Off the Painting Table (Aug 2016) part 2

My large 28mm Great Italian Wars (GIW) renaissance armies are pretty much complete. The types of figures were collected over decades from the late 1970’s, and therefore the quality of casting is variable. My current skirmishing mounted crossbow and arquebus units are some of the most out-dated castings comprising a single model pose and equipment. I therefore bought a box of Perry Light Cavalry (1450-1500) with the aim of replacing these units. The Perry sculpts do allow for crossbow figures, but I had some spare arquebus arms in my parts box which I could use. I, like most wargamers, keep all the spare plastic bits (in small zip-lock bags) in the hope they will be of use sometime in the future; this is a source of some frustration because if I could acquire more torsos/legs I could assemble entire armies with the extra pieces I have stored!

I think I like the Perry plastics the best; the detail is always excellent, the poses good, and they assemble cleanly. I am happy with the paint job, but the basing is ‘crude’ to match the style used with the existing armies. This is a common dilemma when adding units to ‘old’ armies; do you paint/base to your current (hopefully, better) standards, or do you attempt to copy the old style so that the new unit does not clash? Generally I tend to paint to a more modern standard, but base using the older techniques. A different base seems to stick out like a sore thumb!

Replacing units does raise other issues: You immediately notice other old units that could do with replacing. Do you do so, because this could lead to a never ending spiral of purchases? What do you do with the old figures? They are unlikely to sell on B&B stalls, but I could never ‘bin’ them. Do I strip them from their bases so they take up less storage space? Or, do I keep them (maybe in the attic) as back-up units for potential large games in the future?

Anyway, it is time to pack up my paints and figures because it is holiday time! I will be back just in time to attend Colours in Newbury, and then I will be looking back at my gaming year (this is year 2 of my blog).