From GregB - Imperialist Pike & Shotte Regiment for Thirty Years War (120 points)

Imperialist foot regiment and officer base - figures from Warlord Games' "Epic" range.

I've kicked off Challenge XV with submissions that touch on a familiar theme - GW's "30k" setting. For this final submission for 2024, we switch gears rather significantly, although the number "30" still makes an appearance...for this post we run the calendar back about thirty-thousand years (give or take) to the early 17th century in Central Europe an the conflagration which would come to be known as the Thirty Years War. This is an Imperialist/Catholic Infantry Regiment comprised of a solid pike block and a pair of supporting musketeer groups, along with a command base. The figures are resin sculpts from Warlord's "Epic" Pike & Shotte figure range.

Weapons leveled, ready to receive the charge!

The Thirty Years War has interested me for a long time, but I never quite titled into it - but I finally succumbed earlier this year. These figures provide, IMO, a satisfying "block" look for the pikemen while still offering many fun details to pick out. I tried to paint these in such a way that they look mostly uniform, but still have variance in different hats/caps/bags etc in order to provide a bit more of a varied look that seems more appropriate for the period.

Another view of the pike block.

A single frame provides the entire foot unit with 80 models all together. 70 of the figures are in strips of 10, and then 10 individual pikemen with their weapons forward to provide a bristly-looking front rank for the pike block. The strips are clever, providing a nice, compact look to the formation. The cavalry/artillery box is great too (stay tuned for more on that), and the collection has been augmented by a few specialist units in plastic-resin. Really the only thing I don't like is the "Epic" brand name...for grognards like me, "Epic" is the 6mm Horus Heresy game from GW, and nothing else :)

View showing some of the rear detail. 

When Warlord released these figures, they also did a re-issue of their "Pike & Shotte" rules which appears to be intended to be specific to this scale, but in fact provides some very useful updates to the rules - changes they just sort of skate across pretty quickly but are actually very important, particularly the idea of the mixed pike/shotte unit just like this one, making it much more clear how units like this would act/perform on the tabletop - an oversight, IMO, in Warlord's original "Pike & Shotte" rules. 

Musketeers ready to support the pike...I tried to mix up some of the hat colours. The fellow in the red hat is probably some kind of dangerous independent thinker...

This project is definitely a "slow burn" one for me - and with the advent of "Never Mind The Matchlocks", I might just try out 28mm for kicks - but I'm hoping to get a good start on a decent Imperialist/Catholic force during this edition of the Challenge, while saving the hopeless Protestants for Challenge XVI. My ambitions are modest here - looking more to run smaller games featuring rear-guard actions and other such encounters, as opposed to hoping to run White Mountain or anything like that. I figure a few blocks like these on each side, along with some cavalry and supporting guns will do the trick. 

Rear detail of the musketeer figures.

I also still have a lot to learn about this period - for all I know, I put the wrong flags on? These seemed like Bavarian Catholic League flags...I think...but whatever. We have chaps with pikes, and other chaps with muskets...let's go!

Mounted officer & Imperial ensign. 

Lovely little details on these figures.

For scoring purposes, I have a bit of a conundrum. There are 80 figures all together in the unit - but only 60 count for the Challenge (the mounted officer was also pre-Challenge, so he doesn't count either). These figures also have their own specific size, noticeably shorter and slighter than 15mm castings, but also larger and more detailed than 10mm castings. Some Challengers have scored these as 15mm figures...if that is the case, then this would be 120 points. But if they are 10mm, then these would be 60 points. I'll take them either way!

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Stunning work Greg! I remember visiting you this autumn and seeing one of your test units for this project and agree that Warlord has hit it out of the park with these figures. 

I love the compressed nature of the strips, which is often missing in 28mm units. These guys should be packed together, giving eachother support and not making it easy for the enemy (well, except for the muskets and gunners, but whatever). Your brushwork is inspired, with just enough detail to draw the eye, but not so much to make them odious to paint. The command stand has clearly allowed your brushes to sing. Beautiful work and I very much look forward to seeing more from this project in the coming months.

I looked back to confirm and we are scoring these as 2 points per figure so 120 points for your tally. Well done!

- Curt