There is a fascinating moment in military history when heavily armoured pikemen, swords, cavalry and medieval-looking formations still shared the battlefield with increasingly effective muskets and artillery.

Warlord Games Pike & Shotte is built around that transition.

The game lets historical wargamers recreate battles from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including the English Civil Wars, Thirty Years' War, Italian Wars and European Wars of Religion.

Armies march in dense formations.

Pikes protect blocks of infantry.

Musketeers exchange volleys.

Cavalry searches for a vulnerable flank.

Artillery attempts to break formations before they reach combat.

And commanders occasionally discover that their carefully planned advance is not happening quite as carefully as they expected.

Today there are two particularly attractive ways to build these armies:

• Traditional 28mm Pike & Shotte for large, detailed individual miniatures.
• Pike & Shotte Epic Battles for huge formations and historically impressive mass battles on a practical tabletop.

Players can browse the Warlord Games Pike & Shotte collection at TistaMinis for 28mm armies, Epic Battles regiments, cavalry, commanders and other products covering the period.

What Is Pike & Shotte?

Pike & Shotte is Warlord Games' historical mass-battle system covering the age when pikes and early firearms fought side by side.

The rules developed from the same broad design family as Black Powder, but Pike & Shotte has its own period-specific character.

Instead of Napoleonic lines or nineteenth-century rifle formations, players are dealing with:

• Pike blocks.
• Musketeers.
• Harquebusiers.
• Cuirassiers.
• Dragoons.
• Firelocks.
• Field artillery.
• Commanded shotte.

The result is a battlefield where different arms need to support each other.

Why Pike and Musket Formations Matter

The name of the game comes directly from one of the defining infantry formations of the period.

Pikemen carried extremely long weapons that could present a dangerous wall of spear points against enemy infantry and cavalry.

Musketeers provided ranged fire but lacked the same protection at close quarters.

Put the two together and each could compensate for the other's weaknesses.

That relationship sits at the heart of the period.

The battlefield is moving toward gunpowder warfare, but firearms have not yet completely replaced close-combat formations.

A Period of Military Transition

This is one of the main reasons Pike & Shotte is so attractive to historical gamers.

It captures an era between two familiar styles of warfare.

You still see:

• Armour.
• Pikes.
• Swords.
• Large cavalry charges.

But you also increasingly see:

• Muskets.
• Carbines.
• Pistols.
• Field guns.
• More sophisticated gunpowder tactics.

An army can look almost Renaissance at one end of the table and surprisingly modern at the other.

What Wars Can You Play?

The Pike & Shotte range supports several major historical settings.

Conflict	Approximate Period	Why It Is Popular
Thirty Years' War	1618–1648	Massive European conflict with Swedish, Imperial, Protestant and Catholic armies.
English Civil Wars	1642–1651	Royalists, Parliamentarians, Scots and other forces fighting across Britain.
Italian Wars	Late 15th–mid 16th century	Landsknechts, mercenaries and colourful Renaissance armies.
Wars of Religion	16th–17th century	European religious conflict, Ottoman warfare and related campaigns.
Wars of the Three Kingdoms	17th century	English, Scottish and Irish armies with distinctive political and military identities.

The English Civil Wars Are a Natural Starting Point

For many players, the English Civil Wars provide the easiest introduction to Pike & Shotte.

The central matchup is immediately recognizable:

Royalists vs Parliamentarians.

The armies share many basic troop types, which makes collecting straightforward.

Both can use:

• Pikemen.
• Musketeers.
• Cavalry.
• Dragoons.
• Artillery.

The major differences emerge through commanders, troop quality, tactical preferences and historical scenarios.

Royalists

Royalist forces fought for King Charles I and are strongly associated with figures such as:

• King Charles I.
• Prince Rupert.
• Prince Maurice.
• Ralph Hopton.

For hobbyists, Royalist armies can be especially attractive because of their cavalry traditions and colourful regimental possibilities.

