The cat’s finally out of the bag! After many months of speculation from the community (and many more of hard work from the Design Studio team), we’re delighted to announce the arrival of the next instalment in the Epic Battles series – Pike & Shotte! Epic Battles-scale warfare enters the bloody 17th century with a monster starter set, four new plastic boxed sets, casualty markers, and a pair of scenery kits! Let’s take a look at these latest additions to the world of Epic Battles.

Push of Pike

Kicking off is the starter set – Push of Pike. With a name that references the primary infantry arm of the period, there’s no doubt as to what you’re letting yourself in for! This massive box (incidentally the same size as our Epic Battles: American Civil War Gettysburg boxed set) contains no fewer than 1,288 figures and 12 artillery pieces – the perfect way to dive right into the era! For those looking to get started quickly, the sprues are helpfully coloured tan and grey, making them easy to differentiate on the tabletop, even when unpainted!

Pike & Shotte Epic Battles very much hones in on two major conflicts of the period, namely the Thirty Years’ War in Europe, and the English Civil Wars across the Channel. Push of Pike conveniently includes fantastically elaborate flags of the period for belligerents of both wars, allowing you to conquer Europe or the British Isles as you prefer. Also included is a laser-cut MDF kit of an iconic fortified manor house of the period – every army needs something to fight over, after all!

Also included in Push of Pike is a newly-revamped A5 rulebook (à la Black Powder Epic Battles: The Waterloo Campaign), perfectly sized for any general’s saddlebag, that allows you to jump straight into the tabletop action. The revised rulebook contains all you need to get playing, with specific flavourings that will cement your battles in the battles of the English Civil Wars and the Thirty Years’ War.

Pre-order the Push of Pike battle-set or any of the collections which contain it during the month of February and your Pike & Shotte Epic Battles rulebook will be signed by its author, Steve Morgan.

Infantry & Cavalry Boxed Sets

While Push of Pike is a great starting point, there’s nothing quite like the spectacle of ranks upon ranks of Epic Battles miniatures on the tabletop! To that end, we’ll be releasing separate boxes of Infantry and Cavalry as part of the first wave, so that you can expand your forces right off the bat. Let’s look at the Infantry first, as they’re the ones lending the Pike & Shotte period its name! The Infantry Battalia box gives you three sprues and thus three regiments of combined pikemen and musketeers, the perfect foundation for any army. Each sprue contains 80 miniatures, split evenly between pikemen and musketeers; this includes ten individually-modelled front-rank pikemen with their 16-foot weapons at ‘porte’, backed by their fellows with shouldered arms and a command stand with captain, drummer, and a pair of flag-waving ensigns. On either flank of the regiment are the matchlock-armed shotte, the principal offensive arm of the period.

There are two Infantry Battalia boxed sets – the difference is in the flags! The English Civil Wars set features a flag sheet for both Royalists and Parliamentarians, while the Thirty Years’ War has the corresponding banners for the Imperialists and Protestant Alliance – whichever conflict you prefer, we’ve got you covered!

Addressing an oft-underappreciated part of 17th century warfare, the Cavalry boxed set is a great way to round out your force. The sprue is jam-packed with horsemen, commanders, infantry, and artillery, with each boxed set giving you a whopping 30 harquebusiers, 6 cuirassiers, 3 cornets, 9 mounted dragoons, 15 dismounted dragoons, 18 commanded shotte, 3 Saker medium guns, 3 Falconet light guns, 3 mounted battalia commanders and 3 ensigns on foot – just a bit, then! This allows you to not only add the all-important horsemen to your army, but also the big guns of the ordnance, as well as the versatile and always-useful mounted infantry capabilities of the dragoons.

As with the infantry, two boxes are available, covering the Thirty Years’ War and the English Civil Wars, respectively.

