15mm English Civil War

[anerion]

Well, after playing the Pike & Shotte demo game at Salute this year, I got a little hooked on ECW, so a friend and I have decided to put together a small force each to play a game or two.. we're also slowly working on some ideas for a Homebrew Pike & Shotte era game.

Not being big fans of 28mm, we opted for Peter Pig's 15mm ECW mini's. I prefer this size as you get a better chance of actually painting your entire army and I think it's that much more cost effective!

So, as in all cases, you've got to start somewhere and on that note, here's what i've got so far for my Royalist force! (There's a small cannon on the way)



n.b i'm not a big stickler for true regimental colours etc so don't get offended if I paint up a unit using something that wasn't historically acurate.. I'm more interested in playing the game

[Apple Dave]

From the looks of your pictures those Peter Pig figures look great. What is the flash and mould-line situation like straight from the packet? Also where did you pick those bases up from?

[anerion]

I used to buy my bases from 'Rathbone Games' on ebay, but he appears to have stopped trading..
The last batch I bought however were from Warbases the ones i'm using are 30x30mm and 3mm thick. At £1.75 for 20, it's not a bad price, the p&p isn't too shabby either. MDF bases are definately the way to go!

As for the Peter Pig minis' the quality on them is fantastic. There's one or two that might need a little extra trimming, but for the most part top notch.

[Crazy Harborc]

IF......that is "if"....I ever try 15mm minies/painting etc. I will remember the Peter Pig minies. Right period...but. My normal, long term opponents and I are into 28mm BIG time.

Those ECW 15mm minies are good to stare at. I do hope there will be more WIP photos. Then there could be some battlefield photos perhaps?

[mrtn]

Good luck with the army! I've got the P&S book and it seems to be a very nice game (haven't played it yet).

[Artoris]

Get some paint on these boy!

[colhodg]

Lovely! Also looking at pike and shotte (have played and liked blackpowder) but looking to do 28mm plastic Warlord figs - will have to post some competing pics when i get round to it. By chance have got the exact same bases - they come complete with an addictive laser cut / burnt wood smell!

Looking nice so far tho if i could justfy the cost i'd be tempted to go for 6 to a base...

Have also played the ECW version of perfect captain - works very well, has campaign system and free to download. Interested to hear how pike and shotte works out tho.

[Crazy Harborc]

I found out last week that a friend of a friend took part in a 15mm ECW game using a deceased, long ago friend/opponent's two, complete armies. I will be asking about when THAT will happen again.

That said....we are still hacking, slashing AND smoking up the field in 28mm, ECW. Using Old Glory ECW, GW(Empire), Warlord Games ECW. We REALLY like the WG, ECW cavalry.

We are cheating....we are using about 100 Perry Miniatures plastic WoTRs pikes to fluff up our body counts.

[anerion]

right, quick update.. i've almost finished one unit of pike (though i've just noticed 4 untiped pikes and a couple of unpainted belts :/ ) and have almost finished one side of the sleeve of shotte! Got some nice flags on the way from QRF soon too.
Enjoy. More on the way.

[nandalf]

Looking good boyo!

Ben.

[Artoris]

Nice work! Any plans for some cavalry at some point?

[anerion]

I've got plans for some cavalry both Cuirassiers and Dragoons (though the Dragoons present a double expenditure as you need them both on and off horses!)

But i've got to finish the rest of the army before I buy new models. So on that point, I started painting up the second sleeve of men last night after the pictures above, this time in the colours of the Kings Life Guard (Red) So i'll try to get some progress pictures of them up tonight or tomorrow.

[anerion]

Another update!

It's been a busy couple of weeks, business trips, work, ..life.. But i've managed to get alot of work done to my Kings Life Guards-esque unit of pike. I've also done some starting work on one of those Generals, though the horse in particular still needs a little work.



I've also been doing some re-working to my previously shown 'blue' unit, they're a little more rag-tag, some mixed trousers etc. i've also tried to pick out some more of the details on them; long johns, shoes, belts, swords etc.

Left to do: 6 Stands of Shotte, 1 Cannon, 2 generals.

I also treated myself and bought a few minis from MiniFigs Matchlock range which, i'm told, are quite close to the Peter Pig 'true 15mm' scale. On it's way are some command miniatures but also a couple of ditties such as a 'One-Legged Musketeer with Pig' - i'm quite looking forward to seeing that one.

[Crazy Harborc]

Darn "Explorer"......Anway, ONE more try to comment here.

I like the minies. I like the paint jobs. All that in 15mm. More minies in less space. One little problem.......what to do with 3-4 thousand 28mm minies I already have.

Thanks for the photos, those 15mm goodies do look good.

[mrtn]

They are looking good, but if you finish the basing (and paint the base edges of the blue pikemen) they'll be doubly cool for just a little more effort.

[anerion]

I couldn't agree more.. so that's just what I did.

[Artoris]

They look much better for a bit of basing! Bring on the next unit? What colour will they be?

[Codsticker]

n.b i'm not a big stickler for true regimental colours etc so don't get offended if I paint up a unit using something that wasn't historically acurate.. I'm more interested in playing the game

One of the great things about ECW is that by having a variety of command stands available with different colours you can use the same regiment to represent different forces depending on circumstance. For example the red regiment pictured above could be used to represent the Kings Lifeguard or any number of Parlimentarian regiments.

[Crazy Harborc]

Just a thought.....Do many historical wargamers actually "know" what colours are correct for who(m)evers unit??

THAT said, for me it's no big deal. It's the fun of the battle that matters. Everything perfect and correct combined with a bad gaming experience/battle/etc totals up to a bad game.

[anerion]

Do many historical wargamers actually "know" what colours are correct for who(m)evers unit?

The further you go back the less you know i guess.. but a breif glance at any Napoleonic painting forum you'll see a mass of topics about 'What was the colour of the 3rd guy in the xyz brigades handkerchief?' and retorts such as 'that shade shade of yellow is not quite the precise correct hue, it's was this!'. They get *really* uppety about it..

Everything perfect and correct combined with a bad gaming experience/battle/etc totals up to a bad game.

I couldn't agree more!

I did take some inspiration from the Warlords Pike and Shotte rulebook which has one of those 40k style 'heres a page of marines painted in the different chapter colours' (but for parliamentarians/royalists.. obviously) where i'm guessing it has some basis in historical fact..

And I have done a little research since the start of this thread and like Codstickler says, the ECW seems to have been a period where anyone could wear any colour (it was up to your local lord/earl etc) so that in some circumstances you wore the same colours as your enemies to the point that men/regiments were using coloured bands tied around ones arm and flower in caps/helmets to differentiate between friend and foe! so i guess i could choose anything and get away with it!

Which does mean I have a nice royalist AND parliamentarian force!

Think the next couple of units might have a common theme but be a little more individual/unique.. taking some inspiration from mrtn's 30yw thread.