ECW Curiouser and curiouser

I’ve now almost completed the first stage of the preparation of the one hundred and sixty eight figures before priming and painting starts. The vast majority of cleaning the miniatures up and assembling them, attaching arms, hats, helmets etc. is now almost complete. I was planning on configuring the basing of the mini's when I happened to read a recent review of the Warlord Games ECW infantry in a wargaming magazine (don’t know why as I’d already bought them) which stated that there are actually 42, not the advertised 40, figures per box. Out of curiosity I double checked the contents of the Pike & Shotte range and the review is correct.

Each Command frame consists of three figures; two ‘officers’ and one musician, either a drummer or a fifer.

Each Infantry Frame consists of:
4 x Musketeer firing
4 x Musketeer walking
2 x Pikeman marching
3 x Pikeman charging their pike - the odd number here is the relevant bit!

There are three infantry frames and one command frame giving a grand total of forty two. I realise forty two is an unusual number (also the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything, according to Douglas Adams of course) to end up with but why any manufacturer would claim less items per box puzzles me. Especially as there are enough bits and pieces to complete all the figures and, I assume, most people will purchase more than one box. Then again I’m only a humble modeller rather than a wargame miniature manufacturer.

Next blog will hopefully include a few detailed shots of some more modified figures I've been working on, mainly junior officers and commanders.

ECW - Progress & Mod 1

Quick progress update on my latest side project, Warlord Games English Civil War (ECW) figures.

Whilst working on these plastic figures I couldn’t resist, as usual, at having a go at changing things, if only to add a little more variation. I think I’ve been quite reserved this time. Firstly this meant simply removing the manbag (I don’t think this is a proper period term but you know what I mean) on this figure’s left leg and carved the plastic to represent a baldric. All that was needed then was to glue a spare sword into position. I’ve repeated this process on several of the same type miniatures.

Unaltered figure shown in centre.


Of the total 160 figures I have to prepare and paint (which, at my current rate, will take until Christmas to complete - if I get a move on) these chaps in this picture represent approximately one third. Historically there were roughly 2:1 musketeers to pikemen although of course this wasn’t written in stone. The plastic troops shown are mainly pikemen, now ready for priming in my custom built priming tray (i.e. upturned cardboard lid from work). The pikemen’s arms, and pikes, have been left off for the moment for ease of painting.

Another small point is that if you look closely you may notice that for roughly a quarter of the advancing pikemen I've used a metal pike to replace the provided plastic ones. I'm hoping at the metal rods will provide at least some of protection for when the minis are in storage or on the field.


I decided to try and use the knitted Monmouth caps for the majority of the pikemen because this distinctive headwear was produced largely in nearby Bewdley. There is a very interesting (and free!) town museum based in the old Guildhall in Bewdley that has examples of the woollen caps you can try on and demos of clay pipe making; it’s more interesting than I make it sound, honestly. The town also has a strong connection with the War of the Roses though Edward IV. Of the four features on the town coat-of-arms three relate directly to Edward IV and the 1472 Battle of Tewkesbury.

Anyway, I’m now concentrated on preparing the musketeers. I’m also planning on chopping and changing the figures supplied with the small metal Scottish saker from Warlord Games although I only plan on replacing the headgear with something less 'Scottish'.

Wargaming in Caldicot Castle

Picture of brother playing the original wargame, chess.

After returning from France late on Friday night my brother and myself had a relatively quiet weekend (for us anyway). On Sunday we bravely ventured into deepest, darkest Monmouthshire in southeast Wales to visit several place of interest. I'll be updating my other blog pages soon with the details but at Caldicot castle we chanced upon a large chess set.

Despite neither of us playing for years (just about remembered the correct moves) we both managed to have a pleasant game. Helps that the weather was lovely and the surroundings were inspiring. Despite the high levels of concentration and the large number of pieces taken my brother still managed to lose (as opposed to me winning – the result was a complete fluke). Checkmate, mate!

Date of visit: 28th June 2009

Warlord Games English Civil War plastic Royalist infantry.

Further to a previous post regards Warlord Games English Civil War plastic Royalist infantry here a quick update. The box set contains a nicely presented information leaflet complete with a potted history of several interesting regiments. Regarding the miniatures themselves the pike men, due to their stance, have mould lines straight down the middle of their faces. A few had flash around the feet but this is no problem to remove.

Command group figures - nice and flamboyant but I'm not to sure about the arm fittings.


