Italian Wars Swiss

[Midlander65]

I am putting together an Italian Wars French army in 15 mm and would like to add some Swiss. Most Swiss models seem to be for the earlier wars of independence and not at all suitable.

Much the best figures and range I have seen are those from Khurasan but I have read that their figures tend to be rather large. The rest of my army uses mostly figures from Minifigs and the old Asgard/Table Top Games figures. Can anybody who has some of the Khurasan figures advise if they would they look out of place alongside the others?

[titanu]

I do not have any Swiss but I do have some of their cuirassiers and they are big! Their metal is also brittle so you might need to give them new pikes.

[madaxeman]

TTG stuff is pretty small, and the Minifigs Swiss I have are quite small too - although I'm not sure if they are Swiss ! Here they are:



If they are teh same I can take some photos comparing them with other ranges for you.

The "big" Khurasan are mostly their TYW ranges, as they were scaled to match Testudo, which are proper 18mm jobs, so their Swiss may be OK. I don't have any though... .

As always, Essex might be your best bet, or maybe the new Donnintgons too?

also try http://www.madaxeman.com/FOGR/tiki-index.php?page=SWISS for a list of manufacturers

[Midlander65]

Thanks very much, both, for the replies.

I had heard that some of their ranges were really big - hence my doubts but I'd certainly replace the pikes and maybe the halberds too.

I have some of those exact same Minifigs figures. I'm not 100% sure but I think (back in the 1980's) they were sold as Landsknechts but maybe they were intended as either - certainly they and the other figures in that series have fairly long swords rather than katzbalgers. I used them as Landsknechts along with the corresponding front rank pikemen and armoured halberdiers, all with wire pikes. I wish they were still available as I could do with some more for a second Landsknecht Keil - I'll have to scour the bring and buy stands. Thanks for the kind offer of comparison photos - if only you had some of the Khurusan Swiss.

The trouble with most of those specifically Swiss ranges, including the New Era Donningtons, is that they are too early - Burgundian rather than Italian wars (I'm aiming for the 1520s). The current Minifigs range has a couple of pike figures but they aren't great and the moulds are showing their age. TTG/Asgard have a few but they don't really look quite right and the front rank figure has a 45% pike so won't match in with the Minifigs.

Unless somebody comes on who actually has some of the Khurasan Swiss figures, I think I'll have to order some and see how they look - they will be in a separate unit so I'll get away with a bit of a mismatch as long as they aren't too huge. Otherwise, bring and but stalls for some of those old Minifigs, mix and match the more Swiss-looking Landsknechts (maybe some of the Old Glory figures) and get busy with the file and modelling putty.

By the way, I'm a big fan of the Madaxeman website - keep up the good work there!

[Vespasian28]

The rest of my army uses mostly figures from Minifigs and the old Asgard/Table Top Games figures.

The old Asgard/TTG figures are still available from 15mm.co.uk and they do Swiss and Landsnechts. I used them to build my Renaissance Armies back in the 80's and was profoundly glad they were still available over twenty years later when i upgraded to FOGR.