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.