From Landskneht to halberdiers

I have started working up my existing Empire army into a playable force for 8th edition. In changing the army it was clear that I needed more troop figures. Specifically Haberdiers. I am not a fan of the current GW state troop figures. I have always preferred the halberiers from the 1996 journal. The problem with these are that they are getting difficult to track down. I had a small collection from a detachment I had, but getting more through places like ebay was going to get very expensive. They look like they go for around £8 GBP each. I need another 50, so there is no way that that was ever going to happen.

So I looked around. The warhammer-empire site gave some great advice and pointed me in the direction of Artizan designs Landsknecht regiment. So I took the plunge and ordered some. at £22 GBP for 20 I figured I would not be going too far wrong.

They don't come with any weapons so I made mine with a short piece of rod and harberd ends from the bits box. In making these 20 I have emptied by stock completely so I will need to find some more from somewhere ready for the next lot I need to buy.

I am very pleased with the figures that artizan make. There appear to be 8 basic figures, 4 with breastplates (armoured) and four without (unarmoured). The details are crisp and there was only a small amount of flash. I especially like the fact that they all face in different directions so a unit will not look to uniform

They include a four figure command group. I am not too sure if I will use the leader figure, but the rest are good.

I have also stripped the paint of some old mid 90's halberds I managed to get my hands on. The chap in the centre is off the old battle waggon whilst the chap on the right is one of my oldest figures. It is from the 1986 journal and was brought by me at the time because I quite liked the idea of buying some figures. I think that the paint job shown is my second attempt at painting it in the mid 90's. Lets see if my third is any better...