Hi to all,

Following on from my recent reviews of from Tartar Miniatures its a happy time to be able to share this latest release.

have a really good team behind them producing figures that are seen to be well sculpted and cast and very natural in pose and very accurate in clothing , amongst these there is a fine number of releases from the 15the century , all of which work well singularly or as a diorama, the latest is another .

What are we looking at :

German Mercenary 15th C

Lets have some information on the Billman :

The most important item for a billman was his bill, the polearm he marched into battle with.
There are many types of polearm, each with its own uses and drawbacks.polearms included the voulge. Little more than a heavy cutting blade with a long, sharp point attached to a pole, it is both simple and effective in its ability to chop and to pierce armor.
An evolution of the voulge was the halberd, a weapon somewhat like an axe with a long point and a hook on the back end. The blade may be used for cutting, the point for stabbing, and the hook for grabbing an enemy by the weapon or joint and pulling them away from the safety of their formation. The disadvantages of these weapons is that their bulk makes them heavy.
A lighter, faster option is the glaive, a weapon resembling a large knife on a pole. With a cutting edge and a thrusting point, if fulfills the necessary functions of a polearm without being weighed down by the weight of extra parts. But the simplicity and lightness of the glaive is also its weakness, as it has less utility than the voulge or the halberd.
The billhook is something of a midpoint between these two extremes. Developed from an agricultural tool, the body of the weapon is a forward-curving hook, which may be used to hook the enemy, grab their weapon, or punch through their armor with a solid hit.
A point was added for thrusting, and most billhooks also have another spike on the backside for chopping with.
The second piece of kit a soldier would be concerned with would be his helmet. Above all other pieces of armor the helmet was valued by billmen. A strike to the body may take you out of a the battle, but if you’re lucky you’ll survive. A strike to the head will most certainly take you out of the battle, and will likely take your life as well.
There were a wide variety of helmets in use, each covering a different level in the trade-off between visibility and breathability and protection. Two of note which cover the ends of the spectrum are the kettle hat and the sallet. The kettle hat is an entirely open helmet, used primarily by infantry, with a wide brim surrounding the cap. In such a helmet, you have a full range of vision, your breathing is not impaired, you can hear well, and you are even shaded by the brim. However, this design leaves the face entirely open to attack. Much more protective, the sallet features a visor which covers the face below the eyes, greatly reducing the targets presented to the enemy. However, the sallet greatly narrows the vision, breathing can become laborious, and hearing may even be difficult. To counter-act this, many sallets feature an articulated visor which may be raised by the wearer, so that they can see and breath, find their enemy, and bring the visor back down as they march into battle.
The basic unit of armor was the padded jack or gambeson, a thick coat padded with wool, sometimes up to an inch thick. This padding could stop a glancing cut from a polearm or sidearm, but gave little resistance to a solid thrust. On its own, the jack essentially served a “better than nothing” role, as it was simple to make and easy to move in.
Mail was, generally, lighter than plate, and more flexible, but it did not offer as solid of a protection as steel plate, and was more susceptible to being pierced. The breastplate of a billman, the main body protection, was often of lower quality steel. It offered protection by the thickness of the steel and the shape, usually rounded to deflect strikes away from the center. It was only in more finely crafted armors that the steel was of high enough quality to offer resiliency of its own, allowing the armor to be thinner and more finely fit to the body of the wearer.Where the padded jack was not the only armor present, the jack most often served as cushioning, both to make the armor more comfortable, and to absorb the concussive force of blows to the armor. Over the jack was warn the body armor. In the 15th century, mail was still known, but was rapidly giving way to steel plate armor.they Good fro protection breastplates did inhibit the movement of the wearer. A soldier wearing a breastplate would find he cannot bring his arms close over his chest, and cannot flex at the waist as much as he is used to. While it is quite possible to move and function well enough to fight in a breastplate, it can be especially limiting if you are not used to it, and it is more added weight to carry while fighting. The 15th century soldier would have to keep all of these in mind alongside the prospect of marching into a bristling pile of polearms.
A peasant billman would take whatever armor he could get, but the hands were usually the next place protected, if not even before the breastplate. A thick pair of leather gloves or a good pair of steel gauntlets would do wonders towards keeping your hands, which would often be a primary target for the enemy. Spaulders would cover the shoulder and upper arm, and would usually be attached to armor for the neck known as the gorget.
Armor for the legs was uncommon among infantry, for multiple reasons. Armor for the legs had to be particularly well-fitted to keep from hindering movement, and that was typically something a peasant soldier could not afford. It was popular to wear close-fitting clothing on the legs, to show-off how well-muscled and fit you were.
If the lines failed or a soldier lost grip of his polearm, he had to be quick, and for this he needed a sidearm. The sidearm of a soldier had to be small, much smaller than the weapons often carried by knights and officers. A soldier needed to be able to maintain tight formation while carrying his sidearm, and had to be able to draw it fast when he needed it. For this, soldiers were most often constricted to weapons which could be wielded easily with one hand.
Hammers and maces were popular in the age of plate armor, as they were incredibly effective in crushing armor and transferring bludgeoning force through the armor and into the man wearing it. But a hammer could be unwieldy, and so soldiers wealthy enough may have chosen to use a sword.
The balance of a sword made it much easier to parry away enemy attacks while launching precise strikes. However, a soldier needed more training to use a sword effectively, and his options were more limited. A sword could not cut or piece armor, and could only seldomly deliver enough force to crush or break armor. More common on the battlefield were axes.

