"Preferred Scale for Great Italian Wars 1494 - 1530?" Topic

I can see a number of good points for the various scales, for gaming the Great Italian Wars, from 1494 – 1530, or so, but also a number of downsides too, e.g. the larger figures 25mm/28mm are wonderful to look at, and look very impressive on the tabletop, when well painted, but given the complexity of the paintjobs required for some, to really do them justice, they will also be time consuming, and more expensive than the larger ones.

The medium-sized figures, e.g. 15mm scale, are still very nice to look at, reasonably priced, and presumably quicker and easier to paint than their larger brethren. They are also considerably cheaper, so you can spend less, or purchase a lot of them, for larger, more historically sized units.

1/72nd scale might be an option, if one is willing to consider plastic figures. Not sure anyone makes a metal range for this period, and scale. Certainly, the minis would be less expensive than the above, but I'm not sure all of the needed figure types are available for the French, Italians, Swiss, Spanish, and Imperial Germans.

The small scales are cheaper still, and presumably even quicker to paint, since they have less detail to fiddle with, but may be hard to see, for older eyes. Given their smaller sizes, they are again considerably cheaper than the others mentioned above, but my concern with 10mm and 6mm is that selection of the needed troop types may be an issue, and there are very limited, if any pose options, other than the primary one.

So, which size(s) do you opt for, which manufacturers do you prefer, and why?

25mm/28mm scale?
1/72nd scale?
15mm scale?
10mm scale?
6mm scale?
Other scales?

I can't see me doing this any time soon but if I did I think it would be based around Perry 28mm figures. Mostly as I have a good number already being used in fantasy armies and some fo my WotR figures may do for them.

x42

15mm for me because you can get more on the table and figures from QRF and Essex.

28mm

10mm. I already do WotR in 10mm so morphing some across to the Italian Wars wouldn't be a problem. For the early years anyway. Pendraken are my supplier of choice but I'm sure there are more.

Vulkan science concil states that 25/28mm is the best scale for gaming Italian Wars…

28mm for me. TAG, Foundry, Eureka, Artizan, Old Glory, Perry, GW, … to name but a few. A bonus is the option to use suitable fantasy minis for characters and civilians (not to mention at least 3 kits for Leonardos tank).
I admit its lots of work to paint them, though, and you need a large table.

15mm are scarcer on the Ground, though overall well covered with Venexia, QRF, Khurasan, Essex… as a bonus many tournaments for this era are in 15mm.

I would not recommend 1/72. The few plastic sets are imho insufficient on more then one level.

6mm would be an option for making great looking units (especially pikeblocks), though there is but one producer I am aware of, and you need to build two armies to find an opponent.

So its 28mm for me, though 15mm is imho a good option, too.

I have the early years of this in 6mm, although if I was to redo it all from scratch it would be 10mm as you can get great looking figures and the mass effect and not need to own a mansion to play in.

Pendraken are my 10mm manufacturer of choice, based on price and quality.

15mm for me – I enjoy larger battles and the visual appeal of the mass versus the individual units.

Mirliton and Rank and File do figures as well. I think you will find that there are plenty of 15mm scale figures out there.

The Perry figures are awesome and I believe a complete range.

I do 15mm because of cost, storage and transport. If none of these are a concern, I would do 28mm.

15mm all the way at the moment.
I think it's some of the better Essex 15mm. There Aztecs look nice- though I'm still to tackle painting my Aztecs- next job to start.

I guess Essex and Venexia are the main producers to get in the UK so if you don't like them myabe 28mm.

What's their not to like with Venexia but I have never liked the look of the the pikemen when I saw them in the naked metal. Their a bit more expessive than Essex but I think if I started now that's what I'd start with and seen how they paint up with my inadaquate hand. But I will get some of those sword and bucklermen also Ottomans are well covered by loads of companies in 15mm which are another oppopent for your Italian Wars figures.

Really well covered and all the bordering periods and geographies.

28mm would be lovely but just too expensive to cover all the different possibilities.

I don't think 28mm Plastics are going to come along and cover the period, I guess War of the Roses could lend a fair amount of figures.

Painting my Landsknecht pike block almost drove me mad, I wouldn't fancy doing it in 28mm specially with all the other pikemen to do.

20mm plastic: The main trouble with plastic is getting hold of the figures, if you could get all those that have been in production at some point you could cover everything going by the Plastic Review page. And there is the problems with soft plastics- which I generally think painting them is less worth the effort of painting 15mm in most cases. And I think some of the plastic ranges are rather ropey material wise going by the pictures I've seen- but haven't seen them in the flesh (or plastic).

