Let's Talk Essex...

Cold rainy Sunday morning and I have a bench full of 15mm ( mostly Essex) spread before me on the painting table. Its been a little over 30 years since I started adding 15mm models to my miniatures armies ( 25/28mm being my first love scale wise). I started with Essex which to many was considered state of the art at the time ( and when compared to makers like Minifigs it is so very easy to see why). Fast forward 30 years. Many new brands many more eras supported and Essex is still there and its still really really good ( mostly).

As far as crispness and consistency as well as just sheer range of offerings, no one has yet found a way to surpass them, however, I have found a few things that are peculiar to Essex. We can call it the miniatures equivalent to " Barkerese", which is appropriate to me because I cannot think about a WRG product without thinking about pouring over piles of Essex miniatures. So a couple of things I can't quite get past with Essex 15s ( I collect a few of their ancient ranges but almost all my experience is with their Dark Age, Medieval and Early Renaissance offerings).

The poses: Static, yes,  but just as often animated in simply the strangest positions.

Facial hair: (What?! you say?) Yeah I get the definite impression that the sculptors ( and by the way do we know the sculptors by name? If not I wonder why not?!) got all their reference work from looking at Victorian and Edwardian age illustrations of medieval dress. Regardless of period it seems like mustaches and shag haircuts are the all the rage. occasionally a beard but the prevalence of mustaches is such a hoot because there are definitely periods ( like most of the 15th Century) where facial hair was not in vogue in the West.

Armor styles: Essex gets a certain amount of the core dress and harness details correct for a given troop type and historical period then they seem to go back to those Victorian illustrations again or just kind of fill in the blanks. The result can be a lot of anachronism in a given bag of models as well as a general vagueness to the models. This can be compensated for if the modeler is willing to carefully cull the more glaring historical errors from their buys. ( I've even of late taken to doing conversions with head, weapon and or shield swaps.)

Whitman Samplers: Anyone whose been collecting DBA armies for a while will learn pretty quicky that it is a much better value to purchase prepackaged DBA armies rather than trying to piece an army together one small baggy at a time. I even will buy entire armies just for the discounted price per mini. Many mini companies seem to be offering starter armies packaged for DBA now but Essex is definitely the grandaddy of 'army in a bag' packaging and as far as I can tell there isn't a single company that offers the breadth of complete DBA armies that Essex does. There is a trade off though. Being prepackaged, the modeler does not get to choose what goes into the bag and sometimes ( no most of the time actually) there will be troops that are super generic of just don't fit the period I'm trying to represent. So its off to the mini archive for those models and back to sifting for the right models in those instance.

Still, the positives far outweigh the drawbacks. I've even noticed as I've begun buying 15's again that Essex has some more up-to-date sculpts. The newer poses I have stumbled upon ( I am actually presuming these are relatively new at least) are much more interestingly posed and seem to be more attentive to correct period dress and harness.Certain manufacturers have made a niche for themselves focusing upon specific armies and periods. Some these manufacturers excel at capturing the flavor of their subject matter more easily than Essex might, out of the box. ( I really like Corvus Belli for example, when working on my middle period HYW English and French.) Still, as I sift through my latest Essex purchases this weekend I am astounded at the enduring quality of a product line the virtually reached back to my childhood years of gaming. No small feat, I say, in an age where change and "innovations" can be measured in days and months rather than years. I think I'll close out this post with a few comparison shots of different ranges compared to Essex. I've tried to show some of the newer Essex models just to emphasize their range at its best.

Picture I snapped for a friend shopping for his first DBA army. Baueda Vikings ( left) vs Essex Vikings (right)

Baueda Anglo-Norman (left) vs Essex Anglo-Norman (right)

Medus Medieval Low Countries (left) vs Essex Medieval Low Countries (right)

Later Swiss

Left to right: Mirliton, Old Glory (Blue Moon Manufacturing), Legio Heroica, and Essex

Medieval hipsters! ( mustaches for everybody!)

New or old, Essex is really satisfying to paint and can provide a solid foundation for very satisfying and authentic looking 15mm army.

Banners Forward!

