) trying to mix up what is painted which colour. I would like a varied look, but still keep some kind of unit look (as in WM you need to keep the 3 stands of a unit together).

link

I also have taken photos of a stand a painted a while a go in a red and white livery.

Any thoughts about the type of paint scheme?

I realise that neither stand is painted particularly well -- but I am trying to decide on a look at this stage.

PS Thanks to Hyun for his tip about a light tent using a white cloth over some paint jars.

I think you're on the right path. I like the paint scheme and the units will look great on the table.

Very good.

In terms of lansknecht dress, they look very much like late 15th century to first decade of 16th century to me. I am trying to represent the same look in 28mm.

Have you considered trying the quartered look for some of the figures – where you paint the different halves of the upper body in two different colours, and then do the same for the trousers but changing the sides.

Griefbringer

I did consider doing quarters -- my 80s 28mm citadel humans are done in red and white quarters -- when I thought about doing this in 10mm I went for halves of red and white.

But having just painted different bits in the red/green/yellow scheme, doing different legs in different colours and the top in 2 halves shouldn't be too difficult.

The most awkward part was having to check which colour I had used on the front of the figure, when painting the back -- due to the nature of the strips no paint seems to carry over from the front to the back -- so you have to keep flipping the figures to check you are matching the colours up.

They look great, for what it's worth I like the new scheme alot better than the red and white.

I definatly agree about the new guys looking better than the red/white fella's.

Nice work.

Yes, nice work, especially considering how small those dudes are. The more colorful, the better when it comes to Landsknechts. You are definitely on the right track.

Thanks for the encouragement -- I wasn't too sure about the new ones (nor the red and white ones) for that matter.

I might try some colourful ones with a white base coat, to brighten the colours further.

Red and white might make them the Romagnol Pike raised by the Vitelli brothers under Caeser Borgia (his dad was the Pope), which after his death fought for Venice. They were probably Italians trained "German style" and might well have adopted landsknecht dress to emphasise the point, though the sources are vague. I have a unit of these (foundry figs) and they look rather nice – go to the yahoo Piquet group and look in the photos section – olicanalads album? They may? also feature in next months WI but I don't know what pics made it through the edit. You might also find some pics in the Renwars yahoo group; same album name I think.

BTW, if you want your pike blocks to look the business, try and make the units big. My own (28mm) average 54 figs in each.

Good luck with the painting, especially in that scale. My own Great Italian Wars collection (999 figs and a dog), including 214 landsknecht infantry is now finished after 2 years of work. You'll need the luck painting landsknechts, I found them a real chore after the first 100 or so, and now they usually get beaten by the Swiss anyway.

James.