(AP 2017) English Civil War

[Wirelizard]

I've already got a thread over in Flouncy Shirts about my Pikeman's Lament-powered ECW project (right over here) and a related Workshop thread on scenery (that one's here) but Army Painter 2017 seems like a good framework/excuse/whatever to power through the whole collection of partially painted figures I've got on the go.

Currently the collection is all Warlord stuff and I theoretically have enough units assembled or waiting to be built to get me through the entire AP2017 season, although some of TAG's ECW/TYW line look kind of tempting to add some variety; from what I've seen they're a good match with Warlord size & style wise.

This might well shade over into various flavours of gunpowder fantasy, from witch or werewolf hunting to, well, much stranger things. I've already got a Warlord officer figure that looks an awful lot like a spellcaster with a staff to me, all I'd have to do is chop the head off his halberd and maybe put something else in it's place, and the Witchhunter General rules from Warlord look interesting... or a crossover of Pikeman's Lament & Dragon Rampant, which share the same basic core rules?

We shall see, and hopefully we'll see some fully painted and finished ECW units out of this at least!

[Hupp n at em]

Not a period I've yet gamed so I hadn't seen your prior work but I really like those buildings! Best of luck on making progress, I know I can certainly do better than I did last year (can't do worse than zero  )

[Plynkes]

I suppose you could do worse than zero, theoretically. If either by accident or in a fit of rage you smote all the models you had bought with a hammer, or cast them into an abyss, you would have made negative progress.

Looking forward to seeing some Seventeenth Century shenanigans on this page. Stranger things, eh? Puts one in mind of A Field in England, though Heaven knows how one would go about gaming that.

Anyway, Good luck!

[Wirelizard]

I suppose you could do worse than zero, theoretically. If either by accident or in a fit of rage you smote all the models you had bought with a hammer, or cast them into an abyss, you would have made negative progress.

I'll try to avoid that, no worries. Ending a project like this with a negative "score" would be a downer...

Looking forward to seeing some Seventeenth Century shenanigans on this page. Stranger things, eh? Puts one in mind of A Field in England, though Heaven knows how one would go about gaming that.

Anyway, Good luck!

Just watched the trailer for A Field In England - that looks interesting! Will have to look for the full length film - even if it isn't specifically gameable the general inspiration can still be used!

One of my other inspirations is Mad Lord Snapcase's glorious Belstone project over in our Gothic forum: http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=94488.0

The start is going to be fairly straight historical ECW troops, though, and possibly an imagi-shire (like an imagi-nation, only smaller and more English!) to provide some background.

[Wirelizard]

TAG announced their prices are going up early in July, so I took advantage of their current pricing to get a culverin battery pack with the culverin, eight crew, some detailing bits, and a few gabions for a bit of field fortifications. I also picked up a falconette so the same crew can man a lighter gun if desired.

That pretty much finishes off the purchasing I need to do for this project, I think! (yeah, yeah, never say never...)

Total list of units/figures at this point, off the top of my head:
- 12 medium cav
- 12 curaissier cav
- 24 pikemen
- 36 musketeers
- 18 firelock musketeers
- 2 guns with enough crew to run either of them; I could pad the crew with a couple of musketeers or something if I really wanted both of them on the table at the same time...
- at least 8 various command figures/characters, in addition to musicians and such that I've counted among the regular infantry above...

Once everything is assembled, based, and painted I think it'll be enough for at least two, possibly three, coherent Pikeman's Lament 24pt forces.

The only thing missing is figures explicitly meant as dragoons; for now I'll fake dragoon units with medium cav figures and musketmen/firelock muskets.

Now, if only an ongoing family health crisis wasn't eating most of my spare time and spare brain power...

[syrinx0]

Looks like a fun project.  Looking forward to your progress!

Good luck on the family health front. That is always a tough issue.

[Wirelizard]

Actually got some painting time in over the weekend, for what feels like the first time in weeks...

Lots of slow assembly-line progress on a bunch of pike & musketeers (about thirty all told) that were already half painted, so didn't bother trying for a photo of them.

I also started the first unit of firelock musketeers. Decided to go with a mustard yellow sort of colour, just because, with their officer in dark red.

I've also got a lot of the base layer down on the Warlord mounted officer. Decided to set myself the challenge of doing a black horse, black clothing, and black hair. Possibly also black leather on the horse harness/tack, but I haven't gotten that far yet.



The horse, hat, and sleeveless coat got a base coat of 50:50 Pure Black & Walnut Brown, thinned slightly more than usual. Then I added a bit of Rainy Grey to the mix for the current highlight on the coat and hat.

The horse got GW Nuln Oil wash over everything, and then the coat (but not the mane or tail) got a layer of India Ink to give it the glossy black look it's currently got.

So far I'm really pleased with how the mounted guy is going, and the mustard uniforms are growing on me.

[rumacara]

Go for it.

[OSHIROmodels]

Good to see some figures to go with the buildings 

cheers

James

[Quendil]

Great start

[Wirelizard]

Thanks, folks.

Here, nowhere near finished but at least well along, is Warlord's "Mounted Commander", slouching along with a drink in one hand and a walloping huge broadsword on his hip. I set myself the painting challenge of doing a black horse and a black coat and hat on the rider (and black hair on him too) and so far it's coming along nicely.



The trick, insofar as there is one, is not to use black. Most of his coat and hat are a mix of Walnut Brown (a very, very dark almost-black brown) and just a bit of Rainy Grey, with more grey for the highlights, and a bit of pure black for shadowing.

His horse is Walnut Brown mixed with pure black for the base, then diluted India Ink over just the hide, avoiding the mane and tail. The mane and tail are Pure Black, a bit of Rainy Grey mixed with Pure Black for the highlighting done so far, then GW Nuln Oil black wash.

I'll get him finished this week, probably, hopefully along with a whole pile of pike & shot for him to command!

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

A very good start to your ECW figures, I love that mounted commander in black.

One of my other inspirations is Mad Lord Snapcase's glorious Belstone project over in our Gothic forum

Very kind of you to say so, I am planning to get back to that soon. I've got lots more Dartmoor legends to add to that thread. Good luck with your project.

[Plynkes]

Lovely! This has got me watching my DVD set of "The Devil's Whore." Maybe a bit careless with the history, but jolly good fun watching Simm, Fassbender and co. in full 17th Century mode. Those two guys are always worth watching, even when the thing they are in is rubbish. Oh, and a great turn by Peter Capaldi as Charlie 1. The Doctor vs. the Master, who knew at the time?

You better not drag me into starting another project. That's the last bloody thing I need.

[Wirelizard]

Lovely! This has got me watching my DVD set of "The Devil's Whore." Maybe a bit careless with the history, but jolly good fun watching Simm, Fassbender and co. in full 17th Century mode. Those two guys are always worth watching, even when the thing they are in is rubbish. Oh, and a great turn by Peter Capaldi as Charlie 1. The Doctor vs. the Master, who knew at the time?

You better not drag me into starting another project. That's the last bloody thing I need.

  I'm starting to hunt down ECW-related movies and such for inspiration; thanks for adding "The Devil's Whore" to the list... so many bad nominally-17th C movies!

In more local news, I've finished the first unit of foot for this project, a dozen pikemen in blue.



There's another dozen pikemen (these ones in green) almost finished, as well as some muskets in blue to go along with the blue pike. Commander dude on his big black horse is also inching along toward completion, and I might actually have time this Sunday to get a game of Pikeman's Lament in, which would be awesome.

[OSHIROmodels]

Great stuff 

cheers

James