Warlord (Pro-gloria) plastic Landsknechte

[Captain Blood]

Not to worry. I'll just let Captain Blood play about with them and come up with some conversion ideas I can steal.

Well I'd love to oblige Rob, but still waiting for my box to arrive... 

[JollyBob]

But you ordered them before me and I've had mine a week. 

That's rubbish. Write to your MP.

[Captain Blood]

Yeah. Warlord are rubbish.
Yesterday I ordered the newly released Rubicon DAK BMW and sidecar kit (I'm excited, it looks LOVELY) from the ever excellent and reliable Arcane Scenery and Models. It arrived today - that's less than 24 hours. Post-free by the way.
In fact, everything I ever order from Arcane, Great Escape Games and so on, always arrives within a day or two.

Things ordered from Warlord (a princely £4.99 delivery charge added by the way - when the actual postage and packing cost is probably about a quid) always take weeks to arrive. Woeful 
 
Is this because they're so big and successful and have so much to get through? Or is it just because they're inefficient and don't really give a toss?
The fact that you ordered your box after me, but have received yours while I'm still waiting, suggests inefficient and uncaring for their customers...

Who knows. But they're always slow.

10 days and waiting...
We shall see...
 

[westwaller]

They (Warlord) have just sent out £10.00 off vouchers to a lot of their customers recently, so that may have something to do with the delay? Still, Ten days at £4.99 is piss poor.

I realised that unless I spent over fifty quid, their seemly generous discount amounted to only a fiver off anyway after I'd paid postage!

[bergschotten]

Hi,

New and nervous-I ordered the plastic Landsknechts and and an advancing regiment of metals on the 9th and received them on the 19th so not bad given the metal figs not being stock items etc however I read, in this thread, about the discount code on the 12th and contacted the service desk to ask if the code could  added retrospectively or not a peep until I emailed on the day my figures arrived the ticket was still open etc..  I was given a £10.00 discount and an apology?  so mixed signals I say

[nic-e]

They (Warlord) have just sent out £10.00 off vouchers to a lot of their customers recently, so that may have something to do with the delay? Still, Ten days at £4.99 is piss poor.

I realised that unless I spent over fifty quid, their seemly generous discount amounted to only a fiver off anyway after I'd paid postage!

I have about 6 of those unused in my inbox. Everything i want is cheap enough but just let me use the left over from the voucher to pay postage!

[Charlie_]

Yesterday I ordered the newly released Rubicon DAK BMW and sidecar kit (I'm excited, it looks LOVELY) from the ever excellent and reliable Arcane Scenery and Models. It arrived today - that's less than 24 hours. Post-free by the way.
In fact, everything I ever order from Arcane, Great Escape Games and so on, always arrives within a day or two.

Oh, Arcane Scenery are fantastic. Everything I order them arrives the next day. Free postage. That's as good as it gets!!!!

[delbruck]

Found this video:

[JollyBob]

Ok, so I had a bit of a play about last night while de-spruing these and YES! They are a good match for the Perry WOTR range. I've mixed a few spare heads for variety at least.

Also, by mixing in an old Perry sculpted Empire captain and a very old Doppelsoldner from Ral Partha I worked out that one box will provide enough troops for a small company in Lion/Dragon Rampant or The Pikeman's Lament. (2x 12 pike or Heavy Foot, 6 skirmishers or Commanded Shot, and either separate command figures or 6 Elite Foot depending on which system you go for.) only things missing is horse and guns.

This leaves a nice clump of extras for the bits box too.

All in all, I'm more pleased with the box contents that I first anticipated.

[puster]

Well, I got mine, and I do think there is a lot of missed opportunities in this kit...

Mainly, I am extremely unhappy with the lack of Landsknecht style heads. Among 9 on the main frame and 4 on the command there is but one with headgear that resembles the typical baret, and one that has a skullcap. The two feathered heads just barely work, which still leaves one third without proper heads. No way to make a unit look like Landsknechts without major work. In an attempt to do extraordinary heads they completely failed to provide the typical standard.

A ratio of 50% armoured bodies - in pauched and wedged armour that puts them into the second half of the 16th century - is also - lets say - uncommon to unlucky for Landsknechts.

That the pikeheads with the blades are wrong is almost neglectible.

Luckily my Empire-army for the Old World can use two large units of spear/pike infantry, and for that they are imho perfectly suited. I am a bit sad that these will not make Landsknechts, but the sprues can be plundered for bits and kitbashing, and they do fill a gap in my existing fantasy forces.

A final word on the first flag, showing the pillars of Gibralater framing an Imperial eagle. This is also a fantasy banner - the pillars were a symbol for Spain, NOT the Empire, while the Imperial eagle never stood for the Spanish domains. Even while both were united due to Charles being King and Emperor, there is no unit in either the Imperial or Spanish force that would bear these arms as depicted.

[delbruck]

Perry sells separate Swiss, Italian, and European heads from 1490-1520. Hopefully, these can be of some use to expand the Landsknechte options in the Warlord box.

Although I have mixed feelings about plastic cavalry, a Perry box of plastic Gendarmes from the first half of the 16th century would be a thing of beauty.

[Hu Rhu]

I have taken a couple of comparison shots to see how the Warlord Plastic Landskneckts match my existing figures.

First the pikemen.



L to R  Warlord plastic, Foundry, Warlord Plastic, Arizan, Perry WotR, Warlord Metal (Old Pro Gloria), Warlord Plastic

Then the Arquebusiers



L to R  Foundry, Warlord Plastic, Perry WotR Handgunner.

There are a couple of stiff poses and I am not sure that the free arms are brilliant but they match up well.  I will be replacing the pikes with metal ones.

However the figures are not good for arquebus firers.  The poses are too stiff and there is no forward leaning poses that makes them believable. I will stick to metals for them.  I was also disappointed not to find a double handed sword in the box.

Unless they also planning to produce an set in an advancing pose then I will not be buying too many of these despite their relative cheapness.

Overall 5/10

[puster]

Perry sells separate Swiss, Italian, and European heads from 1490-1520. Hopefully, these can be of some use to expand the Landsknechte options in the Warlord box.

I have all three Perry head sets right here beside my comp, and while they do fit with size and connection (it needs some shaving and perhaps greenstuffing the neck, but overall they go quite along) the Perrys heads are imho good for the 1470 to 1500 period (first Italian campaign and the Swabian war) - with only very few usable for later periods (and personally I already slated these for Stuards Tudor bodies) - while the fashion style put on the plastics fits the 1520 (at earliest) to 1540 (with armour even a bit later). I do not think they go well together - if you care enough to replace the heads to start with, you will probably not want to use these without further work.

[RichBliss]

Gentlemen-

Thank you all for your comprehensive reviews.  It seems that, given my interest in the 1500-1527 period, I will not be buying these figures to complete my collection. You've collectively saved me some money and considerable frustration.

[puster]

given my interest in the 1500-1527 period, I will not be buying these figures to complete my collection.

If you are looking for ready to use minis, then you can skip them. If you kitbash minis, these will go with Perry or the old GW sets and of course various metals. You might even get some workable minis out of these set, but more in the 5-10 range then 30. Its all about expectations. I got myself the brigade-deal and I am just disappointed concerning their value for historical unit building (ie. Landsknechts). The kit offers a usefull quarry of arms, weapons, torsos (eg. the armoured pouches can be shaved down to resemble contemporary armour better) and special heads. The kit is also perfect for building pike/spear armed units for fantasy equivalents of the HRE, like the Empire of the Old World or Tilea. If you can adjust your expectations, they might be worth it.