Vexillia Limited - Gallery

Mirliton 15 mm - Dante's War

2009-08-03T09:40:00.001+01:00

The Swampster has launched a new blog providing a

[W]argamer's perspective of the wars of the 13th and early 14th century - roughly the lifetime of Dante Alighieri, author of the Divine Comedy. He fought in the service of his home city Florence and mentions many of the main players of the events of the wars in Italy and beyond.

I was first drawn to this period by the appearance of the armies but I also became interested in the history. This is the time of the Guelphs and Ghibellines, of the Sicilian Vespers, of Popes and Emperors. It saw the end of the Crusader States in the Holy Land and the establishment of the Mongol empire.”

The Swampster’s painting skills have featured here before. Therefore it’s not surprising that one of the highlights of the new blog is the the excellent painting on display:

The blog looks like developing into a great resource with both practical information and articles on history. As an example of the former there are some 15 mm comparison photos featuring Mirliton and Corvus Belli crossbowmen.

If you want to see more visit Dante's War. Recommended.

Mirliton Fantasy Barbarian - Eric Bonsall

2009-07-15T13:14:00.001+01:00

This post features the excellent work of Eric Bonsall who painted this Grenadier figure of Cu'hllaigh (Barbarian Warchief) for a friend. Lucky friend.

His brief was to represent an RPG character, who is a seagoing adventurer. Eric’s friend wanted a pale, scruffy looking beard, a campaign damaged shield boss and, as the character had recently made some money, an expensive looking cloak. I think you’ll agree that Eric fully met his brief:

The figure is BA027F from Mirliton who have nearly finished re-releasing the whole Fantasy Warriors from Grenadier. The Barbarian range is a classic and was sculpted by Mark Copplestone of course. All the Mirliton Fantasy ranges are readily available as special orders.

Eric is not a professional painter but does accept occasional commissions to pay for his hobby and he can be contacted via Vexillia.

Freezywater Flags - Jason Dawson

2009-06-17T09:35:00.002+01:00

This post is a first as it does not contain any pictures of figures available from Vexillia. It does however contain some wonderful brush work and great use of Freezywater flags to add that extra something to some 15 mm Hussite figures.

The figures are from Museum Miniatures but the pavises, crossbowmen and hand gunners from the Vexillia Eastern European range would have been ideal for the infantry above and the crew of the war wagons below.

The colour choices and designs on the wagon sides are really good and have resulted in good contrast and bright designs without them being garish.

Again the colour palette works well on the knights above and the cavalry below with the flags really making each element special.

Jason runs his own painting service and there’s lots more pictures at JAD Designs.

Venexia Spanish - Ruben Torregrosa

2009-05-11T11:43:00.001+01:00

Yet more superb brushwork from Ruben at www.heresybrush.com. The quality of these latest figures is as good as any I’ve seen and are of the standard I’ve come to expect from Ruben.

The painting and photography are excellent and I think he has chosen a really effective palette of colours. The following show some Photoshop skills as well.

All the figures are from the very popular Venexia Italian Wars range.

Don’t forget to check Ruben’s earlier posts of his pike squares and tercio.

Battle Of Stoke Field - Ivan Bentley

2009-04-29T19:06:00.002+01:00

Ivan has sent me some shots of figures from his project refighting the Battle of Stoke Field. He’s been using a mixture of Mirliton’s Swiss Burgundian War knights and Swiss as well as Corvus Belli HYW figures.

It would be fair to say that this is a long cherished project of Ivan’s. I guessed as much from his comment that he “will complete [it] this year if it kills [him]”. This struck a chord and I think we’ve all got a projects like this.

Anyway here’s the first photo showing John De La Pole & Martin Schwartz. I was impressed by the finish on the armour which has photographed well.

Next up is Earl Gerald Fitzgerald with a converted standard, a Mirliton fighting friar and Corvus Belli Irish Kerns:

Nice work Ivan and thanks for a welcome addition to the gallery.

Mirliton Condotta - Pete Smith

2009-03-11T13:50:00.000Z

A perennial favourite but this time with a real twist.

Take a look at the bigger pictures and marvel at the faces and the flags. I like the effect of the cloth flags and they look hand painted too!

Both of these elements show sound colour choices within restricted colour schemes giving a nice integrated look.

Nice one Pete.

Mirliton Medieval Russians - Grant Dyck

2009-03-11T13:35:00.000Z

Grant’s kindly sent me some pictures of his Mirliton Medieval Russians.

He bought DBA armies for both the Russians and the Teutonic Knights and there’s more than a hint of the Battle of the Ice in this posting:

A lot of effort has gone into this army and I especially like the heraldry and shield designs. Well done Grant.

