"28mm WOTR Livery Badges" Topic

Just a quick post with some musings and some terrible camera phone photography…. ;-)

I've been playing around with WOTR livery badges on and off for frankly ages (indeed those with very long memories may remember I did some for Glen Brooks' 42mm WOTR range way back in the day) but for a variety of reasons they're one of those projects that's gotten a bit done every now and then, but never quite gotten over the finishing line until now. I do, however, think I've finally cracked it and gotten something I'm really happy with, in spite of my appalling photo, and not having time to paint some figures properly just yet….

Any comments or feedback very welcome – I'm hoping to get a few codes (at least 8, maybe 10 or 12) listed on my site in the next day or two, depending how much progress I make on the large pile of printing I need to catch up on at the moment….

Like all of my decals these are on a clear film with printed white, so no fiddling about trying to colour match paints with decals – the opacity of the white isn't quite as good as I'd like on livery colours with a big contrast (eg. when half is white, and half red or dark blue) but to be honest that's only really visible under magnification, and if it really bothers people can be dealt with by applying a second decal over the first, although that definitely seems overkill most of the time.

Anyway, I'm rambling – hopefully someone will like them…. ;-)

Dom.

PS – The main resource used for these was of course the excellent "Standards, Badges & Livery Colours of the Wars of the Roses" by McGill and Jones – frankly anyone painting a WOTR army should seriously consider getting a copy:

link
(I can't direct link to the right bit on Vexillia's site, but click on the "Medieval" tab and it's the third title down…. You can also get it from the Lance & Longbow Society.)

Great idea Dom. I hope it does well.

I can't direct link to the right bit on Vexillia's site

To help: this links directly to the books page at vexillia.com.

As Dom says it's the 3rd book down.

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Martin Stephenson
Vexillia: Wargames Miniatures & Accessories
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Glad to see you're planning to offer these. I can't wait to see the list.

I'm not sure how many I'll end up doing, but the eight I'm planning on starting with are:

White Rose
Black Bull (Edward IV)
White Horse (Arundel)
White Ragged Staff (Warwick)

Red Rose
Antelope & Crown (Henry VI)
White Boar (Devon)
Blue Boar (Oxford)

This is the actual resolution for the back badges. Obviously the much smaller front ones necessitate sacrificing some of the detail:

I still need to print out the Oxford one and make sure it comes out OK, but the other 7 are printed and ready to go. Obviously the roses are there to cover people doing "generic" Yorkist and Lancastrian forces, and then I'll doubtless need to add more nobles when I get the chance.

Excellent idea

Sorry Dom, what scale please?

Doh!, just saw the title '28mm'
Any chance you could do them in 15mm in future?

Front badges in 15mm are beyond what's physically possible I suspect, but the smaller "front" badges for 28mm should work on the back of 15mm figures.

Good job, Dom. If I ever get around to doing my WotR project, now I know where to get decals! Thanks!

Looks great. The only thing I would suggest is paint the miniature white, place the transfer down and then paint around it. The reds and blue seem to bleed through the transfer.

They do show through a little, but as noted earlier, it's only really visible under magnification – in the unforgiving light of about x5 magnification for that photo it shows up, but in the flesh they look fine, even squinting at them close up.

If it really bothers you, rather than trying to paint around the design (a lot of which have very fiddly outlines – after all if they were simple they wouldn't need decals….) I'd simply paint the figure first and decal as usual, and then when it's dry, apply a second decal over the first – nudging it into place with the bristles of a paintbrush it's surprisingly easy to align it precisely on top of the first one.

On which note, I'm pleased to say the first batch are available:

link

Great, just ordered a couple. Earl of Essex next please :)

Essex's primary badge might be tricky, especially in the smaller size, but I'll make a note to try it some time.

Got mine this morning and they look absolutely brilliant. I think my Napoleonics are going to slip down the batting order in favour of the Wars of the Roses again now.

That's an unusual act of postal efficiency. :-) Glad they made it OK.