Dan Becker's Essex Early Bulgar 15mm Army Figures

This article describes 15 mm historical figures from Essex Miniatures. The figures represent the Early Bulgar armies of 558 AD through 1018 AD. The Bulgars are Turkic nomadic tribes that migrated from the Pontic-Caspian steppe. They were expert horsemen and bow warriors which is reflected in this army. During this era the Bulgars are known to have fought or ally with the Romans, the Byzantines, Slavs, and the Rus. The Bulgars are the ancestors of modern Bulgaria in Europe.

Essex Miniatures created this collection of 15mm miniatures for use with the De Bellis Antiquitatus miniature game, also known as DBA. DBA is popular because of the simplicity of the game and its vast breadth of history. Each army has exactly 12 elements. There are hundreds of army choices in the rules lists each described by its units, time frame, enemies, and allies. and each one has exactly 12 units. Essex is known for grouping and selling figure sets for DBA, an easy way to buy a complete DBA army.

This Early Bulgar army is from DBA version 3.0 (released 2016), the third book of armies (spanning the Dark Ages to early Medieval period), and is the fourteenth army of the book (DBA3 III/14) with three variations.

This article has two sections. The first has descriptions and photographs of individual units. The second has a photo carousel which allows you to spin the army around and view it from each side. Click on the photos for a gallery of larger images.

Essex Early Bulgar Army

This photo shows the entire Essex Early Bulgar Army miniature set. In the front are General element, flanked by two knights, and four horse bow units. In the back are the various foot soldiers.

Essex has provided enough figures for a complete army with the option for psiloi or bowmen unit. The quality of the sculpts and the castings are excellent. Unlike Baueda which provide multiple camps with their DBA Army sets, Essex do not provide them. The camp shown in the center comes from Baueda.

Here is a photo of the Early Bulgar Command and Knights.

In DBA game terms, the units available to the Early Bulgar DBA3 III/14c army are knights (Kn), light horse archers (LH), spear militia (Sp), archers (Bw) or psiloi (Ps - loose formation harassing troops).

Amount	Description	Type
1	General	3Kn
2	Boyars	3Kn
4	Horse Archers	LH
4	Town Militia	Sp
1	Archers	3Bw or Ps

In the terse language of author Phil Barker that unit list is "1x3Kn(Gen),2x3Kn,4xLH,4xSp,1x3Bw|Ps".

Here is a photo of the Early Bulgar Command and Knights from the right.

I really like the General in the center and his retinue, the one on the left with a mace, and the one on the right with a cataphracted armored horse. The Bulgars were really good at metal smithing and trading with China and the Middle East, so I made much of the metal work and costumes really rich looking.

All the knight's lances had small dyed fur pennant molded in, so there was no need to make paper banners.

Here is a photo of the Early Bulgar Command and Knights from the left.

All the Bulgar army is painted with black primer. The tunics, pants, and footwear are blocked in with acrylic paint. Then the armor and weapons are painted, and finally faces, hair, and detail bits. If the model looked too two-dimensional, I used some light brown wash to shade them. Except for the faces, the miniature is painted from the undergarments outward.

All paints are Vallejo Model Color acrylics followed by a dull clear coat, Kylon Matte Finish (#1311).

Here is a photo of the Early Bulgar Light Horse Archers.

The Bulgars were Turkic Steppe Nomads, so they were very good with horses and bows. These Essex miniatures are excellently scuplted and in various poses. The horses have varied poses also and are well adorned with blankets, reins, and saddles. I love the Hunnic/Mongolian fur rimmed helmets.

Here is a photo of the Early Bulgar Light Horse Archers from the right.

As they were prolific traders on the early silk and spice routes, I tried to make the tunics look very rich.

For this photo session, the green and brown ground is a cloth mat from BattleMat Bazzare. The background is a $8 seven by five foot photographic backdrop from Amazon of which I now own four different ones with varying color and subject. I like this autumn looking forest back there.

Here is a photo of the Early Bulgar Light Horse Archers from the left.

In order to get the tiny 15mm figures in focus, I threw a lot of light from some LED panels on the models. I put my camera into aperture mode and chose a very small iris like an f25 or f32. Often the exposure length took 4 or 5 seconds to gather enough light. Like a pinhole camera, this creates a large depth of field with most subjects in focus.

Notice the team of archers in the background. This unintentional goof makes me smile. It looks like they are having a training session.

Here is a photo of the Early Bulgar Militia Spear.

Bases are made from Litko thin plywood on top and Wargamer Accessories thin steel on the bottom. The wood on top accepts glue for the figures and the base materials very well. The steel on the bottom adheres to the magnetic vinyl sheet that I put in every storage box. This way the minis don't slide or flip around while in transport.

Here is a photo of the Early Bulgar Militia Spear from the right.

Again Essex has provided a nice variety of sculpts and poses. My favorites here are the spear men with the fur lined caps. I put them all in the same red tunic, as if they were some sort of ethnic conscripts.

Here is a photo of the Early Bulgar Militia Spear from the left.

Shields are hand painted from some examples I saw in an Osprey "Men-at-Arms" book.

Here is a photo of the Early Bulgar Bow, Psiloi, and Camp.

The archers are Essex figures. The three figure base would be a bow team. The two figure element are psiloi (a fase loose formation, made for skirmishing).

The camp and figures in the back are from Baueda models as Essex do not provide camps with their army sets.

Here is a photo of the Early Bulgar Bow, Psiloi, and Camp from the right.

In the DBA game, every army has a camp (or a village, fort, or built up area). This provides a home base that can be sacked.

Here is a photo of the Early Bulgar Bow, Psiloi, and Camp from the left.

Not all DBA army sets have variants. Essex has provided this army with just the bow and psiloi options. Some of the armies have 3 or 4 extra elements worth of figures.

All in all, these Essex miniatures are well sculpted, well molded, easy to paint, and reflect the flavor of the historical subject.

Essex Early Bulgar Army Photo Carousel

Early Bulgar army 1 — Early Bulgar army carousel

This section of the article has not much discussion, but it does have a carousel of photos that you can use to view the army from 12 angles.

Click on the Early Bulgar army photo and click the buttons to spin the army to the right and the left. See the army fronts, sides, and backs.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the details of these figures and the photographs.

Building a DBA army is enjoyable because of the 12 element size (about 40 to 60 figures), and there are many armies to choose from. The army lists are based on much historical research, and depict a wide variety of unit types. The game is popular and supported by many manufacturers, fan pages, gaming groups, and convention tournaments.

I have built several other DBA armies (Romans, Ancient Brits, Teutonic Order, Rus, etc.), and they are listed on my DBA Armies web article. I feature this Bulgar army and a Carolingian army fighting a typical DBA battle at DBA Battle - Carolingians vs Bulgars. Other miniatures I have built are available on my Miniatures Page or the complete index of builds on the Mini Data Page.

Thanks for reading about my latest miniature figures.

Dan Becker's Essex Early Bulgar 15mm DBA Army Figures

Essex Early Bulgar Army

Essex Early Bulgar Army Photo Carousel