"How compatible are Essex in general to Old Glory 15mm?" Topic

I am seriously thinking of purchasing an Essex ready made army and an opposing Old Glory FOG army. The rules I am planning to use are L'art De La Guerre. Will these look ok on the table and are there enough figures for a big battle in these army packs? Romans vs Carthage or Alexander vs classical Indians are what I am thinking of doing. Anyone who has these figures please let me know your opinion please, thanks.

Essex famously have short legs and long heads. OG tend to be better proportioned in more dynamic poses.

while they arent ancient – for 15mm armies I look at the pictures here. They do a good job showing the various manufacturers for AWI, ACW and Napoleonic – so it might not be perfect – but may give you an idea to the different aspect of the figures produced

link

As bobm1959 wrote Essex are famously short legged.

OldGlory15 have photographs as do Essex. I mix both but the short legs bother me. Essex have, in my opinion, better horses.

I have both in my Trojan War armies – I know, I know, a long time before the period you are thinking of pursuing. Agree with bobm1959 – Essex look weird on the same stand as OG15s but in the same army on different stands (or stands of their own) – not a problem.

Essex have some great figures and they ARE Essex. OG15s are awesome as well – and the price right now is incredible!

As stated, Essex tend to be barrel-chested with larger heads and shorter legs, but overall solid figures. OG15s are better proportioned, and tend to have more dynamic poses, and are also solid, but not my favorites, with a few Dark Age exceptions.

Two other options you might consider for that period are Forged in Battle, which has starter armies and box sets, and if you can wait till Museum's January sale, then I could encourage you to check out their new Z ranges of Macedonians and Early Indians. Great figures, well proportioned and dynamically posed, even better than the CAD drawings on the website, which make them look kind of bulky. They are well proportioned and larger in scale, at least 18mm, which shouldn't be an issue if you source Museum for both armies.

While you can argue that Essex are somewhat strangely proportioned, they look great in all Essex units. Further, the figures are very cleanly cast with all detail being readily apparent. They are easy and a joy to paint. I also like OG15s but they are not as cleanly cast as Essex and sometimes detail like belts and straps seem to sort of fade away or get lost. They do paint up better than they look in bare metal.

I agree that Forged in Battle produce very nice figures which are compatible with Essex and Old Glory. I take some issue with the comments regarding Museaum's new Z range. While very very nice figures, the samples I received did not fit well with my Xyston collection but the foot did fit well with Essex and OG. Their horses are noticeably smaller than Essex (which have larger horses than most).

I wonder if the Museum Z horses vary in size by range. Here is a picture providing a size comparison of a Museum Z Macedonian "Companion" with a Museum NKE Chariot Horse from their older ranges, and a beefy Essex destrier from their early/later medieval ranges. I share the admiration for Essex horses, but am not sure the Companion's horse is significantly smaller than the Essex counterpart, at least in this sample. Certainly slimmer, longer of neck and less bushy in tail.

fanatichris.wordpress.com/museumcompanion

I always found Essex to be a little smaller. They are more true 15s whereas Old Glory is a little larger.

This year I've painted Alexander vs Porus 15mm for ADLG, as well as a few more.

I had a few old Essex, Old Glory, old Museum and Chariot figures. All the new stuff I got was Museum Z and Xyston. I would have bought Forged in Battle but for the pack sizes.

The Museum Z Indians and Xyston Indians mix fine. The Xyston are a bit bigger but it's not noticeable with the bowmen. Xyston Porus pack is a must-have. Xyston elephants are a bit bigger but not enough to worry about if you mix e.g. Porus command elephant with Museum Zs.

The Xyston don't mix well with old Chariot or old Museum – not in the same unit, as they were on the smaller side and also lack the depth of detail. Different worlds.

But that said, even where I have vintage Chariot pike next to heroic Xyston Thracians, or big-shield Museum Z hoplites – TBH it really doesn't bother me!

The Xyston stuff is class all round. Museum Z great but I have had a couple of misses (Maiden Guard and Greek peltasts I would not buy again).

And the ADLG forum on FB is hard to find. Here you go: link

Thank you for that link mc deli. I did not say it in my original post but I REALLY like the Xyston figures. I have see others with them and they are very well sculpted, I just worry about the actual availability plus some armies I want they do not make. Any army I build will be from the same manufacturer so as to not look odd on the table top, but different armies by totally different manufactures is ok in my book and will not bother me aesthetically. I am just avoiding figures that are too different scale wise being on the same base. Are there any other companies who do ready made armies like Old Glory and Essex?

Forged in Battle do starter armies. As do Outpost, however their figures are perhaps an acquired taste.

I bought Four ready made armies from Essex in the 1990s. Much more recently I bought Forged in Battle gauls and polybian Romans. I bought a batch of OG polybians and basically all three go together quite nicely, imho. The FIB figures are the newest and very nice. But they all go together. The FIB pikemen don't come with pikes