"Venexia 15mm Italian Wars Landsknechts" Topic

A week ago I ordered several unit packs of the new Landsknechts from Venexia, including:

RGIL01 Swiss mercenaries
RGIL02 Landsknecht – George von Frundsberg
RGIL03 Landsknecht – Fugger
RGIL04 Landsknecht – Reichsrennfahne
RGIL05 Landsknecht- Norimberga
RGIL06 Landsknecht – Memmingen

link

Each unit pack contains an officier, standard bearer, drummer, doppler-solder, 4 halbardiers and 16 pikemen. A detailed flag that has that "hand painted" quality was also included in each unit pack.

The sculpting on these figures makes many 25mm and 28mm figure lines seem like sick old men in comparison. They are crisp and detailed with good animation and a variety of poses. They look like they will paint up very well and make shading and highlighting very easy. Little or no flash or mold lines. I can tell that a great deal of care went into the sculpting and production of these gems.

They are a bit more pricey than other manufacturer's 15mm, especially for those of us in the US (poor exchange rate). However, Venexia offers a 15% discount to US customers for 2005. Each unit pack costs 10.00 euros and comes with 24 infantry. The cavalry unit packs are 11.00 euros and contain 12 figures with horses. With the 15% discount, the prices drop to 8.50 euros and 9.35 euros respectively.

Those who are looking for quality figures for their Renaissance collections, I'd say go Venexia all the way. In their catalogue they mention that the next releases are going to be gendarmes and lesser heavy cavalry on unbarded horses, mounted crossbowmen and mounted arquebusiers as well as more infantry packs.

Bravo!

John

PS-and no I am not a sock puppet for Venexia.

PPS-It only took 7 days from Italy to the US for the package to arrive and the order was complete.

Ah, sigh, but I already have 10mm, and the local guys want to do 28mm. How many scales can you have the same army in?

So, John they look as good as their pictures? I mean, seriously tempting.

They look just as good….

Hey, I have Renaissance figures in 28mm and 15mm, I figure the period is worth at least two scales!

How "big" are they relative to the other ranges for this period? Venexia's other lines seem to average 18mm+ in height and be medium or larger heft.

Venexia seem to be about the same size as Mirliton 15's, which (as I understand) was purposefully done. I also compared them with Freikorps 15mm renaissance and Falcon Figures UK (Quartermaster) renaissance. They match up pretty well. I'd say the Venexia Italian Wars figures are a bit smaller than their other lines. Hang on…..

I just measured a landsknecht standing upright. He measures 16mm from base of foot to eye level.

…and I'd say they are of medium "heft"….all the "poofery" aside (of which there is a lot).

Sounds like that would make them reasonably compatible with Essex and Minifigs in height as well, although possibly a bit thinner.

Rob,

I would suspect so. I do not have too many minifigs or Essex from the early renaissance, but the few that I do have seem to be compatible. Nice to have a mix, but I suspect that before I finish all these little dudes, Venexia (hopefully) will have more out.

John

Three things:

[1] John can I have your permision to find a home for your review somewhere suitable on venexia.co.uk?

[2] UK readers can order direct from venexia.co.uk.

[3] The new packs are due soon.

Vexillia,

By all means…I'd be honored. You might want to get an OK from Bill first:

TMP link

Cheers,

John

[[3] The new packs are due soon.]

I had better start painting then!

Venexia's only problem before was that the figures were perhaps too big to mix with other manufacturers. If these new releases are smaller, they easily move to near the head of the class.

Definitely smaller….a match for Mirliton and the like.

More new packs will be released later this month – primarily more mounted Gendarmes with barded and unbarded horse, mounted crossbows and arquebuses, as well as artillery packs.

More are also on tap for later in the year, e.g. pikemen, foot crossbowmen and arquebusiers, etc..

A listing is available on the 15mmMedRenFigures Yahoo Group.

Regards,

Rob

Thanks, Rob.

Running Pavia for Historicon '06 now seems more likely.

You're welcome.

I'm sure they will look wonderful on the tabletop.

Best regards,

Rob