"Why not the Renaissance for you?" Topic

What has kept you from wargaming the Renaissance period if you dont already?

Men in tights (pantyhose) really.

No interest in the wars of the period.

Other interesting periods first.

But all periods are interesting if you look at them closely, so perhaps some day I'll do the Renaissance too.

But I'm afraid of painting such complicated slashed clothes.

Don't like the costumes, and for all the armored knightly action that I need, I can just play WotR or earlier…

Damon.

For many, it seems to be the difficulty in finding rules that provide a realistic/historical model of how pikes interacted with shot.

Just not into it.

I've never really thought of it as a period that lent itself to wargaming. I'm not sure if that's because I think of the cultural movement and that associates it in my mind with creativity and with cities, or because I've never seen it gamed. Or both.

Painting all that slashed clothing!

No interest.

Goodness, how about the pluses of the period:

Striking looking battlefields with all that slashed costume, bold heraldic type flags, etc!

Extreme tactical richness in an era when warfare was in a state of flux – bows, crossbows, firearms, javelins, pikes, sword and bucklers, 2H swords and halberds, Knights, lancers, true light cavalry of several varieties, and the earliest functional field artillery… and each with its role to play.

Battles that are relatively small in scope, and thus very suitable for rules emphasizing the tactical nuances of the period.

Politics so devious they inspired Machiavelli to write "The Prince", with kings, nobles, wealthy bankers and the church all trying to pull various strings.

The final repulse of the Ottoman thrust to extend their conquests into central Europe… and with that add Jannisaries, Sipais, Akinjis etc to the mix.

An embarrassment of riches with regard to figures lately, at least in 28mm.

An era of history that *isn't* well known , and yet was pivotal to the development of both European Nation-States and the Islamic world; one that saw the Age of Discovery and the colonization/conquest of the New World. Limited sources is frustrating at times, but you won't go broke buying the latest book rehashing Waterloo and Grouchy's role for the 20th time.

Peter

My Band of Brothers 2nd Edition (Piquet) website:

gonsalvo.com

Even if the rules aren't your cup of tea, lots of visuals and battle reports there, both Land and Sea.

Well it is the "cup" actually. I find the "cod pieces" very off putting .

No interest in the weaponry, uniforms, or tactics. I think the period has some interesting history, but not a draw for wargaming for me.

Low priority. More interesting periods come first. If you count the ECW as part of this period then it is on my to do list but not near the top of my list. So many periods so little time.

Just starting the period now; I always found the uniforms daunting and the history is rather "messy" (versus, say, the AWI where you can easily get a handle on things). I'm enjoying the painting though and the few games I've played (DBA-RRR) were fairly fun.

Very early Renaissance, but I'd like to do the 1445 campaign in Greece. Unfortunately nobody makes the figures in 28mm, so I'd have to do conversions, and I keep getting drawn away to periods for which I can get the figures.
Grelber

I love the period (and have plenty of figures for the period), but haven't found rules that I love.

I love the period (and have plenty of figures for the period), but haven't found rules that I love.

Ditto.

Who said I'm not into it? Come on fess up!!!!!!!!!!!!

"I love the period (and have plenty of figures for the period), but haven't found rules that I love."

"Ditto."

Ditto as well.

The only thing keeping me at the moment, are getting my figures constructed and painted, and choosing a set of rules.

No "signature battle" to spark my interest.

Simply not interested in the time period or the accompanying military actions.

FoG dropped some of my fav armies into the bin…so no not interested now. *thumbs down*

Painting those uniforms…

I haven't found a decent set of rules that are both playable and reflect Pike & Shot. Although to be fair there aren't that many rulesets out there that weren't originally written for some other period.

I am afraid of the storage needed for all those pikes (same for greek phalanx, etc).

@Gonsalvo, I appreciate your enthusiastic post!

I am actually a (huge) fan of several renaissance periods (Poles, Scots vrs English, Italian Wars), but I havent started collecting yet for several reasons…hence the poll.

My main reasons for stalling are as follows. I originally wanted to collect the above listed armies in 15mm but couldnt find 15mm minis I was happy with so settled on 25/28mm. Regardless of the army, 15mm minis did not seem to do justice to a renaissance army.

For the Scots Wars, I have settled on Flodden, but havent settled on minis yet. I'm thinking I may just go with Perry conversions at this point.

For the Italian Wars, its basically come down to that I havent settled on a single historical battle to focus on. I may just end up collecting a generic early Spanish and French army eventually. TAG and Perry both have nice minis there.

