Cavalry on the way!

I painted 24 Heavy Cavalry and 3 Renegade Cuirassiers (Lobsters) over the weekend. Only 12 more to do in this bunch. Picked up a cool OG Artillery deal and another bag of OG Cavalry (I think they're command...I definitely can use them.
Am getting rather frustrated at the lack of information on standards carried by some regiments. I'm using Folorn Hope set of ECW scenarios and some of the flags and regiments just can't be found. I've also got Ede-Barnett's old Flags of the ECW paperback from the Stone Age. Can't seem to find them in there either. Where's the disconnect? Guess it's because it's been over 367 years since these forces were in the field.
I'm outa' here. Gotta' get an instructional presentation done.

ECW Buildings On The Way, Cavalry Questions, and Clubmen

My good friend Sandy Botond (from Houston..oops..I meant Katy, Texas) has constructed several buildings for the ECW project for me.
Here's pic of the farmhouse. I'm really looking forward to getting these buildings onto the table. I'll need to pick up some Foundry civilians and appropriate animals (sheep and herding dogs) to make this complete..

Here is a picture of the windmill that Sandy has built for the ECW game. This will look great not only with ECW but with SYW and my extensive 25/8mm Napoleonic collection.

Being an American and Texan, I don't have a good mental concept of an enclosure. I've Googled some pictures and it seems as if enclosures look a lot like hedgerow country in Normandy. Any help would be appreciated. The same question applies to field stone walls. Kinda' a weird question but living in upper New York state as a kid, we used to play and make forts out of stones found on field walls. We were always told these walls were constructed because the farmers didn't have a place to store the stones they turned/cleared when plowing.
Here is a snap of the pub Sandy built for me. I'm keeping the name of the pub close to the vest. We've got a few good names in mind however! :)

Cavalry pictures will be forthcoming this weekend. They're progressing quite well. Everything I've read points in the direction that cavalry units had no "uniform" appearance other than the sash each side wore early in the war. I'm not painting these units with uniform sleeves, etc. but am painting them with buff coat and sleeves. I'm planning on building the ensigns to where I can interchange flags. I should be able to use each stand interchangeably.

Now...to those club men. Where can I get club men? Should I just use farmers, civilian rioting mobsters, guys with pitchforks and torches (ala Frankenstein movies) or what. I'm just full o' preguntas today. Any help would be appreciated.

Can you paint this many horses in 1 hour 45 min?

Got busy tonight and oil rubbed over 30+ in 1 hour 45 min. No record but this process definitely beats the hell out of basecoating, washing, waiting for the wash to dry, it looks like crap because it muddies up the color, do it over, get pissed off because it never works like "they say" on the boards or in the wargaming mags.

Yep...I'd never go back to the old fashioned way of painting horses.

Should have this cavalry finished out in the next 10 days or so.

ECW Painting Progress To Date

Here is a little painting progress on the ECW project to date. My photography skills are not very highly honed so these will have to do. My camera is an old Sony 2.1 megapixel monster. It works and is paid for so that's what I use.

As I've blogged before, my collection is a combination of OG, Foundry, Renegade and whatever strikes my fancy via Bartertown and EBay I also recommend Lead and Dice. It's a pretty cool site that apparently does the searching on EBay for specific periods and types of miniatures.

Below is a down and dirty gallery of some various and sundry ECW units and subjects. All were taken in the Rat Palace III. It's my game house in Red Oak, Texas. I've got a 16x6 table with over 200-2'x2' terrain squares. They are completely indexed and fit together superbly. The Rat Palace is a great place to play. It has spousal amenities such as an adjacent pool, hot tub/spa room , multiple patios, adjoining cabana and covered arbor. I'm pretty blessed that's for sure. Anyway, keep checking back for ECW army progress. As posted below, the first 3 units of cavalry are primed and on the painting block.

Gallery Stuff

Typical ECW Planning by Committee

Artillery Line

Red Dragoons

Lobsters

Lumbering Limber
More Lobsters

Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em

Last Artillery Shot..'bout time eh?