Parliamentarians

Parliamentarian forces include commanders such as:

• Oliver Cromwell.
• Sir Thomas Fairfax.
• The Earl of Essex.
• Sir William Waller.

They provide the opposing half of many classic English Civil War scenarios.

The Thirty Years' War Takes Pike & Shotte Across Europe

If you want a broader continental war, the Thirty Years' War offers enormous variety.

The conflict stretched across much of Europe and involved changing coalitions of states, rulers and religious alliances.

Major figures included:

• Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden.
• Albrecht von Wallenstein.
• Count Tilly.
• Christian IV of Denmark.

This is also a perfect setting for players who want enormous pike formations and large cavalry wings.

28mm Pike & Shotte

The traditional Warlord Games range uses 28mm miniatures.

This is the version to choose if you want every individual soldier to have strong visual presence.

A 28mm regiment lets you appreciate:

• Faces.
• Armour.
• Uniform details.
• Weapons.
• Command figures.
• Flags.
• Individual poses.

When painted and based together, a full 28mm pike-and-shot regiment can become a major modelling centrepiece.

Why Choose 28mm?

The biggest advantage is character.

You are painting soldiers rather than primarily painting formations.

That makes 28mm particularly appealing to hobbyists who enjoy:

• Detailed painting.
• Conversions.
• Individual command models.
• Scenic basing.
• Large terrain.
• Photography and display armies.

28mm Is Also Familiar to Warlord Players

Players coming from Bolt Action will already be familiar with approximately this style of miniature scale.

The armies themselves play very differently, but the hobby experience of assembling and painting individual 28mm soldiers will feel familiar.

Popular 28mm Starter: For King & Country

The Pike & Shotte: For King & Country Starter Set is one of the strongest entry points into the traditional game.

It includes the full hardback Pike & Shotte rulebook and 82 hard-plastic 28mm miniatures:

• 58 pike and musket infantry including command.
• 12 cavalry.
• 12 firelock infantry.

The models can be used to represent forces in the English Civil Wars or adapted for other seventeenth-century armies such as those of the Thirty Years' War.

Why For King & Country Is Good for Beginners

It gives you all three fundamental battlefield categories immediately:

• Infantry.
• Cavalry.
• Firearms.

You also receive the complete rulebook.

That makes it a genuine game entry point rather than simply a box of models.

28mm Battalia Starter Army

If you already have the rules or are expanding an existing collection, the Pike & Shotte Battalia Starter Army provides a much larger force.

The box includes:

• 80 Pike & Shotte infantry.
• 24 cavalry.
• 10 firelocks.
• Plastic bases.
• Royalist and Parliamentarian flags.

That gives you enough models to create a substantial battalia rather than just a handful of units.

What Is a Battalia?

Pike & Shotte armies are typically organized into larger command groups known as battalia.

A battalia can contain several regiments and supporting units under a commander.

Your army then contains several such formations.

This creates one of the system's defining features:

command friction.

You are not controlling every unit as if each soldier has a radio headset.

You are issuing orders to larger bodies of troops through commanders.

Command and Control Is Part of the Game

Pike & Shotte inherits an important philosophy from the wider Black Powder rules family.

Your army does not always behave perfectly.

Commanders issue orders.

Sometimes formations move exactly as planned.

Sometimes they do less.

Sometimes your magnificent cavalry manoeuvre becomes a magnificent cavalry delay.

This uncertainty creates a different experience from highly deterministic tournament games.

You Are Playing the Commander, Not Every Soldier

This design encourages players to think at a higher level.

You are deciding:

• Where should the battalia advance?
• Which flank needs cavalry?
• Where should artillery deploy?
• When should the infantry close?

You are not micromanaging each pikeman individually.

Pike Blocks in 28mm Look Fantastic

Few historical miniature formations are as visually distinctive as a 28mm pike block.

Rows of long pikes create enormous vertical height over the unit.

Add:

• Command groups.
• Drummers.
• Ensigns.
• Flags.
• Armoured front ranks.

and the unit immediately looks like a seventeenth-century formation rather than generic infantry.