For Poles, it comes down to the fact that I havent chosen a historical enemy for them yet (being a solo gamer I need two armies when starting a new project!). Cant decide b/t Cossacks, Tartars, Swedes, or Russians (Not a Turks fan.

I'm open to suggestions! ;-)

By far the largest impediment to playing renaissance games & collecting minis has been finding a set of rules that has gripped me though. Glad/sad to see from those who posted above that I'm not the only one!

@Extra Crispy

Re: "No "signature battle" to spark my interest."

I suggest you read up on Sekigahara Brother! Perfect battle for renaissance (horse, musket, pike & sword all used!). Although its a huge battle its manageble if you do it with 10mm minis. Extremely fun to paint too!

Samurai armor of this late period is not as challenging as many fear. Armor is either laqured black or rust brown (1 red unit on the Tokugawa side). Back banners can be downloaded off the computer rather than painting.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sekigahara
link
link
TMP link
link

An awesome period but a nightmare to paint. I certainly have a few half finished armies to prove it!

It's a fantastic period but..

1) I have enough unpainted figures to get through without starting a new one.

2) The history is slightly bewildering. Duchy of this, Elector of that, Hapsburgs, Valois, Medici, Borgia, Italy a maelstrom of competing city states, condotteiri swapping sides – the map of Europe is too fractured to be able to relate it to modern nation states in your head. This is the same problem I find with the C18th. I find it's not a period I could dabble in for fear of not doing it justice. I'd need to get really into it and I just don't have the time or the motivation required to do so.

Alex- it's easier than most to do justice to as you can start of with small states confrontations and then move the troops onto a slightly higher stage.

Real men game the Renaissance! ;P
my reasons for gaming the Italian Wars-

link

Meh.
Visually it doesn't grab me, so no excitement to paint.
And tactically I wish they'd make up their mind; are they medieval push of pike or are they horse and musket? (that's some satire by the way)
the rules we've tried have also been crap too.

I think there's so much change that one set of rules to try and cover everything from 1500-1700 is going to have troubles.

I also feel the Samurai Sengoku period to be separate from the Renaissance. THAT I would play if I had the time and money.

No Tigers, only half in jest.

I am with Gonsalvo, but I find three limits: rules is the lesser,because seeing also other periods we have mediocre sets of rules and their amazing growing number prove it; a bigger limit is the poor publications about the period, books very limited in numbers, covering only in part the richness of the age and old… not very attractive; last, often connected with the quality of pubblications, a limited offer by the miniatures firms.

It's a great period – very colourful, different organisations and tactics, developing organisations and tactics, fascinating political/religious/cultural background, interesting characters, plenty of documented battles. I don't understand why anyone wouldn't want to game it.

No plastic 28s.

Rules for me too. I love the idea of the ECW and of the 16th century time of transition but I am not taken by any rules.

Rules,rules,..if you are fond of Napoleonic or Ancient you have more set of rules , don' t have better rules, we are living a "wargaming age" with a lot of rules of medium or poor quality.

No plastic 28s.

For what part of the Renaissance are you referring? There are some plastic 28mm for at least some parts.

I hate guns….

Do my 1470s Germans count? Until I got into historical wargaming I'd taken for granted they did, but wargamers seem to tend to take the Renaissance as beginning very late (and to end really late).

There's no particular reasons I don't have any 16th (or 17th) century armies, it's just that, as for many periods, nobody around here plays it and I haven't been bitten by the inspiration bug to start an "independent" project. Same reason as why I don't have any 16th century BC armies.

Time, money and the other periods and genres that are just a little bit higher up the interest scale.

no interest, never even read a book on any of the wars in that time, and I've never seen a movie that I remember being about a Renaissance war.

But then again I have gaps from vikings to WWII and WWII to modern/near future.

It's my favorite period that I don't game. Got some figs, but the late medieval period is too close and wins out.

Uesugi-
SWEDES! Poles v. Swedes pits two very different armies against each other. A challenge for both commanders.

1470s definitely falls within the period.

I've never seen a movie that I remember being about a Renaissance war.

Paul Verhoeven's "Flesh & Blood" (1985)! There are at least a few scenes in that film that you would remember (although not the battle scenes…)

I do the Italian Wars in the late 1400's. I use RRtK and enjoy it as it's easy to put the armies together as all the Italian City States used similar troops. This allows me to field a six player campaign with minimal figures.

Here are some links

Part one
link

Part Two

link

Rally Round the King is army size battles with DBA based troops. Easy to find them on eBay at a good price and already painted.