15 mm Wars of the Roses Archers Review

Mixing figures from different manufacturers is a perennial problem for wargamers; both height and heft can vary as can sculpting style.  With this project I ran into all of these issues as well as the thorny issue of historical compatibility.

This picture shows how three 15 mm manufactures compare:

From left to right: Essex, Feudal Castings, Donnington "New Era".

Essex & Feudal Castings
When I started the project my twenty year old bases mixed both Essex and Feudal Castings figures on the same base.   As you can see the height and heft are close enough and the sculpting styles don't clash.

But, and it's a big but, they are clearly dressed & armoured very differently.   More to the point I was no longer happy mixing them.

15 mm Wars of the Roses Archers (Part 4/4)

at last!  The final batch of re-based and repainted archers is done.  This fourth batch uses the same Feudal Castings figures as batch 2 only this time there are three figures to a base to represent irregular levy archers.

15 mm Wars of the Roses Archers (Part 3/4)

This post, the third in my "massive" re-basing & repainting project, involves neither re-basing or repainting.  This is because it features thirty two brand new "New Era" figures from Ancient & Modern (Donnington).

When done I aim to have three, easily distinguishable, types of late medieval archers: retinue (superior/elite), regular (ordinary), and levy (irregular).  These are destined to be levy (irregular) not least because they have a distinct Hundred Years' War look about them.

ADLG: Army List Database

If you're regular reader you'll have seen that I'm in the process of writing my own army list spreadsheet for Art de la Guerre (ADLG)¹.  There's a free spreadsheet online² but it doesn't really suit how I write lists

Ideally, I wanted more than a form to fill in.  I wanted information about the list highlighting the options available and more built in list checking.

My list sheet is nearly finished but to make it work as I needed a decent army list database.   A database is essential to provide all the top level information in a display something like this:

Data structured this way also allows all sorts of automated checks to be carried out; on command points used; the legal inclusion of a strategist; and the use of allies amongst others.

15 mm Wars of the Roses Archers (Part 2/4)

This project draws ever closer to a conclusion with the completion of eight bases of levy archers.  They are four to a base to represent the more organised levy of the period and are easily differentiated from the irregular levy (three to a base) in part 1.

ADLG: Army List Writer

Updated: Sun 01 August, 2021
If you are looking for a List Writer for ADLG v4 please visit my ADLG V4 Tools page. What follows refers to ADLG V3 but the design philosophy and the general approach are the same for both the V3 & V4 tools.

ADLG: Army List Spreadsheet (Teaser)

As the title suggests, this is a teaser for two forthcoming posts on my latest hobby project.  I'm working on a spreadsheet so I can have a little Lockdown fun writing new lists for Art de la Guerre (ADLG).

In the coming weeks I'll be posting two articles.  The first will be about the list writing spreadsheet itself.  The second will cover the army list database that helps autofill various parts of the list writing spreadsheet.

In the meantime I thought I'd post this analysis of the ADLG V3 lists as a taste of what's possible with the new list database:

	Lists With Strategists
Period	V3 Lists	Split Lists	Difference
Ancients	8	8	0
Classical	14	16	2
Roman	19	26	7
Dark Ages	10	11	1
Feudal	13	16	3
Late Middle Ages	16	16	0
Americas	2	2	0
Grand Total	82	95	13

This answers the question the world's been asking for ages: which ADLG period has the most strategists?

15 mm Wars of the Roses Archers (Part 1/4)

This project began in January when I decide to re-base my archer command bases and add new flags.  It then got out of hand when I decided to re-base all of my levy archers: all 36 bases of them! 

When done I aim to have three, easily distinguishable, types of late medieval archers: retinue (superior/elite), regular (ordinary), and levy (irregular) with the re-based levy archers forming the last two types.

I have now finished three of the four batches and here's the first batch to be fully based. They are: eight bases of levy (irregular) with a brand new command base complete with a livery flag for Rhys ap Thomas: