Wednesday 28 July 2021

Spanish Arquebusiers


The first unit of what will be the army of Gonzalo de Cordoba for my Italian Wars project. I aim to do both sides for the Battle of Cerignola 1503, in my opinion one of the most pivotal battles during the series of conflicts we call The Italian Wars. After his defeat at the hands of the French and Swiss at the Battle of Seminara 1503 Gonzalo put into place plans to employ his smaller force more efficiently in a defensive manner. He significantly lengthened the pike, equipped his men with more arquebus' and enlarged his artillery train and set his army firmly on the defensive. The addition of mercenary Landsknechts to further bolster his forces. It was in this way that Gonzalo was to send the forces of Louis de Armagnac, Duc de Nemour's overwhelming numbers of a mix of French and Swiss reeling and into eventual retreat. If not annihilation in the case of the Swiss.

The miniatures are based up for as many rules systems as I can possibly fit in as I am done with rebasing. I'm in my early 50's now and the days spent plying miniatures off one base, gluing, adding filler then sanding before re-pianting the bases (again!) are long over! 

As an aside, I have been watching on Twitter excitement tantalising glimpses of an Italian Wars playtest set of rules by the Too Fat Lardies. A medium sized game, along the lines of Infamy, Infamy! and Sharpe Practice. This will be a great set of rules to slowly bring together both sides for Cerignola without painting up thousands of miniatures and will allow me to actually get some games in! Assuming the Covid situation improves for me personally .Even if that is not the case re: Covid, I aim at doing some serious solo gaming in the future which will include AAR's etc. Obviously, the full "thousands of 'em" game for Cerignola will still be on the cards.

One last thing. There are some major and minor structural changes that need to be made to my property and given that I cannot be in the same indoor area as the workmen I am going to be taking an enforced break form painting for a while. I'm not sure when I will be back as it is not clear how long the work will take. Still, I have more then enough reading to catch up on! 















More pics of the single bases to follow.

24 comments:

  1. Fantastic work! These arquebusiers are top notch! Wish you manage all property issues and back to paint soon!

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  2. Thanks you for the encouraging words Dmitry.

    It's going to be a bit strange not to have a brush in my hand every evening but I have plenty of books to keep me company and a lot to catch up on :)

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  3. A superb looking unit! Very excited to see your Italian Wars collection building up. I hope your building work will be finished quickly so that we can be treated to more of your fabulous figures 👍

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    1. Thanks mate. Me too. TBH, there's nothing quite as stressful as building work. Maybe divorce but I have thus far managed to avoid that LOL. I'm not looking forward to it but needs must.

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  4. Lovely work, particularly a fan of those snazzy trousers! Hope you enjoy the break - as much as I love painting and the solace it brings me, sometimes I find that a little time away from the brush can reinvigorate me for when I next pick it up.

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    1. Thank you. Painting has been one of the things that has helped keep me sane throughout all the madness of the last year or so- I'm really going to miss it. :>(

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  5. Very nice work, and Cerignola is a great battle to aim for.

    I've done it a few times over the years, either at home or as a demo game. Here was my effort at the Derby show that wasn't anywhere near Derby.

    http://olicanalad.blogspot.com/2017/10/derby-worlds-thanks-to-everyone-who.html

    All the best with it,

    James (aka Olicanalad)

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    1. I've read the very post many times James. Great detail and your work has served as inspiration since I saw your Crusades game at Vappa!

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  6. Very nice as always! Just about to commence on my own Spanish, so I’ll be using these for inspiration

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    1. Thanks Chris. Ditto.... I use your work for inspiration too! :)

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  7. Those are lovely. Looking forward to seeing how this project proceeds.

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    1. Thanks Pete. A (hopefully) short hiatus is on the cards but then back to it :)

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  8. Love the painting, the narration, and the project. Looking forward to reading more from you!
    M.

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  9. Lovely job on these, I too have run Cerignola multiple times. The French managed to win once!

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    1. I think the name gave it away ;>) :>)

      When the game (eventually) comes around I was playing around with the idea of allowing Yves d’Alégre flanking force some kind of advantage. What that would be I don't really know as of yet. I need to get more then one unit painted up to try it out LOL

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    2. Yes, the 30 year old screen name was probably a hint as to where my sympathies lie! :-)

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  10. I really love the look of these and am looking forward to see more Spanish efforts from your brush as I intend to get some eventually. Who makes these figures? are they from TAG?

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    1. Hi,

      Yeah, they're from TAG. I'm surprised that I hadn't hyperlinked TAG but it looks very much like I forgot. Sorry about that.

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  11. Those look great. Immediately recognisable as Spanish, even without the flags. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of your forces for Cerignola.

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    1. Thanks Midlander65. Very much appreciated :)

      The TAG mini's are so well designed and with such exquisite detail.

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  12. Aside from the absolute beauty of your painting and basing what are your base sides for these, 4x 4 or 5 x 5 cm? It works very well indeed.

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    1. Thanks Jules. These are based on 40mm x 40mm bases. I'm considering changing that configuration but that won't get any serious thought until I get back to painting The Italian Wars collection again- which will hopefully be soon. Fingers crossed and all that :>)

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