Saturday 9 January 2016

From PeterD - 28mm Mounted Condottieri Commanders: 'Silvano & Cambino' (35 points)



'Get off your duff and get your troops moving Aleramici!'
My next posting is two command stands for my Italian Wars Project.  I have based these on real Italian families of note from the period, assuming that minor or wayward members have gone off soldiering as Condotierri.  These two may have some resemblance to local gamers participating in the Challenge...



The Aleramici family ruled varous small Northwestern Italian fiefdoms (in modern Piedmont). The family were Frankish in origin and often sided with the French in the Italian Wars. Silvano Aleramici is a product of an obscure branch and fights for who ever will pay him. Silvano is renowned for his umm prudent and careful approach to battle and boasts of a large library of military manuals and histories. His comrades in arms question whether he has read any of these military works as he seems more interested in books with lots of pictures and only a few words. He also claims to be have literary intensions himself.



Silvano believes in the value of upgrade equipment and rides into battle in full Milanese plate for both himself and his mount. The flag is historical, but I reversed the order of the colours for Silvano's horse trappings, as it seemed to work better than a thin band of red along the top of the horse. This figure comes from the Perry mounted Italian command and the standard bearer is from the plastic command sprue from the War of the Roses bills and bows set.
 

In contrast Cambino Barbarigo cuts a dashing figure on the battle field and is known for his quick and decisive approach. The Barbarino's were a prominent Venetian family and members of the family were elected as Doge during this period. They don't talk much about Cambino however... Cambino loves flashy new clothes and equipment and rides into battle on a fine new Bavarian charger wearing a rather ridiculous embroidered red cap because Silvano's gilded barbette is sooo 1478. It has been noted that Cambino might conquer all if he settled down to one plan of action instead of chasing new shiny prospects every time one appeared.
 
 
This figure is also from the Perry Italian Mounted Command pack and is based on the famous painting by Paolo Uccello, the one with the 3D horses hooves. His standard bearer comes from the Perry Mounted Knights plastic box set (have I mention how much I like this set), and is the first figure that I have completed with the barding. The barding is a little fussy but after some trial and error I found that masking tape can hold the bits in place while the glue sets.

The flags involved are historical and were downloaded from the excellent site http://www.krigsspil.dk/download/download_2.html. I resized them and printed them on our home laser printer using regular paper. I choose the Barbarigo family for Cambino because of the beards on the family crest, which matches our UberLord's facial fur. Also apparently in his wild youth, Curt spent some time as a nomadic hair stylist wandering about Northern Italy and other European locales...
 
So by my count that's 3 mounted figure and one foot figure = 35 points.  How many of you can avoid the Beach Boys "Barbara Ann" ear worm using the Barbarigo family name?
 
My pair of falconets appear in the background of many of these shots.



Haha! You're a very clever wag Mr. Douglas. I love 'Cambino's' beard banner and your back stories are pretty much spot-on. You must have been rocking back and forth sniggering while writing up this post. Very nicely done. These are great figures and I think your first attempt at barding turned out very well. My only suggestion is that for Silvano's stand you may want to swap out the sword being handed to him for a battleplan instead. :P

30 comments:

  1. Lovely work Peter, on the fluff as well as the figures! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Tamsin. Fluff is in my DNA. Cheers PD

      Delete
  2. Thanks Cambino. I am not sure Silvano would read the plan!
    Cheers PD

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, he would look at it upside down, give a derisive Gallic snort, crumple it up and throw it over his shoulder. :)

      Delete
  3. Great job. These are the miniatures and my desk and waiting for their colors. Once again I have to try to make them as well.:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Alex. Uni did a great job on the first one, so I'm looking forward to seeing the others. Cheers Peter

      Delete
  4. > instead of chasing new shiny prospects every time one appeared
    That doesn't really narrow things down around here :-)

    Lovely work Peter. The back stories are superb!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheers Millsy! The great thing is that no matter OTT I go on back stories, the historical ones are just as odd.

      Delete
  5. congratulationsfor this long term project and thanks a lot mate!
    now one more project in 15mm for my insane mind !
    drilling half of a 15mm figure (what at cool challenge!)

    thefrenchjester "don't call me big nose;-)"

    ReplyDelete
  6. "How many of you can avoid the Beach Boys "Barbara Ann" ear worm using the Barbarigo family name?"

    None of us now, thanks for that...

    Some splendid chaps there. the most loyal troops money can buy!*

    *Subject to a given value of loyalty. Terms and conditions apply. Loyalty not valid in Papal States, Abruzzo, or the Two Sicilies.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Evan
      You can thank me later...I think you've got th nature of the period! Cheers PD

      Delete
  7. Beautiful minis! My favorite bit of this period is the cast of Characters involved, the pageantry is grand, but the people involved Make reading of the Italian Wars a great treat. The Spanish Succession is almost as entertaining...almost. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great entry Peter - loved the back story on the "characters" as well - excellent work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Greg. They are a couple of shady characters. Cheers Peter

      Delete
  9. Lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely. I think you can tell I like them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am dense but even I get your general drift. Thanks Clint, Peter

      Delete
  10. Good looking command stands. The back story is very funny.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Sean. I just hope they are still speaking to me...

      Delete
  11. Fine stuff indeed - the bright colours are positively sumptuous and there's clearly a lot of thought gone into the back stories!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jamie
      Yeah the colour is a big selling point for the era. And I probably had too much time to think about back stories - blame it on the post Christmas inertia plus the arrival of real winter weather.
      Cheers Peter

      Delete
  12. I really admire your depth of research and the back-stories you've developed for all these guys. Great work, as always!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thanks David. I find the research part one of the best facets of our geeky hobby. Cheers PD

    ReplyDelete