Workbench Update - ECW Cavalry Painted & Stained - Also Arrival Of Another Perry Order

While awaiting the arrival of Perry Scots Pikemen to complete the last foot regiment, went ahead and worked on the cavalry. Managed to block paint and Minwax stain 7 units of cavalry.

Kept the paint scheme simple, the ones with blue horse blankets will be Royalists, and the ones with red blankets Parliamentarian - except for the one cuirassier unit - which has red blankets but will be Royalists. The ones I picked up from my buddy don't have pistol holsters, but I'll try to mix them up with the ones I put together which do have the holsters attached.

The Perry order did, in fact, arrive yesterday - and I will finish up the Scots Covenanter foot unit next. A couple packs of Chasseur a Pied from their new Franco-Prussian War range was added to the order. I was surprised to see that these are a bit larger/taller than their usual figures.

In any case, they size up quite nicely with the Eagles of Empire figures.

Thanks again for stopping by and checking out the blog. Wishing you all the best!

Workbench Update - Finishing Up ECW Foot And Starting On The Cavalry

Just a quick workbench update - still waiting on a Perry order of Scots pikemen and command, but managed to finish the musketeers for the unit. Also started on the cavalry - 9 regiments of 12 figs each. 4 of these units will be repaints - including a cuirassier unit; and 2 units are mounted dragoons (the foot will be painted afterward).

The Scots figures were sprayed with Rustoleum flat gray primer and then the clothing areas dry-brushed with Vallejo Stonewall Grey. A Minwax stain was brushed on over after the rest of the stuff were painted - leather equipment and muskets, etc. Quite a quick and simple paint scheme.

The new figures were sprayed with a flat brown primer - mainly to speed the painting of the horses. I may dry-brush some of the horses with a lighter brown; also will paint the manes and tails various colors.

Just wanted to show you all a quick update of what I'm working on. Thanks again for stopping by and checking out the blog. Best wishes to you all!

A Couple More Warlord Games ECW Foot Regiments

These two are the last of the figures I repainted from a recent acquisition from a buddy. Again, mostly the clothing (coats and breeches), as well as touching up other areas. The white coats are supposed to be Sir Thomas Tyldesley's Regiment of Foote. Some historical sources say the coats were probably red, but I went with the white which is used by this unit's reenactment group. I also painted the red gyronny crosses over a mostly white flag for this unit. This flag is also used by the group - however, a green flag was captured at Marston Moor which is believed to belong to this regiment. I just like the look of the flag and it contrasts nicely with the white coats. The green coats are supposed to be the Earl of Manchester's Regiment of Foote. The reenactment group of this unit now wears red coats, although they used to wear green ones. There are historical records showing the earl ordering green coats lined red and also red coats lined green.

Both of these units fought at Marston Moor - Sir Thomas being under the command of Prince Rupert. Tyldesley's ensign and drummer are Perry metals. Tyldesley's sergeant with the halberd and Manchester's ensign are both metal figures that came with the Covenanters set with plastic headgear.

Some period illustrations of pike and shot formations shows the musketeers in more of a block - not much smaller than the pikes. I don't think I'll rebase them, but I've seen some other folks basing them in three ranks which look pretty nice. I may put a stand of the musketeers behind the other two on each wing - at least for some games.

I have one more foot regiment to paint up - a box of Scots Covenanters that was included as a "freebie" in a recent Warlord Games order. I'm waiting on some Perry pike and command figures to add to this unit. Once done, I'll start on the cavalry - some repaints and also new ones. Thanks for stopping by and checking out the blog - and wishing you all the best!

More Pike and Shot Foot Regiments - Warlord Games and Perry Miniatures

Here are three more foot regiments - Sir Phillip Skippon's redcoats; Lord Brookes' in purple; and Lord Saye & Sele's bluecoats; all Parliamentarians.

Skippon's pikemen and command are Perry metals.

As with most of the previous foot regiments, these were chosen mainly for their coat colors and available flags. Not necessarily for participation in any particular battle or campaign.