Casualty Markers

Casualty markers are a vital part of Pike & Shotte, particularly if your dice-rolling is as bad as mine! Each set contains 18 assorted casualty markers, ideal for tracking the damage your units take as the battle progresses and lending a touch of extra realism to our tabletop battlefields.

MDF Scenery Sets

Rounding out the first wave of releases are a pair of scenery packs to decorate your gaming tables – the Thatched Hamlet, and the Village. Ideal for both the Thirty Years’ War and English Civil Wars (and even beyond into the Black Powder: Epic Battles era for those so inclined!), these kits make the perfect objectives to fight over. With the wars of the 17th century sweeping across Europe and the British Isles, no town, city, or hamlet was safe from the marauding (and hungry!) armies of the time, and forces would often clash over any available supplies or shelter!

Special Edition Miniature FREE with Selected Pre-Order Collections

We’ve put together a selection of special offers designed to kick-start your Pike & Shotte Epic Battles collection. In addition to netting you a saving against purchasing their contents separately, many of these offers contain an exclusive resin gun emplacement model. Also known as gabions, these military fortifications were made from wickerwork formed into the shape of large round cages with open tops and bottoms – used, chiefly in the era of Pike & Shotte, to protect field artillery gunners.

This Parliamentarian battery is well-sited behind a gun emplacement.

Raise the Royal Standard! Rally your troops! Pike & Shotte: Epic Battles is coming!

26 comments
  1. Yay! Big ECW battles incoming! Edgehill, Marston Moor, Lostwithiel, Siege of Plymouth and siege of Basing House.

  2. Oh no. You’ve got me. ACW and Waterloo? I had the willpower to resist. But TYW? Damn you all the way to my wallet 😀

    How big are the bases they come with? Wondering if I’ll need to magnetise+sabot them to work with 60*30mm

    1. Another of the 13.5mm measurement so somewhere between 1/100 and 1/144 or between 15mm and 10mm measurement maybe? Same as Epic ACW and Naps

  3. Having recently purchased all the Epic Napoleonic stuff, this ECW stuff comes out … Can I resist? … I think Not
    I’ll be painting in my grave at this rate

  4. Does the stuff other than the starter set come with the coloured frames – and, if so, how does that work?

    Looks great, will be my first foray into the era.

    1. It’s only the Push of Pike battle-set that comes with coloured frames, allowing players should they wish, to get two forces put together and battle without the need to paint immediately. All other boxed sets will come with standard grey sprues.

      1. Am I right in thinking, you can use the contents of one battle-set to make one large army? Then get a buddy to get another battle-set to make his army? Both different nations? Thanks.

        1. Absolutely! The sprues are identical regardless of colour – and flag sheets are included so you can pick and choose whether you build an army (of either side) from either the English Civil Wars or Thirty Years’ War.

          1. One thing to be aware of, that starter box is very light on cavalry. Many battles of the time had parity between horse and foot, sometimes even more horse than foot! The extreme is probably the battle of Lund (30 years later than ECW) where the Swedes had three times as many horse as foot.

  5. The photos for the starter set show 90 cavalry arranged in 6 units. The description states 60 cavalry. Which is correct?
    Thanks

    1. Hi Matt, There are 60 cavalry (harquebusiers) in Push of Pike (from a total of 6 cavalry sprues). The images have now been corrected to reflect this. Apologies for the confusion.

    1. So the description for push of pike states 60 harqubusiers, all the photos show a total of 90?? Trying to work out how many boxes to order. Lol

  6. Will we be able to obtain the fancy new rulebook anywhere other than the starter box? I ask because I have worked out one starter box will give us all the foot we need for two armies but we will definitely need more horse. It would be more convenient if both of us had a rulebook rather than sharing just the one.

  7. Looks great but since Australia has to pay in $US rather than£ ,I can’t justify paying $140 more for the all in bundle and similar disparities for the other options.

  8. These P&S figures look great! Hoping to see the range expand to Sengoku Samurai period. Maybe then gaming Sekigahara will be a reality! 🙂

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