Landsknecht Pike Block – Italian Wars

A forest of pikes and a sea of lace.

Following the lead of last weeks post, I return yet again to the time of lace-clad Renaissance warriors with a second row of landsknechts, completing my first pike block. Each Landsknecht pike block for my Italian Wars collection will be winged with a set of 3-base arquebus units, building on the Spanish firepower heritage of the imperial army at the time of Charles V. 

The second row.

Any willing Doppelsoldners? Come on now...

In order to familiarize with the subject standing on my painting table, I set out to investigate the origins of the Landsknechts. The word Landsknecht perhaps unsurprisingly originates from German, and can be translated roughly into knight or servant of the land. The term landsknecht is first used in the late 15th century to describe the elite mercenary infantry tradition developing at the time. They were initially an imitation of the Swiss in terms of tactics, but the later influence of the Spanish military innovations, would prove vital in establishing the landsknecht’s edge over their much feared mountain-men adversaries.

Second line, shot from the back.
The hardly visible 40*120mm plexiglass tray is from Oshiro Modelterrian.

The Landsknechts were chiefly drafted from the regions of Swabia (Southwest Germany), Alsace, Flanders and the Rhineland, but the phenomenon became a key part of European military culture and thus many more nationalities were represented in their ranks.

The father of the fatherless. 

Georg Von Frundberg.

The great iconic leader of the Habsburg landsknecht was Georg Von Frundsberg (1473 – 1528). He came from a South-German family of long knightly heritage serving under the Holy Roman Emperors. With a stern character true to the codes of his noble birth, he would become the all-embracing father of these “fatherless” mercenary children. 

A view of the complete pike block from the back.

Again it's set in a tray from Oshiro, but now in a 80*120mm frame.

Von Frundsberg would serve under both Maximilian I and Charles V in their wars on the Swiss and later the French. A true father to his flock, Von Frundsberg would on occasions, and without request from the Emperor, sell off personal belongings such as silverware and even his wife’s jewellery to create money to pay his devoted landsknechts.

The innovative Spanish Tercio would enjoy more than a century of battlefield dominance,
eventually outdating in the middle of the 17th Century.

The initial weapons and tactics were, as previously mentioned derived from the aggressive Swiss use of massed pike. However the Landsknechts would refine it and make it their own. The Imperial army’s quick tactical adaption to the late Renaissance influence of more efficient firepower from artillery and the arquebus, would put them at a distinctive advantage. One that even the gallant metal plated French Gendarmes or stern Swiss pikes forests couldn’t break. This would signal a shift in military paradigm; the time of the Tercios had come.

Thank you very much for reading!

Imperial Landsknechts – Italian Wars

The first row of what is to become a Landsknecht pike block.
Figures and flags are all Pro Gloria.

As part of an on-going Italian War club project with fellow Stockholm historical wargamers Jonas and Michael, I left the year 1870 for a trip to the lace-clad pike blocks of the Renaissance, and finished this first line of my projected Landsknecht pike block.

The Imperial Eagle of Charles V.

Miniatures are all from the excellent Pro Gloria range, from which I also found some suitable flags. Pro Gloria offers a wide selection of really nice flags for the period, and as I'm painting for the imperial side, I naturally chose the classic Imperial Habsburg Eagle on the signal yellow, and perhaps more interesting, but certainly just as beautiful, the graphically attractive Fugger Family flag.

The Fugger banner.
Couldn't resist the beautiful graphics and colors.

Upon deciding on the flags, I set out to investigate the background of this interesting family of Imperial allegiance. 

Jakob Fugger 1459 - 1525.
The wealthiest and most powerful man of his time.
With both popes and emperors in his pocket, this man called the shots.

The Fuggers were based in the Imperial city of Augsburg – many times the seat of the Imperial Diet (The council for the Holy Roman Emperor and the electors of the German states) With a background in banking, not unlike that of the Medici, the Fugger family grew it’s wealth by combining strategically placed loans at the very top of Imperial/Papal society cleverly gaining political influence and a very lucrative range of mining monopolies as part of their loan interests. The Fugger Family is said to be both politically and financially behind the election of both Maximilian I and Charles V as Holy Roman Emperor. Imagine that in Kick-Back-City. 

