Figure Finder help, late 15th Century Italian Spearmen

[Yarkshire Gamer]

Hi,

I have built up a pretty big early Italian Wars army over the recent years and I'm looking to add some City State troops, Spear and bow, any suggestions for suitable figures ?

Regards Ken
The Yarkshire Gamer

[Atheling]

Hi,

I have built up a pretty big early Italian Wars army over the recent years and I'm looking to add some City State troops, Spear and bow, any suggestions for suitable figures ?

Regards Ken
The Yarkshire Gamer

Hi Ken,

Lancashire Games sell the Venexia "Condotta" range. The quality of the range can vary but they do sell Spearmen. No bows as far as I can remember. If you were going to do Italian spearmen for the late 15th Century what about taking some of the Perry codes and adding the large shields to their backs? A bit of a cop out but that's all I can think of.

Here's the link to the Venexia range- it might be worth googling the packs as they don't have any images  :

http://lancashiregames.com/LG3/28mm-italian-wars.html?page=all

[Yarkshire Gamer]

Cheers, I don't think I have seen that range before, anyone got any pics ?

Regards Ken
The Yarkshire Gamer

[Atheling]

Cheers, I don't think I have seen that range before, anyone got any pics ?

Regards Ken
The Yarkshire Gamer

Ken, I asked a question about their handgunners on here a while back and there are some pics knocking about somewhere in the net. I'll see if I can track them down.

EDIT: Here's the thread:
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=119020.msg1491430#msg1491430

[Hu Rhu]

Given that you already have a large amount of Perry figures in your collection, I would stick with them.  You could use the metal Italian polearm infantry with replacement spears.  As for the bowmen use the mercenaries bodies with the WotR bow arms and a few replacement Italian heads.

[Atheling]

Given that you already have a large amount of Perry figures in your collection, I would stick with them.  You could use the metal Italian polearm infantry with replacement spears.  As for the bowmen use the mercenaries bodies with the WotR bow arms and a few replacement Italian heads.

That's what I just said 

I would use the metal Italian Archers and not the English as they won't strictly fit with the Italian City militia spear:

[Yarkshire Gamer]

Cheers for the suggestions, the bowmen are covered, I forgot Perry did the mercenary archers in the metal range, TAG also do some.

Spearmen still, an issue, not sure about the Perry option, I have so many of those figures in my pike blocks it would be nice to have something a bit different for the Spearmen. I was hoping there was a 1450 ish range of figures I had missed somewhere 

Regards Ken
The Yarkshire Gamer

[Atheling]

TAG also do some.

Watch out for the archer nocking his bow with the arrow across his thumb! Not a good idea

Spearmen still, an issue, not sure about the Perry option, I have so many of those figures in my pike blocks it would be nice to have something a bit different for the Spearmen. I was hoping there was a 1450 ish range of figures I had missed somewhere 
[/quote]

The only thing I can suggest is to order a pack or two of the spearmen from the Venexia range now sold by Lancashire games and see what you think of them mate. The mounted mini's in the range are good but the foot suffer a little IMHO.

I would post a pic but I sold my spearmen which I thought were poor.

[Yarkshire Gamer]

"I would post a pic but I sold my Spearmen which I thought were poor" 

Need to improve your sales technique

Thanks for the update.

Regards Ken
The Yarkshire Gamer

[Atheling]

"I would post a pic but I sold my Spearmen which I thought were poor" 

Need to improve your sales technique

Thanks for the update.

Regards Ken
The Yarkshire Gamer

 

In my defence I did include pics of the mini's prior to selling them  

[Malatesta]

...City State troops, Spear and bow...

Many Italian city state militia units were armed with handguns and later arquebus in addition to crossbows. For example, by the 1470s most Venetian "terra firma" militias were armed and trained in the use of the arquebus. So I would not limit the foot to bows. In fact, handguns, arquebus, and crossbows usually mixed together behind shield bearers--as illustrated by period art.

I have Venexia spearmen, Perry spearmen, among a bunch of other manufacturers in my collection. The perrys are by far the best choice, especially with the Italian heads and shields. They're almost spot on.  The web archive ("Wayback Machine") has a few pictures of the Venexia 28mm foot:
https://web.archive.org/web/20100412095346/http://www.venexiaminiatures.com/
(Click on "I Condottieri del XV sec.") on the left hand side and the listing will appear.)

I agree that the Venexia spearmen are not the best out there. They seem a little "flat". The infantry command figures are nice. They blend in with Perrys. The mounted are very nice, especially the heavy cavalry.

Here's an excellent example of 54mm miniatures depicting mid to late 15th century Italian foot:

https://www.planetfigure.com/threads/italian-federico-da-montefeltro-infantry-1450.78062/

There are also a lot of period illustrations on the internet depicting Italians from the period. If you're on Facebook, there's a group dedicated to research and reenactment of the period you are interested in-there are a lot of resources (e.g., photos, articles, links, reenactment photos, etc.):
https://www.facebook.com/groups/legaitalica1454/

By the way, in my opinion, TAG mounted crossbowmen would not fit in style wise with the mid to late 15th century. They are more early 16th century in clothing style.

[Charlie_]

I'd love to find some of these myself too.....

The Perrys really need to go back and continue this range. Some infantry with spear & shield, some with pikes/polearms.....

Do you think if we all pester them about it they will do it?


I'd also be interested in seeing pics of this Venexia range, ridiculous when companies don't have pics of their products.... Do they scale well with Perry?

[Atheling]

Do they scale well with Perry?

They are roughly the same size in terms of height and only a little less slighter.

Though, don't expect the expertise of the Perry's when it comes to making miniatures look so natural, but I suppose you could say that about many ranges.

[Yarkshire Gamer]

Hi all, thanks for the help and suggestions, keep em coming.

Malatesta - a couple of points, I am not limiting the forces to bows, I have a large number of Crossbow and Arquebus in my existing army, I am looking to add a few units to the existing collection to enable pre Fornovo games.

Not sure why you talk about TAG Mounted Crossbow ? The TAG packs I am referring to are Milita Foot Bow which is exactly what I am after.

You mention having Perry Spearmen in your post, as they don't make any have you improvised adding shields and spear ? And if so which packs do you think are best.

Regards Ken
The Yarkshire Gamer

[Charlie_]

I have seen the Italian swordsmen from Perry converted into spearmen, by cutting off the swords, drilling out the hands and adding wire spears.