Conquistadores for Christmas!

Comments

Ángel - January 26, 2022

Hello there!

I would like to buy the conquistadors box, but I live between Czech Republic and Spain.

Do you work with some shops/retailers in Europe?

Best regards

Alexis Muldoon - October 29, 2021

I’d love to use these for Frostgrave, Ghost Archipelago, and One Page Rules Age of Fantasy.

David Powell - September 11, 2021

When Oh! When, will they be ready for release???

Martin Wodehouse - July 1, 2021

Is there a definite release date for these yet? I’ve looked but can’t find anything.

Brendan Flynn - June 10, 2021

I have been looking at these on Facebook and loving what I see. I currently have 350 Aztecs but was always wanting plastics so may buy a couple of packs in any case. The Spaniards I will definitely grab a few boxes of.

These look great and should help make gaming the escape from Tecnochtitlan and other scenarios a colourful battle to remember. I can picture it…pyramids at one end of the board and along causeway to the safety of the jungle at the other end….just beyond those Quachic and Ontonin, and war canoes packed with the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, closing on both sides. A tough call for the Spanish but a fun game for the Aztecs.

Christian Barton - February 23, 2021

Every one here seems to complain about some minor details idk, I just want Estalians for WHAP

Henry - January 17, 2021

I do hope it’s not too late for WA to improve the historical accuracy of this set by modifying the renders with added mail shirts, additional cabasset variants, less of the slashed breeches etc., but I get the impression from the recent Facebook post that these figures will be released ‘as is’. If so, I think it would be a pity and a wasted opportunity – and a potential deterrent to purchase for historical gamers wanting to play the 1519-21 Conquest of Mexico (although in partial compensation, anyone wanting mid-16th century Spanish might feel gratified).

All the above points about clothing and armour apply equally to Spanish troops serving in Italy contemporaneously with the Conquest of Mexico.

Surely historically accurate conquistadors will work just as well as ‘Hollywood conquistadors’ for fantasy gaming; it’s fantasy, so anything goes, doesn’t it?

Henry - January 6, 2021

The conquest of Mexico occurred in the years from 1519 to 1521, placing it right in the middle of the period Axel is interested in, so the style of armour and costume of historically accurate conquistador figures make them perfectly usable for the contemporary wars in Italy etc. if gamers are prepared to look past the colonial preference for lighter types of armour than steel plate. The TAG Spanish are intended to cover both of these theatres.

The crossbow was the preferred missile weapon in the New World into the mid-16th century and, in some regions, as late as the late 16th century, probably because of problems with the gunpowder in use at the time caused by climatic factors.

It shouldn’t take much to make this set usable for Portuguese ‘conquistadors’. I doubt that their costume or armour were significantly different to Spanish styles in the period in question (if you have information to the contrary now is the time to post it), which only leaves armament, so with nothing more than the inclusion of boarding axes and bladed half-pikes (see my 1/1/20 post) along with the halberds already proposed the distinction then comes down to any flags or national costume or shield devices you might paint.

I think it’s probably a far more easily achievable objective for Wargames Atlantic to make this just a general Iberian conquistadors set than to try to cover every troop type for every campaign the Spanish were involved in in the early 16th century, but who knows…. they’re talented people, so maybe they can do it all in one boxed set!

Axel - January 4, 2021

>Great news. Conquistadores is a niche period in wargames.
Maybe. But you get far more conquistadores in metal then you get early 16th century Spaniards for the European and North African campaigns. TAG does those for around 1500, and WG for 1550+, but the era in between – where Spanish armies transformed from the Trastamara ordonnance into the Tercios is scarcely represented anywhere. Take a look at the Pavia or Tunis depictions to see how distinct and different they look from earlier and later eras. Can’t wait to build some companies for Ravenna, Pavia, Bicocca, the defense of Vienna 1529 beside the Landsknechts, or the Sack of Rome.

>No crossbows
Crossbows were more or less distinct on the European battlefields from around 1520, and very rare starting 1500 (apart from the French or light cav). No use for many of these – though as a conquistador sprue there should be some as they were more prominent in the Americas. Otherwise the arquebus was the distance weapon of choice.

>Portugese & Late Morions
I have no idea what will fit on the sprue, but I would really love to see a Spaniard sprue for the early 16th century with material for European usage first (pikes). Other countries or eras are welcome, but if you do not do a larger or two sprues, space is limited. I rather have more realistic head options for variations then just one for each and atypical as options.

Henry - January 3, 2021

The cabasset in the above image is fine in as far as it goes, but the conquistadors used a variety of styles of this particular helmet pattern, in some of which you can clearly see the evolution towards the morion (particularly in the shape of the helmet bowl). There were also some with fluted/rippled/corrugated brims. All these variants appear on the Foundry figures. Although a few patterns of helmet were worn, the other most common type was the sallet. The visored burgonet, with or without a comb was, like the morion, an evolutionary development (from the sallet) of the mid 16th century.

Mark A. Morin has posts on his blog (markamorin.com) about his conquistador gaming project that include close-up images of his Foundry figures. The mail shirts worn by many conquistadors under their cotton/leather/metal armour are very apparent.