Monday 6 March 2023

Never Mind The Condottiere

Having been aware of the rules for quite some time, at the turn of the year, I decided I wanted a quick burst of painting to result in an army for 'Never Mind The Billhooks'.

About 20 years ago, I "did" the Italian Wars proper, with Landsknechts and Gendarmes and the like, but this time I wanted to go earlier to the 1480-ish period and create Italian Condottiere armies (I quickly decided I would need to paint both sides). Somehow, it feels more in keeping with the core set of rules, rather than heading for the Italia section of the new shiny Deluxe rules edition and focusing on The Great Italian Wars post 1494.

This is an army based on a Milanese force circa 1480ish. There will be no surprise to you, dear reader, to learn that, of course, the City States involved will be imaginary! More details of this in an upcoming post. 

So, here we are 2 months later and most of the first army is finished. 



The blue theme is deliberate.

Flags were downloaded from the excellent Outpost GY Facebook group, and overpainted/repainted in places (some field colours were altered to fit the theme).

Many of the figures are plastic (some are metal on plastic horses). I found it all a bit unusual as I don't paint many plastics and the construction of the figures seemed to take a frustratingly long time before I got to the actual painting, but that's probably more due to my unfamiliarity than anything else. More skilled modelers would have done it in quick time, I'm sure, and would have made a better fist of it!

I will be posting details of the individual units over the coming weeks, rather than making this an overly long post.

I have a 24 figure veteran pike block currently being worked on as the final unit. Then it will be onto the enemy force.

So, despite my silence on the blog, I have managed to do a fair bit of painting over the past few weeks.

Hope you are having a great start to the year too!!


17 comments:

  1. Hurrah! Finally a new post!

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    1. thx for stopping by, Digger. All the best. Phil

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  2. The perfect mini project and with the pike added, it will all look splendid.

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  3. What a lovely looking force there Phil:). These days most of my non WWII forces are ImagiNations based, to give me complete flexibility for my games, with often a Red vs Blue look to either side.

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    1. Needless to say, the enemy will be a red-themed army, Steve. All the best. Phil

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  4. You should get yourself along to the Billhooks weekend Phil. Three games played, food laid on and basically a fun day out. Check the Billhooks facebook site.

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    1. I saw that event was on, but unfortunately I will be away that weekend. Next time maybe. Best rgds. Phil

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  5. Lovely looking troops, looking forward to seeing their opposition

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    1. Thx Tidders. I think the opposition will be a Venetian or Papal States style army. Looking forward to progressing this. Best rgds. Phil

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  6. Looking good, nice looking force, the pike block will make them hard to beat but then we will have to see the opposition!! I like the idea of imagi-nations as it gives you a lot of flexibility.

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    1. Thx Donnie. Yes, the imaginations aspect should really work well for this period. Will be posting lots more in the coming weeks and months. Best rgds. Phil

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  7. It's always good to see a new project getting to that critical mass where it can be fielded - even if the opposition is not in view. A city parade is always fun for the camera and here they are on the champs de Mars [or some such]. I look forward to the commanders being named.
    all the best,
    Stephen

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    1. Thanks Stephen. It's all good fun! Phil

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