Landsknecht drummers and fifers in 15mm?

[Midlander65]

First off: hello, I have just registered and this is my first post, though I've enjoyed reading this forum for a while.

I'm in the process of painting up a 15mm Landsknecht keil from the early 1500s. I have plenty of pikemen, halbardiers and a choice of officers and standard bearers but I can't seem to find any good musicians although these seem prominent in contemporary prints and there are some great figures in larger scales. I've looked at the various obvious (to me) manufacturers and most have nothing - certainly nothing that really looks right. Can anybody point me in the right direction please?

[pikeman666]

Have you eliminated the offerings from Essex?
Pete

[Midlander65]

Yes, I looked at the Essex figures but they just didn't look Landsknechty enough and didn't seem of a style with the ancient Minifigs and Asgard/TTG figures I already had. In the end I found a drummer from Frei Korps that was OK. Their figures seem a bit hit and miss but some are pretty good though sometimes needing a bit of work - in this case I had to add the drumsticks and replace the cords around the drum as these had been miscast. I also used one of their officers (had to solder up a new halberd as the cast one was very poor and weak) and their two-handed swordsmen.

This was the final result:

Landsknecht1.jpg (217.65 KiB) Viewed 2966 times

Landsknecht2.jpg (229.45 KiB) Viewed 2966 times

On the basis that I want these to serve in several different armies, I have made the flags interchangeable using a core of 0.5 mm piano wire and an outer of 0.8/0.5 mm brass tube.

Some of the figures were painted 20+ years ago and some are new - I hope there is a marked difference - but with uniform basing, new pikes and some touching up I think they go together OK. I had a bit of a nightmare with the varnish which ended up too thick and too satin.

The only issue now is that I now realise one Pike Kiel isn't enough and I need a second one. I have some of the figures I need but really need 8-12 more of the old (like really old) Minifigs armoured pikemen or halberdiers - the ones either side of the standard bearer and drummer. If anybody has some they'd like to sell, I'd be most interested.