Ambush

The sailors are on the way back to the ship for supplies.

Suddenly they are ambushed!

A small group of Aztecs lead by a great general attack out from behind the rocks.

Only a few of the sailors are armed, but one has a pike, and another has a gonne.

Who will win?

Conquest

Spanish and Portuguese of the time would be very similar.

They sailed all over the world and made colonies in the New World, Africa, India, and Asia.

The sets have very little if any flash, and are nicely molded.  Each nationality has men rowing boats, carrying supplies, operating cannons, pulling ropes, and doing other sailing and combat tasks.

The ships of the era were usually small and carried about 50 men per ship.  Fleets might have a dozen ships or more and sometimes carried as many as a thousand men or more.

I will use these with the Revell and Caesar Conquistadors, and Aztecs as well as the Caesar Inca.

 Don't forget you can get a Bunker Talk tee shirt at Red Bubble. 
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Christopher Columbus

Redbox has released several sets of 1/72nd scale sailors for the Age of Conquest.

They have Spanish, and Italian, and several others.

Each country has sailors handling the ship, on board cannons, and a third of sailors handling small arms.

My plan is to us all of the Spanish and Italian sets for part of my Conquistador armies.

Sailors from the Italian states are well known to have served on Spanish ships.

Cristobal Colon for example, Christopher Columbus!

Welcome friends from the Netherlands.

Red Box Italian Sailors

Red Box Italian Sailors from the 16th to 17th Century.

In 1/72nd scale soft plastic.

While I don't care about 16th Century Italians, as such, my intention is to use these with my Conquistadors in the New World.

I will mix them in with my Spanish figures.  I have a lot of ships that need crews.

And like the Spanish, I am not too concerned about where they come from.

I have read these are supposed to be for a galley, but I think most will work for rowing ships boats too.

The others can work the rigging and the deck.

Crews of sailing ships from the Mediterranean Sea often were mixed from many lands.

Drummer may get transferred to the Zulus, or Aztecs, or other native peoples, after a suitable head swap!