Captain Blood's ECW resurrection. P.43. Cuirassiers ride!

[Captain Blood]

How do they measure up alongside Bloody Miniatures?  (I assume different sculptor but I could be wrong.    )

Thanks Malcolm. Yes, as Paul says, these are by Paul Hicks, mine are by Nick Collier.
I should be getting the 'greens' for the first four Bloody cavalry packs in the next day or two.
Also, as Paul says, Bloody Miniatures are at the bigger end of the 28mm spectrum. Whereas Mr. Hicks's sculpts for The Warre Game are a little more diminutive - more in line with TAG size-wise. I think the Perry ECW cavalry figures are smaller still.

That said, I'm using the same eBob licenced horse models as these (heavily titivated by Nick Collier), so the Bloody horsemen won't be too large or they'd look overly top-heavy. So I'm hopeful they should fit together reasonably well with these cuirassiers - we'll soon see.

(Steve Jones is an occasional visitor here at LAF, BTW, under the nom-de-guerre 'CaptainGeneral')

I'm happy with slightly smaller looking mounts for the Bloody horse. A couple of people have assured me that ECW (I'd guess also TYW) cavalry nags were not great thoroughbred knightly chargers; nor as well fed and bred as modern race horses or hunters. More of a mixed bag probably.
Pics soon

[Paul Richardson]

I think I read somewhere that when the Swedes landed in Germany in 1630 they were mounted on very small Swedish-bred horses, and that it was only when they captured territory in Germany that they got hold of horses of comparable size to the Imperialists' horses.

My guess is that armies made do with the horses they could get hold of, with stronger horses being allocated to cuirassiers (because of the added weight of their armour). I believe that dragoon horses were often very poor. To my knowledge, only the Empress ECW dragoon horses try to represent this. 

When I have a cavalry unit where the riders are of different makes, I try to base them on horses of just one make because I find that it brings the unit together better. It will be interesting to see whether the new Bloody Miniatures  riders can be used alongside much smaller ones like The Warre Game ones when they are both mounted on Ebob horses. Most of my riders are of the smaller variety (TAG, Empress TYW, Foundry and, soon, The Warre Game) but there are some Bicorne riders I'd like to use in my units, and almost certainly some Bloody Miniatures ones too, and I'd be delighted if I could use them alongside my existing riders. 

[CapnJim]

Those Cuirassiers look sweet!  Well done!

[Paul Richardson]

I see that Steve Jones has put up a size comparison on The Warre Game Facebook page. For obvious reasons, it doesn't yet include Bloody Miniatures horsemen.

[bigredbat]

Beautiful painting on those cuirassiers...

[Captain Blood]

Thanks Simon 

I see that Steve Jones has put up a size comparison on The Warre Game Facebook page. For obvious reasons, it doesn't yet include Bloody Miniatures horsemen.

Thanks Paul. I'll do a comparison when I get the production castings back, but here, for the record, are the Bloody cuirassier 'greens' 

[Atheling]

This range has grown into something quite unique these days Richard. Variation and character beyond measure when compared to many ranges out there.

I was looking at your website the other day and all the packs have a unique dynamic character all of their own. For this both you and Nick have to be congratulate!

Absolutely gobsmacked at this range 

[Captain Blood]

Thanks Darrell. It is quite the labour of love 

[Atheling]

Thanks Darrell. It is quite the labour of love 

Which comes across in volume Richard 

[NurgleHH]

They are great, any chance to get standing horses with them? Would fit a bit more for skirmish gaming

[rumacara]

They are great Richard.

[Codsticker]

They are great, any chance to get standing horses with them? Would fit a bit more for skirmish gaming

If I had my druthers, in general, there would be more mounts posed walking and standing.

[Bloggard]

They are great, any chance to get standing horses with them? Would fit a bit more for skirmish gaming

y'know, don't get that - why better for skirmish gaming, just out of interest?

always preferred 'dash' in figures, both foot and cavalry.

[Belisarius]

Dragoons dismount to skirmish and the horses are left with a holder .

[Paul Richardson]

These are absolutely tremendous figures - some of the nicest I've ever seen.

As a manufacturer you have to select a pose for the horse, and you need one which will suit the rider and appeal to the greatest number of people. Most people seem to like galloping horses, because most cavalry come on galloping horses, even though I suspect that in reality cavalry horses spent little time galloping - I have a vague recollection that Gustavus' cavalry were trained to charge at the trot, and I suspect that horses which carry a man and his equipment all day every day wouldn't be able to gallop much anyway. My personal preference is for walking or standing horses, but I appreciate that I'm in a small minority, and that units on walking or standing horses are probably not commercially viable.