As luck would have it, it just struck me that the title of this post is the original name for this blog when I first envisioned trying my hand at this about a decade ago. Weird. The real reason for this entry, however, is I just got something I've been looking forward to the past week or two and it has me thinking about banners for units and how they can really make a model or army 'pop'.

The item I was so looking forward to getting just so happens to be a packet of paper flags from Pete's Flags. These flags are wonderfully detailed and the color range is perfect for scale modeling. Pete also prints on high quality paper ( my early samples even came on printable cloth paper). Those who follow some of the Renaissance and Medieval gaming blogs are probably already familiar with these banners. I stumbled into Pete's work when I began following Simon Chick's most excellent and dedicated blog http://je-lay-emprins.blogspot.com/ about a decade ago.

Proof that cool things can indeed come in small packages.

For the longest time I was held prisoner by the notion that all my banners needed to be hand painted, and yes, a well painted banner is something to really appreciate. I think my bias for a long time was twofold. Firstly, it felt a little bit like cheating. Secondly, I found it difficult to make pre-printed banners look anything like as good as painted ones.( The old Freezywater banners always looked like they were printed on the back of cheap cereal packets). In recent years I've come around to the potential of ready-made banners.

Nearly completed 15mm retinue for Edward IV using Pete's Flags paper banners.


 

Swiss war council Early Swiss DBA IV/41

 Painting banners and flags by hand can be very satisfying but very time consuming.

 This shot is a good one to illustrate just how good ready-made banners can be. The one on the right I painted myself. The one on the left is by Pete's Flags.

These flags were made from the stock color sheet inside the box of Perry Miniatures using very simple techniques.

Accessible high quality printing has really made it possible for small dedicated  period specialists like Pete's Flags to make top shelf stuff. But even the best ready-made flags need to be mounted in the right way to get the most out of them. This is something I faltered at for a very long time and chalked up to simply being a limitation to working with paper and not lead foil, I then happened upon a Youtube video about preparing paper flags and it was an eye opener. Its not that I was "doing it wrong". I was just doing  it "not quite right". Little sub steps make all the difference. Now even stock flags that come with newer plastic miniatures start looking good. I still really get a lot of satisfaction when I complete a banner by hand but wanting to get more troops on the table/in the cabinet has got me embracing adding more pre-printed banners into my armies now.

Unable to find the exact video I followed, I will attempt to give some simple suggestions on preparing paper banners:

1. Always use a fresh Xacto blade when cutting paper banners

2. On the reverse of the flag ( the parts you will apply the glue to) its a good idea to apply a small boarder of a dark color ( brown for instance) along the edges and at the top and bottom of the hoist. This will make it easier to conceal the white color of the underlying paper when the flag is folded.

3. Make a mixture of PVA glue and water in a small shallow container. (Something like 2:1 PVA to water works well for  me ). If it is too watery drain excess water or add more PVA.

4.With small wide brush apply the thinned PVA to the back of the flag and let sit for a few seconds ( actually :30 seconds or so should allow enough time for the PVA to soak into the paper).

5. Carefully mate the two halves of the banner around a preferably pre-painted banner pole ( the painted pole will help hold the banner in place better than bare brass or plastic).

6. Carefully squeeze the excess PVA out of the edges of the folded flag. Hopefully you did not use too much glue and this should be easy.

7. Once excess PVA is removed make sure both halves of banner all the way up to the hoist itself are completely mated ( I do this by squashing the banner within and old book). You should be left with a perfectly flat flag. Let sit for about 2-2 1/2 minutes. ( this is important. If you wait too long the flag will set and be difficult to manipulate without puckering the paper. If you bend the flag too soon it may slip and or pucker too).

8.Using a small paint brush (000 or the like) use the slender end of the brush as a former and at a slight diagal angle to the banner pole bend the flag around the brush. Repeat in opposite direction as you work towards the fly end of the banner. Don't be afraid to 'dog ear' or lightly crumple the final result just to get a more organic look. Set aside until dry.

