What can Dave do with Landsknects!
April 28, 2025
Hi there - the other Dave at Wargames Emporium here again!
This piece is little different: John has asked me to review a couple of Warlord Games’ Landsknecht sprues and paint them up. I received a Pikemen sprue and a Zweihanders sprue (that’s German mercenaries with two-handed swords to you and me). I was expecting the missile troop sprue, so it was a nice surprise to instead receive some figures with big swords.
Each sprue contains six different bodies, nine different heads, and various weapon options, with the bodies and heads being duplicated across both sprues. The halberd options (in with the zweihanders) are metal; everything else is plastic. Across all the sprues, weapons have a matching pair of arms, which is important for fit… and, as I subsequently realised, clothing. The sprues also contained pouches, feathers, daggers, and swords, which is a nice touch
The build was straightforward and relatively quick; the halberds required superglue, given that they’re metal. As the photos illustrate, I think I got a good mix, such that no two figures look too similar.
I had a total of 12 figures to build, so I started with building three halberds; I did this so I could use a matching arm, and this worked great.
I built a single missile trooper next, as it was a single option on the pike sprue - why not?
I built three pikemen, though I did have to use a body from the second sprue; however, as I’ve already said the bodies are identical on both sprues so no problem, and again the sprue is laid out with matching arms, so everything was easy-peasy.
I built three pikemen, though I did have to use a body from the second sprue; however, as I’ve already said the bodies are identical on both sprues so no problem, and again the sprue is laid out with matching arms, so everything was easy-peasy.
After the build I had a chat with John and he promptly provided the missile troop sprue, so I had another six figures to build. As with the previous sprues, we have the same six bodies and nine heads. The build was simple - I’ve built three with crossbows and three with muskets.
So what do I think of the sprues? The poses are limited and not particularly dynamic, but for rank-and-file games they are perfect. If I was playing any type of skirmish game, I’d have enough different poses to fill the core of a warband, excluding characters. I built 18 figures pretty much at random and they are all individual; if I actually planned it out, I could have built 18 very distinct figures. Overall, I enjoyed the build, and I like these sprues.
I didn’t really look at any historic art in terms of colours, so from a painting perspective it was a bit wild and free. However, I suspect Games Workshop may have been an influence - as an old Empire player bright and varied colours were a thing! I made them bright and colourful, and then used a wash to make them a bit grimy, as that appears to be my jam.
I primed everything grey, then started with Dirt Spatter(brown) on the boots, pouches, belts, wood, and some hair. For the skin I used Speed Paint Crusader skin, and for the feathers I used MP White - if you haven’t read any of my previous articles, I struggled with this white as a primer and I wanted to try using it as a colour, for which it was just fine. For the rest of the clothing, I used Mummy Robes, and Army Painter Speedpaint Bright Red, Magic Blue, Gravelord Grey, Orc Skin, and Zealot Yellow.
The result was a mix of shiny, gaudy, clean looking figures. I applied Dark Tone on the metal, and Strong tone everywhere else, giving me that dirty, matt feel. These boys have been to war and haven’t had time to wash!
As per usual, the four-foot rule applies: looking too close at my painting may scar you for life - just don’t do it.
As I also suffer from wobbly photo syndrome, the final photos were taken in the Sheffield store, and I suspect the figures may end up as part of window display in our Mansfield store.
This was a very different project for me, and it was a bit of fun. My colour selection was a lot wider than my norm, and a lot more free. It was a bit strange not have a distinct use for the models, and it was a nice palette cleanse – I’ve been painting a few ratmen recently. I now intend to paint another unit of ratmen, maybe some terrain, and then a zombie sprue from Wargames Atlantic. Thanks for getting this far – I hope you enjoyed it, and as always questions and comments are very welcome!
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