Knights Templar Vignette - Ged Cronin

2009-02-16T12:43:00.002Z

Ged’s been busy again! This time it’s a stunning vignette of the Knights Templar and their last charge at the Horns of Hattin, 1187.

He’s used the Mirliton 15 mm Teutonic Knights with a couple of Essex Miniatures casualties.

If you look closely at the photo above you should be able to spot a neat conversion in the bottom left hand corner with two knights on one horse. Inspired.

This is well up to Ged’s usual standard and has been lauded across the web.

Check out Ged's previous work that has been posted here; just look in both the Mirliton and Corvus Belli categories. Finally, be sure to check out Ged’s painting service at GJM Figurines.

Venexia Spanish Pike Squares - Ruben Torregrosa

2009-02-06T19:19:00.005Z

Back in May 2008 Ruben sent me some photos of his Spanish Coronelia or Tercio and the post has proved really popular. So you can imagine how pleased I was when the photos below arrived by email.

As always with Ruben’s work there is some serious detail on show. It is well worth clicking on each picture to view the larger image and marvel at the detail that Ruben’s added.

Rueben has used figures from Venexia’s 15 mm Italian Wars range.

I am particularly impressed by the subtle, and consistent, colour scheme. I an also in awe of Ruben’s photography skills. I wish I was this good with a camera.

If you liked this check out Ruben's blog.

Mirliton Teutonic Army - Steve Keohane

2009-01-19T13:55:00.002Z

Today’s picture comes from Steve and contains his 15 mm Teutonic Division I'm sure you will recognise many of the figures as they are a mixture of Mirliton and Black Hat with a few conversions thrown in.

I particularly liked the shield designs and I asked Steve how he did them. He said:

“The shield designs are a combination of cut down 28mm Littlebigman Studios and VVV decals - fiddly but I think worth it!”

I think so too. Well done Steve.

Corvus Belli HYW Knights - Ged Cronin

2008-12-16T16:21:00.002Z

It seems that Ged has been on a real medieval bender recently. Here’s his latest work using the barded knights from the popular, and recently stocked, Corvus Belli HYW range.

Click on the image above to see the bigger picture. It’s well worth it just to study the colour choices Ged has used.

Check out Ged's previous work that has been posted here; just look in the Mirliton category. Finally, be sure to check out Ged’s painting service at GJM Figurines.

Mirliton Guelph vs. Ghibelline - Peter Kershaw

2008-10-29T20:29:00.002Z

In late 2006 and early 2007 Peter bought a large amount of figures from Mirliton’s Communal Italian range. After all his hard work he’s produced some really striking figures as you can see in these photos from a recent game using the increasingly popular Impetus rules.

These infantry are really effective and show the variety possible in this period.

I had to include this shot for both the knight’s barding and the checked pavises. There’s some high quality brushwork on display here.

Well done Pete.

Mirliton Teutonics - Andrew Watkins & Ray Haskins

2008-10-22T19:18:00.000+01:00

One of the strange things about running Vexillia is how the highs and lows follow very quickly, one after the other.

On Monday I managed to post a Venexia order to Andrew by mistake! Imagine two wargaming Andrew Watkins. I called Andrew to ask him to return the parcel for me.

During the call he mentioned he was setting up a large game for the following day using the Mirliton figures he bought back in 2006. Being a bit cheeky I asked for some photos and they arrived today. So enjoy Andrew and Rays lovely brushwork.

Can you spot the Mirliton Russians in amongst the Teutonics and Communal Italians?

Sneaky Peak - Vexillia Eastern European Knights

2008-09-10T16:16:00.000+01:00

Well I hope I’m not tempting fate.

As I write, the knights from the new Vexillia 15 mm Eastern Medieval range are undergoing test spins before going into production. If everything works then the knights will be released in a matter of weeks. Fingers crossed.

In the meantime Ged Cronin has taken a rest from the Italian City States long enough to try a couple of the new figures. I hope you like them.

Check out Ged's previous work that has been posted here; just look in the Mirliton category. Finally, be sure to check out Ged’s painting service at GJM Figurines.

Mirliton Italian City States - Ged Cronin

2008-09-08T10:28:00.000+01:00

Ged's been very busy working his way through the vast pile of Mirliton Condotta and Burgundian Knights he bought from me in the summer.

In this montage I've selected some of Ged Italian City State contingents. They really show off Ged's strong and effective choice of historical colour pairs that bring the pieces to life. Allied to some great brushwork they make a stunning spectacle. The states are clockwise from the top left: Porta Pertusio, Papal State, Naples, and Modena.

Check out Ged's previous work that has been posted here; just look in the Mirliton category. Finally, be sure to check out Ged’s painting service at GJM Figurines.

