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I'm keen on the sailors - and I hope that a substantial number of the Venetian "sailors" will be oarsmen suitable to man galleys (such as Heller's "La Réale")...
****. At second glance, the Venetians look more like late 15th to early 16th century, which means oarsmen would look different from later 16th to 17th century oarsmen and actually would be manning a galley type other than that used predominantly from the mid-16th century on (and of which no suitable kits exist, as far as I know...)
In my opinion, no Venetians for the siege of Malta, provided they will look as shown on the box art.
As for the Spanish, some would just fit in for Malta but at least one heavily armoured infantryman looks more like late 15th century. Overall, the figures as shown on the box appear to be best suited for the 1st half of the 16th century, in my opinion...
Difficult to say as long as we don't see the actual figures. Well, Lepanto is even later than Malta. To judge from the box art, I'd say: Venetians rather not, Spanish probably yes. You can also use the already released English and Turkish sailors, of course. But how recreate the battle of Lepanto without tons of suitable oarsmen? Really, I think now that Red Box have started a 16th to 17th sailors range a box of galley oarsmen is just an obligation. Especially as we would like to get them as long as Heller's Réale (the only galley kit that could possibly be converted into something like a Lepanto galley) is still available...