Roger, Bloody Roger... Or, Plunging Into Pluderhosen Again.

Greetings all,

I have had a busy, busy week painting toys, but today I have spent my time in a selfish manner which involved deliberately staying out of my studio because to be frank, I don't get paid for working my days off.

In the end I spent about 12 minutes up there dealing with a client query, but then it was a festival pf frivolity.

I started wth a fortifying breakfast of eggs on toast and a shower, with a few cups of coffee, having been kept awake all night by the family feline and 4 terriers who were Similarly disturbed by the tabby bastard...

Then it was to the sofa with a pile of improving books for a two hour snooze before rising invigorated this afternoon to sit at one of the iMacs we keep here at the Dark Tower, composing a couple of army lists.

Roger has really got my juices flowing for the Renaissance again, and so, I have been dying to take some time to write up a couple of armies for purchasing in the next few weeks and handing off to my wife to be painted (forget ye not that I refuse to paint my own stuff because I don't get paid and thus my wife gets to bank a tidy penny from my decision - Besides, she enjoys it).

So...

They have to be 28mm
They have to be nice figures
They have to be armies rather than exercises in points, but yet still be able to be used competitively if required
There has to be little by the way of wasted models
They must be metal, as Gilder intended
They have to be mounted in 8 man elements
They have to be interesting

So, after 4 hours of hard crunching of lists, I decided upon a later Swiss and a Malta era Knights Of Saint John , both of which - entirely accidentally - come out at 306 figures representing around 340 because I. use 8 figure bases with 7 models to accommodate modern figures and give a more dynamic look than traditional tight ranks.

The Swiss will comprise of :

1st Kiel of 72 pike and 24 bills

2nd Kiel of 72 pike

3rd Kiel of 72 pike

Advance Guard of 24 bills

32 Crossbows

32 Arquebus

This will be a truly horrendous offensive army to face off against...


The Knights of St. John will comprise:

24 EHI knights

40 Arquebus

40 Arquebus

40 Arquebus

40 Arquebus

40 Arquebus

30 Pikemen

Mercenary block of 25 pike and 20 arquebus

Mercenary block of 25 pike and 20 arquebus

2 Heavy guns

3 Battery guns

This will be a solid army of C class infantry with a small core of B class fanatics as even the mercenary elements are C rather than M class.

I have been also crunching the financial cost, and the fact that I want a mid 16th look, and thus at the end of the day I have decided on the Redoubt hangover Perrys which are just that bit too early. Wargames Foundry and Artisan are priced out of the market and besides some of the Foundry Renaissance stuff is awful unless you get the Perry sculpts.

Metal cost will be around the £900 mark, plus painting at an undisclosed figure to save me breaking into a nervous sweat.

In a fit of wicked brilliance, I decided to use the English range for the KoStJ as they have the crosses on their tabards and jacks which will do nicely if painted red and white.

Beyond that, I'll be building Henry VIII's army in the later incarnation, again using Redoubt.

I'm looking forward to meeting Roger at Vapnartak next Sunday to discuss our respective forces and maybe plan a g bring and battle game, as my old friend has previously suggested.

His contention that once you go Renaissance, you never go back is proving wonderfully true.

Way to go Roger!


TTFN


PS: As usual the Sheffield contingent will be holding court in the bar area on the first floor at Vapnartak. Pop by and say hello!