Painting Horses-The First 30+

I'm ready to oil rub the first batch of horses over the weekend. I like building armies "cavalry first" since they are the most complex in this period due to the non-uniformity of each unit. I'm sure someone out there in the blogosphere would like to know what the hell "oil rubbed horses" means? It's not pornographic nor does the process violate any laws of the great State of Tejas. Here's a quickie overview of the process. I don't use ANY other method. I've got a copy of Dallimore's book on how to "blob paint" dang near anything. My horse painting process is similar but different. I like the results and have for over 20+ years. They're consistent and look good on the game table. No junk is allowed on my game table in Dallas.
Step 1: Prime 'em right-Use Rustoleum Flat White (not White primer). I don't care that GW does this and others do that. All I know is that I can produce a stunning horse miniature using this process.
Step 2: Glue the riders on the horse. Don't waste time nor "richard" around with silly rider holders, gluing onto nails or other time wasters. I like to get busy and get done so I can see my cavalry rout off the table with regularity. That's why my gaming buds do not allow me to USE what I have painted if we are gaming on the same side.
Step 3: Hot Glue the complete cavalry miniature on strips of cardboard and prime 'em. I do this because I don't like handling figures whist painting them. It's also a good use for all those cardboard boxes that seem to pop up around the house. Cut 'em up and use them! Once glued, I prime the complete figure.
Step 4: Glop Aklyd Oil paint onto the horse and let dry for about 5 minutes. Aklyds are water soluable oil paint. They clean up with water and your hands won't look like you washed in grease for a week. These paints don't have the Turpentine Stank either. That means you can do your horse painting "thang" and the spouse won't have her knickers in a knot about the stanky work area. Doesn't mean you'll get lucky but....hey...one never knows right?
Step 5: Pull the oil paint off the horse with a small piece of foam rubber. I bought an "egg crate mattress topper" from the local WalMart. I've had it for over 5 years. I cut off what I need for a project, cut it into 2-3 finger sized cubes and get to pullin'. This phase goes best with an old B-Sci Fi movie like "Them" or "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers". Don't ask me why. I have no idea!
Step 6: Put 'em outside to dry for 24 hours. It works best in the hot Tejas summer but I'm ok with leaving them out in winter too as long as it's dry. If it is raining like living in Seattle or in London, put them inside. They won't stink up the place and your spouse, significant other or whatever really can't gripe...well..maybe a little. Don't worry about the time factor, Aklyd paints dry where old skool oil paints do not. I just like to do other stuff (drink, watch grass grow, teach school) while these figures are drying
Step 7: Get to paintin'...time's a wastin'! I paint the horses with variations of browns with an occasional Grey and or Black for "texture". I don't paint white horses. That's just for amateurs that are too lazy to paint horses correctly. Paint horse manes, tails and hooves with a dark brown. I still use a Polly-S shade called Ogre Dark Brown. It's not made anymore that I know of and I had a couple of pints made at Home D'Pot about 5 years ago. It's still good after all those years. I drybrush the mane and tail with Howard Hues Concrete. That brings out the striations in the casting. If you don't want to do that don't...I'm just more than a little weird about horse painting.
paint the horse's eyes Black rather than the goofy white then black. Look at a horse and you can't see the whites of their eyes. Dot the eye with a small dot of white. You pick the place on the eye to draw attention to the horse's face. Some really good painters paint the mouth of the horse with a flesh color. I don't do that because every time I do, it looks like the horse is giving everyone a crap-eating grin. If you're good enough to do that, please feel free. I'm just into getting my project done and on the table. My cavalry still looks better than 99% of the crap I've seen over the years. This system works. Try it...you won't go back to slop painting, applying stupid washes that muck up the original color, glob on highlights so the horse looks like a Picasso painting or other techniques that ensure your figures look "wargame table top quality" (like crap).
Step 8: Final finish your figures with Floquil Flat or Testors Dull Coat. I've tried using Minwax over oil painted horses. Take a look at the dragoons. My jury's still out. I like a brighter looking figure but that's just because my eyes are getting dull.

How many figures do I paint at one time? I usually paint 20-30 cavalry at one time. I used to do more than that but that's about all I want to deal with at my advanced paternal age.

I'm posting up some pics of the project to date. Keep checking and let me know what you think. I've only got 120 cavalry to paint so it shouldn't take too long.