Of course we have all heard of the Landsnechts but not all mercenary soldiers were as colourful but still fighting for the money , amongst them are our subject a partly infantryman , armoured no doubt above his station , looted from the battlefield , maybe not as colourful but just as deadly.
Tartar have chosen to depict a billman , many types of weapons were seen ....all lethal , some derived from farming tools, our soldier has equipted himself well , a padded jack , breast plate , a helmet called a sallet ( these have been found painted ) , and a shield similar to the pavise.
Books are of course available here are a few from my shelves

Continued in next post

Nap

Lets look at the release

Title: German Mercenary XVc.

Reference: TR75-81

Scale: 75mm

Material: Gray Resin

No of pieces: 10

Sculptor: Sergey Savenkov

Box Art: Ruslan Vorobiov

The release was announced by Sergey here on PF http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/german-mercenary-15th-century.77563/ and also on social media

Shipping was as always quick , well packed with the resin being in a good strong box with colour artwork on the top , the resin being in plastic bags surrounded by bubble wrap.

Opening the box reveals a delight in resin , a very imposing figure , parts const of the main figure , 2 arms, , billarm , sword, dagger , shield, helmet , a strap to fit the shield and a base, also included inside was a nice picture of the other infantryman in the tartar range , looking great together.


Prep
Again out came my optivisor on looking for casting lines finding only a tiny one on the left lower leg in addition to a small bit of resin from under the small bag on the belt , and under the footwear , small casting plugs from under the helmet , the remaining pieces just had tiny excess "blips" of resin to sand off ...as with the Viking I reviewed ..absolutely minimal and easy prep.

This again is a big 75mm which is to the modellers benefit as its packed with details .

Looking at the Main figure , sculpting is excellent to say the least , he wears a hooded top the long end hanging at the bag , his shoulders covered as well , the face is easy to get to with the undercuts being particularly worth noting , he is bearded , nice textures , only one eye to paint , he has lost the other in battle and as a result he sports a patch, nicely worked , the facial features are good an older man who has somehow survived many battles , an experienced soldier and very adaptable at foraging and looting no doubt.

All over the figure this shows really good folds and creases in the clothing .

He wears the padded coat over which he has a front breastplate this is very smooth and looking like he is wearing it with a retaining strap , the make up of the padding on the jacket is also very good , nice touches include tears and rips in various places .

On his belt he has a purse again nicely shown , at this point its worth mentioning the way all the belts have been sculpted , extremely well done , worn and the edges pulling into the clothing where appropriate , ends wrapped round and hanging naturally , all showing very good undercuts.

He has his legs covered , and patched up on the left leg , some wear has been included , the right knee has been protected by armor extremely well sculpted , nice rivets and clean and sharp edges.

Feet are in shoes of the period , folded over at the top , laces are evident .




Now to the Arms , this fellow is lucky indeed , as he has armour for his lower arms , including some finger knuckle protection ..but only on the left and not a full gauntlet ...as the fingers are seen underneath ...the right has none , this sort of detail really make the figure , needless to say sculpting is great , the fingers are good , the armour well shown , good folds on the clothing with the straps and buckles the same, fit to the main figure is easy and minimal filler needed.




Weapons these include a Sword and a Dagger and the Bill itself , , the sword has a cord on the handle (wood effect on this) , twisted in style , the blade was slightly bent on the review item ... easy to straighten ( see note ref hairdryer included in box) , even in this scale it looks a dangerous weapon , fit to the figure is easy, possibly think about pinning it, the same can be said of the dagger m nice shape and fits well to the figure.
The bill he carry's has the right hand sculpted onto the shaft, very good work on the fingers and the shape of the blade is axe like with a point both up and at the side...that is going to cause a lot of damage!!!

The Helmet..a Sallet type really well shaped as in the pictures of the original , you might wish to open up the eye visor slit , the shape is as said good with the sweep of the back being very good , rivets are in place with a comb on the top.

The Shield ...pavise style again nicely worked , plain so you ca put a design on it if you wish , no battle damage is on it so perhaps an option to add .

Finally the Base textured groundwork with rocks and branches , nicely done and very suitable to mount the figure on if you wish

Final Thoughts

As with previous releases this is very well sculpted , full of detail, well cast with minimal prep , and a really nice addition to the series , working well with the others ,

A very good addition to the catalogue

For more information on this and other releases in all scales have a look at the websiteand follow on FB

Sergey is a member on Planet Figure so you could always PM if needed.

Website: www.tartarminitures.com

Email: tartar.miniatures@libero.it

In the UK you can get Tartar Miniatures products from El Greco Miniatures www.elgrecominiatures.co.uk

Thanks to Tartar for the review model and to you all for popping in

Nap

Lets have some pictures now

The unpainted first


Now some of the box art from Ruslan

Enjoy this and your painting

Nap

Looking forward to the postman arriving with this one Kev! A very thorough & informative review, now bookmarked for reference for when he hits the bench

- Steve