After all this time converting, it was time to paint them up. I looked around for historical colour schemes, and while they did not have proper uniforms yet in the early 16th century, some colour combinations were connected to specific city states of families. For my first units, I thought that red, white and blue would look nice. The first unit I painted were my archers. These were mainly head swaps, but some of teh extra stuff I added showed up pretty nice, like the puffy sleeves. My first personal victory of this project was to paint up eight minis where two heads were scratch built, and having them NOT stand out as immediately weird in comparison. Feeling encouraged, it was time to paint up some of the more heavily converted units. The rodeleros got blue stripes to to tie the unit together. The gambesons took up so much space on these short-legged fellows that they completely dominated the painting scheme after all. But I like how they turned out, they look suitably rag-tag for light infantry. While heavily converted, the men-at-arms turned out to be quick to paint since it's mostly metal! I added some gold-tinted parts to make them more interesting from the front. These heavily armoured members of the halfling elite are ready to charge into the densest of fights, cutting through kneecaps and shins alike with fearsome fervour. I have not yet decided on what flags to use, but I'm slightly leaning towards them being from northern Italy. So I might up ending using a combination of both Milan and some princely families from there (like the Sforza), as well as condotteri (sort of mercenary captains) employed by them. The coloured flagpoles were chosen to emphasize the red and white scheme, as so much of the minis are covered in metal. The musicians got horns. Later on I'll try to make some pipe and drums, as those seemed very common, often depicted in pairs. And finally, some commanders. I used the chains as a sign of their status. They can either lead units, or be relegated to further back if I end up making better looking ones.
The close combat hobbits were more heavily converted than my archers, and it was fun to see them painted. Basically all metal armour except the leg guards were converted, and on some of them the entire arms and heads were converted as well. Next up will be some more "vanilla" troops, in that the spearmen are mostly head swaps. But there are some surprises in there as well. :)
1 Comment
Jacob
14/9/2023 16:50:11
Great looking metal! Nice color scheme overall thanks for sharing. Looks cool
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The Renaissance BlogWhat started as a blog about Renaissance gaming in general quickly turned into a blog about samurai miniatures. Archives
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