From PeterA - 28mm ECW (25 points)

Hello all!

For my first entry into this year's Challenge, I present a party of Bloody Miniatures Dragoons for the English Civil War/British Civil Wars/Wars of Three Kingdoms (delete as the fancy takes you!). I love Bloody Miniatures' sculpts, not only are they metal casts, they are full of character and animation, and although nicely detailed are not overly fussy with too much detail. They are perfect for small-scale skirmishes, which are more reflective of the majority of encounters during the ECW than the better known battles such as Marston Moor or Naseby.

Four of these are from the BM Dragoons pack. The chap on the left of the picture is from their Casualty pack and the fellow in the buff coat is from their Dismounted Troopers pack. They are pictured in front of a backdrop from John Hodgson's range of Backdrop Books.

I am no expert in the uniforms of the ECW, but there is a very handy painting guide on the Bloody miniatures website which is available as a free download, which I have used when getting these done. Basically, it argues that whilst there were attempts at uniformity, they were of varying effectiveness and longevity. It also makes the point that therefore it is quite hard to get it 'wrong', and that each gamer will have to decide for themselves what they are trying to represent. For me, I have given every Dragoon a matching coat of 'blew', with a couple in matching trousers, and have gone for quite bright colours as that's what I like to look at on the gaming table (and I was captivated by the pictures of painted models on the Bloody Minatures website)!

 

The issue of what colour uniforms specific regiments is also quite a thorny one. For example, these figures represent Dragoons from Sir Henry Washington's regiment, who may have worn red or blue coats! As red is quite a popular colour choice for coats in the ECW I have gone for blue; I have plans to do a red-coated regiment of foote . 

I had actually painted the Dragoon in the buff coat before the Challenge, and just re-painted his coat sleeves blue to fit in with the rest of his troop, so he doesn't count for Challenge scoring purposes. I have more Bloody Miniatures in the queue, so hopefully these will be the first of many. 

5x 28mm foot figures to get me going = 25 points

___________________________________

Welcome back to the Challenge, Peter!

These ECW Dragoons look terrific! Like you, I really like the stuff from Bloody Miniatures and coincidentally have a few on painting sticks as I type this. I really like your clean brushwork on these fellas and the basing look great. More please!

- Curt