Armoured Pikemen

TistaMinis also carries specialist units such as Pike & Shotte Armoured Pikemen.

The box contains 12 metal pikemen and pikes.

These are useful for reinforcing the heavily protected portion of a pike formation or adding visual variety to a regiment.

28mm Cavalry Is a Major Part of the Period

A common mistake when building Pike & Shotte armies is focusing almost entirely on infantry.

Historically, seventeenth-century armies could field substantial cavalry forces.

Cavalry fulfilled several roles:

• Flank attacks.
• Shock combat.
• Reconnaissance.
• Pursuit.
• Protecting the army's wings.

Units included:

• Harquebusiers.
• Cuirassiers.
• Dragoons.

Why 28mm Cavalry Is Both Impressive and Dangerous to Your Painting Queue

A regiment of 28mm cavalry looks excellent.

It also means painting:

the rider.

the horse.

the saddle.

the equipment.

the horse again because you forgot one strap.

This is one area where Epic Battles has a major advantage.

What Is Pike & Shotte Epic Battles?

Pike & Shotte Epic Battles takes the same historical period and presents it at a much smaller miniature scale.

Instead of emphasizing individual soldiers, Epic emphasizes:

the regiment.

Rows of infantry are moulded and based together, allowing players to place very large formations on the table.

The result is closer visually to paintings of major seventeenth-century battles.

Epic Battles Is About Mass

A 28mm regiment looks like a group of individual miniatures fighting as a formation.

An Epic regiment looks like a formation first.

That distinction matters.

At smaller scale you can put:

• More infantry.
• More cavalry.
• More artillery.
• More battalia.

onto the same gaming table.

Epic Battles Uses the Same Fundamental Pike & Shotte DNA

Epic is not simply the 28mm rules photocopied at a smaller size.

The game retains the core mechanical framework of Pike & Shotte while incorporating adjustments intended to support much larger battlefields and formations.

The strategic ideas remain familiar:

• Command.
• Movement.
• Pike and musket interaction.
• Cavalry.
• Morale.
• Artillery.

But the visual scale changes dramatically.

Push of Pike: The Epic Battles Starter

The flagship Epic release is Pike & Shotte Epic Battles: Push of Pike.

The set was designed to provide forces suitable for both the English Civil Wars and the Thirty Years' War.

Its contents are enormous.

The set includes enough plastic figures to create:

• 14 combined pike-and-shot regiments of 80 soldiers each.
• 36 commanded shotte.
• 60 cavalry.
• 12 cuirassiers.
• 18 mounted dragoons.
• 30 dismounted dragoons.
• 6 Saker guns.
• 6 Falconet light guns.
• Mounted commanders and ensigns.

It also includes the dedicated Pike & Shotte Epic Battles rulebook and gaming accessories.

Epic Infantry Regiments Are Huge

A typical Epic Battles combined Pike & Shotte regiment represents 80 infantry figures.

That immediately changes how an army looks.

Instead of 20 or 30 models suggesting a regiment, the tabletop begins to show substantial ranks of troops.

When several units deploy side by side, you finally get the visual effect that seventeenth-century mass warfare calls for.

English Civil Wars Epic Infantry

The Pike & Shotte Epic Battles English Civil Wars Infantry Battalia is an ideal army-building box.

It contains three combined plastic regiments.

Each regiment represents:

• 40 pikemen.
• 40 musketeers.
• Command figures within the formation.

The box also includes bases and Royalist/Parliamentarian flags.

Thirty Years' War Epic Infantry

For continental armies, the Thirty Years' War Infantry Battalia uses the same massed-regiment concept with flags suitable for the conflict.

This gives players a flexible infantry core for:

• Imperial forces.
• Swedish armies.
• Protestant forces.
• Other continental armies.

Epic Cavalry Is One of the Range's Biggest Strengths

The smaller scale makes large cavalry wings much easier to collect.

