The "Great" Italian Wars

[Admiral Alder]

Having been inspired by similar parade ground displays on here, I thought that I might also use this space to layout my collection so far, inviting comments and criticism and hopefully work out what elements are missing so that I can maintain energy and enthusiasm to see this project to a close before I start a Stargrave or 15mm Modern/1980s project.

Initially I had hoped to create roughly 3 forces, French, Italian, and Imperial and use these for the entire Italian Wars from Fornovo to Pavia, removing bows and crossbows in favour of arquebusiers and ritters, and swapping units from one force to another throughout the wars of the Holy League...

However as the Italian and Imperial army has swelled I've failed to maintain progress with the French, so may abandon this initial starting point.

Two other issues have also cropped up, rules and basing, without setting out with a rules set in mind, unit basing and force structure has lagged behind.

With all that said the core of the project so far is the Venetians; present at Fornovo, and a mandatory requirement for the battles of the Holy League:

 

[RichBliss]

They look sharp.   Nice to see bows.  They are rarely featured in people’s collections but are needed for some early battles.  Looking forward to seeing more.

[Lord Raglan]

Those are looking pretty sexy buddy

[Admiral Alder]

They look sharp.

Glad that they're mostly plastic pikes or lifting them out of the box would be a serious health and safety concern..

Those are looking pretty sexy buddy

Thank you for the kind feedback.

The Italian Cities
I'm fairly happy with the Milanese contingent, but really need to flesh out Florence and the Neapolitans.

[valleyboy]

Those look great
I'd be interested to know your unit/figure make up for the Italian states as my Italian wars project seems to have stalled after painting lots of pike and Landsknecht!

[HappyChappy439]

These look great! Thanks for sharing!

[Admiral Alder]

Those look great
I'd be interested to know your unit/figure make up for the Italian states as my Italian wars project seems to have stalled after painting lots of pike and Landsknecht!

Thank you,

Regarding the composition of "units" its a little bit of guess work, I note that the thread on War of the Roses ratios of bows to bills is locked due to how contentious a topic it can be, so I'm not going to claim to be an authority...

In the Early Italian Wars infantry can be armed with a huge array of melee and missile weapons as well as formations which mix infantry and cavalry, my approach is to model each unit with one type of weapon: pike/halberd/bow/crossbow etc whilst acknowledging that depending on figure scale the actual troops would have been slightly more varied, for game purposes Swiss and Landsknecht units should be at least 75% pikemen with two handed swords and halberds modelled in depending on personal preference/visual aesthetic. The Italian troops had pikes and knew how to use them, but I prefer to emphasise models with missile weapons as their deployment in battle was more of a cavalry screen/supporting role opposed to the Swiss and Landsknechts who were used in a shock assault role (regardless of individual weapons carried).

[RichBliss]

This is similar to the philosophy I follow.  I’m more interested in how they fought than what they carried.   

[Admiral Alder]

This is similar to the philosophy I follow.  I’m more interested in how they fought than what they carried.

Unfortunately whilst it's my philosophy, my miniatures collection doesn't reflect this - still need to paint and assemble a lot of support troops with crossbows.

[Admiral Alder]

The Imperial Forces

Currently the smallest of my contingents, still need to paint the zwiehanders and some hand gunners, however this is the contingent with the largest number of manufacturers, find that the Warlord Games Landsknechts scale well with most metal and plastic miniatures.

[SJWi]

Admiral Alder, lovely looking figures. I think your original post said you have still to decide on rules. What are your thoughts?

A small group of us have built “Late Renaissance” Italian armies initially for Impetus, but  now using Simon Miller’s “To the Strongest” ancient/medieval rules . I understand Simon is working on a set of late 15th/16th century specific rules which i hope will hit the sweet spot.

[Friends of General Haig]

A great looking collection.  Lovely figures set off by those great flags👍

[Ockius]

Great models! Lots of colour and variety.

I played my first Italian wars era game a couple of weeks back (in 15mm though, Henry VIII’s English vs French) and we used Pike and Shotte, with modifications to the army lists and stats (easily done with those rules). They were easy and fast rules to use. However, we all have our armies based for Field of Glory Renaissance, and will eventually give that a try once we’ve plucked up the courage (the rules look complex).

[Bloggard]

love the way you're basing those, and the trays.

[bigredbat]

I understand Simon is working on a set of late 15th/16th century specific rules which i hope will hit the sweet spot.

Indeed I am but I've been struggling with family commitments, but I'm getting close.  They are an extension of the TtS! ancient/Medieval rules which should run up to 1600 or thereabouts, they might run a bit later.