Saturday, March 16, 2013

From TamsinP: 15mm Swiss Pikemen (512 points)


Here is another Challenger presenting us with an amazing amount of work.

From Tamsin:
Is there any sight more certain to inspire terror in the hearts, minds and bladders of medieval Austrians, Burgundians, Italians, pretty much anybody in medieval Europe than a phalanx of Swiss halberdiers using both hands to wave their big choppers at you? What's that? Oh, yes, a phalanx of Swiss pikemen holding their huge poles with both hands and pointing them threateningly at you.
And here are 256 of those scary fellows!

These have taken me just under 3 weeks to prep, paint, base and photograph. I can vouch (well, my pin-cushioned hands can) that these boys and their pikes are vicious and bloodthirsty. 

They have all been painted in cantonal colours in as close an approximation to the contingent sizes for Morat as possible (whilst ensuring that each canton present got at least one figure). This was actually much easier to do than it was for the halberdiers and other troops as there were just so bleedin' many of them.
Figures are 15mm from Donnington Miniatures. I will be adding flags later - I need to get a new printer first as mine seems to have gone haywire. 
And a little something to finish off this post, Swiss Facts from Madaxeman Dot Com (also available as a T-shirt).
  • We don't know if Swiss Pikemen enjoyed a good fight. No-one ever managed to give them one.
  • An apple a day keeps the doctor away. A Swiss Pike block a day kills.
  • A drilled Swiss Pike block turning 90 degrees will unscramble an egg.
  • A Swiss Pike block built the Matterhorn with buckets and spades whilst digging a camp latrine.
  • If you get charged by a Swiss Pike block in your dream, you die.
  • A Swiss Pike Block can have their cake AND eat it too.
  • Some people get lucky and kill two birds with one stone. A unit of Infants Perdu's once killed four birds with half a stone. What's that? You say there's no such thing as half a stone? The four dead birds didn't think so either.
  • S is for Swiss Pike block, as is every other letter of the alphabet.
  • Swiss Pikemen don't breathe, they hold air hostage.
  • Swiss Scientist Einstein's original Theory of Relativity was; if a Swiss Pike Block hits you, your relatives will feel it.
  • During the middle ages, The Swiss National Lottery numbers were not random. They were just the number of people Swiss Pikemen killed that given day.
  • During the wars against Charles The Bold a Swiss Pike block came across a bear in a forest near Morgaten. It was so terrified that it fled North into the arctic. It was also so terrified that all of its decendents now have white hair.


I hope you like them. Now to crack on and paint something else - there are still a few days left for me to submit some more figures to try to grind Ray into the dust!
Holy Smokes (I thought an apt exclamation this week)! That is an amazing amount of work Tamsin. They look great individually but absolutely brilliant all ranked up - a veritable forest of pikes!  Very, very impressive.

This amazing phalanx of pikemen will give Tamsin a staggering 512 points! This gives her enough points to break through her second points target and place her in the top 4 in this points standings. Superb effort!

26 comments:

  1. Very impressive , they look great in a big block.

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  2. Superb effort indeed and great looking figures.

    John

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  3. My bladder just gave out!!!

    Great looking figures Tamsin, what a great effort you have put in!

    Ian

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  4. Nice one....

    ...now what was that about sandbagging again? :D :D

    Great job!

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    1. ...hrm. Ya know, 264 points and I'd catch Ray...

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  5. Holy shit, that's a hell of unit!

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  6. Fantastic work - 256 figs in three weeks - wow

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  7. Great entry been waiting for these and they look every bit as good as I expected

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  8. Thanks guys - glad you like them! :)

    @ Ian - was that from laughing or fright?

    @ Mike - ahhh, but this wasn't sandbagging as I've been posting about doing these for the last 3 weeks. That 1 figure=1 man Roman region that Ray's secretly painting up, now, that is sandbagging ;)
    264 points to catch Ray? Does that mean that we are to be treated to more of your lovely 28mm horsemen?

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  9. just wow....
    I'm so impressed Tamsin

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  10. Wow and wow and wow! ....they don't breathe, they hold air hostage-brilliant.

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  11. Damn impressive work girl and good swiss hokum as well!

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    1. They've turned down your offer to be the new Papal Swiss Guard, I'm afraid. Apparently you're big enough and u.., errr, you're big enough to look after yourself :)

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  12. Awesome! An achievement on their own. The massed pikes look superb.

    Cheers,
    Ross

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  13. Damn nice work Tamsin, but will or could I catch you???

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  14. That's one impressive amount of pikes! Very nicely done!

    Christopher

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  15. Blimey Tamsin! I once painted 160 in one batch as a birthday gift and you've gone nearly *100* better! My eyes were hanging out at the end so I can only imagine what yours must feel like. Simply marvellous stuff! I can vouch for you when you say those pikes are murderous too. ;-)

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  16. @ Ray - you could catch me and I'm pretty certain you have enough figures painted and ready to submit to do so ;)

    @ Millsy - it will certainly be a while before I want to see another Swiss pikeman on my painting table ;)

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  17. Now that is what you call a PIKE block.
    Bloody hell Tamsin, excellent work.
    Now sit down down with a few bottles of JD and you will soon feel a lot better.

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  18. Great work Tamsin. Holy sh!t is about all I can add (and this has been covered above).

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  19. Wow that looks great, terrifying on the battlefield no doubt.

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  20. Really impresive, Tamsin. How many figures!!!

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  21. a great entry , well done Tamsin

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  22. Damn! That's a LOT of Pike!

    Nice work!

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Thanks for your comment! As long as you're not a spam droid I'll have it up on the blog soon. :)