The English Civil Wars Cavalry box contains a broad mix of mounted and supporting troops:

• 30 harquebusiers.
• 6 cuirassiers.
• Mounted cornets.
• Mounted dragoons.
• Dismounted dragoons.
• Commanded shotte.
• Saker guns.
• Falconets.
• Battalia commanders.

There is also a Thirty Years' War Cavalry version with suitable flags for continental armies.

Why Cavalry Feels Better at Epic Scale

You can field cavalry in historically impressive numbers without painting dozens and dozens of individual 28mm horses.

This matters because cavalry made up a significant proportion of many armies during the period.

Epic scale makes it easier for the tabletop force to visually reflect that.

Epic Scots Covenanters

The Pike & Shotte Epic Battles range expanded beyond generic English Civil Wars troops with dedicated Scottish releases.

The Scots Covenanters Starter Army is a particularly large army box.

It includes substantial quantities of:

• Combined pike and musketeer regiments.
• Scottish artillery.
• Cavalry.
• Dragoons.
• Commanders.
• Specialist units.

For a player interested specifically in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, this is much more thematic than simply repurposing generic English troops.

Covenanters Battalia

The smaller Scots Covenanters Battalia is useful for expanding an existing force.

It includes three combined pike and musket regiments plus:

• Scottish spearmen.
• Mounted dragoons.
• Foot dragoons.
• Artillery teams.
• Commanders.

Montrose's Scottish Royalists

Players who prefer the Royalist side can instead begin with the Montrose's Scottish Royalist Starter Army.

This force has a particularly distinctive identity because it mixes:

• Pike-and-musket regiments.
• Highland Clansmen.
• Irish Brigade elements.
• Dragoons.
• Cavalry.
• Artillery.

It offers something visually different from the more conventional Royalist and Parliamentarian armies.

Named Commanders Add Historical Character

Epic Battles also includes dedicated commander packs.

For Parliament, TistaMinis carries the English Civil Wars Parliament Commanders.

The pack includes:

• Oliver Cromwell.
• Sir Thomas Fairfax.
• Sir Arthur Haselrig.
• Sir William Waller.
• The Earl of Essex.

Royalist Commanders

The opposing Royalist Commanders include:

• King Charles I.
• Prince Rupert.
• Prince Maurice.
• Ralph Hopton.
• Lord Astley.

These character packs are a simple way to make a generic Epic army feel tied to a specific historical campaign.

Thirty Years' War Commanders

The Protestant Alliance Commanders provide another historical character set.

Among the figures are:

• Gustavus Adolphus.
• Christian IV of Denmark.
• Åke Tott.
• Louis de Bourbon.

Terrain Looks Different at Epic Scale

Epic terrain does not need to be as large or individually detailed as 28mm scenery.

That allows entire villages and battlefield landmarks to occupy a smaller footprint.

The Epic Battles Village Scenery Pack contains:

• A church.
• A watermill.
• A windmill.

These can quickly turn an open gaming table into a recognizable seventeenth-century battlefield.

28mm vs Epic Battles: The Main Difference

Feature	28mm Pike & Shotte	Epic Battles
Visual focus	Individual miniatures	Mass formations
Painting style	Detailed individual models	Fast unit-level painting
Army footprint	Larger	Smaller
Model count	Fewer physical figures per regiment	Very large represented formations
Cavalry projects	More time-intensive	Easier to mass in large numbers
Terrain	Large and detailed	Compact battlefield terrain
Best for	Painters and traditional 28mm historical gamers	Players wanting huge historical battles

Which Version Looks Better?

Neither.

They look good for completely different reasons.

A 28mm regiment looks impressive because you can see every soldier.

An Epic regiment looks impressive because there are so many soldiers.

That is the easiest way to understand the choice.

Choose 28mm If You Enjoy Individual Models

28mm is probably right for you if:

• You enjoy detailed painting.
• You like conversions.
• You want individual command figures to stand out.
• You already collect other 28mm historical ranges.
• You want large scenic bases.
• You enjoy photographing individual units.

