Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Pikes, Muskets and Flouncy Shirts => Topic started by: bluewillow on 01 November 2021, 07:42:52 PM
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Ok, new project plans for 2022 are in the wings, I want to build armies suitable for the French Wars of Religion from the "sixth" war (1576–1577) to the edict of Nantes 1598.
The armies I will build will predominantly focused on the region around us here in Mayenne, Pays de Loire. We have 6 large field skirmishes and two battles and 35 sieges within 60klm.
I am interested in what figures apart from old glory are available for the period, Wargames Atlantic have some coming and I have a few Eureka miniatures which are very large. Anything I missed?
Planning on the Catholic Leauge "Duke of Mayenne" army and Huguenots lead by Henry IV.
Interested what rules that people are using work for small to large battles, currently thinking Impetus Barouque.
Once the armies are completed we will conduct "walk the battlefield in the morning, Wargame in the afternoon" tour and wargame at French Wargame Holidays
Cheers
Matt
Cheers
Matt
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I went for Foundry seadogs for my Dutch forces for the same period. For the Spanish I used a mix of Gamezon imperials and old citadel Estalians. However now i'd use TAG's range of Spanish and dutch for a lot of that range. There is also the old Vendel range that is now sold by Thistle and Rose and they are sculpted by the same guy that did the D'Arlo border reivers (sold through Colonel Bill's). Most of the above will fit together size wise. There are also some figures from warlord in their Wars of religion range which are lovely sculpts. Slightly smaller than the above sculpts but with careful handling will fit in no probs (the Anderson Collection that posts on here uses them together in superb style).
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"Figures suitable for the French Wars of Religion" is a very sore point with me, I'm afraid. I really want to do this period. But basically you can't do wargames armies for it, unless your standards of accuracy or sculpt quality are a bit low by modern standards. Almost all the figures available were sculpted decades ago and/or are of a childish level of historical representation. One of the most essential troop types you need to represent is gendarmes, who in this war almost universally adopted half-armour with close helmets, and a cassock over the armour, usually in a uniform colour for each company. There is no figure for this available afaik.
Of good quality mostly, and accurate for at least the broad period is the TAG Dutch War of Independence range. It comprises Dutch and Spanish infantry so far, but their dress is perfectly good for French and English infantry. They also do tolerable Landsknechts, but there's nothing for the Swiss who were the foremost infantry on FWOR battlefields. It's much worse when it comes to cavalry. There are some Reiters out very soon indeed, and I think they will be pretty good, but only three packs. There's lots of places you can get a useable mounted arquebusier, but those guys only ever formed a tiny part of the cavalry (less than 10%). It's the gendarmes or chevaux legers, and the later Huguenot pistoleers that are an insuperable problem. There are some more Dutch and Spanish cavalry due out eventually, but TAG release historical figures with glacial slowness. I mean a few packs every couple of years. When these cavalry do get released, they should hopefully pass for the French cavalry types we need, but that's not guaranteed. So maybe in a few years...
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I would look at TAG, Warlord and Foundry. TAG do a good selection of 16th century stuff, and Warlord have a fair few in their Wars of Religion range. Foundry used to have a few things for this period too.
Warlord even have Gendarmes in cassocks https://store.warlordgames.com/products/wallenstein-s-lifeguard-regiment?variant=31469014679632
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I am doing it in 15mm take a look at Khursan range, it is quite complete and fantastic sculpts by Clibinari.
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I was also going to suggest Khurasan if you wanted to do it in 15mm. I don't have the French but do have figures from the rest of his C16th range and they are excellent.
(Also not had any issues with parcel coming from USA to Europe (UK) as I know one issue which always gets raised is mail/postage)
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Have a good look at TAG mate.
Richard
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I have a friend with French and Spanish armies of this era. I will see if I can find out what he used. Field of Glory:Renaissance is a good set of rules
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I seem to recall that at one stage TAG was proposing to make some specific French WoR figures but I don't know whether that's still the plan. Even if it is, they'll be a little down the line because TAG still has the Dutch to finish off.
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Thank you chaps
Looking at the current ranges none really fit the bill for The War of the three Henry’s, I like the TAG range big figures yes but loads of character, warlord are too late IMHO.
I am tossing up if I should get a range made specifically, although it has been a number of years since I was involved in that part of the business.
I have started a Facebook page specifically for the wars of religion fir those who do Facebook, and I will start posting my research on my blog as normal.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/621094262284621/ (https://www.facebook.com/groups/621094262284621/)
Cheers
Matt
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Old Glory has a line for mid to late 16th century:
https://www.oldgloryminiatures.com/products.asp?cat=25mm+Wars+of+Religion+1550+to+1600
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The Warlord figures were originally sculpted by Paul Hicks for Arsenal Miniatures and were supposed to be suitable for the siege of Malta of 1565.
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I noticed that Artizan are bringing out arquebusiers which would be ideal. Also recently it's worth looking at the Flint and feather Europeans by Bob Murch, they would fit pretty well I think. Whiskey Priest has said others I'd look at using already and has a great little blog. You may find some useful figures amongst the eureka conquistadors Spanish and Portuguese too
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I am mainly using Foundry swashbucklers, with some other miniatures from various ranges (including a lady with a hunting crossbow from Bad Squiddo Games whose clothing fits well enough in the period) and I am currently adding a few TAG mounted characters for more variety.
