ECW (Warlord-Plastic)

[DonVoss]

I painted two small armies for some fun ECW games.
Because nobody is playing ECW/TYW in my gaming group I have to paint both sides...

The troops are based for Warhammer-ECW; I know the deep pike blocks are not for everyone, but I like them...

At the moment there are 3 blocks of pike and shot, 2 horse, one cannon, one leader and a few specials for each side.
Parliament troops on the left, Kings men on the right.



I painted ununiformed units, because I like the ragged feeling of campainig veterans...



All miniatures are Warlord-Plastik, except for the leaders and a Perry cannon.





I scratchbuild a few dragoons from spare parts...



Troops for the king.





And a little darker picture of the battleline...



The armies are quite finished, so there will be no big additions troopwise, perhaps a few scots or 1-2 small guns or a preacher etc. ...

DV

[Captain Blood]

I'm not a great fan of these figures, but you've done a really good job with them. And I've always loved that Hudson and Allen farm... Thanks for sharing.

There's no doubt, love it or hate it, that fielding two complete armies with plastic makes things very affordable!

[Galland]

I'm not a great fan of these figures

Hey Herr Kapitän, would you please elaborate why you dont like them? I was just about to order a few boxes (to mix with some GW stuff to make a warhammer army).

These miniatures looks very good, however, fully painted armies usually do, no matter who makes the models. Thanks for sharing!

[DonVoss]

I see a few minor flaws with the figures/palstic-box:
-not enough poses (there are to many doubles in the Inf.-sprue)
-to many models have the mould-lines over their faces, that never realy works
-not enough vertical pikes in the box (the horizontal pikes are good looking, but bad gaming)
-low quality-flags
-horses don't look to good

Apart from that I like the models and the metal range is really cool...
And I could never afford a pure metal army.

@Hudson and Allen farm
Thanks for the info. I did not know the manufacturer of the building: brought it in my local gamestore for a very low price...

DV...

[Sangennaru]

love the two small armies, and the painting uniformity is perfect for some big warbands like those...



makes me want to play "Mount and Blade with Fire and Sword"...

[Gluteus Maximus]

Two great armies DV. I know how much work there is to do two rather than one, so well done for getting both finished so well.

As to the deep pike blocks - they should be like that (deeper even, in reality)! Even the musketeers should be in deeper formations, but this isn't really practical with normal sized wargames units. Also you are right to go with a lack of uniformity, as supply was very random in the ECW and each re-supply could see them getting different coloured uniforms. Many units were short-lived and were merged with others when strengths fell too low etc, so they never achieved a regular appearance. Probably the only truly uniform army was the New Model and even this could be hampered by poor re-supply.

When I get around to it, this is how I'd like my armies to look 

[Galloping Major]

Well put Glutes, to me it spoils the look of TYW and ECW units to see the arrayed in the more linear formations of later periods. I suppose it has it's uses, and I don't want to spark anything, but there is a reason that regiments fielded what are referred to as pike blocks and musket blocks 

Nice job on those plastics DV


www.gallopingmajorwargames.com

[OSHIROmodels]

I really like the last photo, a good overall shot of the action and figures 

I have to agree with the good Captain about the WG plastic infantry (haven't seen the cavalry yet). Just not my cup of tea I'm afraid.

Big blocks is the way to go for ECW 

As to the random uniformed look, I like it as a general idea but also a few units where the regiment colour is predominant works quite well as well with just a couple of figure in either a different tone of the base colour or totally different altogether.

cheers

James

[Belgian]

Nice units, any share in knowhow about the bases? Especially the colors used!

[Gibby]

Hey Herr Kapitän, would you please elaborate why you dont like them? I was just about to order a few boxes (to mix with some GW stuff to make a warhammer army).

These miniatures looks very good, however, fully painted armies usually do, no matter who makes the models. Thanks for sharing!

I'm not sure how well they'd mix with GW stuff in terms of bits swapping as the scales are very different. I agree with all the points DonVoss made, except maybe the flags as I generally get flags elsewhere anyway being as they're the centrepiece of a regiment, they deserve to be special.

However, I do like the figs in general, and for army building purposes they're perfect.

[Gluteus Maximus]

I'm not sure how well they'd mix with GW stuff in terms of bits swapping as the scales are very different.

I agree, I don't think they'd mix at all well. I have some GW Bretonnian knights for a jousting game project and they dwarf my Perry cavalry.

If you want to mix in ECW figures with GW, try Renegade Minis, which are far larger than Perry, Foundry etc.

http://www.renegademiniatures.com/eng_civil.htm

However, they are all metal and therefore more expensive, but much cheaper than GW's stuff.

They are lovely figures and Captain Blood swears by them 

[Captain Blood]

Hey Herr Kapitän, would you please elaborate why you dont like them?

Where to begin... 

- The infantry have a very limited range of poses. Musketeers for instance must either march, advance or fire. That's it. There should have been huge potential for conversions and creativity in this set, but the way the figures come with heads fixed on and the limited range of fixed arm/weapon combinations, means there's a lot less than there should be.
- Some of the poses are downright weird - that running pose in the 'firelock' box, with the musket held out in front like a fishing rod is just ridiculous.
- Great idea to do separate hats - unfortunately, the hats don't sit on the heads properly. They just look like plastic hats.
- The muskets are too long.
- The sculpting style is too 'smooth': The figures don't have an air of reality - clothing is far too neat, sleeves and breeches are absurdly puffed out. They don't look like soldiers on campaign - they look like 'toy' soldiers.

Having said all that, a great paintjob on these figures can help minimise a multitude of sins, and overall, I think DonVoss's armies look good. And they are, unquestionably, an affordable way to build an army.

I have some of their metal ECW figures and I quite like them. And on the positive side, I will say that the casting on the plastic sets is beautifully crisp, and the period detail of accoutrements is well observed and executed.

But there's more about the plastic sets that I don't like. Sorry. Just my opinion. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder 

[Galland]

Ah, well it seems like perhaps the plastic ECW figs arent what I am looking for then. I was mostly hoping for conversion parts, not full figures per se.

[DonVoss]

@Belgian & bases
The plastic bases are from Renedra. Covered with dirt I picked up in the garden. I try to avoid taking plain Sand as it looks to clean to me.
They are painted with cheap acrylics from the DIY-store, twice highlighted. Finished with static grass of different colours. Quick, cheap and easy...

DV

[Belgian]

@Belgian & bases
The plastik bases are from Renedra. Covered with I dirt picked up in the garden. I try to avoid taking plain Sand as it looks to clean to me.
They are painted with cheap acrylics from the DIY-store, twice highlighted. Finished with static grass of different colours. Quick, cheap and easy...

DV

Thanks, they look really nice! I always use plain sand and as you say it looks to clean so I will probably use a mix for basing my napoleonics!