Choose Epic If You Want the Battlefield to Look Full

Epic is probably right for you if:

• You want very large armies.
• You enjoy painting formations quickly.
• You have limited table space.
• You want large cavalry wings.
• You want to recreate major historical battles.
• You prefer the appearance of massed soldiers over individual detail.

Can You Mix 28mm and Epic Battles?

Not within the same army.

The difference in physical scale is far too large.

They are better treated as separate collections.

You could certainly own both versions, but a 28mm cavalry regiment standing beside an Epic infantry formation would look less like historical warfare and more like giants invading the English Civil War.

Epic Battles Makes Famous Battles More Practical

This is where the smaller scale becomes especially compelling.

Major battles such as:

• Edgehill.
• Naseby.
• Second Newbury.
• Breitenfeld.
• Lützen.

involved enormous formations.

Representing those forces convincingly in 28mm requires a huge collection and significant table space.

Epic Battles was created specifically to make those kinds of engagements more achievable.

Painting 28mm Pike & Shotte

28mm rewards a traditional miniature-painting approach.

A basic workflow might be:

1. Prime the models.
2. Paint major uniform colours.
3. Block in leather and equipment.
4. Paint faces and hands.
5. Add metallic armour and weapons.
6. Apply washes.
7. Add highlights.
8. Paint pikes and muskets.
9. Add regimental flags.
10. Base the unit.

Flags make an enormous difference.

Flags Are Part of the Army's Identity

Seventeenth-century armies are particularly colourful because regimental standards create strong visual focal points.

A relatively simple infantry unit can become dramatically more impressive once:

• An ensign is added.
• The regiment receives its colours.
• Command figures are placed near the centre.

Painting Epic Battles

Epic should usually be painted with a different mindset.

Do not treat every soldier as if it were a 28mm display model.

Instead, paint the formation.

Focus on:

• Large uniform areas.
• Contrasting coats and trousers.
• Metallic pike points.
• Faces as a mass effect.
• Flags.
• Basing.

At tabletop distance, the regiment matters more than one perfectly highlighted belt buckle.

Epic Battles Can Be Surprisingly Fast to Paint

Because the soldiers are arranged in strips, batch painting becomes extremely efficient.

You can paint:

• All coats.
• Then all trousers.
• Then all muskets.
• Then all faces.

across an entire formation.

Warlord was still publishing Epic Pike & Shotte painting guidance in 2026, which is a good indication that the range remains an active part of its historical portfolio.

Do You Need Historically Exact Uniforms?

That depends on your goals.

Historical gamers exist on a spectrum.

At one end:

"My regiment must reproduce the documented colours from a specific campaign."

At the other:

"These people are wearing red and they look seventeenth century enough."

Both can enjoy the game.

However, researching your chosen regiment can become an enjoyable part of the hobby.

Seventeenth-Century Uniforms Were Not Always Uniform

This is useful for nervous painters.

Many armies of the period were less standardized than later Napoleonic forces.

Clothing, equipment and armour could vary.

That gives painters some flexibility.

A regiment does not necessarily need every soldier to look factory-identical.

Artillery in Pike & Shotte

Field artillery was becoming increasingly important during the period.

Pike & Shotte includes several gun types, including weapons such as:

• Sakers.
• Falconets.

Artillery can soften formations, control open areas and punish troops forced to advance across exposed ground.

Saker vs Falconet

The Saker represents a more substantial field gun.

Falconets are lighter pieces.

Both appear throughout Warlord's Epic Battles products, which makes artillery unusually easy to add while building infantry or cavalry formations.

Dragoons Add Tactical Flexibility

Dragoons occupy an interesting place between infantry and conventional cavalry.

Historically they could use horses for mobility and then fight in ways more closely associated with infantry.

In a tabletop army they can provide useful support for:

• Bridges.
• Villages.
• Flanks.
• Terrain positions.

Both 28mm and Epic ranges support these kinds of specialist troops.

