Italian Condotta 25mm Venetian Reinforcements by Ral Partha

I added another few elements to my Venetian army for DBR using 25mm Ral Partha sculpts by Tom Meier.  These are fantastic old school miniatures from back in the 1980's, but also really show Mr. Meier at the top of his game!

Here is a link to another Post with the rest of the army, though I have apparently failed to ever photograph my Romaniole pikemen, resplendent in the red and white outfits typical of the landsknechte.

http://miniatureminions.blogspot.com/2011/01/venetian-italian-condottieri-dba-army.html

A much needed additional element of heavy knights for the Venetians.

I added a few VVV decals to the horse barding to give it a little extra umph.

As far as I know Ral Partha only ever produced two variations of heavy knights for the Renaissance period.  I have incorporated a modest variety by varying the horses they are mounted on.

I Believe this heavy horse barding was designed to represent a metal exterior, but I have also seen period paintings of this type of armor with a close fitting tabard, so I think I could also paint this horse as if the barding were almost tapestry-like.

Crossbows were still in use, though getting rapidly replaced by hand gunners.

The simple and muted color combination of this unit I found surprisingly appealing.

The Venetians loved their eastern mercenaries, and here we have a unit of Dellis, stolen from the Ottoman line, also sculpted by Tom Meier.  Apparently they really did like to tack bird wings to their shields.

I'm looking forward to my next game with Terry, so that I will have a better chance of teaching his vile Milanese their place in the Italian states pecking order.

 

Odds and Ends

 Here we have a recently finished Baueda 25mm WWII piece from their skirmish line.  I just painted it on a lark to see what they were like.  The display piece was fun and I enjoyed the painting process.  The figure is a bit "Heroically scaled" for my taste, but well sculpted.

I have yet to play the skirmish game, but a friend has a bunch painted up so I'll give it a go before too long.

I used a snow product from Noch to detail the base.  It is great for a light dusting of snow, but I'm not sure if it would work well to represent deep snow.

Mindstalkers

Here we have a 40mm figure for the game Mindstalkers.  Scalecreep miniatures currently has the whole line of superb minis on clearance at 75% off.  I've never played the game itself and suspect it is a bit dead, but with figures like these I may just make up my own rules for a fun skirmish fantasy game.

I painted these miniatures a couple of years ago and didn't realize until I had taken these pictures how dusty they had gotten.  Live and learn!

The Pavise design is that of lady luck.  I tried to give it a two-dimensional Medieval look and was somewhat pleased with the result, though freehand painting has never been my forte.

Early Roman and Italian Allies

SOLD!
The core of this army has sold but I may be able to offer one more Camillan army as well as a Gallic army in the near future so keep you eyes open for them.

Italian javelin men take the lead with spear and Tarentine light cavalry in support. These figures were originally intended to be part of a Pyrhic DBA army, but could work just as well as Campainian or Brutian allies for the early Romans as they began to expand their empire.

The Italians were lots of fun because of the variety of shield shapes and designs that they used. Their tunics were also nice and colorful with lots of geometric patterns.

A view of the entire army from the Snoopy blimp. All in all 3 elements of Italian javelinmen, 4 elements of Italian spear, 2 heavy Italian cavalry with some funky counterweighted spears, 3 elements of Tarentine light cavalry, 6 elements of Roman Leves or Velites, 3 elements of Hastati, 9 elements of Principes or triari, and 3 elements of heavy Roman cavalry.

A view of the Roman heavy Cavalry

The main Roman body; to the front, the Hastati, in the middle and rear, the Principes and Triari, all mud splattered veterans ready for battle. They really are a grim looking lot!

A better view of the Principes.

The light infantry support. I believe these are crusader miniatures, which are quite excellent.

A close-up of the grim Roman cavalry veterans with their shields stained with the blood of their enemies and the mud of the territory they have conquered.

My original intent was to sell these as two DBA armies, but after seeing them all together like this I am having second thoughts. Nevertheless if interested in acquiring these please contact David.l.Crenshaw@gmail.com

Venetian Italian Condottieri DBA Army Finished!

After six months of feverishly slaving away (well, not really so much), the Venetians are finally done and scheduled to meet their nemesis, the Milanese cowards, next weekend. The camp element above is made from a Bauda tent and Ral Partha musicians. The horn blower on the extreme left is taken from a period painting and the poor fellow is apparently wearing some sort of fabric cow's head facsimile, horns and all. The Milanese general has already started a long series of cow jokes which the Venetians may never live down.

Blimb view of the camp with plenty of room left for a combat element to occupy if necessary. The mud is modeled with wood putty and the grass is N-scale railroad ballast painted and highlighted. I hated to tuck a figure inside the tent, as he had a nice paint job which is hard to appreciate with him being inside, but I wanted to block the view into the tent so it would not appear empty.

I modeled another element of Artillery for the Venetians to more accurately represent the financial austerity of Venice. They were one of the few, if only, principality to not go in for the extra expense of fancy decorations on their canon.

