Mounted ECW Units Selected

I have made another slight change in my prospective ECW foot units . . . but that will be the subject of another post.

Today I will focus on the mounted units that I hope eventually to field for my English Civil War project.

At left you can see the ten "Horse" units and two "Dragoon" units that I've selected.

The horse units are mostly historically correct although two or three are either conjectural or were "unknown" and assigned to existing commanders.

As with my foot units it will take a long time before all are painted and ready for the table top . . . but one does need a plan, doesn't one?

-- Jeff

Online Resource for ECW Coat Colors

I just discovered (thank you, Steve Wylde) that Wargames Design, the same source for the wonderful ECW flags that I'll be using, also has an extensive listing of coat colors for the ECW.

Of course it should be kept in mind that the coat color worn at one point during the war might be different from that worn during a different point in the war.  Still this list gives a good basis for painting many different units (both foot and horse) for both the Royalists and Parliamentarians (I did not see anything for the Scots).

-- Jeff

"Ouch!" -- a Delay with my ECW Project

I'm experiencing a bit of a delay with my ECW project due to health issues. 

Some days ago I became aware of my "kidney gravel" (i.e., small kidney stones) moving through some tighter places as it moves through my system.  This is not only painful but very tiring . . . and the pain pills to get me through it leave me quite light-headed . . . and that most assuredly means no hobby knives nor trying to glue fiddly-little pieces of plastic.

Then last night my gout flared up . . . so more pain pills . . . ouch!  Anyway, while these things will pass, I'm not going to be accomplishing much with my figures for a few days.

-- Jeff

My Proposed ECW Foot Units

I want to use "real" units, not "imaginary" ones for my Royalist forces . . . but, of course, we really don't what color the uniforms and/or flags were for most of the ECW.

So I searched for units for which both uniform coat and regimental flag are known . . . even though they might be in differing commands or in different years.

What I've provisionally selected to eventually add to my forces can be seen at left.

The "color" above the commander's name is the coat color as found in one source or another.  Some varied by year, but these are what I'm currently looking at using.

I will not, of course, start out with all of these at once.  In fact my forces may never get to a dozen pike & shot units . . . but this (at least currently) is what I hope for.

-- Jeff

What Color Coat Did They Wear in the ECW ???

Do you know what color uniform coat the following Royalist foor regiments wore during at least part of the English Civil Wars?  If so please leave a comment as to which regiment it is and what the coat color was:

(Please note that, as replies come in, I will add a note to those identified)

• Ashley, Colonel
• Aston, Sir Arthur
• Astley, Sir Bernard -- White
• Bagot, Col. Richard -- Dark Blue
• Bellasyse, Col. John -- 1643 Oxford re-issue -- either Blue or Red
• Byerley, Sir Anthony -- 1644 possibly White
• Chaytor, Col. Henry
• Cooke, Col. Francis -- Blue
• Darcy, Col. Conyers -- Blue
• Duke of York -- 1644 possibly White
• Earl Rivers -- Oxford Blue
• Fitton, Sir Edward -- 1643 Oxford re-issue -- either Blue or Red
• Lambton, Sir William
• Lord Byron
• Lord Molyneux -- Burgandy suit
• Lucas, Sir Gervase -- Blue coat, White facings, Yellow breeches
• Marquis of Winchester -- Burgandy suit
• Strading, Sir Edward -- 1643 Oxford re-issue -- either Blue or Red
• Thelwell, Sir Anthony -- 1643 Oxford re-issue -- either Blue or Red
• Vaughan, Sir Henry -- Red suit, Dark Blue facings

 -- Jeff

Some ECW Figures

Well today some sample Perry Miniatures ECW figures that I'd ordered appeared in the mail.

Perry's Pistol-armed Cavalry

I've read a number of places that they mix well with the Warlord plastics (which have not yet arrived -- so I cannot verify whether they do or not).

By the way, the photos on this page are not mine but are from the Perry website.

Perry's Musketeers Loading

And while the photos might make these appear to also be plastic, the figures I received are metal . . . and very well-cast, sharply detailed metal indeed.  They look very nice.

When the Warlord plastics arrive I will let you know just how well (or not) they do mix.

-- Jeff

ECW Rules

 I'm not completely happy with any of the rule sets for the ECW that I've read . . . so I think that I am going to write my own.

And at least I've decided upon a name for my own version of ECW miniature rules . . . and I've taken a clue from Larry Brom's "The Sword and the Flame" Colonial rules by plucking a phrase from a famous English author.

However the phrase did not come from the English Civil War.  In fact it was written before ECW had even occurred . . . that's right, as a man of the Theatre, I pulled something from Shakespeare.

Almost everything title I liked for the ECW has already been used.  The best that I came up with was "King vs Cromwell" but that really didn't do it for me.  Then I recalled a bit of a speech in Act III, scene iii of Shakespeare's "Richard II": 

“But ere the crown he looks for live in peace,

Ten thousand bloody crowns of mothers' sons
Shall ill become the flower of England's face;
Change the complexion of her maid-pale peace
To scarlet indignation , and be-dew
Her pastures' grass with faithful English blood.”

This seemed to me to be a fair assessment of the situation during the ECW (even though it referred to 1399) . . . so I picked the last three words for the title of my ECW rules:

"Faithful English Blood"

Now all I have to do is write the rules, eh?

-- Jeff