Slitherine

Hi Chaps,

Interested in this completely new wargaming period for me (currently reading ECW / Ears of the Three Kingdoms just now, with 30 years war to follow).

Just wondering what miniatures manufacturers are out there that cater for this period?

I'm inclined to go for 15mm, bucking the 28mm plastic trend (I live in a shoebox)

Best sculpts?
Value for money?
Range/scope?

Cheers,
Wilf

Wilf,

http://www.g-rava.it/opere/testudo_30_anni_eng.htm - Testudo, I have just ordered a Swedish Army from them, lovely figures but a little on the bigger side of 15mm so may not mix with smaller 15mm, however have a look on TMP for discussion on this subject. I have an Essex Swedish Army that is due to go on ebay soon. The Essex figures are very nice and the Cavalry well animated. Also have a look at Donnington, Museum, Peter Pig and Freicorps, who do a leather barrelled gun! I suspect Mini Figs also do 15mm ECW/TYW

Nick

Essex for cost and details IMO

Testudo for best sculpts - by a very long way.

Minifigs have a large Renaissance range broken into the following sub-periods:
Hussite Wars
Burgundian Army
Aztecs & Early Incas
Early 16th Century
Mid-Late 16th Century
16th Century Moors
Early-Mid 17thC Europe
Ottoman Turks
East Europe & Far East
English Civil War
http://www.miniaturefigurines.co.uk/Cat ... tegoryID=8

My Early Gustavian/ TYW Swedes are a mix of Minifigs and Essex . Some years ago Minifigs started redoing some of their sculpts starting with the TYW Swedish range, I don't know how far they progressed but still worth considering.
You can see some of my army on the NWAinc website.

Essex Cav (Hakapels) and Minifigs foot (Scots Mercs):-
http://www.nwa.org.au/index.php?option= ... Itemid=168

Minifigs Gustavus Adolphus with the re-suplt Cav mentioned above as escort:-
http://www.nwa.org.au/index.php?option= ... Itemid=168

Essex musketeers with Essex pike in background:-
http://www.nwa.org.au/index.php?option= ... Itemid=168

Minifigs dragoons & my reindeer herd baggage with "lapps on reindeer Lt Cav" The reindeer are from Eureka Miniatures with Minifigs riders:-
http://www.nwa.org.au/index.php?option= ... Itemid=168

I also mixed the Essex buff coated Cav shown above on the same base as the Minifigs armoured re-sculpts with no problems as shown on the front of Osprey MAA 262 "The Army of Gustavus Adolphus 2 Cavalry".

The Essex figs came from their "Ready Made Army" packs, RMA27 Swedish Rennaissance in this case, which might help you starting out.
http://www.essexminiatures.co.uk/frames15mmcont.html

Good luck,
John Mc

What a coincidence!

I just posted in my blog about my new minifigs miniatures and now I see this thread.

For me, minifigs is the best: quality, range, detail... they have all that I look for.

Cheers!

Thanks to all for your advice,
Cheers!
Wilf

My order from Testudo arrived in the UK from Italy yesterday (sent Tuesday). A big box full of metal! Beautiful figures, they are a little taller than ESSEX so would not mix in the same battlegroup, but certainly would be ok on the same table! Hopefully I shall have some painted on photographed by next weekend. A couple of points:

The standard bearers come with pole to affix a paper flag to.
The command contain 4 Officers, 4 Flag Bearers, 4 Drummers & Cavalry 2 Officers, 2 Guidon Bearers, 2 trumpeters.

Some of the marching figures have seperate arms, and some of the firing chaps seperate swords.

Nick

Minifigs doesnt have ECW in 15mm? only 10mm?

shakespear wrote:Minifigs doesnt have ECW in 15mm? only 10mm?

Yes, they have 15mm ECW range.

http://www.miniaturefigurines.co.uk/Cat ... egoryID=54

Cheers!

I was thinking these minifigs:

http://www.minifigs.com/catalog/index.p ... _3_277_283

Got to admit as of yesterday I am a Testudo fan. Like Nick I too recieved my figures very quickly.

Their figure sculpting is by far the best I have seen in 15mm. They do have some flash but to be fair that has to happen with this amount of detail.

Not cheap but you certainly get what you pay for.

I just hope my painting can do them justice.

I am a great fan of Testudo and now have a superb Swedish Army. I am currently building a generic German force, so far mainly Essex, which are lovely sculpts, but also Donnington, their TYW stuff is very nice and one buys individual figures. I also have a couple of Freicorps P&S units, very nice but very small.

Photos should follow!

Spartacus wrote:They do have some flash but to be fair that has to happen with this amount of detail.

From looking through my figures the flash is reasonable actually. It is not the "around every seam of the mold" flash. Rather it is cocentrated on thin part of hte casting like pistols and lances sticking up.

Does anyone have pictures of Donnington ECW/TYW - there aren't any on their website.

ethan wrote:

Spartacus wrote:They do have some flash but to be fair that has to happen with this amount of detail.

From looking through my figures the flash is reasonable actually. It is not the "around every seam of the mold" flash. Rather it is cocentrated on thin part of hte casting like pistols and lances sticking up.

Mine is a bit heavier than that maybe due to the fact that the guy is crazy busy. But nothing a good needle file won`t cure.

It`s certainly not a complaint, I am very happy with them.

miros wrote:Does anyone have pictures of Donnington ECW/TYW - there aren't any on their website.

FOG(R) book pages 26 and 160

Wars of Religion pages 6, 18 and 63

In Italy there are 3 good producers:

- Testudo for ECW and 30YW
- Venexia for Ottomans and Luis IV
- Legio Eroica for Ottomans and Polish

may be Luis XIV

Got to get me some of those Legio Eroica (reminds me of the movie 9), just can't let the wife find out!