Painting ECW

Well I've got my Civil war painting head on at last and thought I would just jump straight in and start bashing out some Roundheads. Now, I have been collecting figures for the English Civil war for many, many years as old readers of this Blog will know. However, due to one thing or another, I could never quite bring myself to starting the task of actually painting any. That hasn't stopped me thinking about the period or from looking at other painters' ECW projects with great intrest.

 One such Blog is that of Saxon Dogs. His master class on using the Army Painter 'dip' to paint up three regiments of ECW foote caused huge waves amongst the wargaming online community. I actually got to meet him at a 'Salute' and he shared even more great tips with me. As soon as I had finished chatting, there were two other ECW gamers queing to speak with him. Great Guy.

Anyway, so I have taken tips from the best and also been trying to come up with a few of my own. I am a lazy painter as I have said before and tend to cut corners to get good results. I haven't got as much time as I used to, so anything that saves me time can only be a good thing.

My first Regiment is going to be the Earl of Manchesters regiment of foote, "but you're a Royalist" I hear you cry. Yes, But I'm also in a whole bloody regiment of them, so If I ever want a game I had better start painting up some Parliamentry forces. My choice of regiment comes from seeing the Manchesters on the field and thinking "they look good". I was pained over which uniform to give them, the ones in the 'knott' are based on the later New Model Army look, with red coats and green cuffs and breaches. However, I had made up my mind that my forces would be early war, say up to 1643. This is for many reasons, mainly a lot of my figures are wearing full armour (including tassets) and also the whole colour range of regiments at the beginning will be more fun to paint. So for this reason I have decided to paint up my Manchesters in their first uniform. Green doublets with red turnbacks. I was delighted when I actually found the standards for the regiment on Battle Flag's website. That will save me having to paint up my own from photos on the internet.

I wanted to just bang these guys out and not get too hung up on detail. I like the idea of having big regiments for my ECW armies and that means a production line.

I started by spraying the figures with Army painter black stray paint. I just wanted all the detail of the straps covered and didn't worry too much about anything else. Once they were dry I took different browns and dry brushed over the belts and bandoliers etc, trying to leave the black undercoat still showing in the receases of the detail. This is a new technique for me, leaving the black still showing and one I'm having fun with. It makes you have to think, rather than slapping on wads of paint and I am enjoying the change in style, It has made painting fresh again for me.

This is a tip I took from the master 'Saxon Dog', on his painting of ECW figures.