Conquistador/16th Century Infantry Progress

Comments

Henry - February 8, 2021

Ultimately I think it’s a pity that WA has surrendered to the noisy mob and weakened the historicity of this set by trying to genericise it to the entire 16th century and appeal to the louder elements among the customers of a certain popular fantasy brand (who are already extremely well served by that brand and other businesses). The company needs to decide whether its historical sets are going to be genuinely historically specific, because if not, although they will undoubtedly sell, they won’t sell to gamers who value historical accuracy; i.e. most historical gamers (just read reviews of historical figures by historical gamers and note how scathingly such inaccuracies are treated). I hope that this set isn’t setting a precedent that might damage WA’s reputation as a producer of quality plastic historical wargaming figures. Because of its historically nebulous nature I know I’ll be reading as many reliable reviews as possible of future sets, and reading them very carefully, before considering a purchase.

Commercially this set is to be paired with a set of Aztecs, which tells you in no uncertain terms its original intended historical focus: 1519-21; but with its slide away from *historical authenticity the ‘opposing sets’ concept, at least in this case, has now become moot.

Many fantasy gamers would have found a set of authentic early 16th century conquistadors just as useful as the populist, Hollywood version WA will be releasing, and with its prodigious output it would have been only a matter of time before sets meeting the requirements of gamers it didn’t appeal to would have become available.

*To compensate for its excessive use here I plan to try to avoid using the ‘H’ word or its variants for at least a month.

Arrigo Velicogna - February 6, 2021

I would say, keep the pikes and make them useable for Europe and the Spanish adventures in North Africa like Tunis. Actually I am eyeing them for the latter two purposes.

Iain - February 6, 2021

I’m with James, I’ll be using them for the Italian wars so yes to pikes, glad they don’t have apostles and not sure about 2 handed swords but would like sword and bucklers,I probably wouldn’t get them without pikes,well not as many!
Best Iain

Pierre Lerdou-Udoy - February 6, 2021

You are right, comrades Axel and Mark : the famous “12 apostles” seem to come later, but “los arcabuceros” wore inevitably powder, bullets and something to light the lock, from the beginning. The “conquistadores” were efficient soldiers, not tourists.

On the other hand, we can consider that matchlocks were not really in use in America. In 1519, I have read that Cortez had only 13 matchlocks. It’s not much.

Thank you for your feedback : the question remains open. I really like the work of WGA.

Axel - February 6, 2021

@Pierre
Put “Conquest of Tunis 1535 tapestry” into the search engine of choice and take a look at Spanish arquebus. The same for “Pavia 1525”. There are some proto bandoliers, but nothing like the almost standardized equipment of the TYW era.

Mark Chandler - February 6, 2021

Pierre, I believe these are mid 16th century rather than the later period with matchlock muskets and “12 Apostles”, so Arquebusiers. Collars of charges/Apostles came later.

Scott Beil - February 5, 2021

You guys are killing it! How about some iron age Germans, please… Love what you’re doing.

Pierre Lerdou-Udoy - February 4, 2021

Little but very important detail : I don’t see any powder flask, pouch for bullets or “apostles” on a bandolier. Without those elements, very difficult to use a matchlock !

Quinn - February 3, 2021

If you are forced to pair back components on the sprue I personally wouldn’t mind if the pikes were removed. Plenty of other plastic historical sets in a similar time period to this set such as the Perry Miniatures mercenaries or the Warlord Games landsknechts include pikes. The inclusion of the swords, halberds, and shorter spears make this set more unique.

James - February 3, 2021

These look great. When is the release!?