ECW club

[Galman]

Recently here the gods have smiled upon me and offered me some like minded group of individuals who want to start a Historical Gaming group.  We all decided upon ECW and will be heading in that direction!
Is there anyone out there who has some good links for this time period so I can check on Uniforms and Flags of the units and what not?

[joroas]

Try googling The Sealed Knot as a start.

[OSHIROmodels]

ECWS are also a good choice 

cheers

James

[Galman]

Thanks for the help yall, I do appreciate it!

[Galloping Major]

I think you'll like this one, mind you, I am a bit biased, being the Colonel of the Regiment. (best pic of me is the grumpy looking cove in front of the flag in the Tower of London Section):



Have a bit of an explore -

www.traynedbandes.org.uk

Cheers,

Lance

Damn, that picture came out a bit large, still, managed to get the belly in 


www.gallopingmajorwargames.com

[Galman]

Thanks alot GM!  Love the pic!

[Malamute]

You do look rather splendid in that Photo Lance, most impressive facial hair

[Galman]

Really couldnt find anything, but what is a good set of rules for ECW.  My friend says he has a copy of WH ECW Rules, but is there any out there that is good.  I notice most of Cpt Bloods minis are seperate and not block mode.  Any help would be appreciated, as I would like to see and learn the rules before I go buying minis and wasting money.

[fastolfrus]

There are quite a few different sets available.
I'm not keen on WH ECW, but that's a question of personal taste.

We used to use WRG Renaissance (George Gush may be a bit hard to find) rules for 25mm, but more recently have gone over to 15mm using Regiment of Foote (Peter Pig - available in USA from Brookhurst ?).
WRG uses single figures, RoF uses "stands" of figures.

RoF has some interesting mechanisms, including a pre-battle "campaign" sequence that is very interesting (especially when it can sometimes make numerically smaller forces the attacker)

[Arthur]

As Falstolfrus said, it is very much a matter of personal taste and in a way the best set of rules is the one you feel most comfortable with, not necessarily the one the person next to you praises.

This being said, Forlorn Hope remains a valid option if you like the system. The set has been around for quite a while now, and I've always liked the way it emphasises historical tactics over hardware and arbitrary troop classifications. Don't know who carries it in the U.S, but the rules are available from Caliver Books, who ship worldwide.

Foundry has a set of rules called 1644, which has its fans : can't comment as I haven't tried them, but this particular set seems to have as many fans as it has detractors. It's apparently quite different from Warhammer ECW, in case you're wondering.

The forthcoming FOG renaissance set will also cater for the ECW if you happen to like the FoG system.   

[Captain Blood]

I notice most of Cpt Bloods minis are seperate and not block mode.  Any help would be appreciated, as I would like to see and learn the rules before I go buying minis and wasting money.

My figures are based for large scale skirmish games rather than 'traditional' big battle rules systems like FOG, WAB, DBR, BOB, DOG etc etc etc.

I use my own made-up rules - or variants of simple rules I like which I've adpated.
I find commercial rulesets overpriced and overcomplicated. I can't be bothered to read 100 pages of rules, never mind try to play a fun game with the wretched things.
And I prefer games which are more free flowing, man-on-man. 'Adventure' level if you like.
If I want to be a strategic commander and move big blocks of regimented troops around a battlefield in the old style, then these days I'd rather do it on a computer game.

[Shikari Sahib]

Hi Lance love your pic, very nice reconstruction.

[Galman]

Thanks Cpt Blood, I get what you are saying 

[Galloping Major]

You do look rather splendid in that Photo Lance, most impressive facial hair

Thanks Nick, the moustache is also particularly useful for Victorian impressions, especially when tying maidens to railway tracks 

[Galloping Major]

Hi Lance love your pic, very nice reconstruction.

Cheers Piero,

Don't know if any of you chaps got to explore the site, or whether the enormous picture of me distracted from the link. Take a look, it's full of useful images accurately depicting soldiers and civilians of The English Civil Wars, particularly, though not exclusively if you're interested in Trayned Bandes, The New Model Army and Scots Covenant Armies.

Take a look at our first event for The Tower of London this May (more pics will be added later:
http://www.traynedbandes.org.uk/content.php?content=2010tower
and
http://www.traynedbandes.org.uk/news.php
and some of this year's other pics (again more to follow, the site is regularly updated):
http://www.traynedbandes.org.uk/content.php?content=2010pics
or start exploring from the home page:
http://www.traynedbandes.org.uk/news.php

RE THE RULES,

I'm very much of the Captain Blood train of thought on this. I have several sets of rules including 1644 and the GW ones, as well as others, none of which quite cut it for me. I had the opportunity to have a very quick look at the recently released Renaissance set from Osprey (which are very tempting) between roughing up the wascally woyalists at Basing House this weekend.

I too prefer large scale skirmish for this period, and have used Once Upon a Time in the West Country and File Leader for these sort of games. But home made simple quick ones are often the best, especially if you have a good grasp of period tactics etc.; for instance,  I am tiring fast of seeing mid 17th century armies being laid out in line formations of later periods.

In large scale skirmish you can properly use pike blocks, and fire your musket blocks by introduction, extraduction, forlorn file etc.

I think the best advice would be for ECW rules: buy several sets of battle or skirmish rules, read 'em, compare with what you know/can learn about the period, use the bits you think make historical sense and ditch the rest. 



Cheers,

Lance

www.gallopingmajorwargames.com