The Imperial Diet at Augsburg.

Interestingly, Jakob Fugger (a.k.a Jakob Fugger the Rich) played an unwilling role in what was to become the Reformation and religious fragmentation of the Empire.

The unit shot from the rear.
Red pikes makes the post battle clean up so much easier.

Jakob, accredited as the World’s richest man in his time, received a letter from Pope Leo X, enquiring about the possibility for the Papal State to attain a loan with the wealthy banker as creditor. The Pope had ambitious renovation plans in Rome, amongst other the Basilica of Saint Peter would ring a bell – and artist like Michelangelo didn’t come cheap. Only one problem, the Catholic Church was more or less broke.

Renaissance Augsburg. 

Taking a step closer to God, or perhaps divine power, Jakob happily wrote up a large loan for the Pope, only to put the holder of the divine office under further financial pressure. The Catholic Church had to increase their taxation, sell their German bishoprics and accelerate the collection of funds through the sale of Indulgences. 

The unit's Doppelsoldner captain.
A man of many tales and the clothes to prove it.

All the above was not too popular among the people of Germany, whom began to feel somewhat distant to the ambitious and costly projects in Rome, more resembling cardinal sin rather than divine guidance. This increase in taxation subsequently leads to the proclamations of Lutter, originally an Augustinian monk, thus sparking the Reformation.

City life as I image it in Renaissance Europe.

As an interesting note to these events, it was to the Fugger Family’s newly build residence in Augsburg that Lutter was called to meet with Cardinal Cajetan, and by order of the Pope recant his statements against the Catholic Church. Lutter rejected to do this, thus signalling the start of the Reformation in 1518. Perhaps not what Jakob Fugger, who died in Dec 1525 age 66, had in mind when he wrote out that loan to Leo X.

Thank you very much for reading!

Italian Wars (1494-1559) – Terrain (IN THE WOODS)

As a credit to the work one puts into any painted army, one naturally need some terrain that will lift the visual experience to the next level. Good terrain can make the gaming table come alive and spark the imagination of the players, transcending them back to that particular fateful moment in time when a given battle was fought. 

For our club project on the Italian War (fellow accomplices are Jonas & Micke), I decided to make some woods that would fit the terrain style for this period.

Lombardy - a region of rich farmland
and wine country at the foot of the Alps

Since much of the Italian War campaigning took place in Northwestern Italy (Piemonte and Lombardy), I wanted to make terrain that would depict the nature of this area. 

The land is fertile, rich in colors and very close to the Alps.  This means that in terms of trees, the deeper woods would have consisted of a variety of different pine tress. Of course one would see the signal Italian cypress trees along the country roads, but maybe not as often as for instance in Tuscany.

The Battle of Pavia

The main battle, Paiva, was fought on the 24th February 1526.
No snow is reported on the battlefield, so I'll let woods carry burned/brown colors along with mossy greens, to simulate a winter feeling.

Wooden floor terrain mat form Model Scene

For the forest floor I decided to go with Czech company Model Scene’s great “Late Summer” forest base. It’s a lose nonwoven textile with flock, foliage, fallen branches and stones attached. It can easily be cut with scissors or knife into the shape needed.

Tree bases are squeezed through the button holes cut in the mat

The placement of the trees is measured out on the mat, and small “button holes” are cut into the nonwoven. Trees are buttoned in, as glue is applied onto the MDF plates.

The base is glued up using Hob-e-Tac from
 Woodland ScenicsBefore sticking the two together,

The plates would be made from 2 mm compressed pulp MDF plates. That I’ll be cutting into round shapes to give them a more natural look on the table.

I added some additional superglue to the base foot of the tress for extra binding.
After that it was an easy fit. I pressed down on the edges and let the glue do the rest.

A close up of the forest floor - nice details of foliage and mossy rocks

To be honest I don't remember were I got the trees from. They've been lying around in my terrain box for a while but fitted this project nicely. They are quite tall, but I thought that might suit the terrain mat well, as so much is going on in colors and foliage on those.

