Saturday, March 12, 2011

moving on to the Grand-Duché d'Anchoise...

another test guidon, this time for the cavalry of the Grand-Duc d'Anchoise:


I am hoping a fleur-de-lys background works, and that it will work well in other colours as well. The little fleurs-de-lys give the whole thing a rich quality that feels very French to me. I think I sharpened the arms too much, though. I'll soften them up slightly next time.
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..and now it is next time. Same fleur-de-lys background pattern but a medium-light blue, a natural colour for the Grand-Duché d'Anchoise. Coat of arms softened a bit. Let's see how this looks:


 Well that was useful. The background and the arms don't contrast enough, but I expected that. I kind of like it, even without enough contrast. The softened coat of arms works well. And as the background colour gets lighter, the diamond grid starts to show, which is nice. So I think this qualifies as progress!

It will be interesting to see how the fleur-de-lys ground works in a very light colour, like yellow.

5 comments:

  1. Gorgeous -specially he first one.
    Note that while the 'field' of the French 'Arms' was indeed blue as on the medieval Banniere, the King's ceremonial cloak was indigo-violet with golden lys.

    Anchoise infantry in white (with heraldic lilies), the Zeichen-Nietschbaden one in dark blue (with a black eagle on the flag)... I know there is no such obvious 'historical prototype', but what about a force with infantry in *yellow*?
    There are precedents in 'The Real World™' -one of the most senior Spanish Tercios was called the Amarillos because of its yellow coats. And yellow is the coat color that matches well with the widest diversity of facing colors -practically equal white in that account. When wargamers use it for historical or imaginary units, the result is generally... flamboyant.


    Estria comes from a boardgame, I believe to remember?

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  2. I confess I am not all that imaginative. The regiments of Zeichen-Nietschbaden wear dark blue, those of the Duché d'Anchoise wear white/light blue and those of the Granducato di Brescegna wear...big surprise...green!

    The lesser duchies are a little less predictable. The coats of Marignac will be maroon, almost a Polish crimson, and their standards will be a combination of crimson and silver-grey not unlike that of the historical Duchy of Warsaw. Forces of the Duchy of Rimaldi will be in brown. The combo of brown and powder blue as in the Legion du Midi is one I find very appealing.

    I like yellow. The all-yellow hussars of the later Kingdom of Naples, whether historically-accurate or not, would undoubtedly be spectacular. Mr. Messori posted a figure with this scheme on Benno's forum and I was glad to see it, because
    a) I love his work in general, and
    b) I love Neapolitan napoleonic uniforms, especially those influenced by Murat. I mean think about it, that guy basically had the power to make Imagi-Nations real!

    Anyway, I sort of had yellow in reserve for civilian livery, as I will need various kinds of footmen available for escorting noble characters on their travels. But why not? I have two regiments of the Princely guard in mind, and no fixed coat colours planned. I was thinking scarlet, but yellow would be more showy. Yeah. I might just do that. Thanks!

    Estria from a boardgame? could be, but if so I am not aware of it. The name is just an invention, vaguely-based on "Austria" and "Istria." I remember googling it when I first came up with the name, as I figured it was too obvious and simple to be truly unique. At the time, I didn't come up with much of anything, except a medieval fantasy-type setting someone had designed. That, and various words in Spanish and Portuguese that pertain to stretch marks and/or female hormmones. Good thing I didn't call the main river the "Estrus." That is what I had in mind originally, but I chickened out at the last minute and called it the "Estro" instead. Now it sounds vaguely like "Estero" which is maybe bland but at least not hormonal!

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  3. ps I re-googled "Estria" today to see if i found anything else and okay, there is apparently a graffiti artist who uses the name. In addition, now I am starting to come up with links to this very blog. Which is cool in its own way. But more interesting, my search yielded a link to a fairly lengthy discourse on Imaqinations in general, and lace war imaginations in particular, from.. where else but the Presipality of Monte Cristo!

    I very much enjoy reading people's views on the appeal of lace wars Imagi-Nations. There IS something special about Imagi-Nations, and there IS something special about this particular period. But why? I find myself agreeing with every suggestion. I sincerely believe they are all correct, and there may be other reasons as well, and yet...part of me wants to know which factors in particular have the greatest explanatory power.

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  4. Found it: the Estavian Empire was the setting (an island-continent) of the GDW boardgame Soldier King .
    According to post on Yahoo groups, several years ago at least two wargaming teams were, independently, converting 'Soldier King' to a Lace Wars Imagi-Nations campaign with miniatures, and a Google search unearthed an even older attempt; but seemingly nothing emerged, at least a spublished on the web?

    I really like your country names ('Se non e vero e ben trovato') and specially love Anchoise!
    You wre indeed shy, with Estrus... :)

    Btw, a 'Da Vinci Code'-like interpretation of the lilies on the French Arms has them as a later distortion of original *frogs*: not because our repute of frog-eaters, but because the Salian Frank ancestors of Clovis came from a marshy area... Would provide a funny 'imagi-native' heraldry, e.g; an ermine-like 'sowing' of tiny frogs instead of tiny lilies ....

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  5. I like the idea of frogs! Bats too. Under-utilized heraldic beasts like that would be ideal for Imagi-Nationeers, don't you think?

    And I am glad you like the names. Imagi-Nation names are funny like that, you know how they feel in your first language, but its hard to know what they might evoke in another.

    To a francophone, I imagine Anchoise looks like one of those mildly humourous Imagi-Nation type names. But oddly enough, to me as an anglophone, even though I know what anchoises are, the name somehow still conjures up images of French nobility and gloire. Strange, isn't it.

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