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Blogger TamsinP said...

They look even better with the flocking :)

21 February 2019 at 14:20

Blogger airbornegrove26 said...

Fantastic!

21 February 2019 at 14:32

Blogger BigRedBat said...

Thanks Tamsin; I reckon based minis always look twice as good, once flocked.

21 February 2019 at 14:33

Blogger Steve J. said...

Good luck with these wonderful units Simon. Sadly new units never seem to perform well, but you never know. Whatever happens, enjoy yourself!

21 February 2019 at 15:49

Blogger BigRedBat said...

Doomed, they are, Steve. :-)

21 February 2019 at 18:41

Blogger ssspectre said...

Gorgeous army, really inspiring stuff. Bright & colourful without ever becoming garish.

21 February 2019 at 18:50

Blogger Independentwargamesgroup said...

Its a lovely looking set of units Simon, you should be very pleased. You are correct about the Bande Nere, they didnt have any gendarmes but as you say Pete did such a wonderful job with the standards it would be wrong not to use them. My Bande Nere do have some pike and sword and bucklers which again they didnt have in reality.Basically they were a well trained band of arqubusiers and in great demand because of their training.The book to buy which was recommended by Pete is The Black Bands of Giovanni by Maurizio Arfaioli. I bought mine via Amazon but I know its available from Abe Books.It wasnt expensive and worth the money simply because of its detail regarding the bande which adopted black ribbons etc after the death of their leader.

21 February 2019 at 18:51

Blogger BigRedBat said...

Hi Robbie, yes I'm reading that very book at the moment- only part way through, though. From what I can gather there was a core of pike, but never quite enough. Also some light horse?

Have you any idea how the shotte might have formed up? I've not got that far yet. :-)

21 February 2019 at 19:00

Blogger L'Empereur said...

Lovely bases!
We love the bright armour of the knight!
:-)

21 February 2019 at 20:36

Blogger BigRedBat said...

I must remember my sunglasses... ;-)

21 February 2019 at 23:45

Blogger Ratmaul said...

Hello Simon,
great work, as usual. About the Black Bands nick of Giovanni it is not related to his untimely demise to a cannon ball, but to his insignia.
A "band" is an araldic device, a stripe going diagonally form top right to bottom down (for who is looking).
The banner of Giovanni had white and purple stripes.
As a symbol of mourning for the death of Pope Leo X (Giovanni's uncle and employer) he changed the color to black and purple, earning the famous nickname Giovanni of the Black Bands.

22 February 2019 at 13:13

Blogger DeanM said...

Impressive collection, Simon. The spirals on the lances are beautiful.

22 February 2019 at 17:08

Blogger BigRedBat said...

Thanks Dean!

Hi Ratmaul, I had read that, too, but a book on Giovanni (alas I don't have the title with me) has said it is a myth, since his band was only known as the Black Band after Giovanni's death, and the author was unable to find any evidence supporting the Pope Leo story.

22 February 2019 at 17:21

Blogger BigRedBat said...

Ratmaul, in fact it's the book Rod mentions "The Black Bands of Giovanni" by Maurizio Arfaioli- good reading.

22 February 2019 at 17:22

Blogger James said...

Gorgeous!

22 February 2019 at 17:25

Blogger caveadsum1471 said...

Great looking army, disparate parts, all brought together by your basing, they look wonderful! Best of luck on Saturday!
All the best Iain

22 February 2019 at 22:02

Blogger BigRedBat said...

Thanks chaps! We'll see how they do in the morning. :-)

22 February 2019 at 23:27

Blogger Gonsalvo said...

Good luck to you and Giovanni! :-)

23 February 2019 at 16:55

Blogger Andrew Brentna said...

Beautiful troops who performed superbly. Fourth place in the World Championships! Way to go!

23 February 2019 at 19:37

Blogger Millsy said...

Cracking stuff mate. Can't wait to see pics of them in action!

23 February 2019 at 21:07

Blogger commissarmoody said...

Great looking figs! I would love to see that force setting across the table from me. I have a few questions, never played "To the strongest" What would you say its merits are over other ancient or medieval rules?

And what shield are using for the commander of the Bande Nere pikemen?

Looked up "The Black Bands of Giovanni" by Maurizio Arfaioli on Amazon and its going for over a hundred used and 400 new. Guess I will have to hold off on that one.

24 February 2019 at 00:03

Blogger BigRedBat said...

Thanks all! I'll try to get a post together for later today. In a shocking reversal of fortune, I did very much better than I'd expected.

Hi Commissarmoody, for me the rules are better than other rules of the period, mostly because I wrote them. ;-) More seriously, they are fast to play and full of drama, with dramatic reversals of fortune. In one game yesterday I was gradually losing, but a single well-targeted and lucky charge broke an enemy unit and his whole line dissolved in a cascade of morale failures.

The shield- sorry I don't know where it came from, but it is rather striking!

24 February 2019 at 13:55

Blogger Ratmaul said...

Hello Simon,
I read a summary of Arfaioli'is thesis and it is not necessarily contradictory.
In fact mourning colours are worn temporarily and could have been either for the Pope or for the death of their Captain!
Arfaioli says that the "bands" that were changed from white to black were not the stripes on Giovanni 's flag but the shases worn from the shoulder of the soldiers as a "field sign".
Could be, and difficult to tell the final words without any documentation at hand!
By the way good luck for the tournament!

25 February 2019 at 23:03

Blogger commissarmoody said...

Hahaha, So you do have a little biased. But nothing wrong with that. I'll out it on my list of things to get in the near future.

26 February 2019 at 05:32

Blogger BigRedBat said...

Thanks Ratmaul- the army performed very well on the day. Now I want to go on and produce the Bande Nere...

26 February 2019 at 14:15

Thanks for commenting. I will post this as soon as I am able to review it.
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