One of the pike man figures has to be used as a member of the command group as there are only three figures on the special sprue.


Unfortunate mould lines (unprepared figure on right)

Command group and twelve pike men based ready to be primed.
Figures wearing Morion helmets will be used mainly on the front line and will be used for the other groups I have to build for my brother. The pikes will be fixed after painting the bodies.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, I went to see the John Woo’s film ‘Red Cliff’ last night. From what I’ve read the film is relatively accurate portrayal being based on the ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’ and particularly the Battle of Red Cliff.

As you’d expect from the director of Hard Boiled Face/Off and Mission Impossible 2, the battle scenes are spectacular and there aren’t the flying special effects you normally associate with Chinese/Hong Kong films.

The film looks like a combination of the Lord of the Rings, Gladiator and Seven Samurai films and the old TV series The Water Margin and Monkey. Not a bad thing of course as I enjoyed all of them.

There are scenes were the main characters use wargame miniatures in preparation for a naval battle. After leaving the cinema I was sorely tempted to buy Perry Koreans and Samurai figures but I will resist (if only for the sake of my bank balance).

I won’t be blogging for a while (on this page at least) as I’m off to Arras next week to tour around the WWI battlefields. Arras is now largely forgotten but it actually had a higher daily death rate (4076 deaths per day over 39 days) than the 1916 battle of the Somme (2943 deaths over 141 days) although the campaign was shorter. The Vimy memorial is just north of the town.
The town is the capital of the Pas-de-Calais department but is often overlooked (just like the battle really). I’ve spent a day in the town before but this time we’re based there. Hopefully should be an interesting trip.

Another Distraction

Well two distractions actually. After I had determined to make a start on my own interests i.e AWI, medieval and the Great War after finishing my ACW miniatures I’ve been sidetracked. The first was that I’d promised to make and paint a number of fantasy figures for a friend’s son. Releasing that I’d delayed this for too long I’m now making steady progress (pictures here). It makes a nice change not having to worry that you may have painted the soldiers socks the wrong colour.

Distraction number two was that, out of the blue, my brother turned up with a box of miniatures. I think this may have been triggered after reading a fascinating book about the Dudley castle including an interesting section of the two sieges of the castle and the nearby Battle of Tipton Green (more of a large scale skirmish). My brother hasn’t yet decided which colours he wants them painted, but may be either purple for Colonel Richard Bagot (Royalist) or red and black for Colonel John Birch (Parliament). These will be my completed next project. I’ve realised that this blog may be getting slightly cluttered so I’ll keep this site for modelling and wargaming etc. and this other one for interesting places I’ve visited.

Gabion - Ironclad Miniatures

Gabion – from the Italian word “gabbione” meaning "big cage”.

I bought these little beauties from Ironclad Miniatures, codes: Gabion-2 & Gabion-3, at the Birmingham Wargamer last December. Painting them made a pleasant change from producing detailed figure work. Painted with a combination of Tamiya and GW acrylic I might alternate between figures and terrain/scenery in the future which may help temper my staggeringly short attention span. Hidden away in my lead pile somewhere I also have several individual gabions from Front Rank. Anyway, during any 18^th & 19^th century siege gabions would have been a common site. Made from wickerwork and filled with earth and loose rubble they were used in great numbers to all types of siege works, temporary fortifications, magazines, and shelters. A typical gabion was a cylindrical basket between 33 and 36 inches high and an exterior diameter of about two feet consisting of two basic elements: pickets and rods.

The modern day equivalent to the gabion is the Hesco bastion. Developed by a British company the welded mesh units are lined with non-woven polypropylene.

“A typical wall of HESCO Concertainer®, equivalent to a wall of approximately 1500 sandbags, can be erected and filled by two men and a single common loader in less than twenty minutes. An equivalent wall constructed of sandbags would take 10 men 7 hours to build.”

It is now used for flood control and by major military organizations around the world and can typically be seen Iraq and Afghanistan.

Confederate Cavalry - Work in progress

Send in the cavalry.

It would seem that I can't complete any plastic miniatures without chopping and changing them first. These are my latest. First up the Confederate trumpeter. Only a small change involved hollowing out the trumpet. Not big difference but it does make a nice visual impact.












The next figure shows a trooper in the natural pose of resting the carbine on his thigh. Simply modification of removing the existing weapon and placing the carbine in the open hand.














Probably get these finished in a couple of months time.