28 mm Commanders (Essex Miniatures)

When I placed my last order with Essex I decided to buy a few extra figures to add some variety to the long slog of painting a 15 mm Hellenistic army.  I ended up with commanders for three of my Art de la Guerre (ADLG) collections: Hellenistic, Arab Empire, & Ilkhanid Mongol.

The figure is based on a magnetised 40 mm plywood base which is the same size as my 15 mm ADLG command bases. My plan is to use them as CinCs during competitions. Afterwards they will be retired and placed in my display cabinet.

Painting notes
When I painted my first 28 mm Arab commander, I decided to use the same limited colour palette as I used for my 15 mm figures.  This worked well for the larger scale although I tended to use a slightly lighter final highlight.  I stuck with this method for my second Arab commander:

I was daunted by the cloak on the Hellenistic general at first.  My first layers made the many, many folds look far too cartoonish and I had to apply a few this washes to tone down the contrast:

The Ilkhanid figure is mainly mail, so I changed my palette using a much brighter selection of colours to emphasise the many small details.  The flat areas of the bow case and quiver proved problematic. I tried a few patterns before I settled on ones I liked.  The painted patterns are the first things I've done that I wouldn't do with a smaller figure:

Figure review
All were very well cast with only minor mould lines and hardly any flash.  Almost all the details were well defined and very easy to paint.  The figures codes are:

• MP37 General on Foot (28mm Ancient: Macedonian & Punic Wars)
• ABR7 Arab: Officers, assorted poses (28mm Ancient: Arab)
• 9WP Islamic Persian: Dismounted Heavy Cavalry (28mm Medieval: Islamic Persian)

The Arab figure cae with a separate sword and shield so some superglue was required.  For the Ilkhanid figure I added a brass spear for longevity.  Plus there were some very small "pits" on the bow case that had to be filled with greenstuff to provide a smooth base for the painted pattern.

One thing to note; the figures were not all the same price.  The Hellenistic general was £2.75 and the others were £2.35 each.

These were my first 28 mm Essex figures and I was really impressed with both the quality of the casting and the sculpting.  I'll probably buy a few more.  Recommended.