Part 1 of this project can be found here
http://shedwars.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/ecw-new-shed-project.html
Not too much to report at present, the weather is too cold to venture into the Shed (and it so desperately needs a clear out and tidy up) so I have been focussing on putting together my English Civil War army.
On Saturday I had the opportunity to assemble the first of the King and Country box sets mentioned in the previous post. The figures are relatively straight forward to assemble but they do take time.
Once glued I stuck all the infantry onto 25mm m4 washers and the cavalry onto 2.5 x 5cm plasticard bases. The washers were then given a quick coat of paint (I find pva glue adheres better to a primed base). All the bases were then given a sand and ballast treatment.
These were left overnight to dry and on sunday morning I sprayed them up all grey primer. With the weather so cold I had brought the spray paint in over night so this was room temperature as were the figures. The spraying itself was done outside but I allowed these to dry in the kitchen. Much to the annoyance of the family who complained I was trying to poison them with paint fumes !
So the Army starts to take shape...
I am still waiting on the rest of the box sets to arrive but a quick analysis of what has been bought shows that the cost of a Plastic Army is relatively good value.
In summary I have bought a total of 288 figures (of which 60 are cavalry) for the princely sum of £181 which works out at about 63p per figure. By comparison a metal army of equivalent size would cost double if not triple this sum.
Unit
|
For King & Country
|
For King & Country
|
Battalia Box Set
|
Cavalry Box Set
|
|
Pike
|
16
|
16
|
24
|
56
|
|
Musket
|
36
|
36
|
48
|
120
|
|
Firelocks
|
12
|
12
|
10
|
34
|
|
Command
|
6
|
6
|
6
|
18
|
|
Cavalry
|
12
|
12
|
24
|
12
|
60
|
Total Figures
|
82
|
82
|
112
|
12
|
288
|
Source
|
Warlord Games website
|
Ebay
|
Ebay
|
Ebay
|
|
Cost (inc postage)
|
£70
|
£44
|
£49
|
£18
|
£181
|
Total Cost /Figure
|
85p
|
54p
|
44p
|
£1.50
|
63p
|
The plan is to assemble all of these boxes before the serious painting starts.
I still need to purchase some artillery support and then determine what other gaps exist in this force?
I reckon I can use some of the firelock infantry as dismounted dragoons so just need some unmanned horses - bound to be able to get cheap ones on the ebay site.
Until next time
part 3 of this project can be found here
http://shedwars.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/english-civil-war-part-3.html
Fire locks were generally used to guard the artillery. Not burning matches near large quantities of gunpowder. Not a Dragoons had fire locks. Hope this helps.
ReplyDeleteSimon
Thanks Simon
DeleteHave you considered clubmen? They add an interesting dimension to the period (and make useful cannon fodder if you're so inclined). They also allow you to add some attractive miniatures to the tabletop.
ReplyDeleteFollowing on from Simon, dragoons were simply mounted infantry (if that makes sense). I use individual figures on round bases to distinguish them from regular infantry.
Regards, Matt
Dragoons will feature - thank you
DeleteCurious as to the unit sizes you plan to use?
ReplyDeleteGoing with the Pike & Shotte Unit sizes - c 12-16 men per unit.
DeleteMore in next post once I get all these plastic soldiers assembled
Quite a lot of Dragoons were equipped with firelocks, especially on the Parliamentarian side - difficult, wasteful and somewhat dangerous to be riding around with matches constantly burning
ReplyDelete