Slitherine

All,
I am kicking around the idea of creating a 15mm Hussite army. I would like some feedback as to their playability (Victorius or weak), but I am
also open to anyone's input on models. Currently I am looking at Museum and Essex for the war wag, all the other minis for the army will be Essex as I have miniatures aplenty. Of course if I paint the army and don't use it, then I must also think about selling it, which begs the question "Is this army sought after."
Feedback welcomed.

finnian wrote:All,
I am kicking around the idea of creating a 15mm Hussite army. I would like some feedback as to their playability (Victorius or weak), but I am
also open to anyone's input on models. Currently I am looking at Museum and Essex for the war wag, all the other minis for the army will be Essex as I have miniatures aplenty. Of course if I paint the army and don't use it, then I must also think about selling it, which begs the question "Is this army sought after."
Feedback welcomed.

As a possessor of war wagons (Later Hungarians) my view us they make a great looking army but not a very competitive one in an open competition. So your market will be style gurus, aficionados and the very rich.

The army will look good, and should behave accurately, in historical refights and fun games with buddies.

finnian wrote:I am kicking around the idea of creating a 15mm Hussite army. ... I am also open to anyone's input on models. Currently I am looking at Museum and Essex for the war wag[ons] ....

Don't forget that Irregular do excellent war wagons and they fit well with Essex draft horses. Here's one I did for my Polish army camp (which is why there are no horses):



Click on the picture for details of the figures and materials used.

That is a sweet looking wagon. Nice work.

finnian wrote:All,
I am kicking around the idea of creating a 15mm Hussite army. I would like some feedback as to their playability (Victorius or weak), but I am
also open to anyone's input on models. Currently I am looking at Museum and Essex for the war wag, all the other minis for the army will be Essex as I have miniatures aplenty. Of course if I paint the army and don't use it, then I must also think about selling it, which begs the question "Is this army sought after."
Feedback welcomed.

I've often had the desire to put together a Hussite army (if for no other reason than to give my Catholic friend a good reason to arc up against the evils of Protestantism... but I digress). My conclusion has been that it is practically impossible to win with. FoG is a game of maneuver and points denial. You will be out-point-denied on EVERY game you play (except by a complete noob) and you will not be able to maneuver.

One theory I had was to use the War Wagons as a strong point and use knights (which would find their way after deployment) to attack an enemy weak point. The trouble is that the War Wagons just aren't strong enough to be a strong point and the knights not maneuverable enough to really make a quick enough difference.

I think you will be disappointed.

I'm very sorry to say.

Minifigs makes two styles of battle wagons. one is a standard wagon with wooden hoardings, the other is an artillery wagon. both are similar to the drawings in Heath's Armies of the Middle Ages, Volume 2.
The Essex wagons are uninspiring.
The utility of Battlewagons in FoG is low, especially considering their cost. Lack of mobility, weakness of missile fire, vulnerability to catastrophic loss of frontage in combat make them a poor choice for an army that needs to win quickly.
Historical use favors grading them as crossbow/heavy weapon armed Mob or MF with FF, rather than BW.

The dilema I have is this, I have tons of late medieval figures which I have been painting up. Soon I will have enough for an army and the Hussites have often seemed like a strong army (please note that I have not played FOG in over 4 years). I have been slowly collecting figures for a new Nicophorian Byzantine army as I just love the busy Byzantines. So, I will most likely base up and sell the medieval figs in small battle groups, recycle the funds and get some more Byzantines. Sad, I really thought that the Hussites were tough.
They seem like they would be a good match for light horse/cav armies?

finnian wrote:Sad, I really thought that the Hussites were tough.
They seem like they would be a good match for light horse/cav armies?

Somewhat but the trend seems more away from the uni-dimensional versions of those armies

Roger Greenwood in the UK used hussites extensively in DBM so tried them a lot in FOG, with generally disappointing results. It may be though that there's a trick army in there that could be made to work, as few have used the wagons in FOG.

You are right, they do give mounted armies a lot of trouble. However you will be a small, slow army. Roger used to use the Wagons as a wall to block enemy, whilst attacking down a flank with knights and foot. The problem was that that people tended to run away from the mobile bits and hit the wagons hard with foot or bow shooting (a column of 4 wagons might be shot at by 12 dice). A base loss and the wagons were in trouble.

Groups of two wagons might be more resilient to shooting as harder to knock off a base.

finnian wrote:The dilema I have is this, I have tons of late medieval figures which I have been painting up. Soon I will have enough for an army and the Hussites have often seemed like a strong army (please note that I have not played FOG in over 4 years). I have been slowly collecting figures for a new Nicophorian Byzantine army as I just love the busy Byzantines. So, I will most likely base up and sell the medieval figs in small battle groups, recycle the funds and get some more Byzantines. Sad, I really thought that the Hussites were tough.

Tough doesn't necessarily mean winning, assuming you plan to play competitive games at the club or in tournaments. LRR deployed behind the maximum 18 FF is also tough. But it's not going to win much.

But why sell the figures? There's lot of good late medieval armies you could use them for, unless you've done very specific paint jobs. German City States, the later Spanish armies, French Ordonnance, Condotta just got a lot better, etc.

I think if you're painting them to sell then you'd be better off selling things that can go into many of the generic medieval armies (such as BGs of knights, spearmen, crossbowmen etc) as there's likely to be a ready market for these. The Battle Wagons don't have a any record of decent performance in Fog so it's not worth trying to source the wagons unless you have a real desire to use the army yourself

Good info all around. My main focus is as a painter, and as such I do paint to sell. That said, sometimes in the course of painting up figures, I come across an army that interests me and I pursue more research to see the viability of said army. The Hussites would be a departure for me as I do not like to buy new lead (I have enough lead as it is to paint up). I liked the Hussites in DBM, but I don't think they made the transition well.
As I stated before, I am slowly amasing a new Nikophorian Byzantine Army to field. Much of my remaining lead will go straight to ebay. But, I am open to suggestions for armies. So far I have painted up cross bow, spearmen and axemen, all of a medieval ilk. I am unsure of a viable army for said troops, so I will take advice on the mater.

A fair number of the medieval troops are fairly generic and can be used for a variety of armies. If you could post a few pictures it might be possible to suggest an army if you're looking to sell a whole army rather than individual BGs. I don't know which option is better from a revenue perspective, some people like a whole army painted in a consistent style and might pay a premium for that, but there may be more people who just want one or two BGs.

When I am all done with the big batch, I will post. As far as selling for profit, well I paint as a hobby and love selling figs for cheap. If I make money, great, but if I don't, no biggie. When I first got into the
hobby I was a bit turned off by the cost of an army, so if I sell for cheap then others might find the hobby more doable.

finnian wrote:so if I sell for cheap then others might find the hobby more doable.

Can I have your e-mail address?

You can contact me through Slitherine.