ECW idea.

[Silent bob]

Hi,

Has anyone any opions on which are the the best ECW figures?

I am after collecting a couple of skirmish forces based on an idea of a small forlorn hope attacking a large siege gun and its attendant firelocks. Ideally I would like dismounted cavalry for the attackers + a 'sniper'

I already have the buildings, and I plan to have the gun firing in real time with the attackers able to delay the firing by pinning down the crew.... Hence the sniper

I am not a big fan on mixing ranges and due too failing eyesight, I quite like 'large' 28s.

Thanks

[nils]

if you like it cheap-Warlord has some nice plastic figures
they have mounted and dismounted dragons(metal reider-plastic horses-but i dident paint them jet becaus the casting is not that clean)
A sniper is also found in their range.
The boxes come withe the same plastic rank and feil+command-and metal command extra so by the biggest box!
I`m fond of their plastic range but not so fond of their metals.
Assult goup has a realy weid range of Ecw- foot and horse and guns.
Emperess has a range too and foundry and ...
but its up to you what you like.

[levied troop]

If you like large figures try Bicorne:
http://www.bicorne.net/index.html

No dismounted cavalry (but lots of dismounted dragoons).  Not sure if there's a sniper but plenty of carefully aiming musketeers and some lovely artillery crew.

[Kings Curse]

I'll second Warlord Games. By the sound of it their range is perfectly adequate and complete for what you're after. Their plastics are pretty good in my experience, and their sniper/marksman looks like a real killer.

Perry has a range of ECW minis too, though not as extensive as that of Warlords. I've never seen them in person, but from the pictures they look very nice, just as would be expected.

[Sparrow]

Depends what you are looking for. Warlord have the advantage of being cheap but the quality of the research behind the figures is a little "wanting" in places. They always feel a sort of "Hollywood" version of the C17th to me? It makes you wonder if some designers ever actually look at contemporary sources?

The Perry range is nice, a little limited in places, but much better than Warlord (in my opinion).

By far the most accurate range is the Empress range. Lovely castings and full of character and growing in breadth on a regular basis- as you can tell, though, I am quite biased!

In the end - your game so whatever you pick will be right for you! It'd be boring if we all liked the same things?

[NurgleHH]

I own Old Glory, Foundry, Perrys, Warlord and Empress. For a skirmish I would take the Empress-Figures, because I think they are full of character and induviduality. It was a pleasure to paint the mounted troops. But, Bicorne should also be very full of character. I like the warlord sniper, but the weapons are a little bit fantastic, more made for Warhammer 3rd (Oldhammer). The idea of all the warlord-range is great, some poses and types you won't find in the other ranges.

[fastolfrus]

If you want large 28s with dismounted cavalry, what about Redoubt's 3 Musketeers range?

[bong-67]

Hi,
The Redoubt Three musketeers range is very good but the only actual dismounted cavalry figures are the Musketeers and Cardinal's Guard and these figures are all in tabards.
A better bet for large 28mm figures would be the Redoubt ECW dismounted cavalry and dismounted dragoons.  In their ECW extras range they have a dismounted dragoon demolition party and a forlorn hope set, which might be ideal for your project.   They don't do a sniper as such but they have a civilian with fowling piece which might do.
All the best,
George.

[Axebreaker]

Renegade and Bicorne are my favourite and are very large 28mm. They are an absolute pleasure to paint and both ranges have dismounted dragoons.

Christopher

[mikeland]

I'd probably go with Warlord on balance, though Perrys are very nice, the Warlord Cannon are really nice sets, very characterful crews, and their metal dismounted cavalry are very nice too. The plastic Infantry are quite a nice set, if a little long in the tooth (7 years old now) as regards plastic technology, which shows a little. The plastic Firelocks set are not as good, you only really get one pose in the plastics and a few options on it. That said the metal command that come with the firelocks are excellent.

I wasn't too keen on the Empress ones, I had a few as samples through, and whilst historically they are spot on with the latest research I found the poses a bit stiff looking.

I've not tried Bicorne or Renagade due to the size disparity.

Do you have a rules in mind? If not I'd give the Witchfinder general rules a bash. Although designed for spooky stuff if you ignore that and use the core mechanics for ECW skirmish gaming they are excellent.

[sepoy1857]

Wargames Foundry - old, but still the best IMO.

[Tym]

Bicorne, Renegade and TAG.  simples!   

[fastolfrus]

If you want to try out any ideas using Witchfinder General, the author plays at the Scarborough club on a regular basis.

[Atheling]

Bicorne and Renegade mix together wonderfully well and I think set the standard for variation and pose etc. They get top marks from me.

Trouble is, they are on the large size and it's very difficult to get other ranges to fit with them. Luckily Bicorne do just about everything you can think of.

Darrell.

[Paul Richardson]

Personally, I find many of the Bicorne infantry figures too long in the leg and too short in the back. I seem to be in a minority with this , however. Bicorne figures are certainly very popular. The cavalry riders are fine although I don't like the horses (but I don't like most manufacturers' horses).
Looking at photos the Empress figures seem to me to be too long in the arm. Their figures are also slim - slimmer than I'm used to. Their horses are marvellous.
I like the Perry range but it's not as big as some other ranges.
The TAG TYW range is very nice. Many of the figures would be suitable for the early ECW although TAG's horses come out of the same stable as Bicorne's. They do do some specific ECW figures, although not a full range.
Bohemian Troops do some very nice TYW figures, some of which would be suitable for the early ECW. They're really nice sculpts but as yet the range is not comprehensive.
The old Foundry ECW range does have some marvellous sculpts - the Musketeer Characters are, in my view, some of the best figures made- but I think that some figures are showing their age (they must have been sculpted in the late 1980s) and they were made as 25mm figures, so they're small by modern standards.
Warlord do some nice metal figures. Some are perhaps a bit cartoonish. Their poses are a bit too active for my taste, but that's just personal preference. I haven't seen their plastic figures 'in the flesh'. 
I don't own any Renegade or Redoubt figures , so can't say anything about them. Some of the ideas behind the Redoubt figures are excellent and if the figures are good then they would be very useful.
Mixing figures between different ranges is harder than it should be because of size differences between ranges and, in some cases, within the ranges themselves.
To conclude, I'm afraid that I don't think there's a perfect range.