Sunday, 1 February 2015

28mm Royalist ECW Army on Parade

The mighty army of his most Royal Highness Charles I,
by the Grace of God King of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

I've been promising for some time to get my entire ECW army out and photograph it so people can have a gander. Well, this afternoon I finally got round to it. Just setting things up took the best part of 90 minutes but when you look through the photos you'll understand why. Photographing something of this size without the benefit of a studio presents a range of challenges and overall I'm pretty happy with the images despite that.

In total there are 12 commanders (mounted and on foot), 68 horse, 252 foot, 4 guns and 12 crew. In unit terms it is 2 x lifeguard (1 in cuirass), 4 x regular horse, 1 x mounted dragoons, 2 x dismounted dragoons, 5 x pike and shotte, 1 x clubmen, 4 x artillery and a bunch of command including the King, Rupert (and Boye!), Edmund Verney, a Scout Master, Master Gunner and others.

The miniatures are predominantly Renegade and Bicorne but there's also Foundry, Redoubt and even a few Essex mixed in. Every single one was painted by me, many of them during Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge over the last 3 years. Cheers Curt!

Anyway, enough blather. Time to let the photos do the talking. Remember to click for the full sized images...




























I hope you've enjoyed the photos. Please leave comments. The hits are all very nice but it's the interaction with our followers that makes this all worthwhile. :-)

Cheers,
Millsy
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48 comments :

  1. TamsinP1 February 2015 at 01:51

    Wow! That is a fabulous looking army Millsy and a great achievement to get it all done. Great to see everything together.

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    1. Millsy1 February 2015 at 08:22

      Cheers Tamsin. About time I kept my promise :-)

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  2. Jonathan Freitag1 February 2015 at 02:14

    Outstanding Royalist spectacle, Michael!

    Are you hard at work on a matching opponent for this fine collection?

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    1. Millsy1 February 2015 at 08:23

      Thanks Jonathan. No, I'll leave that to my mates. Between them they have a decent sized force of bad guys.

      Delete
  3. Paul O'G1 February 2015 at 02:46

    That is a stunning collection, really inspiring. I love how you took the pics outside to get great background and natural lighting. That takes ages but WoW! Well worth the effort, thanks!

    I blame you for my immediately going off to order two ECW starter armies, though not being as talented as you I am going with 6mm!

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    1. Millsy1 February 2015 at 08:24

      Thanks Paul. I love the smaller scales for this period too. I'll likely do two opposing armies at some point in 10 or 15mm too...

      Delete
    2. Paul O'G2 February 2015 at 04:46

      I've been back to this post more than a half doze times this weekend - just Awesome!

      Do you have any recommendations for background readings and details of different units?

      Delete
    3. Millsy2 February 2015 at 08:50

      Hi Paul. Glad you've enjoyed it mate and thanks for the feedback. I've had a blast putting it all together and am really enjoying the PBEM campaign I'm running at the moment.

      I've read really widely on the period since was in my mid-teens so my knowledge is an accumulation from all sorts of places. The Osprey books of different flavours are a good start as always, as as the various re-enactment sites of individual regiments plus the Sealed Knot and the English Civil War Society.

      The BCW Project (http://bcw-project.org/) is very good and provides a great in depth primer. I used their biographies quite a lot when researching units and their commanders.

      If you can, get your hands on a copy of By The Sword Divided on DVD, made years ago but still a brilliant series and packed with inspiration. It reflects the small scale of many of the engagements of the war well and goes into a lot of the background and the brother vs brother side of things in depth.

      I'm happy to talk endlessly about this stuff so if you want to take this offline contact me directly using the gadget on the RHS.

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    4. Paul O'G2 February 2015 at 10:11

      Thanks for all the great tips and advice mate, most appreciated and I will indeed drop you a line soon

      Guess what I'm watching on YouTube at the moment... Surprised you don't have a unit of Lacey's Troop in your army!

      Delete
  4. rhingley1 February 2015 at 03:16

    Fantastic looking army!

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  5. Phil1 February 2015 at 03:44

    Outstanding pictures! Each of them is amazing : photo, army, minis, deatils, all is perfect! Congratulations...

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  6. Christopher(aka Axebreaker)1 February 2015 at 03:57

    What an impressive achievement! Congratulations on a very fine looking army!

    Christopher

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  7. Springinsfeld1 February 2015 at 04:24

    Most impressive army, and lovely painting. Are you going to do the good guys to fight them?

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    1. Millsy1 February 2015 at 08:25

      Thanks Springinsfeld. Good guys? These ARE the good guys!

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  8. BigRedBat1 February 2015 at 04:28

    That's a fantastic looking army, Millsy! Want one. I love the big units with the multiple standards...