Cuirassiers Bring Heavy Cavalry to the Table

Cuirassiers represent the heavily armoured cavalry tradition of the era.

They create a striking contrast with lighter mounted troops.

Visually, they are one of the easiest unit types to identify:

• Armour.
• Helmets.
• Heavy horses.
• Shock-cavalry appearance.

They are especially appropriate in Thirty Years' War armies.

Pike & Shotte Is Not a Competitive Meta Game

This is worth emphasizing for players coming from Warhammer or trading card games.

Pike & Shotte is primarily a historical wargame.

The experience is usually about:

• Recreating battles.
• Building plausible armies.
• Scenario play.
• Historical matchups.
• Club gaming.

The question is usually not:

"What is the strongest army this month?"

It is more likely:

"Can my Swedish brigade break the Imperial centre before their cavalry eats my flank?"

This produces a very different hobby culture.

Why Historical Scenario Gaming Works So Well Here

The rules contain enough unpredictability that battles can develop stories naturally.

One commander may perform brilliantly.

Another may refuse to move at the crucial moment.

A cavalry charge may collapse a flank.

A stubborn pike regiment may hold much longer than expected.

Those moments become the game.

Supplements Expand the Historical Setting

Pike & Shotte also has campaign and army material covering specific periods.

Important examples include:

• To Kill a King for the English Civil War.
• The Devil's Playground for the Thirty Years' War.

The latter is particularly useful for players building continental armies and can also support Epic Battles players adapting historical forces and scenarios.

Best Way to Start 28mm Pike & Shotte

A sensible beginner path is:

1. Choose English Civil Wars or Thirty Years' War.
2. Start with For King & Country or a Battalia Starter Army.
3. Build two or three infantry regiments.
4. Add cavalry.
5. Add artillery.
6. Choose a historical commander.
7. Expand only after playing several games.

Best Way to Start Epic Battles

For Epic:

1. Choose your conflict.
2. Begin with Push of Pike or a dedicated army starter.
3. Organize your infantry into battalia.
4. Add a substantial cavalry formation.
5. Add artillery and dragoons.
6. Choose commander models.
7. Add period terrain.

The main danger is that Epic makes expanding armies extremely easy.

You buy three regiments.

Then three more.

Then cavalry.

Then another battalia because apparently the left flank looks "a little empty."

This is how historical wargaming works.

Which Has the Lower Hobby Barrier?

That depends on what slows you down.

If individual painting takes you a long time, Epic can be much faster.

If seeing hundreds of tiny figures feels intimidating, 28mm may actually be psychologically easier because you can work one regiment at a time.

Neither requires you to build the entire army immediately.

28mm Is Better for Skirmish-Like Detail, but Pike & Shotte Is Still a Mass Game

Do not choose 28mm expecting a tiny skirmish system.

Pike & Shotte is still built around regiments and battalia.

If your goal is to control six individual musketeers sneaking through a village, another rules system may be more appropriate.

28mm Pike & Shotte simply makes the individual soldiers inside those mass formations more visually prominent.

Epic Battles Is Excellent for Clubs

Epic scale works especially well for historical gaming clubs.

Several players can contribute battalia to one large game.

For example:

• One player commands the Royalist right wing.
• Another commands the centre.
• A third controls cavalry.
• The opposing team does the same for Parliament.

Suddenly you have something much closer to a real battlefield command structure.

Terrain and Table Space

28mm terrain needs space.

A village that visually fits 28mm soldiers can occupy a substantial portion of the board.

Epic terrain can represent the same village with a much smaller footprint.

This creates room for:

• Multiple villages.
• Long roads.
• Large fields.
• Hill lines.
• Several brigades.

Epic Is Particularly Good for Battlefield Geography

If recreating the actual shape of a historical battlefield matters to you, Epic has an obvious advantage.

You can represent more of the surrounding countryside rather than compressing everything into a table dominated by miniatures.

28mm Is Particularly Good for Diorama-Style Armies

On the other hand, 28mm lets you turn each regiment into a miniature diorama.

