Organizing my WotR Collection

I have spent the last six weeks organizing and painting my Medieval figures into various Livery Colors and Factions. Some of my figures were already painted in various Livery Colors and others were just painted randomly in various Colors that depended on my mood and/or the latest Medieval Pics that I happened to see. Still other Medieval figures were purchases made at various Historicon Flea Markets that I was fortunate to be able attend. After counting I had over 800 individually mounted 25-28mm Medieval Figures. What to do ? Such is the problem when you do not focus or have a plan. Fortunately I ran across a posting on the "I Promise Not to Start Any New Wargaming Projects..." Blog. The author Simon Taylor developed a Spreadsheet with Livery Colors from the 1992 Freezywater Publication "Standards, Badges & Livery Colors of the Wars of the Roses". So I adopted the idea and developed my own Spreadsheet. See Pic below.

The colors of a Livery are shown with the name of the Lord or Baron below. So as you can see there

are quite a few names under some of the Color/Livery combinations. This means that several of the Livery colors can be used for different Lord's and Barons. This is the reason that I have chosen not to paint Livery Badges on my miniatures - I can use them for more than one Lord. I use Livery Flags and Banners to identify my WotR Units. Livery Colors come from a Lord's Standard - see below.

This is the Standard of Henry Bouchier. His Livery Colors are Black over Green. This translates to a Livery Jacket Color of Black on the Right Side with Green on the Left Side. The rule of Livery Colors as I understand it is that the Top Color of the Standard is on the right side of a Livery Jacket and the Bottom Color is on the Left Side of the Livery Jacket.

I will provide Pics of my organized and painted WotR Troops in my next Blog Post.

Background for my War of the Roses Imagi-Nation

I have finally decided on my background for my War of the Roses 28mm miniature Imagi-Nation. Yesterday I received in the mail the book "Dark Albion The Rose War". See pic below.

Dark Albion is a very detailed resource of a pseudo-historical fantasy world set in England during the period of the War of the Roses ie. 1453-1485. I am really not interested in the Fantasy aspect of the book - my main interest being Historical Miniatures in  the Late Medieval Period and in particularly the War of the Roses. My background and viewpoint being stated - this book is a fantastic resource for the War of the Roses and I highly recommend it ! Let me give you a short review with some comments on how I intend to use this resource.

The introduction outlines the authors' basic premise of Dark Albion: The Rose War. It is "a setting in a quasi-historical kingdom very similar to that of 15th Century England." The author also states that he had been educated as an historian; and his knowledge of the period is truly remarkable - it is what makes this book such a great resource. At this point the reader is given several things to keep in mind ( a setting of ground rules so-to-speak ) and the differences between Albion and our historical world.

The Gazetteer of Albion describes the Government, Religion, Magic, Minorities, Technology/Warfare and Dangers/Adventure that are in the country. The tweeks to the History and Geography by the Author keeps things pseudo-historical, but the names, locations etc. are 80-85% historical and I had very little trouble identifying the fact from fiction. Next all the regions of England Albion are presented with the history and background of each region. Accompanying each regions' review are maps, notes, cities, towns and castle names and information along with prominent Nobles in the area. The information in this section is almost overwhelming but it is presented in a well thought out manner and will be easy to find the referenced information. I intend to use this information as background to my Imagi-Nation and the various mini-campaigns and situations that I am envisioning. I would say that about 85-90% of this section will be useful to the historical gamer.

There is a Law and Justice in Albion section that that seems to be a pretty accurate description of late Medieval times. I will be the first to admit that I am no expert in this area but again I would estimate 75-80% being an accurate description of Medieval Law and Justice but the section will be very useful to flesh out story details in an Imagi-Nation. Topics covered in this section include handling Law and Punishment, Secular and Ecclesiastical Courts, Law Enforcement, Prison, Trials, Trial by Combat, Torture, Punishments Fines etc. All quite useful Medieval stuff.

A History of Albion section is richly packed with a lot of historical background information about 80-85% historical and covers the period 1453-1485. This will help to provide great background context material for an Imagi-Nation.

There is a section on Currency and Coinage which can be used as is for an Imagi-Nation. There is also economic information that covers Medieval wages and the costs of Medieval living - along with the ever present Medieval taxation practices. A lot of useful Medieval history and fact in this section.

Rounding out the Historical and Imagi-Nation usefulness there are several tables of Medieval Name generators. They will be just the ticket for a mini fictional campaign in my War of the Roses Imagi-Nation. Tables are available for Anglish Names, Common Female Anglish names, Examples of Last Names for Upper Gentry and the Knightly Class, Scots Names - Male and Female and Last Names, and lastly Welsh Male and Female common names. 

There are many other sections that are aimed at the Fantasy World that have concepts and ideas that can also be useful in an Imagi-Nation setting but that I will not cover here.

In conclusion I cannot recommend "Dark Albion: The Rose War" enough. It is richly packed with Medieval and War of the Roses information, gaming ideas and aides.

Welcome to my new Blog "The Chronicles". I have other wargaming interests but this Blog is about my efforts at recreating the Wars of the Roses with 28mm miniatures. I have been painting and playing with miniatures since the mid 1970's; and I have been painting and collecting Medieval Miniatures for 35+ years. Unfortunately I have not been very focused. Up until three months ago my collection consisted of approximately 650 individually mounted 25-28mm Late Medieval figures painted in various colors. Since my retirement I have been organizing, painting  and touching up my collection to better reflect the various livery colors and factions that took part in the Wars of the Roses. This Blog will record the things that I do, and hopefully I will explain and show in detail my thoughts, plans and projects; as I undertake to create a War of the Roses 28mm miniature world, and play with Late Medieval toy soldiers.

Just a word about the picture at the top of this Blog. It was taken by me at Historicon 2002. It was the Battle of Tewksbury hosted by the late Terry Gore and Jeff Ball of Saga Miniatures. The rules used were by Terry Gore. His hand published/printed "Medieval Warfare" Rules. I had been looking for several years for a good set of miniature rules to fight Late Medieval Battles, I found "Medieval Warfare" to be what I was looking for.