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Landsknecht Ogre Planning!

Landsknecht Ogre Planning!

Having had a great discussion with Landsknecht Ogre submitter and winner Michael Stockdale, we've settled on an approach for this set that we'd like to share with you.

First, we need to lock down a size and proportion for these boys as they are our first "monster" size. Having looked around yesterday we settled on the excellent Westfalia versions. I have really loved their design aesthetic and their half-men were an inspiration to me when starting Wargames Atlantic. If you haven't seen their work click on this image to go to their site: 

 

So these fellows will come in around 45mm or so. This will be a full frame set aiming for three unique bodies on the frame.

The bodies will be armored cuirass with square-toed shoes/boots to emulate the classic Landsknecht look. Slashed style sleeve arms will hold a variety of historical/fantasy weapons including Zweihänders (very big two-handed swords), halberds, a matchlock style hand cannon, large, ornate dueling-style pistols. Spear or double-duty standard pole. We will experiment with some options. Maybe a dagger or mace too. Will need at least one larger shield and some buckler style for the swordsmen. Perhaps some segmented plate armor pieces for the legs. The iconic floppy hats and helmets will be included and Morion helmets as an extra option. 

Since this is a Wargames Atlantic set, we can't leave it there though! Alternate arms with heavy autoguns and plasma weapons with shoulder pads on the arms, futuristic helmets and bare heads, and a  variety of packs comm units holsters etc to equip the bodies will also be included to sci-fi up these fellows. 

Officially this set will be part of our Death Fields AND the Classic Fantasy ranges. Within DF the backstory will be that these are a group of abducted Landsknecht - The Vain - who after some time on the circuit succumbed to flattery and allowed themselves to be genetically modified to be bigger and stronger. Their alien owner of course didn’t explain that they would also become grotesque. They now operate as guns for hire and are lent out to the highest bidders as a supplement to regular teams on the Death Fields circuit.

For fantasy they are also mercenaries fighting for and against the High Queen - a band of brothers united in their love of fashion and fighting.

We hope you like these ideas for this set. We hope also that we can fit all the ideas we keep coming up with onto the frame! Let us know what you think below!

Artwork credit: Landsknechts in the Sack of Rome, 1527 by Angus McBride (1988)

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Comments

Kevin Scrivner - May 12, 2021

Looks as if our ogres will need beer steins as well as weaponry. Maybe a keg or two.

M Fitzgerald - May 12, 2021

‘Deathfields lore is based on the abduction of actual Landsknecht infantry’

A few things:

- The lore hasnt been written.
- It isn’t ‘actual Landsknecht infantry’, because ‘actual Landsknecht infantry’ didnt have ogres in it.
- Because ogres aren’t real at all, unlike women, which constitute, by conservative estimate, 52% of the human species.
- Not sure what percentage of Ogres are female, because they aren’t real, and the lore hasn’t been written.
- It is extremely unlikely that no women served in the Landsknecht, because women (real, and the majority of the species) have served in basically every war ever, whether presenting as women, or not. The notion that the unit where people got to wear blouses and colorful tights and huge silly hats and were encouraged to dress like clowns at a carnival, was the unit that definitely didnt have any women in it is..ludicrous.
- The year 2500 almost certainly doesnt exist, and if it did we have no way of checking, or telling what’s happening then, so the medium of this discussion begins with abject fantasy, before we ever start hopping dimensions for the one where the ogres in Germany had so few prospects as to need to seek mercenary work abroad, en masse. The only time that almost certainly exists, and it is in this dimension, is now – and we dont even perceive it while it is actually happening, because of the time it takes for incoming stimuli to be processed.
- Basically, if you find yourself taking issue with making some of these ogres women, we can comfortably deduce that your issue is not with the setting, time-travel, the history of German mercenary units, or ogres, but women. Your problem is with women.

I’m considerably more interested in this kit hearing you talk about plasma cannons and female bodies – that kit has room in my guard! Excitement is growing.

Monty B - May 12, 2021

Can’t wait to see these ogres Smash Mouths in, and peel their opponents Layer by Layer. Just gotta be sure to stay out of their swamp.
Cuz they’re the LandskShrekt.

Brian R. Van De Walker - May 12, 2021

Well I might actually buy this set it is already getting me excited just from reading the article. Man I might be able to use these guys for a lot of things just because they will look a bit more civilized.

Also while I am likewise more in favor of an all male set for these bruisers (how many girl ogres do I need and want for Merc monster guardsmen really), I feel I must correct some peoples statements.

Despite whatever silly lore GW has for its sci-fi and fantasy setting ogres or how you feel about ogres as a monster, in traditional western fantasy and fairy tales since before the Brothers Grimm there have always been male and female ogres. We even have the English word “ogress” which literally means female ogre (it is not just a thing from that Dreamwork’s film).

