15mm Landsknecht arquebusiers and musicians

On my return from holidays I cracked on with some of the 15mm Grumpy's Miniatures Landsknechts that I'd bought last winter.  I'd ordered one of each of the characters variants (officers and musicians) and a whole load of pikemen, halberdiers and arquebusiers which came with a good variety within each type.  

I'd been after these since 2011 after buying some of Grumpy's 16th Century Portuguese to use as officers for my Elizabethan collection.  I believe the moulds have changed hands a number of times and I couldn't find a seller.  Periodically I'd search for them with no luck until Eureka Australia starting selling them.  I wasn't keen on paying the post from down under, but luckily to my joy I found Eureka UK were now selling them.  I'd just sold a few painted 28mm WW2 LRDG for a very good price and I immediately reinvested the cash.

I went with a grey primer thinking that this would give a good neutral base to start from.  It was a poor choice as I realised that to get a good contrast for the slashed clothing, I had to paint a few coats of white to get it bright enough.  Live and learn though, I'll start with a white primer for the next batch.  

I kept to a few main colours of brick red, blue and yellow ochre and used neutrals to offset these.  Once I got into the hang of it I really enjoyed doing them.  There's no two painted that alike. 

There are 16 arquebusiers in total.  They're based either in pairs or singly on 30x15mm or 15x15mm bases respectively.  

Here's the musicians, a fifer and two drummers.  These were great to paint.  They're based on 15mm round bases to differentiate them, as they would be classed as characters in Donnybrook, the rules I'll mostly likely use them for.  I had no idea re. the drum colours so left them neutral to be useful for a number of late 16th Century forces.  

That's the first batch done.  I'm pretty chuffed with how they've come out.  On to the pikemen and halberdiers next.  


Comments

  1. Richard4 August 2023 at 19:51

    Nicely done. They look the part I think. Would agree about the white primer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dr Beard5 August 2023 at 14:33

      Thanks Richard. Yes, I've started the 2nd batch now using white primer and it's sped things up nicely!

      Delete

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