My Italian Wars Reading List... so far!

As with any new project a large part of the joy is in the learning.  Here is a selection of the reading I've done.  The following are readily available.

The first and certainly the "must read" tome is Oman.  A great read in itself regardless of any particular interest in the period.  Infinitely re-readable.

The Italian Wars by Shaw and Mallet.  I found this a very good history of the wars.  It is certainly a confusing period with many shifts of alliances.  However, the survey of the wars is well covered.  So, with pen and notebook to hand, I made sense of events, people and chronology.  I would certainly recommend this.

Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe by Bert Hall.  I found this to be an eye opening book.  I thought that I knew some stuff about gunpowder and firearms, but Hall has really made me think hard about the use and efficacy of gunpowder and firearms. Not just in the 16th century, but right through to the early 1800s.

Of course, the editions from Helion and Osprey are bread and butter and offer invaluable material.

One of the primary sources I looked at was the commentaries from Blaise de Monluc.  Whilst his memoirs are self serving they provide an insight into events, people and how they fought.  For the small action or skirmish gamer, there are some accounts in here that lend themselves to the tabletop.

I'll round off this brief survey of my reading with this wargamer's guide to the Italian Wars by Cairns and Ashton, recently published by Helion.

It's good. Well and sensibly organised. The history is concise but useful. The section on armies of the different states and their organisation was welcome and gave enough information to think about the differences. The scenarios were usefully set out in a straightforward way which seemed genuinely rule agnostic.  They included 15 scenarios from Fornovo, Cerignola, through Pavia and to Gravelines. The painting section reminded me of one I am sure that I found from a blog post somewhere.  However, it's helpful on getting started on both landsknechts and gendarmes.  Some period designs for the latter might of been a good addition.  Although the information on damask designs was surprisingly engaging.  The bibliography is extensive and means that further research can be carried on productively.   All in all a great buy... in my opinion.

However, I wonder if for anyone already immersed in the period this will add to their understanding and hobby knowledge.  But then, I suppose the audience is probably more for people like me who have just recently embarked on this period. 

Being a little pedantic for a moment, the irritant for me was what seems to be the lack of proofreading and editing. Many pages (and I do mean a lot) have either poor spelling, typos or a nonsensical sentence.  I'm no shining example of accurately written English but I did, at times, find myself looking for them instead of taking in the information. 

Nonetheless, I am still extremely happy that I purchased this addition to the Helion library.  The authors should be congratulated on, what I found to be, a well organised, informative and really useful guide to wargaming the period.

Enough of the review of "All is Lost, Save Honour."

To those immersed in the period apologies for highlighting the obvious.  To everyone else, I hope this gives a nice sense of my early knowledge accumulation.

Great Italian Wars, The Troops So Far

As promised, let me introduce you to my Great Italian Wars collection so far.

First of all the figures that I have painted.

Gendarmes from Wargames Foundry.  I actually bought these second-hand and cheap then painted them from scratch.

Guns and gunners from Wargames Foundry.

Warlord Games plastic Landsknechts.

More plastic Landsknecht.

All together

The flags are from Pete's Flags.

The following are figures that I've bought already painted and have had to touch up and/or do major additional painting.  Of course, all bought painted minis had to be rebased.

Swiss pike. I bought these from Colonel Bill's. They are Perry figures. Almost all needed fixing and a wash applied.

The first figures that I bought to start the project. Old GW figures. I repainted some hats, flesh and applied some wash where required.

More Perry minis acquired from Colonel Bill. I had to do quite a bit of work to tidy up tunics, crossbows and metal work.

Thank goodness for Colonel Bill. Same treatment applied as the previous figures. Perry minis again.

Perry plastic men at arms. I had to repaint the horses and all the armour and lances... actually I pretty much repainted the entire thing.

And now for the troops that I've bought and not done anything to them other than rebasing.

Not sure who made these arquebusiers... Atlantic perhaps?

Bought at last years Broadside Show. Again, not sure who made these sword and buckler men.

Bought from ebay. These are unmistakably Warlord Games plastic miniatures.

Also, from the same seller on ebay. Plastic Warlord Games arquebusiers.

Finally, the muster.  Nothing to compare to the parade of Dean's fabulous pike and arquebusiers.

And there you have it. 

I'm working on more gendarmes at the moment.  At some point I will start organising them into armies.

What I have found, is that painting the renaissance has brought the joy of figure painting back into my hobby life.  No more is it just a thing to do between games, but actually a thrill in itself.

Table Out! Mat In

My 6ft x 4ft wargames table has been temporarily repurposed for quite a few months now.  A couple of weeks ago, the temporary nature of the situation became permanent.  Consequently, with no dedicated gaming area, I will be giving away my terrain boards and most hills to the Rejects after the Broadside Show in June.

As my space shrinks, I will occasionally commandeer the dining table and have compensated my loss with the purchase of a fleece battle mat from Geek Villain, which arrived today.

I am rather pleased with it.  It feels soft enough to use as a blanket in the winter.

The mat with some 28mm troops on it.  Pleasingly, the basing style I use is reasonably complimentary with the mat.

And a slightly closer look.

Just got to work out when I can set up my first game. I must take into account all games can no longer be left set up for multiple sessions.

New challenges = new opportunities.

A New Project Begins and Why You Should Never Sell

In June 2024, after a long gestation period, I decided that it was all systems go for the project that I had been toying with for quite some time.  I have not revealed it earlier in case it turned into false start. Plus, I fancied the idea of making the reveal to the Rejects in the form of a game.  However, for a variety of reasons I can't wait any longer.

So, what is the new period?  It is the Great Italian Wars, 1494 to 1559 in 28mm.  As a period it is actually a good evolution (albeit backwards in time) from my French Wars of Religion.  Plus, it seems to be very "on trend" as a period at the moment.  Very unlike me to be fashionable.

Men at Arms. Perry Plastics

Two or three decades ago, I collected and painted a 28mm Renaissance army (mostly Old Glory, a lovely range in my opinion).  However, I sold them on.  Big mistake!  Instant regret!  Ever since, I toyed with the idea of buying just enough to make one unit of Landsknecht for display purposes.

Landsknecht from Warlord Games.

It was in the early autumn of 2023 that I come across an old set of late medieval rules in my "library" that made me think of doing something in that period.  However, I couldn't work up the excitement, but I did realise that I could repurpose them with some amendments as a quick play set for the Italian Wars.

That took me into 2024 with rule writing and background reading aplenty to test the conviction of my initial passion.  So, by the time of the Broadside Show in June of 2024 I had almost committed myself to making a "secret" start and to see if the project had legs.  Then fate intervened.  At the show is a flea market.  On a stall at a bargain price were painted arquebusiers.  Old GW figures, but reasonably finished.  I snapped them up and that's what kickstarted the project.

The arquebusiers that represent fate's intervention.

My painting speed is slow (glacial would be the more accurate term).  This meant that from early on I took the decision to purchase some second hand figures.  Some did not need any touching up.  Some needed a little. Some, in the end, needed an entire repaint from scratch.  I will give you a closer, more detailed look of my small collection in the next post (or two?).  

Thank you your indulgence.

Prep for Broadside 2025

This year the Rejects are putting on the Battle of Rivoli as their demonstration game. 

Broadside is on Saturday 14th June at Gillingham, Kent.

In preparation for the show, we are having a walkthrough this weekend.

Here are a couple of photos of the initial set up.

It will give us a chance to tweak the game and ensure everyone is able to chat with the public about the game and the history.