The most famous and obvious of example of an ogress in a fairytale is sleeping beauty’s mother in law from Charles Perrault’s classic version of that story, though there are people who also class female cannibalistic figures, like the Gingerbread Witch from Hansel and Gretel, as being classic examples of an ogress in Western folklore.

http://www.pitt.edu/%7Edash/perrault01.html

Axel - May 12, 2021

To start with, I KNOW that this will be a fantasy set. Still, it does not hurt to use a fashion and equipment that looks realistic and not spread out over a century, but rather fitting for a specific historical frame. The era from 1510 to 1540, the high time of the Italian wars, with Ravenna, Marignano, Pavia, Rome and the first defense of Vienna seems to be the most prominent era for Landsknechts. Any comment will have this style in mind:

>The bodies will be armored cuirass
Please make sure NOT to use the central wedge or pauched belly on the armor that only became fashionable after 1550. Warlord Games made some pretty anachronistic decisions with their plastics here. I would take a look at Steel Fists or Foundry Landsknechts for better style.

>Will need at least one larger shield and some buckler style for the swordsmen.

Landsknechts did not use shields in any battlefield function. Ogres of course may do so, but try to keep them in style. The Triumph of Maximilian contains some Landsknechts with shields, though these never show up in any battlefield illustration. Pavises for ad-hoc battlefield formations (as used 1504) may be a way to go, but do Ogres need these? Worse, large shields take up sprue space…

Pistols were rare, as they were under production restrictions until around 1530. They only showed up in notable battlefield roles in 1547, though individuals used them earlier. Ogre pistols may differ, naturally.

Landsknechts did not use crossbows in any battlefield role. Just not.
You can put one on the sprue for the rule of cool, but its ahistorical (which is, concerning Ogres, naturally a weak argument).

Female bodies… with only three bodies on the sprue, making one female means that one pose would always be THE female. This would also concern heads. I think this limits the variations for unit building quite a bit, so I would advise against it.

From my experience with the Foundry Mercenary Ogres pikes will not look well on these models, despite the pike being the main weapon of Landsknechts. The idea to use helbards or twohanders as main weapons makes sense. I assume their main battlefield role would be as shocktroops vs. Gensdarmes, Pikes or other Ogres – or as mobile artillery when using guns.

Caimheul - May 12, 2021

Honestly, with a full breast plate on the body a “female” option can just be included with one or two feminine heads on the sprue. .
But I’ll likely buy a box either way, can always try to track down a female ogre head to 3D print later if I really want some gender variation in my army.

Isaiah Casey - May 12, 2021

Are these weapons going to be ogre scaled, or are the ogres going to be holding the Zweihänders one handed?

Also, one or two female head options would be wonderful!

david phillips - May 12, 2021

Shaun Gooch you right and you’re wrong though it is well under common knowledge that the vast majority of warriors have been male and the overuse of women in an unnatural manner would hurt realism. this is a mix of death fields and classic fantasy and though I´m no expert on ogre biology (CJ where did your all ogres are gender-neutral theory come from) since they are already so much stronger than humans it´s fair to say in the fantasy context it is reasonable that females might be involved in battle. and in the death fields context since many of the fighters seem to be disendants it´s not out of the queshton even if it is less likely. similar to how in the modern military it´s still 85% male and only 16% female. so it´s likely significantly less common but female presence is not impossible depending on the culture old germans turned agres developed.

Anonymous - May 12, 2021

To Jess.

And here we go with the over reaction!!!!

I’ve collected a ton of female miniatures over the years. I recently spent a stupid amount of money on GWs Sisters of Battle! I own female kits from Sheildwolf, both sci-fi and fantasy. I own a ton of Raging heroes. I own the original Eisenkern Panzerjaegers Wargames Factory Female zombies. Victoria miniatures Female Cadians and many others.

For those who are feeling hurt and jumping to knee jerk reactions.

I will spell it out!

I’ve nothing against female miniatures, in fact some of my best painted miniatures are female ones. I guess, I subconsciously put more effort into them for some reason.

I was making an overtly absurd argument to get my point across. That we are being bombarded by social justice inclusion for the sake of having to tick said boxes or someone is getting offended.

There is a point where you have to draw a line. Female James Bond, female Captain Marvel etc etc. For no sane reason other than social justice.

I’m pretty damn tired of it.

I hope and expect to see female kits for the right reasons. Not to tick a box to appease SJWs.

I hope I’ve made my stance crystal clear.

CJ - May 12, 2021

@Jess
You’re right, I apologise, I obviously misunderstood the lore.

I’m looking forward to this set no matter what options it comes with, I’ll probably end up kit bashing some of them anyway, I’m already looking at other 45mm scale plastic sets!

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