A closeup of the figure on the left reveals him for what he originally was; one of the troop of musicians. I cut away the drum he was originally holding and turned his drumstick into a slow match holder with the addition of a bit of thin wire.

Venice only gets one element of knights, favoring stradiots and mounted arqubusiers instead, but here are the heavies.

The big feather wearing cheese himself in his blackened armor with gold embellishments.

I believe the figure of the general may be Essex or some other manufacturer, but he had a head transplant from a Ral Partha fugure.

The army arrayed.
1 x General
1x 3Knight
3x2Light Horse
2x2Artillery
2 x4Pike
2x4Shot
2x3Blade
2x4Crossbow
1x2Psiloi

The fearsome view the poor Milanese will have of the approaching Venetians.

Venetian Culverin

Just finished basing the artillery element for a DBA - RRR or DBA - Hx Venetian army. The Culverin and accessories are by TAG, the crew are customized Ral Partha, and the Gabions were provided by Barry Scarlett of Murray Terrain.

This element is an odd assortment of scales, but they all seem to work with each other. The Ral Partha figures are true 25mm figures. The barrel of the canon is 50mm long which scales to about 11-12 feet in length, making it a large culverin, but by no means the largest that were used in the Renaissance period. The gun is designed for use with 28mm figures, but as artillery in this period was so variable it works quite well. The gabions are really meant for 15 - 20mm figures, but in comparison to the Ral Partha figures they end up scaling out to about 3 feet high, which though not as large as some, seems a reasonable height for gabions on top of a sloping earthwork.

Thanks To The Assault Group!

The Assault Group was nice enough to let me have this marvelous Ottoman Renaissance canon in exchange for a painted sample. This is a truly marvelous piece and I can't wait to show you all the final element. The crew are almost done and I will be mounting it behind some gabions and earthworks, so it should make for an eye catching element.

Thanks again to Pete and the folks at TAG!

More 25mm Ral Partha Condotierri

Above are two elements of pikemen in 3/4 plate. These were simple to paint and a nice break from the more complex slashed sleeves of the crossbow and blade elements. The DBA-Hx rules allow for two pike elements, but the DBR lists only allow pikes for a very brief period, the Venetians relying more on Spanish mercenary sword and buckler men it appears.

A view from the front showing the manly beards of the pikemen.

Probably one of the few home grown units from Venice; the mounted arqubusiers.

Venice was famed for importing stradiots, most notably from Albania. I have seen some nice illustrations of severed heads decorating their saddles, so I suspect they had a fierce reputation. They are listed as light horse, but they functioned in close combat as well, not being afraid to use their long lances.

Venice can have two elements of stradiots. These were some of the few castings my friend Terry did not have in his collection, so I had to order these online. Fortunately the 25mm renaissance line is still being manufactured by Great Endeavors, though they are not advertised as available unless you look really hard! Here's a link:

http://www.greatendeavours.co.uk/colonials/order.php

Crazy for Artillery

Shown above are some Ral Partha conversions. Unfortunately Tom Meier never got around to sculpting artillery for this line of figures so I have been forced to improvise. The artillery piece below is an absolutely magnificent piece from the Ottoman section of The Assault Group's renaissance line. I agreed to paint this for them in return for the casting so a very generous offer from TAG indeed. I have put on a base coat and will work on making the barrel a nice metallic brass soon. The carriage will be unpainted wood, with the possibility of painted red wheels.

The TAG artillery comes with a great selection of accouterments as well. The powder barrel is particularly nice and corresponds very closely with descriptions I have read. The gun barrel itself is 50mm long, so a very large gun. In the true 25mm size of the figures, that translates into an 11-12 foot long barrel. This is actually well within the size range of renaissance pieces and makes it appropriate for a large culverin.

I am also working on some artillery for my 54mm British AWI. This is a very nice plastic set from Imex, which includes a well designed howitzer. I have replaced some of the fiddly bendy parts with metal and added some green stuff to make the muskets more accurate for British infantry (This was actually marketed as a colonial set, but the uniforms are the same).

Italian Condottieri - First Look

Here is a preview of the Venetian condottieri army I am preparing from Ral Partha 25mm figures. The basing style is new for me and based on a friends system. The base itself is a Litko wooden base, over which Elmers wood putty is applied to mask the bases of the figures. That is then painted and Railroad ballast added for the grass, which is then painted as well.

Here are some sword and buckler men converted from crossbow figures.

The shields were typically metal with relief decoration. I tried using various shades of metallics to try and approximate that design with limited success.

Two different styles of dress. Those on the left would be more typical of the Venetians around the turn of the 16th century, with the fancier slashed sleeves being somewhat later style of dress.

The same figures from the front.

The Ral Partha figures are from the early 1980's and sculpted by Tom Meier, and have excellent proportions and detail, so aside from their size, compare most favorably with more recent figure releases. The true 25mm size makes them one of the few ranges that will actually fit well on DBA base sizes recommended for 25mm figures.