Tag Archives: Renaissance

That period covering the late 15th century through the early 16th when pike and shot appeared alongside knights in armor.

Renaissance Knights

IMG_2525
IMG_2276
Large flamboyant figures in 28mm by Foundry, a group of Renaissance-era knights. The online Foundry site shows the armor brightly painted and I have not hesitated to follow suit.

People seem unduly impressed by the candy-stripe lances though the technique is pretty simple. Paint the pike the base color then cut a thin strip of masking tape and wrap it around the lance from base to point. Paint a nice contrasting color, let it dry, and remove the tape. Masking with tape is not too difficult and rather helpful with more intricate patterns on figures this large.

One helpful thing to keep in mind is that horse armor in the period was crafted in both leather and metal. These could be distinguished by the cords used to lace leather armor together, cords absent on metal armor. While metal armor was usually some metallic shade, leather armor was frequently painted in flamboyant colors. It is helpful to be able to spot the difference when painting horse armor from this era.