10mm/6mm is for a world where vehicles rule. 10mm for where infantry are still interesting and important- for me.

Why not all sizes?

I have 28mm, 15/18mm, and 10mm. That way, games can be played on various table sizes in different settings: pubs, schools, on the desk at work, etc.

Follow the lead of Olicanalad's collection.

For me, this is a two scale period: 28mm skirmish set and 15mm for the army battles (but I could have just as easily done 6mm or 10mm).

In 28mm, have a set of skirmish for playing "Condottiere" or "Have Pike Will Travel". Redoubt, Old Glory, Foundry, old GW and Perry figures all appear in the collection. I am sure I will add some of the others over time as it does not break the bank to add a 10 figure cavalry unit or a 16 figure infantry Company. But a true pike block would be massive, expensive but impressive.

The smaller scales have two advantages as they seem to be better represented with specific Italian buildings and a pike block can be built to look like a pike block, not to mention coverage of combatants. I have figures from Essex, Venexia, Khurasan, Minifigs, Eureka, Grumpy, Freikorp, etc. covering varying theaters and there are always new lines and manufacturers in the pipeline. My collection here has been growing in fits and starts. There is an added advantage of changing a command stand and certain units can be used in other theaters.

All that said, watch out. The Renaissance is catchy. First it will be Italian Wars and before too long you'll be building Portuguese to fight Tupinimba or Javanese.

If I did not want to blab on, I could have said choose the game type you want to play and it will make half of the decision for scale. Then decide on the table size and the look. That's how I ended up in 15mm. It was only years later when my kids liked to play WH did I get some larger figures. Now WH is gone and I play with the figures in a second scale…have fun with it.

Mark

I have large armies in 6mm (mostly Heroics & Ros but some Irregular).

It works well for me at this size as I use fairly generic bases – easy in this period because uniforms as such were pretty rare.

Currently trying to 'morph' various H&R stuff into Balkan and E European armies to face a mate's Ottomans (which are all Irregular) – when he finished painting them.

Without doubt 28mm

I would love to see a good 6mm range sculpted for this period. I have a bunch of Irregular figures and they're, well, kinda irregular. 8>(

28mm – even if it bankrupts you. This period is all about the visuals.

If they come out with plastics, 28mm, otherwise, 15mm.

It's been 25/28mm for a couple of decades and no plans to change.

I''m doing 28mm with mostly Old Glory for the pike blocks and Foundry for the horse and commanders. I' m of the opinion that the larger figures are actually easier to paint than the 15s. As far as mass goes, a 96 man block looks plenty massive and I only need 7 units that size for Pavia. <eye roll >

Completely impractical money wise and all other wise but if you could do this in 54mm, what a visual. But again the same would apply for most periods I suppose.

Tumbling Dice has 20mm metals for WoTR range,I have a fair number of them.

I have armies in 15 and 25/8.

28mm. I'm doing exactly what Rich is. This is one of Old Glory's best ranges.

Definitely 28mm.

I started out doing Italian Wars in 28mm and I really do thinkit is the most appropriate scale for the period,if you want to bring out all the color.That being said I hate painting 28mm Landsknecht and switched to 15mm due to expense and because of the amount of color.

There are some brilliant figures in 25mm, although I reckon 15mm would also be good. For me it has to be 25mm though

28mm as it's possibly the most colourful period and the armies weren't massive. However all my stuff's 15mm as that was the prevailing scale when I bought them.

I've been scooping up as many Foundry Perry landsknechts as possible. They have to be some of the finest 28mm Renaissance miniatures available. Combined with Foundry's gendarmes, Eureka's gendarmes and "archers", and the introduction of TAG cavalry for the period, 28mm is turning out to be a real great option for the period. It seems that 15/18mm figures used to be the best for variety and availability, etc., but 28mm is really moving up in the world!

So, the solution for me is to do both scales.

Being an idiot, I do it in both 15mm and 28mm. But I prefer the latter. If the insanity does not abate, I may do it in 6mm one day as swell.

Thanks for all the input everyone.

I really appreciate it.

15mm and 28mm are the main ones I'm considering, but if I had to pick a 3rd, it would probably be 10mm, with the very nice looking Kallistra minis.

I have loads of Foundry and Perry in 28mm…..looks great!