The pikes for the Perry figures are from plastic broom bristles - which are very sturdy and flexible.

There more foot regiments remain to be painted - including another Scots Covenanter one. After they are done, the cavalry and dragoons will be worked on.

Just a quick update and thank you all for stopping by and wishing you all the best.

Warlord Games ECW Pike & Shotte Update

Finished up 6 regiments of pike and shot. Three regiments were from unpainted sets and the other three were repainted - mainly the clothing as I left the other areas like the leather equipment and muskets alone. From left to right, first rank: Newcastle's Whitecoats, Earl of Northampton's regiment in green; second rank: John Hutchinson's regiment in blue coats, Earl of Essex's regiment in orange/tawny coats; third rank: Sir Gilbert Talbot's regiment in yellow coats, Sir Ralph Hopton's regiment in blue coats.

Although I only think Newcastle's regiment fought at Marston Moor, they'll all be used in the game. I just like the variety of coat/jacket colors and the regimental flags as well.

The pike units are on movement trays for ease of play, as pikes can be a bear to handle otherwise.

There are 4 more units to repaint from the ones that were already painted by my buddy. Aldo 2 more new units, one being another Scots Covenanters regiment. I plan to paint up at least one as Lord Brookes' regiment of foot in purple. Again, not so much as their presence on any particular battlefield, but for the color of their coats and available flags. I also got some nice packages in the mailbox today too - an Osprey Marston Moor Campaign book and a small order from Perry - to flesh out another regiment. The Perry order only took 10 days to arrive - mailed out on 30 December.

Thanks again for swinging by the old blog and wishing you all a great start on the new year!

Workbench Update - Warlord Games ECW Foot - WIP

Here's a visual of the ECW foot in various stages of progress. Half of these were painted from bare plastic, and the others are being re-painted. The repainting is mostly the clothing and headgear. Also making movement trays for the pike units using plasticard and figure sprues for the edging.

With the previous four regiments painted the year before last, I should end up with about 15 or so regiments of pike and shot. After the foot, the cavalry and dragoons will be worked on. Just wanted to show you all that I'm slowly sorting out this mess of figures. Until next time, thanks for dropping by and wishing you all a great start to the year.

First Project of The New Year - ECW Pike & Shotte Revisited

Actually started on some of these before the end of last year. I ended up buying the rest of the Warlord Games Pike and Shotte figures my buddy had - although these were already painted by him years ago. He had intended to use them in TFL's "In The Buff", but no one else was interested at the time. This round of figures included 48 more cavalry (12 of which are metal cuirassiers) and 160 foot - enough pike and shotte to flesh out several more regiments. He also threw in 15 cannon and crew from Old Glory. The image below shows most of these new acquisitions as well as the ones previously painted - and just based with the newly arrived Litko bases. I plan to touch up or repaint the figures and mount them all on Litko bases. They are currently on card stock bases and easily removed off of them. The one minor issue is that my buddy used a very thick coat of wood stain on the figures so much of the details are now hidden or covered over. Not too big of a deal as these are all rank and file figures.

I added one of the new painted pike units to one with musketeers I pained with a can a light blue spray paint. The ones he had were pretty close in color, but being a bit retentive, I had to paint them the same blue to match the musketeers. I used an old tip and sprayed some of the paint into a foil make shift palette and brushed the paint on.

In addition to these figures, I also placed a Warlord Games order since I thought I needed 12 more horses for the riders I got from my buddy in the first purchase. Lo and behold he found the 12 horses with this second round of painted figures. Anyway, I added a box of Scots Covenanters to the order as it was a "freebie" add on with Warlord's order - which pretty much makes the $25 shipping a wash; in fact, the Covenanters go for $34, so, maybe I made out by $9? Oh, and I also ordered some Perry pikeman figures since again I didn't know about this second round of figures from my buddy and wanted more pikes. Oh, well, I should be pretty well occupied in the coming weeks to get all of these figures done. I am hoping to do a Marston Moor game once the figures are all ready. Thanks for dropping by and hope you're all having a great start to the new year.