Retainers (1/5): Melee Fighters

While I haven't posted in a few months, I have painted a number of miniatures over that time. These are members of a noble's retinue, wearing the noble's livery and serving as full-time guards, patrols, or advisors. So far, there are 21 members of the retinue, and I'm sure more will eventually follow.

Originally, these units were put together as proxies for Games Workshop's "Warcry" game, but I just kept building and painting, so here we are. In order to keep this from being one large post, I've split it up into four parts: Melee fighters, ranged fighters, cavalry, and magic folks. This first entry contains the six dismounted melee fighters. These six fighters are two each of pikemen, greatswords, and sword and shield folks.

First, the pikemen. The bodies for both are from the Warlord Games' Landsknecht boxes, as are the majority of these figures. The tall pike is from the Landsknecht arms, while the askew one is a lance from the Perry Miniatures Agincourt French Infantry box. The heads are actually from a Warlord Games Samurai Infantry Sprue, with what I've painted as their faces and mustaches meant to be the helmet's menpō mask. (As a side note, those samurai and ashigaru sprues were some of the worst sprues I've ever had the misfortune to assemble. Building even a single unit was infuriating, and the limbs and weapons are thin enough to snap if you so much as look at them. There are far better and easier samurai miniatures out there.) Since I only have two of those heads, they are the only pikemen who will have them, meaning they're special and may become banner-bearers or a pair of bodyguards.

Second, the greatsword fighters. The one with the bare helmet is pretty much straight out of a Landsknecht box, while the one with the feather has a Perry Agincourt body and head. The feathers are, of course, from the Landsknecht box, as are the arms for both. There's a little bit of a height difference between the Perry and Warlord models, but the proportions are close enough. They're both semi-realistically proportioned, so it's not like comparing them to the bulging chonky-bois from Games Workshop.

Finally, the sword and boards. Or, in one case, axe-and-board-but-there's-a-sword-at-his-hip. Both bodies are Landsknechts, but both sets of arms are from the Perry box. The shields are from the Frostgrave Soldiers box. Feather Hat Guy's head is from the Landsknecht box, while the other guy's head is from the Frostgrave Cultist box. It's actually a zombie head! I did a little putty work to make his brain not showing, but check the picture below for a comparison between this guy and one that I had painted up as a zombie.

I love reformed-zombie-head guy. I used some really watered down red for his nose and cheeks, which worked surprisingly well, and some really watered down mix from his hair to give him beard stubble. I think it looks amazing. And that red thing below his eye is probably a boil or something. Since he's so distinct and using a non-standard weapon, this guy is definitely a grizzled sergeant or some kind of hardened adventurer. He's probably my favorite from this whole batch.

Twins!