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    1. Millsy1 February 2015 at 08:27

      Cheers Simon. Believe it or not but that was a display of restraint :-) Some of the extra colours are so I can field the sleeves of shotte as commanded shotte. The ones on the round bases are pure self-indulgence though :-)

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  9. DeanM1 February 2015 at 04:55

    Most impressive army arrayed, Michael! I love the outdoor photography too - and a lovely yard to boot!

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    1. Millsy1 February 2015 at 08:27

      Cheers Dean. A few people have commented on the yard. It's a good job I mowed the lawn beforehand! :-)

      Delete
  10. MartinC1 February 2015 at 07:04

    Awesome. Enough to nip this parliamentary democracy fad in the bud.

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    1. Millsy1 February 2015 at 08:28

      Thanks Martin. Yes, this should sort out those folks who dispute the King's right to rule in his own demesne.

      Delete
  11. Bluebear Jeff1 February 2015 at 07:06

    Thank you, sir, for the wonderful display. It encourages me to keep painting. I have a similar number of foot finished and based . . . but no mounted yet . . . *sigh* . . . but your display is very encouraging.

    I look forward to seeing more of your campaign games and hope that you thoroughly whip those nasty guys who would ban Christmas . . . for if Christmas were banned how else would we acquire the toys that we so cherish?


    -- Jeff

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    1. Millsy1 February 2015 at 08:30

      Thanks mate. I was hoping you'd see this as I know you are also a stalwart King's man.

      I'm following your stuff closely and look forward to seeing some horse. A proper Royalist army needs loads of them. You spend a lot of time yelling at them to stop chasing the Cropheads and come back after all. :-)

      Delete
  12. La taberna de Hlout-wig1 February 2015 at 07:23

    Wow, nice work. They look great!

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  13. Rodger1 February 2015 at 07:36

    Very very impressive! What a wonderful looking army! Great work Millsy!
    YNWA.

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  14. Ken1 February 2015 at 08:16

    Wow! That is a lot of well painted lead!

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    1. Millsy1 February 2015 at 08:31

      Thanks Ken. It is all lead too, no plastic here. It weighs quite a bit!

      Delete
  15. Evan Hughes1 February 2015 at 08:17

    Bloody hell, that is one amazing army - such a pity they are deployed in the service of a tyrant and his evil advisers!
    ; )

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    1. Millsy1 February 2015 at 08:32

      Cheers Ev. You know the solution. I'm willing to paint em, you just have to buy em. :-)

      Delete
  16. DaveD1 February 2015 at 08:45

    Superb to see in all its glory matey..

    I have just the tune for you ... "Unchained Melody"

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  17. Monty1 February 2015 at 09:09

    This is an epic achievement! If you weren't a slave to the brush, you might even retire to the Old Painter's Home after this. ;-)

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    1. Millsy1 February 2015 at 09:10

      Thanks Monty. Can't be giving up the painting mate. Idle hands and all that...

      Delete
  18. Michal DwarfCrypt1 February 2015 at 11:23

    Woooow!!!! this is epic! Fantastic painting work! Cheers!

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  19. rct750011 February 2015 at 13:25

    Wonderful collection. I love to see armies laid out like that. It must give you a great sense of achievement.

    So where's the Parliament? :)

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    1. Millsy1 February 2015 at 18:52

      No Parliament here sir, only stalwart King's men. And yes, it does rather! :-)

      Delete
  20. legatus hedlius2 February 2015 at 09:17

    Just superb. I am getting rid of all my potential big battalion armies as I will never paint them but won't be ditching ECW!

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  21. Samuli3 February 2015 at 03:21

    Amazing work! Nice to see them all in a group shot after seeing them previously painted up individually!

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  22. Neil3 February 2015 at 07:54

    Now that's what I call an army! Nicely done.

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  23. Kiwicolourstudio@gmail.com3 September 2015 at 05:50

    Wow great work. I hope my royalist force im currently working on looks half as good she its done. I know it wont be as large.

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  24. Obsidian2310 March 2018 at 02:39

    Hi Michael,

    I have just started down the road of ECW, better ate than never. Found your blog and very impressed by how you have put it all together. MY mate back in Canada is doing Covenanters and I am doing Royalists but not Montrose. Do you have the OOB for that fine set out above. It is awesome and inspiring. I am doing 28mm and just ordered my first batch of figures through Empress miniatures, 6 Regts of Pike and Shot, mixed uniform as in Armoured down to unarmoured 2 Canon and unarmoured Horse.

    Cheers.

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    1. Millsy10 March 2018 at 09:20

      Thanks for the positive feedback! I don't have a specific OOB for the army, it is just a collection of regiments I particularly like including Rupert's Blewcoates, Apsleys, Talbot's and Northampton's. It just kind of grew and grew without a plan :-)

      Delete

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