Slitherine

I am using a mix of these for a SHNC Spaniard army.

The Mirliton foot (not sure about mounted yet) are way too small.

Will probably have to obtain some other lead to replace the Mirlitons standing in now for Off Spear, Crossbowmen and Handgunners.

So pro tip - don't mix Mirliton with these figures. I think that Venexia and CB will mix with Essex.

spikemesq wrote:I am using a mix of these for a SHNC Spaniard army.

The Mirliton foot (not sure about mounted yet) are way too small.

Will probably have to obtain some other lead to replace the Mirlitons standing in now for Off Spear, Crossbowmen and Handgunners.

So pro tip - don't mix Mirliton with these figures. I think that Venexia and CB will mix with Essex.

Are they too small or too thin? I have this theory that most of manufacturers can be mixed with some tricks. The main trick is using the same shields and spears. Certainly, sometimes the differences are too strong and the overall is not good, but sometimse it can be diminished. What I did with Xyston and Essex was adding some green stuff to get both at the same level:



It is not perfect and I would only recommend that if you really want to have a lot of variety in poses in your army. If not, yours is a good advice.

Too short and too thin.

The Mirlitons stand a head shorter than the others, and their limbs are thinner, heads smaller, etc.

Also, most of these troops have no shields to screen their differences.

I am surprise by the difference between Mirliton and Venexia since Venexia built their Italian Wars line on the basis of matching Mirliton.
Corvus Belli HYW line I have, and they are bulkier than mirliton. You really don't need to match any of these lines since they can fill all you need by themselves, except for pikes which corvus belli don't have.

I am currently mixing all these together in a late medieval army. Mixing them on each base. Mirliton are thinner and probably a tiny bit shorter, but so long as you mix them on each base they look fine. In fact they look better than fine, as I love the variation. Once in a BG there is something in the way our eyes and brains translate what we see, & even things out. I must try and get some photos, but they do work very well together. I have even put Kurasan Dailami together on a base with Legio Heroica....and that looks like it was never going to work , but it did.

If I was you I would try it on 2 or 3 bases before you get rid.

I've never understood wargamers seeming obsession with figures all being exactly the same size and shape.

Did I miss the line in Vegetius that says all Roman soldiers were exactly 168cm high?

No, that's in Ammianus...Vegetius was notoriously light on contemporary detail.

peterrjohnston wrote:I've never understood wargamers seeming obsession with figures all being exactly the same size and shape.

Did I miss the line in Vegetius that says all Roman soldiers were exactly 168cm high?

I totally agree. When somebody rises that point I like to show them these pictures of actual soldiers:







The real problem to me are parts of the equipment in different size and shape, like the shields or helmets. That is why I love the new brands of miniatures with their shields detached. In my Essex hoplites I have cut the shield and I am going to stick a Xyston one. The miniatures will look different, but somehow I like when all the men in the unit are not the same.

The trouble with pictures of statistical outliers is...well, that they are statistical outliers. Show me the picture of the full unit with 50% extreme midgets and 50% extreme giants and I'll think again

The pictures above are probably outliers. But next time your at the club or at a competition, just look around. I would bet there's at least a head height variation in height (more than the scale difference between say Xyston and Essex), and just as much variety in body mass.

You don't take into account that the different miniatures aren't just one head taller than others but have different styles or are bigger overall.
When you look at your pictures, you will see that apart from the body's height the equipment is still the same size and style. Same helmets, same rifles, even the same boots.

Miniatures from different manufacturers will vary in scale (and scale != height) or equipment. If I were to build an roman army, I'll want those scuta all the same more or less.
Actually I won't mix Essex Romans in my Toullers because the shield differs so much.

This said, I think miniature comparisons are very useful.

You know, I never realised people in the real world might be different heights, or body mass. I shall definitely pay more attention to what is around me in future

That said, I'm the sort of person who likes regular units to look like they have just got back from synchronised swim training and donned identical wigs. I've shocked myself recently by actually allowing differently coloured horses to nar the symmetry of my regular cav.

Irregulars...3 different poses and a bit of variation in basing angle is plenty for me. I'd quite happily mix manufacturers here, and in fact I suspect I will be doing so with the Thracians I'm about to try to put together, since it seems no one manufacturer makes Thracians the way I want them. Fingers crossed the differences in height and body moss are not too jarring for my unrefined tastes!

ShrubMiK wrote:You know, I never realised people in the real world might be different heights, or body mass. I shall definitely pay more attention to what is around me in future

That said, I'm the sort of person who likes regular units to look like they have just got back from synchronised swim training and donned identical wigs. I've shocked myself recently by actually allowing differently coloured horses to nar the symmetry of my regular cav.

Irregulars...3 different poses and a bit of variation in basing angle is plenty for me. I'd quite happily mix manufacturers here, and in fact I suspect I will be doing so with the Thracians I'm about to try to put together, since it seems no one manufacturer makes Thracians the way I want them. Fingers crossed the differences in height and body moss are not too jarring for my unrefined tastes!

For trhacians you shouldnt need to use anything other than xyston. they are excellent and there are many poses.

Mehrunes wrote:
Miniatures from different manufacturers will vary in scale (and scale != height) or equipment. If I were to build an roman army, I'll want those scuta all the same more or less.
Actually I won't mix Essex Romans in my Toullers because the shield differs so much.

I agree: Essex Romans do not fit with other manufacturers, but I would blame Essex shields over all. With the new brands with the shields and spears coming appart that is easier to do. In fact I am mixing Old Glory, Warmodelling, Xyston, Allain Touller and some unidentified manufacturer for my Romans and thus I have all the range of heights

here are some pics of my medievals:

http://littlearmies.pbworks.com/w/page/ ... m-medieval

I couldn't get the images to display here, but if you follow the link it should go right there.

I don't have Venexia on these bases, but they are in the mix for the crossbow and make up the light infantry which are all in the works.

peterrjohnston wrote:I've never understood wargamers seeming obsession with figures all being exactly the same size and shape.

Did I miss the line in Vegetius that says all Roman soldiers were exactly 168cm high?

If height was the only difference, I would not care so much.

I have not mixed them on the stands because certain figures were only available from one source. Venexia's Sword & Buckler men are awesome, but there were no parallels from other lines to mix with them.



Venexia's Ginetes are mind-blowingly pretty, but again, no other mfc has figures to mix. Essex Ginetes are much earlier and look like shit next to these:



What really stood out in my experience here was the Mirliton that used for Off Spear next to the Corvus Belli Def. Spear. Mirliton did not have a shielded spearmen in the later ranges, so I went with some CB. The Mirlitons are not just shorter. I could live with that, since the Def Sp have pavises to obscure that difference. The features are very different, though. The CB and Venexia infantry have much larger heads and stockier limbs, making the Mirlitons look like short, emaciated pin-head troops.

I am finishing up some Mirliton mounted figures, and hope that they won't match up so poorly with the Venexia Ginetes. Worst case, I can redo the Off. Spear and Crossbowmen to swap out the Mirlitons for Venexia, CB or Essex. Should I end up making figure swaps, I will definitely change out the Mirlitons for other ranges. The Mirliton infantry molds seem to be spent, and the castings show a lot of flash and misalignment. Plus, I'd have match new figs to the more peculiar ones (S&B especially), and Off. Spearmen (unshielded Pikemen with shorter spears) and Crossbowmen are pretty easy to find.

Those miniatures look great! My congratulations!

Strategos69 wrote:Those miniatures look great! My congratulations!

To be fair, those are from the Venexia site, not my paintwork. I'll post some pics of mine sometime later.