Sculpted, cast and painted a henchman for Vlad Tepes. I based him on the background figures in Angus McBride’s painting of Vlad the Impaler – I’m not sure about the costume’s accuracy but the hat and coat seem Byzantine/Turkish enough for the time.
Next will be a similar figure but in a fighting pose. I think between the two I can also make a ranked unit for larger games.
Vlad the Impaler sure cast up easy! I don’t have much experience with home casting 28mm figures, but this one didn’t even need any venting. There’s almost always problem areas – sword tips, hands – where air pockets block the flow of metal. Not in this, for whatever reason. It was a great cast the first time.
Almost as if… he wanted to be cast! Spooky!
After a little bit of cleanup, on to painting.
I’m planning a snow base for him, but more on that later. Next up are finding some opponents and allies, plus making some suitable terrain for skirmish games in 15th century Wallachia.
Here’s the three Landsknecht sculpts that have turned out well enough for me to cast. Once I add a halberdier I’ll have the four main weapon types for them.
There’s a mix of materials – mostly Green Stuff but for weapons and bases I prefer Milliput with a little Green or Gray Stuff mixed in. The Milliput is sandable, even with other materials mixed in, allow you to file things like swords to hard edges or sharp points. You can also stick your figure on a large blob of the stuff for a base and then file it down to the diameter and thickness you want.
A Landsknecht with arquebus, cast and painted up:
Pikeman with wire pike – I prefer this to the cast pikes.
For non-Landsknecht troops, I’m working on a peasant or city militia type.
No hands yet, I usually attach the weapon first. It’s much easier to do detailed items like hands when there’s a base for the GS – open hands are best with a wire frame at least.
The protrusion from his head will be a hat. I did the bulk of it first before putting on the brim. I’ve found the best sculpting results working in stages and layers. Too much unhardened GS is going to deform as you add details and ruining work you thought you finished is incredibly frustrating. Best to do a section and move on to another figure while it dries.
Rat Rampant 