"Pro Gloria Miniatures - New Landsknecht Preview " Topic

Pro Gloria presents new bodies for their upcoming plastic Landsknechts.

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Amicalement
Armand

The left head looks oversized – probably because the helmet is not fitting tightly.

Once this hits the shop…

Right and left heads look oversized. If these were greens, I say they were sculpted by a newer artist were the greatest error is usually larger heads, hands and feet.

The face dolly is identical for all heads, so it must be headgear or beards.

the feet look like they're floating from the picture, so there might be some weird perspective thing going on.

Rich

Once they are out, I will get me a couple of these sets and then judge for myself :-)

I think Zagloba has it.

Lovely detail!

More shots…

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Amicalement
Armand

The helmets look both oversized and ahistorical for Landsknechts.

I have been following this on Facebook and they claim full historical accuracy for the headgear and show sketches/cuts to back that up. The SCALE of the heads, however, I am also unsure about.

The helmets certainly existed. I just doubt that Landsknechts wore these.

There are plenty, probably hundreds of contemporary depictions of individuals, battles, day to day scenes and depictions of Landsknechts in religious motives, and I cannot remember one where they wear such helmets.

Of the six heads here, I consider just two as fitting for historical Landsknechts, and one of these only barely. Some of the other variants shown on facebook are imho also way off (like the turban style).

I REALLY hope they put in one normal head per body, and not just these eccentric (and overlarge) curiosities.

Too many wierd combinations, a Landsknecht would not wear mail collar, burgonet and "splints" (arm plate defences) while having no body armour at all. Clothing is also partly the wrong period when compared with the armour.

The visored sallet would not have been worn by a foot soldier, having free vision is essential in order to survive a pikefight unless you have full plate armour. And the sculptor gets the actual fit of helmet and visor wrong as well.

The design of the landsknecht clothes is frequently odd as well, a jumble of design styles from diffrent perods mixed in with some rather odd choices. For example the use of narrow undecorated sleeve on the Vams while the hose have extensive slashing and elaborate details. You simply do not find such combintions in the sources. Front opening Vams existed but are very much a minority in the source material, landsknechts and swiss both prefered the side closed design. And so on…

I think a part of that is the issue of the arms being seperate from the body. It is a little odd to have not seen any armoured ones, perhaps the breastplate and tassets will be extra pieces to be glued on seperately (or not).

Still useful for 40mm fantasy dwarf armies, though.

As it stands now, it is a fine replacement for the WFB Empire infantry.

It is a little odd to have not seen any armoured ones, perhaps the breastplate and tassets will be extra pieces to be glued on seperately (or not).

This one looks like a breastplate to me:

Separate tassets are certainly doable, GW did that with the Empire infantry released in 1998. However, separate breastplate that would fit snugly over a puffy shirt body is another issue.

As it stands now, it is a fine replacement for the WFB Empire infantry.

Judging by the cup sizes, they would be perfect for Hochland's Peter North Regiment. Those are the most endowed mini's I have seen in a long time.

There's actually another one on the FB page with breastplate and tassets. I'd also think it wouldn't be too hard to get a Maximillian breastplate that can be attached later, but then I'm happy with even the fiddliest of kits.

I'd also think it wouldn't be too hard to get a Maximillian breastplate that can be attached later, but then I'm happy with even the fiddliest of kits.

I don't think that doing a separate breastplate or glueing it on would be difficult.

However, making a chest piece to match that breastplate, in such a fashion that it would look good both with and without that plate attached, could be the tricky part.

Not only tricky but imho impossible, unless you also create a shirt-plate to glue on as alternative. Adding the plate uppon a realistical looking shirt is, well, problematic. Some of the TAG metals have that problem.

Armour, however, was pretty scarce with Landsknechts anyway. The Black Guard in 1500 had perhaps a dozen Doppelsöldner per company, at 8 companies with 2800 men total (for the Dithmarschen-campaign).

I would much prefer the plastics to represent just the rank & file, with metals for special characters like eg the Perrys do it. Producing one or two bodies with plate on a sprue will lead to all armoured pikemen looking too identical and make these plated bodies useless for the main force.

Aside that, imho they should provide us with bodies, arms and heads that do resemble historical imagery and look good. At the moment I just hope its a work in progress, or my resolve to field a couple of pike blocks (for my Landsknechts) will whittle away.

I hope until I see the final sprues before I make my judgement.