Artillery Moving Foward

The project is moving forward. I've constructed the wooden "supports", added the static grass and "slopped in" some different ballast and medium rocks.

The "supports" got painted with Vallejo's Game Color Cobra Leather (stupid name). I couldn't stay away and Minwax'd the supports. They look good and will look better when they're highlighted. The plan is to add some cannon balls-double ought buckshot shot works just fine for that chore. Still need to find some 25/8mm buckets or small barrels. They can always be added later. Sometimes too much on a stand can detract from the model IMHO. The basing took a little more time than I thought; I've posted before that I'm used to Vallejo's PumiceThis is a fun project so far.

I'll post up some pictures of the project on some of the terrain over the weekend. Bear with me on the pics...I just took them while the models were on a piece of sheet steel, illuminated by my painting lamp.

I'm stoked!

Project in Progress

Artillery In Progress

I picked up this mortar and crew off of Ebay recently. Thanks to Allen Eldridge-www.terrainguy.com for making the gabions available. I don't have a clue if the mortar should be bronze, iron, brass or like the old joke "what would a bell made of shite sound like? Dung! Any help would be appreciated. I also just had to take more pics of the artillery park.

Making progress. I've painted four artillery emplacements and am shamelessly copying Clarence Harrison's ideas for emplacements. I did find an easy way to build the artillery "boards". Found a Plastruct(?) architectural piece to work. Cut it, primed and painted it. After drying, I laid on a coat of Minwax Golden Walnut to give it "texture". Ok...ok...I Minwax everything so sue me!

I'm adding some more roughage and some static grass in strategic places. I'm fighting the feeling of adding a command stand with the artillery captains standing under a tree but I'm losing the battle at this point. Am also painting an artillery train guard for each side. I picked up 24 Renegade musketeers from a seller on Bartertown. They'll work just fine as "firelock" guards.

If you didn't take advantage of the Wargames LLC Dixon sale, you really missed the boat. Got my miniscule order today. Now the commands for the infantry can get completed.

Please feel free to post your thoughts and comments as this project moves forward.

Victory without Quarter!

Dragoons, Lobsters and Artillery

I've completed the Dragoons for both sides. Painted mounted and dismounted Dragoons. They're Old Glory I've also painted up two stands of Lobsters. I've received a "tres" of Renegade Miniatures' Lobsters in a trade. They're pretty large in comparison to the Dixon and Old Glory I have. I'm planning on making them work. The figures are sweet and will paint nicely.

Have been trading and picking up stuff via Bartertown, Ebay, and The Miniatures Page. Have collected approximately 90+ cavalry. My original plan was to paint 48 cavalry per side. That will give me 4 units of 12 per side. I'm painting them with removable flags to use for both sides.

After looking and looking at Clarence Harrison's ECW artillery positions, I've started building mine "just like Clarence's". In this case, imitation IS the most sincere form of flattery. His stuff is super! I won't come close to his artistic touch but will have some super looking artillery! Thanks Clarence for the inspiration. Thanks to Allen Eldridge-The Terrain Guy www.terrainguy.com

Clarence's artillery emplacements sport a wooden "floor" support. I figure Clarence probably built them from balsa since he's a true artist. Being a war gamer, I went to Hobbytown, found some Plastruct flat siding. Cut the sheets to fit, primed and painted them. More than one way to skin a cat. I'm really just a lazy fat bastard!

I've co-opted another DFWIrregular to join up in the 17th century chaosium. He's putting together Scots. That will be cool since the Scots provided regiments to both sides during "the unpleasantness" Hopefully he will post here as well on his progress. I do want to thank him for building the cards we're going to need to play Victory without Quarter. I'm looking forward to seeing some of his pictures as his project takes shape.

Later....I've gotta' go work on artillery batteries.

Starting the ECW Journey

I've started the ECW project by deciding upon:

• The Rules: "Victory without Quarter"
• Scale: 25/28mm
• Figures: Old Glory, Foundry, Dixon, and others
• Numbers per side to start-5 regiments of Foote, 4 Regiments of Horse, 1 Dragoon Regiment. I've painted 6 artillery pieces of varying sizes and 1 artillery limber. Lots to do, but this is going to be fun.