Made a few plates in different sizes

I think the taller trees suit the 28mm scale, giving the impression of deep and old woods. After all you don't want the impression that battle is fought in an orchard - unless you're refighting Gettysburg that is.


A couple of 28 mm Landsknechts for size comparison

So I've got some woods ready for the Italian Wars gaming table.
Next up for this project will be buildings and roads.

Thanks for reading!

Pro Gloria Landsknechts – A review

Landsknechts ca. 1525

After a childhood flirt with Revell’s excellent 1/72 SYW range, I went into a more serious collector mode in my mid-teens, with the beautiful figures from the GW Empire range as a my favoured objects of purchase.

Now, some 20 odd years later, I find myself once again drawn to the rather excessive garniture of the landsknecht uniforms. This time however I’ll swap Emperors! Karl-Franz will park his Griffon and abdicate the throne of The Empire to the advantage of the historical character, Charles V – Holy Roman Emperor. It’s time for some Italian Wars!

Games Workshop's Empire - were it all started

Having only a few historical figures for this period (All from Foundry), I mapped out my options for building a collection. No wrong on Foundry’s behalf, their renaissance range is very good indeed. But, my heart skipped a beat when finding the excellent Pro Gloria range.

 I quickly found my way to their web shop and found a unit deal that would set me up for a start. A week later the neatly packed figures found their way to my home. Here are my thoughts after I poured the contents out on my desk for a closer view:

The unopened blister pack, with logo printed leaflet

Packaging:

A very presentable blister pack with a nice logo-printed leaflet inside.

8 figures per blister pack. Sealed and posted in standard card board box.

 Sculpting:

As I understand from the Pro Gloria Facebook site, Paul Hicks is behind much of the work. It’s really crisp and clear sculpting with a lovely depth for painting. Modern and anatomical bodies (i.e. no extreme calf muscles or watermelon head sizes.)

Size comparison - the painted figure is Foundry

Size:

28 mm from base to eyes. This is exactly what my Foundry figures also measure,
offering me a welcome opportunity to mix these ranges.

Price:

Standard packages of 8 figures are €14.95 (€1.87 per figure)

Foundry is €15.12 for a standard package of 8 figures (€1.89 per figure)

Both companies offer unit deals. I went for the “Standing Regiment” deal.

Pike unit of 24 figures incl. command for €42,95 (€1.79 per figure)

Overall the price is very reasonable, the products are right up there in the top regarding quality.

Example of the range - standing pike and command

Range:

I must commend the variety of the infantry range. Each blister pack contains 4 poses x 2. At the moment the range offers 2 types of standing packages, and 2 types of attacking packages. This gives you 16 different poses to mix when building your pike block.

Elaborate doesn't really cover it - a landsknecht in full splendor

For each type of pike pose (standing / attacking) there is a matching command package of 4 figures. Two blister packs types of handgunners (8 different poses in total) were added to the range last quarter of 2013., pretty much completing the normal infantry. To add periodical flavour Pro Gloria offers a selection of cool civilians and extras, like landsknechts gambling in camp or a dangerous looking Hackbut.

One of the deciding factors for me was that Pro Gloria is aimed at the renaissance specifically, and that they are building a complete range. Near future releases includes cavalry in the form of Gendarmes and the market’s first box of 28 mm plastic Landsknechts. A great economical advantage when building an army or larger collections i.e. pricing above.

What we can look forward to - Gendarmes on the sculpting table

Fluff:

The packaging is decent, but I imaging there will be much more in terms of historical fluff and nice imagery on the upcoming plastic box. Website, blog and Facebook are present and updated regularly.

Rating:

8/10.

The last two point I’ll reserve for Pro Gloria to give them when they release their plastic Landsknecht kit. One extra for the economy added to the range by offering plastics, and one for the extra fluff completing the range with the nice imagery of boxed sets - Peter Dennis have done some really cool stuff for Pro Gloria. Can be viewed on their FaceBook site. This will in my opinion put them at the top of the market, for anyone interested in modelling renaissance and Italian Wars.

Thank you for reading!