I do dabble in the Renaissance era, like the period very much but I haven't quite settled on the approach yet. Do I go with 30mm flats, or try to make use of my Meisterzinn molds for a 40mm project ? And which Renaissance, the early Italian Wars, or something mid-century or later ? With the flats there's ample choice, 40mm probably has to be the Italian Wars era although playing a little fast and loose with historical accuracy and stylistic integrity seems like the path of least frustration.
At this point, I'm leaning towards the 40mm but I need to try out a few conversions first with the Meisterzinns. I think the halbardier could convert simply enough to a pikeman, perhaps the landsknecht walking swordsman can be converted to a rear rank pikeman as well. The tournament knight can pass for a French gendarme ca. 1500 if I file off the shield. We'll see how it goes. Seems kind of nutty to cobble something together in 40mm when there's such a rich variety of 30mm flats but I am tempted to try to finally make something of the very under-utilized Meisterzinns.
The Meisterzinn figures almost look like they're aimed at the very early Dutch Wars to me. on balance.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, Rob Dean found that by inserting a bit of wire in the mold, he could cast the halbardier as a ring hand figure making conversion much easier. He also makes pikemen out of the trumpeter. There are picture of his figures at http://sharpbrush.blogspot.ca/2012/05/huzzah-aar.html
Don't forget Irregular now has some 40mm 16th C figures to flush them out.
-Ross
Thanks for the link to Rob Dean's blog and the tip about inserting the wire, that's brilliant. And I do see where the trumpeter will make a better pikeman than the landsknecht swordsman. Although in one photo it looks like he converted some of the walking swordsmen to arquebusiers.
ReplyDeleteI see your point about the Meisterzinn Renaissance "range". To my eyes, they're really all over the place, from 1500 to the Thirty Years War. And I don't like that the musketeer firing off the forked rest looks over-scale relative to the others.
Irregular might well do, ditto Elastolin (although I'd like to know where the eBay guy is getting his unpainted kits from, I suspect he's taking a nice profit). S&S may work as well. Images seem scarce but I gather they're in the chunky wargames fig style blown up to 40mm - not really my cup of tea.
I'd really like to go with more of a semi-round style or use actual flats. Landsknechte have always been popular with the Germans but finding the Spenkuchs and 40mm Heinrichsens will be difficult. Berliner Zinnfiguren sells an unpainted 40mm Spenkuch castle siege set but it's expensive and not all of the figures look useful.
Regards,
Steve
No, they just have very dark swords, Rob doesn't do shiny. I also think the swordsmen would make a great marching pikemen.
ReplyDeleteYou are right about the S&S, I have a few but they aren't a good match for any of the others.
Have you checked out the Doug Miller figures? I have a couple, a great match for Elastolin. http://www.dougmillerfigures.com/landsknechts.html
The Perry's Border Reiver also match Elastolin. Only a few figures useful for the Italian Wars but good for Henry on the Continent.
Unfortunately not a great match for the larger Meisterzinn figures but they go well enough with the semi-flat ones and the halbardier. I've been lucky enough to have gotten my hands on about 4 dozen Elastolin Landsknechts over the years, some quite cheaply. Somewhere there unsold stock which surfaces occasionally.
One chap used to sell lots of about 20 figures quite cheaply but always mixed, some of every range in every bag. If he'd sorted them by range I'd have bought even more from him.
Rob & I together did a Relief of Haddington game, 1547 in Scotland. A largely French force with a few Scots vs English so lots of German, Italian and even Spanish mercenaries, a bit of everything.
Let me know if you want some comparison shots.
Meanwhile the 16thC tag will bring up many of the relevent
posts.
Thanks again, Ross. After giving this a lot of consideration, I've decided to save my lead for casting the 18th Century semi-rounds.
ReplyDeleteI did have a (partially successful) casting session last weekend with the Meisterzinns. But looking at the amount of fiddling around with figure mods and compromises needed make of go of this in 40mm, vs. so many beautiful flats right out of the box, I'm going to go with the flats. Anyway, hats off to you and Rob Dean for what you've done with the 40mm.
Regards,
Stve