Friends also bring more TAG miniatures etc. (?) for some games.
I think this is very good for the kind of games I play: RPG-minded very small skirmishes in the Guerre de la Ligue in Brittany; but that would certainly not be enough for larger skirmishes or battles.
https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=120567.msg1511087#msg1511087
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If not too worried on accuracy, Mom miniatures have some nice period style figures, also some nice characters, bigger chunkier figures https://en.momminiatures.com/army-hijos-del-grifo
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I like the old metal Warhammer pistoleers as Reiters (in 3/4 armor and burgonets). A bit pricey these days, unfortunately.
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Those are exactly the ones I used. I've got two units of them done and a big bag of bits for another 20 odd.
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TH7PQJe3lvc/XDD_5GgaghI/AAAAAAAANSU/JtPU2AS2fJ4-3KjShaHp9jt5HeyCcuqBACKgBGAs/s640/20190104_145207.jpg)
the Warlord Lancers are actually pretty good figures as well.
(https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CqLV3FhsvPY/W5Am6YUhrrI/AAAAAAAAMEI/EvcuZJOU8p0o3P21GhQD8yh87p-mBCXhACKgBGAs/s1600/20180905_193227.jpg)
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Two stunningly good looking units there, Whiskey Priest 👍.
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How well would the TAG French Valois Legion figures work for this period?
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Hello,
I think TAG French Valois range is compatible for wars of François 1er and Henri II. But at the battle of Dreux in 1562, costumes were more like TAG Spanish and Warlord Games (ex Arsenal).
To stay in 28mm, maybe could you find some references like french "Millers" here: https://timelineminiatures.co.uk/page/elizabethan (they have the Border Reivers also from ex Graven Images).
There are also interesting references here too: https://www.castingroomminiatures.com/collections/collection-2
I like OG for that period. But I use to mix them this many other manufacturers (Essex, Gamezone, Foundry, TAG, ...).
But for French or Spanish lancers/gendarmes I cannot find any accurate figures (like Khurasan does in 15mm). So I do some conversion to recreate the tabard with long sleeves.
example using a 28mm Essex miniature (late 16th range) below.
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I used the TAG Valois infantry to represent a provincial or legion unit in the First War. I rationalise this to myself by assuming such troops would not be up to date with the latest Parisian fashions :-)
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I also resorted to adding hanging sleeves to gens d'armes figures (initially Greenstuff but later cut from an empty passata tube). Some have boots rather than greaves as well. The figures are mainly TAG with a few Foundry and some Warlord horses and pistol cases.
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The Foundry range Late 16th Century 1560-1610, was IIRC, more focussed on the Wars of Religion originally. At some point it became more of an English looking range. I still really like them, smaller than today’s 30-32mm standard but superbly detailed.
(https://myalbum.com/photo/AxXcAbABuyhN/540.jpg)
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Maybe Avanpost resin miniatures could help for French gendarmes: with some conversion to add a cassock.
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Does any one has the Old Glory miller cavalry and are they any good?
Thanks
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I have some of the Old Glory Millers. To be honest, I think Old Glory's ranges are variable in quality and this isn't one of their best (though their landsknechts in pluderhosen are very good). I would also question whether they are particularly accurate. Morion helmets were not often worn by heavy cavalry and the cassocks they are wearing had largely fallen out of use by the time Huguenot cavalry completed its transformation to pistoliers. They were only referred to as Millers in the early wars when they wore white cassocks and carried lances.
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Not adding any info to the cause here I’m afraid but this is a period that is always scratching at the back of my mind. It goes back to Featherstone’s “Wargames through the Ages” I think and yes, one of the images is the Miller in the Cassock. A classic case of an image having as much impact as the historical reality.
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Just ordered some of the new TAG later 16thC Reiters, look great. In the midst of painting up some of the TAG Valois Gendarmes to use for both the 1540s and 1580s. Bit of a stretch for the latter (no false sleeves on the coats, full leg armour rather than tassets and boots) but otherwise look very much the part IMHO. And absolutely great looking figures in any event. Just painted a unit of Ligue arquebusiers using TAG Spanish and Dutch. Very happy with them. Also have OG figures and quite happy with most, especially landsknechts, pike and cavalry (reiters, gens d'armes, harquebusiers).
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Just ordered some of the new TAG later 16thC Reiters, look great. In the midst of painting up some of the TAG Valois Gendarmes to use for both the 1540s and 1580s. Bit of a stretch for the latter (no false sleeves on the coats, full leg armour rather than tassets and boots) but otherwise look very much the part IMHO. And absolutely great looking figures in any event. Just painted a unit of Ligue arquebusiers using TAG Spanish and Dutch. Very happy with them. Also have OG figures and quite happy with most, especially landsknechts, pike and cavalry (reiters, gens d'armes, harquebusiers).
My gens d'armes are also from the TAG range (some Italians mixed with the Valois French). I made a small incision just underneath the back of the pauldrons and insert a strip of metallic foil gleaned from a tube of passata. This gave them their false sleeves. With a bit of careful filing and a small amount of green stuff, you can give them boots too. For a final touch, TAG supply pistols in holsters (you can also get these from Warlord cuirassiers). A few of these can be glued on the saddles to give them than later 16th century look. That said, I understand that TAG will be expanding this range to cover lancer/gens d'armes figures for this era.