Saka Light Cavalry

Saka Light Cavalry

Saturday 4 April 2015

The Start of Something Essex

Last figures from this years Challenge to be added to the blog and four Regiments for Lee's ECW army I am painting for him. We decided the best army to paint up would be Earl of Essex as we know a fair bit about it and as I have started Charles Oxford Army they are a natural opponent for them.

All the figures for both Lee's armies and mine are Baccus, we both have two army packs so no shortage of units between us.

I have started with some of the better known regiments, though I will work through a list that will quickly exhaust these.

I had to start with The Earl of Essex, I mean who else could I choose? I went for a reasonably solid orange for the Tawny Orange whilst the standard is not actually known from what I can make out. Baccus will be replacing the current figures in the future and expanding the range to include the Thirty Years War so we will have even more options at some point in the future. Both Lee and myself have a mix of very old castings and an army each bought about three years ago. 

Lord Saye & Sele's blue coated Regiment comes up next and again the actual colours are not known. I have gone with a blue flag as I felt it looked good. Never assume the flag would be the same colour as the coat or nick name as this was not always the case. Early research favoured such a view and using the colours of ECW re-enactment regiments can and often is misleading. 

Thomas Ballard's regiment was dressed in grey, at least during 1642. As the war went on coat colours were sometimes changed or through poor supply ended up in a mix of colours. Trousers were even worse as these tended to wear out first and often were not officially replaced so would best be depicted in a mix of colours but in this case all four Regiments have single colours for their trews, though not every Regiment has the same colour.

Lord Brooks is the last of the three and I picked this one as they wore a rather striking purple coat. This is also the only one of the four painted that I have the correct flag for. All flags by the way are from Baccus, I am making use of three flag sheets across the two armies. Oxford for me, Essex for Lee and a generic one for both of us. 

Unlike the Napoleonic's infantry are based on the same 30x60 bases as this suits the formations used during the ECW. We have yet to decide on rules and it's possible we will do our own set though I am keen to try a few other sets out as well. ECW was the first period I wargamed and I still have my 15mm which I would love to use again but 6mm will give us the opportunity to fight some of the biggest battles and possibly nip over the Channel for a bash or even make up a campaign that would allow us to field large and small armies that take into account all the possibilities of the period.

20 comments:

  1. Ian! The ECW regiments look fantastic! I look forward to seeing a whole army of these fine units on a battle some day.

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    1. I plan to do a few each month, some of Lee's and some of my Royalist so we can get a few games in before the year is out.

      Ian

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  2. Nice looking regiments Ian :)

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    1. Thanks Tamsin, I have to admit to struggling with the musket a little but the pike make up for that

      Ian

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  3. Fantastic stuff! They look really nice indeed....for filthy rebels that is!
    What reference are you using for the different coat colours?

    I'm using this at the moment:
    http://declaresir.blogspot.com/2015/02/ecw-coat-colours.html

    What rules are you using?
    We are still in the early stages of our project so would love some advice.

    Cheers
    Paul

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    1. Well someone has to play them don't they? :-)

      For Parliament I am using one of the links in that blog page, Baccus uniform guide. I will also be using Old Robin's Foot an old Partizan Press book on Essex's Infantry.

      For the Royalists I have for the most part so far used English Civil War Notes and Queries also by Partizan Press. Very useful but I imagine relatively hard to get hold of at a reasonable price

      Ian

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    2. No rules yet. Want to try the Polomus rules by Baccus as this was the original set that the other games came from. Big games though may work well with a modified Black Powder. No other war was like the ECW between 1642 and 1644 as it had little of the savageness of the Thirty Years War though it crept in at points and by the second Civil War had become far more common place.

      It was a lot less deadly than TYW as armies were able to break off when losing and were less vigorously pursued. Also Regiments would break easier but would also reform and be battle worthy again soon after and able to rejoin the battle so it's going to be a challenge to get all that into a game. This is why we may write our own, if so they will be available free like the napoleonic ones once we are 100% happy with them.

      Ian

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    3. Thanks for the replies Ian. We are going to start with Polemos as well but were also thinking that a modification of Pike and Shotte might work well too. Will see how we go!

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  4. Every ECW army needs Lord Brooks regt, gotta love a unit with a purple coat!

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    1. Not the bloody Royalist armies they don't LOL.

      Yes Brooks do look dashing, can't wait till they are dressed in Purple with red spots ;-)

      Ian

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  5. What a fantastic job in this scale!!

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    1. Cheers Phil, I should get plenty of practice over the next few months

      Ian

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  6. 30 x 60 seems to be working well - great looking bases :)
    I like the variety of details you've added - lots of patience required there!

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    1. I want only a few Regiments to look regimental if you know what I mean so various hat colours and such will hopefully break up the feel a little bit. Some of the lesser regiments will have the odd figure in none uniform coat colours as well.

      Ian

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  7. Hola Amigo
    Madre mia que cantidad de minis,me encantan los que hacéis estos ejercitos
    Bravo
    un saludo

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    1. Gracias, voy a añadir mucho más en los próximos meses

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  8. Tiny blops again! Really well done.

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  9. Thanks, today's post may suit better as it's 15mm :-)

    Ian

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