Curt's Great Italian Wars Project (Updated Feb 7/18: 'Renaissance Duet')

[Sparrow]

Brilliant

[Andym]

Fantastic work on them!

[THE CID]

You are all that's great about our hobby, well done.

[wkeyser]

Great stuff, what are the bases listed as with WarBases??  I would love to get some.

Thanks
William

[Curt]

@William: I had them made as a special order, so they are not part of their regular stock. Nonetheless, they have the designs on file so you can ask Diane to replicate them for you (to your specifications).

[traveller]

Awesome!! 

Great inspiration, thanks for sharing!

[flags_of_war]

wow that is some amazing work. I love that huge base

[Hu Rhu]

Amazing figures. Can't wait to see some more of your work.

[Curt]

Hi Folks!

Here is the next addition to the force, a small band of Bolognese crossbowmen. We see them here, shooting from behind their pavise shields, while under fire from some opposing missile troops.

I chose Bologna for a couple reasons. The first was pure laziness: Bologna's heraldic crest, a red cross on white background, is relatively easy to do freehand (though I still could have done a cleaner job, it seems).

I also I appreciate what was Bolognese civil politics at the time. It seems that Bologna was the only Renaissance Italian city (and probably one of the few in Europe) who allowed women to excel in any chosen profession, even permitting them to attend the city's university. Also, Bologna was a center of the arts in its own right, with a residence of painters that rivalled that of Rome and Florence during the period. (BTW, In 1506 it was invaded and sacked by Papal armies, its art was stolen and its progressive civil liberties squashed  - yet another tick-mark in the scorecard of enlightened organized religion...).

...and let's not forget that for many Bolognese sauce is itself something worthy to defend - perhaps to the last crossbow bolt.

These ten 28mm metal figures are from the Perry's 'European Wars' range while the pavises (pavisii?) are from their European Mercenaries box set.

For the stricken crossbowman I used a plastic Perry Napoleonic British casualty figure, shaved off the offending detail, gave him a breastplate made with a bit of green-stuff and then added a sallet helmet and crossbow. The city pennon is a repaint of one of the cutouts provided in the Perry box sets.

I often hot-glue a stump, boulder etc. at the back of my large bases to give players something to grip on to when moving them on the tabletop (if not using the clear acrylic movement platters).

Thanks for dropping by! I'll try to have a fresh update in a week or so.

[Andym]

Nice additions! 

I meant to ask earlier, when it comes to using them in games, how do you remove single casualties?

[Curt]

Thanks for your comment, Andym.

Regarding single figure removal: I don't do it. I played Warhammer/Warhammer Historical in the 90s and 00s and really disliked both the fussiness and aesthetic of figure removal. We've been using 'Black Powder' / 'Pike & Shotte' / 'Hail Caesar' for several years now, which I like as you simply have small/medium/large units and can just mark hits/disruptions with a small dice (or a roster sheet). This way the figures stay on the table until the unit itself is made combat ineffective. I know this method is not to everyone's liking, but since I spend a significant amount of time painting/basing my units I prefer seeing them on the tabletop for as long as possible.

I've tarted-up the dice mechanic by making casualty stands for all my units. I don't have any of my Italian Wars casualty markers photographed yet (I gotta get on that), but below are a few images of the ones I created for my Napoleonic collection for use with 'Black Powder'. This should give you an idea of what I'm getting at.

I hope this helps answer your question.

Curt
 

[Andym]

That's cool They're like mini dioramas!

[painterman]

Curt - great work on the crossbowmen!

[Curt]

Thanks for the nod Simon, much appreciated.

[Keith]

Wonderful stuff Curt!