Niccolò da Tolentino

This is Niccolò da Tolentino, commander of the Florentine coalition at the Battle of San Romano. He was painted by the very talented Redzed (Shaun Watson), some time ago. All the photos are clickable.

He's accompanied by a unit of Florentine knights painted by Shaun McTague and myself. Aside from Niccolò himself, the knights are mostly Perry plastics, lightly converted with beautiful high feather headdresses from Mirliton in Italy. I've given many of them giornea tunics. I've tried to get close to the famous "Rout of San Romano" painting. 

I bases on my trusty FK&P6's, Ian Notter flocked and I tufted. The unit is 18 strong, that's how I do all my mounted units, these days. I plan a full Florentine army with lots of militia types.

Here's Niccolò from a different angle, from which you can make out part of the magnificent standard that Pete of Pete's Flags has designed. It's huge and stunning. The red flag in the previous image is also by Pete- Orsini, if I recall correctly, hence the bear.

In other news, it is the final day of my To the Strongest! Flash Sale today (Friday). I've added some new items and further reduced the price of some other items, some of the stuff is 30-50% off. You can find them here.

Here's a clickable version of the full-unit shot.

Florentine knights

As well as the new guns, I've also been putting some more knights together for the Italian Wars. Above are some Florentines; I put them on unarmoured horses, like to ones depicted in the "Rout of San Romano". The excellent Florentine flag is one of Pete's flags, from eBay.

Below are more plastic Perry knights, this time in charging poses. Most of these were painted by chum Lionel in France, who paints a mean barber's shop lance. :-)

The extra knights give me more options for fielding either more units for the 15cm grid, or larger units for the 20cm To the Strongest! grid. I'm also currently putting a second Renaissance army together for eventual play-testing purposes.

Florentine Mounted Crossbows

These are the mounted crossbows who will accompany the recently-posted Florentine swordsmen. Some people think that Italian chaps such as these might well have ridden to the battlefield but dismounted to fight, which means that these minis are somewhat redundant. Others claim that they are a valid mounted troop type, equipped with a lighter crossbow. I'm conflicted; I need to do more reading to establish how both they, and the equally tricky mounted arquebusiers, will work in the Renaissance rules.

At the moment, pending eventual rule/list changes, these guys perform a vital role, screening the advance of my Milanese knights and skirmishing on the flanks, and generally looking rather dashing!

You will be able to see them in action if you sign up for the To the Strongest! "Knight Fever" tournament in the London Games Tourney on September 15th. So far we have 13 TtS!ers signed up for this massive gaming event- the largest in the world, I believe, with getting on for 1K entrants.  It'll be the familiar 130 point 28mm army format, drawn from any of the three Medieval army list booklets. You could field plucky Normans, for example, or steel-encased Italian later knights, or even an army of Mongols- all of these were at the last tournament. Teutonic knights are very popular. Many different Medieval armies are available in plastic and I reckon quite a few different armies could be built for under £100. I will have some spare units that I can lend out, and will provide terrain if necessary. There will be four games in the day, with modest prizes and great glory for the victors!

Details are at  Knight Fever Details, and you can book your place at Knight Fever Bookings. This will be a terrific event and mustn't be missed!

Machiavellian Swordsmen

Here is my first completed Florentine unit, some unusual-looking Italian swordsmen; I just love the character of these chaps. It's quite uncommon to find infantry equipped with just a sword and no missile weapon, and very little armour. There are very few in the army lists.

This unit has been a slow burner; I bought 16 of these Perry metal minis around two years ago, mostly painted, from a chap in Sweden who had been planning to use them as soldiers from the Free City of Braavos. Chum Shaun McTague painted 8 more and I highlighted and painted the shields, which I based on Florentine heraldry and guild symbols. The flag is from Pete's Flags on eBay. I have based them on my FK&P6 bases; this means I can use them either as three bases on a 20cm grid, for shows, or, dropping a base, two on the 15cm grid we often use for To the Strongest! competitions. The bases came out really well; its hard to see the joins, and the wobbly edges vanish into my gaming cloth.

I suppose that having these (and some Florentine mounted crossbows that will follow) necessarily means that I am building a Florentine army. Machiavelli would be delighted! :-)