Exploring Lustria

Over the years I have picked up a large number of Pirazzo's Lost Legion miniatures from Games Workshop. Mainly because I like the models, especially the Spanish influence, but I never got around to using them in any of my armies due to the relatively sameness of all the models, i.e. it's either pikes or crossbows. The only other way to get models which had a Spanish influence were to try and get hold of the old Estalian swordsmen and Handgunners from Games Workshop. But due to the molds being broken they are only available from ebay at an extraordinary price, if and when they ever turn up.

By chance in 2004 I was introduced to the Gamezone Miniatures models from Spain, among the many models they produce are the Imperials. These are modelled after early Spanish army miniatures and suit the Consquistadorial style of the Pirazzo miniatures. The wide range of miniatures they have available means that more variety can be put into the army.

Out of curiosity I purchased the following items from Gamezone Miniatures to see how they compared to standard GW models:

It ended up costing me 8 Euro postage, so the total was 35.70 Eu which worked out to be about $60 Australian at the time.

I took a number of comparison pictures of the models which you can see here:

GW plastic halberdier, GZ halberdier on std base, GZ halberdier on GW base.

Halberdiers comparison

GW plastic handgunner, GW metal handgunner oop, GZ handgunner on std base, GZ handgunner on GW base.

Handgunners comparison

GW metal pistolier, GW plastic kit bashed pistolier, GZ pistolier.

Pistoliers comparison

And front views of the same models.

Pistoliers comparison 2

GW Pirazzo Lost Legion pike, GZ halberdier on std base, GZ halberdier on GW base.

Pike comparison

Note on this last pic that the middle GZ halberdier is the same size as the old style GW pike, i.e. 25mm, while the GZ halberdier on the right is more 28mm in size.

I'm currently cleaning up the mold lines and prepping the nminiatures I received so they can be painted. In the mean time, here is the current Dogs of War army list i plan on using for all of these miniatures:

Characters:

Core:

Rare:

Characters = 350pts (15.57%)

Core = 1728pts (76.87%)

Rare = 170pts (7.56%)

Total = 2248pts (100%)

I have had a couple of recommendations, one of which is to drop the Pirazzo's completely as they are overpriced and replace them with some Ogres. As I have yet to purchase the Ogre Kingdoms rulebook I'll be holding off on that change until I get it, as the new Ogre Kingdoms Ogres over rule the current Dogs of War Ogres rules.