Napoleonic & ECW wargaming, with a load of old Hooptedoodle on this & that


Monday 21 January 2013

ECW Regiments of Foot - more recruits




This afternoon I gave up on any outside jobs, and finished off and based a further two units of Foot. Here are Robert Ellice's RoF [R], with the red flag, who have rather unwisely allowed Philip Egerton's [P] to stand behind them.

The armies are shaping up nicely now - the artillery needs to catch up a bit, but I'm almost ready for a group photo. There's still a fair way to go, but I'm pleased with progress. First anniversary of the ECW lead mountain will be in March, so by my standards this is all very rapid indeed. I want to try to finish this first phase by the end of the Summer (which seems remote enough at the moment to be a safe target).

My starting OOB will have each army comprising 8 foot, 6 (or maybe 7) horse, a unit of dragoons and some artillery. I am also thinking about a unit of firelocks for the Royalists and a clubmen-type militia unit for the Parlies, but I'm still working out what figures would work for those. I recently received a photo of some very interesting Scottish foot figures from Old John, so there may be an extension to the shopping list.

Two more cavalry units are away to be painted, so I may be getting far enough ahead of myself now to think seriously about getting some ECW buildings ready. One big obstacle to starting that at present is that all my scenic paints (mostly Dulux emulsion) are Mediterranean-type shades, so I must put together a list of more mossy, thatchy, slatey colours and go and visit my nearest colour-matching service in Dunbar. 250ml sample pots are the boys.

Late Edit: I forgot to mention that if anyone is interested in 20mm ECW figures, Old John has the Les Higgins range in full production, plus the Marlburians and lots of other 20mm wargame figures. Please contact him through his blog.

11 comments:

  1. looking good, now where did you get them from:-))
    cheers Old John

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know a man who has a barrow at Caernarfon Market.

      Cheers - Tony

      Delete
  2. Must paint up an ECW army or two - it isn't as if I can't get the figures!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very smart (the Hintons in particular) and impressive progress!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ian, Ray - thank you, gentlemen. I'm still introducing units in balanced pairs, so the armies grow at the same rate. Another pair of foot units followed by another pair of foot units is really just more and more of the same thing, with minor variations in colours and flags, especially as these chaps are really just painted to a decent wargame standard rather than anything more eye-watering, but the effect in the mass should be good once I reach that stage. The painting of the cavalry is a bit more ambitious, which is justified by the fact that there are more basic differences between the cavalry castings.

    The Parliamentarian regiment in this batch is the first I've done without a buff coat over the uniform coat for the musketeers - this is rather easier with the Hinton Hunt figures, since the uniform detail is [phrased carefully] rather less explicit in the casting than on the Higginses, and you can just paint them a bit differently. Seems to work OK.

    The Higgins cavalry figures (and I haven't painted any yet) show very clear fastenings for breastplates and so on, so you can't just pretend the armour isn't there very easily.

    I have a good supply of cannon coming in - there should be heavy, medium and light pieces very soon - possibly including a couple of rather interesting leather guns. I'd better get my bag of gunners sorted and painted.

    Cheers - Tony

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am always tempted by the ECW and those Higgins figures are rather fine looking. This does not help in the self control dept!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Matt - well, the Higgies are available in unlimited quantities now, so if you don't buy any it must be because you don't want them!

      Cheers - Tony

      Delete
  6. Um, don't want to be critical, but as Parliament held the main magazines, they would be more likely to have the firelocks, and the Royalists the clubmen...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In fact, I'm staffing up for the fighting in Lancashire, Cheshire and North Wales in 1642-4. During the early part of this period, at least, the prominent Catholic families in Lancs had a lot going for them. According to the historical lists I'm working from, there was a body of Royalist firelocks under a Capt Langley, and John Moore's "Regiment" of Parliamentarians consisted of his own retainers plus an assortment of the citizens of Liverpool, armed with not very much. That was what I was trying to add to the mix. In any event, most of my units are/will be capable of turning out for either side if required.

      Cheers - thanks - Tony

      Delete
  7. Nice job you have made of those Tony, great to see the armies expanding now.

    ReplyDelete