a touch of the blues...

Somewhere, on some computer, at some time, I saw a web site with a simple listing of coat/cuff/breeches colors for the various ECW regiments. Of course, I can't find it now. Haythornthwaite shows this blue/brown color combination as in use by the trained bands. However, I suspect it is generic enough to be used for any regiment on either side that wore blue coats. This is my third completed regiment and exhausts the color combinations used on my test figures. Guess it's time to do some actual research. Almost completed regiment. Base flocking is yet to be done.

a banner day...

One of the goals of this project is to create scalable standards that can be used for any size figure. I've been using SVG (scalable vector graphics) for a few projects at work and figured it would be a good format to use for flags. Size 'em to whatever size needed, print them off and viola! jaggie-less flags, big or small.

the gentlemen assemble...

The first officers to answer the call. The figures in the Call to Arms command set are large. In fact, their size and styling makes me strongly suspect they were sculpted by someone other than the rest of the range. They are not my favorite figures though they do exhibit a fair amount of character. One thing I can say for certain is that the large surface area of the officer's coat loudly cried out for shading. This was a good chance to experiment. I wanted to keep the shading subtle yet I know that I also have to keep the paint 'dry' or risk washing off the base coat of glue. So shading came down to an exercise of mixing paint on the figure. This was something new for me as I am traditionally more of a 'wash' painter. I am not unhappy with the results, though clearly more practice is required.

a gunne arrives...

The bargain artillerists. While the Call to Arms figures are very decently priced, at over $10 for a single gun (with no crew) their artillery is not. Now, I lucked out by finding a box of artillerists at half price at my local hobby shop. But I haven't footed the bill for the gun, yet. The gun shown here is a BMC model that came in a bag of cheap American Revolutionary War figures. I suspect the gun trails should be a bit straighter to more accurately reflect an ECW piece, but I'm also sure there was quite a bit of variability in early English guns.

a gathering of horse...

Seen here is the first of the painted cavalry. I'm not real happy with the buff coat. Too yellow, methinks. Finding cavalry figures may be the biggest challenge of this entire project. Call to Arms makes two types, an 'Ironside' and a Haslerigge 'lobster'. Luckily there's four poses of each--at least of the riders. I do feel the need to find some more active horses for these figures. The challenge is also true for finding mounted command figures. There are some truly exquisite 54mm figures available for the period. But they also have exquisite prices! And I have to face it: part of the reason I'm doing this in 54mm plastic is to avoid the cost. I may end up doing more conversions than I had originally intended.

disciplined green troops...

The second regiment has been completed. While this is, ostensbily, a green regiment, it might be difficult to tell from their uniforms. The color that most catches the eye is the yellow of the buff coats on both the pikemen and the at-attention musketeers. This is obviously a well drilled unit... except for those musketeers on the right. Once again the physical size of the unit impresses me. And, once again, I'm concerned about the table size I'll need in order to play a game with these figures. In fact, I've found myself looking at a lot of 6mm and 10mm figures lately. Though I'll stick to 54mm for the ECW stuff, I may try War of Spanish Succession, SYW or even Napoleonics in a much, much smaller scale.

the regiments form...

My original intention was to use 36 figures for a unit; 16 pikemen in block flanked by 8 musketeers on either side. But the more I read the more I disliked the pike component being deeper than the gunners. So I'll probably go with 8 pike in 2 rows flanked by 8 musketeers, also in 2 rows. However, there'll be a third row behind the pikeman for command and color bearers. This may contain 1 or 2 pike men since I still think 2 rows of pike just looks a little skimpy.