Mirliton Crusaders - Mark Hagel

2008-09-08T10:02:00.001+01:00

Here’s some further work from Mark. He’s used more figures from Mirliton's Crusaders & Teutonic range to great effect producing this unit of Crusaders. They contrast nicely with the Teutonic Knights Mark submitted earlier showing a nice use of colour.

As always Mark has placed these in eBay but I understand these have sold already.

Vexillia Eastern European Medievals - Ged Cronin

2008-08-16T20:02:00.001+01:00

Here’s another example of Ged’s excellent brushwork. This time featuring the brand new 15 mm Eastern European Medieval range from Vexillia Miniatures.

When I sent Ged the samples I challenged him to show what he could do with the pavises. I think he’s more than met the challenge. The colour choice for the quatering is spectacular as are the freehand devices on the pavises.

The early hand gunners above actually caused me quite a few problems as I took lots of shots to try and get photos that reflected the quality of the brushwork. Still not sure I managed it.

The figures above are due for release on 01 September 2008 from Vexillia Miniatures and are available for advance orders.

Ged runs his own painting service, GJM Figurines, if the work inspires you to retain his services. Highly recommended.

NewsFeed - Welcome Back

2008-08-16T09:03:00.001+01:00

After nearly a month away it's great to welcome back all those of you that subscribe to the news feed.

NewsFeed - Broken

2008-07-24T17:49:00.003+01:00

The news feed for this blog broke on 18th July. I have raised a technical support request. I hope to have the problem solved in a few days although I suspect it may take longer as one of my other blogs is also affected. I apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Mirliton Milanese Condotta – Ged Cronin

2008-07-12T12:03:00.001+01:00

As you can tell from the number of recent posts Ged’s been very busy painting lots of Mirliton’s Burgundian knights and Condotta. This post features his excellent brushwork on a couple of elements of Milanese Condotta.

Ged’s made great use of the red and white colour scheme to produce a really striking array. Check out Ged’s painting service at GJM Figurines.

Mirliton Hungarians – Kevin Krause

2008-07-12T11:53:00.002+01:00

Today’s first entry features Mirliton’s Burgundian Knights but with a real twist. Kevin has added shields and flags to morph the figures into an impressive array of later Hungarian knights. Kevin reports a more than adequate performance against the Turks.

I particularly like the colour added by the shields and the flags. I asked Kevin where he got his shields from and they are hand made from card! Nice work.

Vexillia Sneaky Peek – Part II

2008-07-09T12:00:00.007+01:00

In April I posted some photos of the upcoming range of 15 mm figures from Vexillia Miniatures. Since then the new range has progressed nicely and details have been released:

“The new range will focus on Medieval eastern Europe and marks a major commitment by Vexillia to provide high quality wargames miniatures for this neglected period. The first release will be a range of generic period infantry and cavalry suitable for many of the medieval nations of Eastern Europe. More will follow.

The range has been sculpted by Clibinarium to match both Mirliton and Essex Miniatures. All weapons and shields are cast separately allowing you to easily add variety to your units.”

I now have first production samples for all the crossbow men from VXEF001. So I got my paint brush out and got to work:

I’m still not totally happy with the photography as I think the lighting could be improved. I’m resisting the urge to do the Photoshop thing.

Anyway the figures painted well and they will be added to my Later Polish army now they have had their photos taken.

For full details, the release schedule and advancing ordering information visit the Vexillia Miniatures page.

Mirliton Burgundian Knights – Ged Cronin

2008-06-24T16:55:00.004+01:00

Another post featuring the excellent brushwork of Ged Cronin. This time its a vignette of the Visconti Family getting ready for War and if anything it’s better than the one posted yesterday.

The vignette features the mounted command pack from Mirliton's 15 mm Swiss Burgundian range.

I really like the coordination of the colour schemes between the flags and the figures.

Mirliton Condotta – Ged Cronin

2008-06-23T14:20:00.002+01:00

It’s been a while since I featured the Mirliton 15 mm Condotta range so it’s a pleasure to post this example of a command vignette painted by Ged Cronin of GJM Figurines.

I especially like the horse and the detailed pattern on the Trumpeter’s banner.

Ged, and his clients, are very taken with both the Mirliton & Venexia ranges and I’ve been promised lots more photos as the armies are painted and photographed. Judging by the detailed work shown here it should be a worthwhile wait.

Venexia Spanish Coronelia - Ruben Torregrosa

2008-05-27T10:14:00.001+01:00

There's been a lot of gallery submissions lately and this one is from Ruben who hails from Spain. Fitting really as he's provided pictures of his Spanish Coronelia or Tercio. Do look at the full size pictures as there's some seriously good details on show.

I was particularity taken by the choice of colour scheme which gives the figures a unified look and blends well with the flags. Also there's a guy in there with checked trousers! That's really good work.

If you liked this check out Ruben's blog.