Bases can feature:

• Mud.
• Grass.
• Casualties.
• Broken weapons.
• Officers.
• Drummers.
• Scenic debris.

The army becomes both a gaming force and a display collection.

What Hobby Supplies Do You Need?

Both versions require the usual historical modelling basics.

Players can browse hobby supplies at TistaMinis for:

• Side cutters.
• Hobby knives.
• Plastic glue.
• Super glue for resin or metal.
• Files.
• Brushes.

The miniature paint collection provides colours for uniforms, horses, armour, leather, flags and terrain.

Basing Is Especially Important for Historical Armies

Good basing ties a regiment together.

Even simply adding:

• Earth texture.
• Static grass.
• Tufts.
• Small stones.

can dramatically improve a formation.

Browse basing materials for finishing both 28mm and Epic armies.

What Should You Buy First?

Player Type	Recommended Start
New to Pike & Shotte	28mm For King & Country
Already owns the rules	28mm Battalia Starter Army
Wants huge battles	Epic Battles Push of Pike
English Civil Wars Epic player	English Civil Wars Infantry + Cavalry Battalia
Thirty Years' War Epic player	Thirty Years' War Infantry + Cavalry
Scots Covenanter player	Covenanters Starter Army
Scottish Royalist player	Montrose's Scottish Royalist Starter Army
Display-focused painter	28mm
Mass-battle hobbyist	Epic Battles

Common Beginner Mistakes

Buying Only Infantry

Pike blocks are the obvious attraction, but cavalry and artillery are fundamental parts of the period.

Choosing Scale After Buying Models

Decide between 28mm and Epic first.

The collections do not mix naturally.

Painting Every Model Like a Competition Piece

For large armies, especially Epic, speed matters.

A finished formation usually looks better than six perfect soldiers surrounded by grey plastic.

Ignoring Flags

Flags are one of the easiest ways to make a Pike & Shotte army visually impressive.

Building a Giant Army Before Playing

Start with a battalia.

Play.

Then decide whether you actually need those additional 240 infantry.

You probably will.

But at least now it is an informed decision.

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Thoughts: 28mm and Epic Battles Offer Two Very Different Ways to Play the Same Era

Pike & Shotte occupies one of the most visually interesting periods in historical wargaming.

The battlefield still contains formations that would have looked familiar centuries earlier:

Pikes.

Armour.

Cavalry.

Swords.

Yet gunpowder is changing everything.

Musketeers increasingly dominate infantry formations.

Artillery grows more important.

Cavalry tactics evolve.

The old battlefield is slowly becoming something new.

Warlord Games gives players two excellent ways to represent that transition.

28mm Pike & Shotte is about the soldiers.

You see the armour.

You see the faces.

You paint the command group.

You choose the flag.

Every regiment becomes a substantial modelling project.

For King & Country provides a strong beginner route, while the larger Battalia Starter Army can quickly establish the core of a Royalist, Parliamentarian or Thirty Years' War force.

Pike & Shotte Epic Battles is about the army.

Instead of concentrating on one individual musketeer, you see rows of them.

You see pike blocks extending across the battlefield.

You can field large cavalry wings rather than a handful of representative horsemen.

Artillery batteries begin to look like artillery batteries.

And battles such as Naseby, Edgehill, Breitenfeld or Lützen become much more practical projects.

That is why choosing between the two scales is not really a question of quality.

It is a question of perspective.

Do you want to look across the table and admire one beautifully painted regiment?

Choose 28mm.

Do you want to look across the table and see an entire seventeenth-century army?

Choose Epic.

Either way, Pike & Shotte offers something increasingly rare in miniature gaming:

a rules system where the attraction is not chasing the strongest unit from the newest release.

It is choosing a period, researching an army, painting its colours and then discovering whether your carefully organized battle plan survives first contact with the dice.

Explore Warlord Games Pike & Shotte at TistaMinis for 28mm and Epic Battles armies, then complete your project with miniature paints, basing materials and hobby supplies.