9 As a final step I like to paint the edges in the color of the flag itself to make the transition look as seamless as possible and hide any remaining white that shows through. ( if you painted did step 2 this is less necessary).


If you like the look, give it a try.

Making Lemonade...

...  that's what a minatures enthusiast/gamer does during a pandemic!

Seems as good a time as any to dust off this mothballed blog. I mean, really. Does anybody blog anymore? Perfect time to start then, I guess.

Its been an 'all over the map' year for my modelling so far. Much of last year was spent planning 28mm Black Powder Napoleonic armies and painting Death Guard 40k models but as this year lurched forward I found myself feeling somewhere between whipsawed at the pace of GW product releases and a bit burnt out ( if only temporarily) by the match play game culture that GW products engender. It seemed a perfect time to revisit the classics and return to working on some long neglected 15mm DBA projects... Then came Covid19 and now its full blown immersion into 15mm historical miniatures again.

The Goal: Matched and themed army sets for my favorite historical periods all based for DBA 3.0 in 15mm. First up: Allies and Enemies of the "Spider King". Louis XI was arguably the central player in  a complex web of European politics in the second half of the 15th Century ( hence his nickname). He gives a great center to build a series of related armies that can be used for 'one off' games, historic battle re-fights, as well as 'in-period' campaigns.

I learned long ago that if one wants to get other gamers  to play games that stray from the beaten path one has to be prepared to supply all the resources. DBA is very forgiving in this way. Being only 12 stands ( with a small handful of options usually) it doesn't break the bank or take a lifetime to paint. This is my opportunity, then to bring fresh blood to DBA from our gaming community. The cast of players looks as follows:

French Ordonnance Army IV/82a (Louis XI)
Burgundian Ordonnance Army IV/85a ( Charles the Bold/Rash)
Scots Common Army IV/16 (James III)
War of the Roses Yorkist IV/83a ( Edward IV)
War of the Roses Lancastrian IV/83a ( Henry VI/ Margaret of Anjou)
Later Swiss League of Constance IV/79c ( Rene II Duke of Lorraine)

Some of these armies are old friends ( first DBA army I collected was a WotR army back in 1990). Others like Louis XI's Ordonnance army is a first. All these armies are new beginnings with fresh models. The beauty of 15mm DBA from a modeling point of view is that one can take the time and put the little extra flourishes in and still spend a fraction of the time it takes to complete the same army in 28mm for games like WAB or Medieval Warfare. To help me on my way to getting each army 'just so' I've taken to collecting tons of random 15mm models over the past 20 years ( some would say hoarding but tomatoes tom_a_toes...) So a word on that...!

Like so much of the miniatures world 15mm models have experienced something of a renaissance in recent years with more brands and choices than I ever thought possible as a kid starting out. I've tried to acquaint myself with as many ranges as possible but fear I've only scratched the surface. Still... I do have some familiarity with quite a few brands. Liking to get the best variety and most authentic look for each army, brands that mix well together is

always a high consideration here. Brands so far vetted for medieval armies:

Essex, Old Glory, Mirliton, Jacobite, Alternative Armies, Bueada, Minifigs, Magister, Legio Heroica,
( some are OOP most are readily available. Legio Heroica, while being a fine brand, is notably larger than pretty much anything else in the list. This doesn't stop me from using them but mixing them on the same bases with the other brands doesn't really work.)

So that's the rough outline of this project. On to the workbench and progress made so far...

Commons gaming area completed over the winter for gaming in our tiny home. 6'x4' game board folds for storage and can accommodate 2 DBA games comfortably side by side or one Big Battle DBA game,

 

Current work area in all its chaos!

Ordonnance Company of Charles the Bold is the first army nearly complete. The Mtd-Lb stands are the only options still on the workbench

Ordonnance Company Conducteur. ( I still haven't found a satisfactory model yet for the Chucker himself!)

The Lances

Lances dismounted

Ordonnance Pikes

Ordonnance longbowmen supported by infantry ( 8Lb)

More company missile troops

The company's eyes and ears ( Ps, LH)

Charle's beloved artillery train

Let's see if I can make some progress on the forces of Charles's noble brother in law Edward IV...