Good day to one and all

Its back to my review bench for a look at one of the latest releases I have from Altores Studio .

Announced in Social Media and in PF as always :

http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/altores-studio.82559/

The subject is :

Based on this picture by Andrey Shishkin

The release title says Mercenary and there are many famous types from this period , Swiss and of course Germanic namely Landsknechts

Noted for their very colourful and outlandish dress sense , all colours of the rainbow ,slashed materials exposing different colours underneath , sometimes with bows and hanging ribbons , worn with large fashionable hats adorned with feathers.

Part of the Landsknechts pay was picking spoils after the battle. Clothing, weapons, jewelry and basic supplies could always be found after a battle.

Their dress was a matter of contention; however, with the Noble classes, who felt a uniform should be instituted for distinguishing rank. Maximilian I, at the Diet of Augsburg in 1503, ruled that they deserved at least one luxury in their miserable lives, and so they wore what they wanted.

Landsknechts fought for food, money, Beer (a food during the Renaissance, made with only 4 ingredients since 1516 -water, yeast, barley and hops) and religion. They would not fight for enemies of the Empire, those who did were hunted down and killed, with extreme prejudice! Most notabe was the Black Band, an entire legion led by George Langenmantel that joined the French. Their last battle was Pavia, in 1525......not one of the 4,000 survived.

The weapons that these fearsome warriors carried were glaives, pikes, halberds, Zweihanders, axes, Arquebuses, broadswords, shortswords and maces, thought not all by each man.

The pike was the main weapon carried. The Ash stave was one and a half inches thick and up to 18 feet long. When used in great numbers they form an impenetrable barrier known as a "hedgehog"

The Zweihander was the weapon of choice of the Doppelsoldner called so for fighting in the front rank, charging the enemy pikes, and getting paid twice as much. The Zweihander (right) was a 66 inch long sword, with a double-edged sometimes undulating blade, weighing anywhere from 7 to 14 pounds.

The extravagant clothing of the Landsknecht disappeared by the second half of the 16th century, and even the term Landsknecht became obsolete, now they were Kaiserliche Fussknecht, Imperial foot soldiers.

Colourful warriors indeed.....with a fearsome fighting reputation

Books are obtainable with many manuscripts and tapestries showing these soldiers in battle ( particularly the battle of Pavia)

Continued in next post

Nap

Now to the resin

Title: Mercenary

Reference: B -033

Scale: 1/8th

Material: Lt Gray resin

No of parts: 11

Sculptor: Alexander Deryabin (PF member Zippo)

Box Art: N/A

Again as with all of Altores releases parts were in a good cardboard box , adorned with yellow text and a unpainted version on the top ( no box art at time ) , parts were in clear bags and surrounded above and below by foam layers .

Parts consist of the main torso , 2 arms, 2 gloved hands, head , cap , 2 sets of feathers , sword blade and cross guard , no base .




Prep

As with previous busts I have reviewed I didn't anticipate too much to clean up ...I was right!!!

Main Torso...Sand away small excess on underneath , slight casting run on sides to sand away
Arms.....Nothing
Head...Tiny flashing underneath beard
Hand....Small casting plug to sand off glove and casting line on sword handle
Cap....Remove 3 small casting plugs
Feathers....Remove casting formers and fit
Sword....Remove 2 small Lugs from handle area and straighten sword if needed
Cross guard...Remove small casting plugs and fit

General comments

The resin is as said really smooth and high quality capturing the sculpting well

You will need to fit the hands together ( handle goes through )

Cross guard will need fitting so dry fit first

Sword can be straightened by using a hairdryer of heat between fingers , I would suggest pinning as well

Main Torso

Wearing armour the surface is super smooth , I like it and allows for good effects to be worked onto it but perhaps some decoration might be a nice addition which I might think of adding on my version.
The armour edges are really very sharply done both on the front and back pieces with straps holding them in place across the shoulders , very nice buckle details both here and at the sides .
Around the lower neck there is armour as well , again well sculpted .
The neck and arm area are all ready to take the head and arms with no problems

The back of the torso has been scalloped out , I like this idea ..its different to what we normally see





Arms

These are very full and in keeping with what we have seen in the references , the slashed sleeves are extremely well sculpted and casting is the same quality as well , fit to the torso is excellent , no filler needed , the ends of the arms are sculpted to take the hands , a lot of thought has gone into this .



Head

As with any bust the face is what everybody looks at , and looking at this ...its GREAT ...excellent work in respect the cheeky smirk he has on his face , totally in keeping with the picture reference ....I cannot say anything bad about this , like the way the eyebrows are raised up , brow furrowed , excellent facial features eye work is really sharp with lines at the eye corners .

Hair and beard areas expected well done good texture and he is very well kept , the moustache veers upwards in a jaunty angle ..this guys is proud of hsi looks and no doubt a hit with the ladies of the Wagon train as well .

Around his neck there is a small ruff , fitting is accurate both for the neck area on the torso and the cap .






Whats not to like about the face !!!

Hands

Or should that be Gloves , that's what they are , heavy duty gloves , the left is holding the sword handle the right has a hole all the way through to take the handle itself , the look of the gloves are very good with separation between the fingers being the same , the positioning of the hand is also good with the digits correct ....a good opportunity to paint worn leather .



Hat/Feathers

Another nice bit of sculpting here a large full cap well shown with different sections having good edges with the material slightly soft looking at the edges ...very effective in overall design
The underneath has a good head shaped cutout fitting well onto the actual head itself



Feathers

We are given a total of 3 large and full feathers , one in a pairing the other single, suffice to say the texture work is very good the ends in particular some upturned , fitting to the hat is no issue using the 2 small holes in the cap.


Sword and Hand Guard

This is the double handed sword a long and very lethal weapon , I would like to see it held in transit on a backing card but it was underneath the foam so was protected as such . Some might like to replace the sword with a white metal version if like me you have rather large fingers..lol !!

Detail on the sword is good , a cross piec is cast on with the top part of the handle , a small locating pin fits to a cutout on the hand part of handle ...I would suggest pinning ..

The guard is a good shape as we see in research , you need to make sure you fit this to the main sword end first before the blade is in place.




Final Thoughts

I like busts that's no secret but again I am happy to see what Altores Studio have produced a piece full of character and sharp sculpting all over , minimal prep , and so much potential to paint as colourful as you wish , leather effects , metallics and flesh tones are all there .

A really nice addition to the series and long may they continue to release resin of this quality and interesting subjects .

Highly recommended ...well you can never have enough Landsknechts !!!

For details on this and more from them :

E-mail: altoress@mail.ru

Website: www.altores.com

They are also a member of FaceBook and the forum here on PF

Thanks to for the review piece

Nap

Hi Guys

Here's some unpainted versions of the bust

View attachment 274619

And a painted version with the artwork by DMITRY FURSOV

ENJOY folks

Nap

Thanks for comment

The back isn't what we normally expect to see in a bust ..similar on other releases some with designs on , personaslly I like it but everybody has their thoughts , it's doesn't detract from their releases

Thanks for looking in

Nap