Holdom’s Horse

This is the results of another Dip session, this time more English Civil War troopers. I had painted up one squadron already but had an inkling to paint another when I found matching standards on the flag sheet. I pushed myself thinking that a whole regiment would look better than just a squadron. 

These are based for Victory without Quarter. I have added another figure per base just because my infantry units have also been scaled up slightly. I’m an old school sucker for larger units.

The troopers are a mixture of Foundry and Renegade but most are Dixon heavy cavalry. The horses are a real mix, the second squadron was mounted on Warlordgames plastic horses, which I bought in one of their half price plastic sales. These ECW horses are great, they are large enough to fit the Redoubt, Bicorne and Renegade miniatures which is good news. I find the Renegade cavalry are very nice but the horses are very limited in poses so these plastics really help.

This 25mm trooper of an unknown make is brought up to size on a large plastic horse.

I even had enough figures left over to create a command base. I was desperately trying to cram this guy onto a base but in the end he got one of his very own. He’s a New Model Army officer from Essex, so it makes sense he ended up where he did. He raises his hat to the Lord for guidance in the coming battle.

This pointing Foundry officer makes for a great commander of horse. This will obviously have to be Thomas himself as commander of the regiment.

Almost the entire regiment is equipped with quickly made pot helms from several blacksmiths in London. I like the browning of the metal, it looks a little shoddy which is perfect. 

I will probably go over these figures with a very light metal highlight on the edges of the armour, just to give them a slight shine. I try not to go over the Dipped figures where possible, but things like metal work are a little different. The swords look good with a nice sharp edge.

Thomas Holdom’s Regiment of Horse, a newly raised unit and poorly equipped. They will be classed as ‘green’ to show their new status. 

The two black guidons caught my eye, originally I was looking for one green standard. The idea of a whole black flagged Regiment spurred me on. Grab inspiration where you can I say.

Shiny after the Dip, these were painted with Soft tone, which is a first for my ECW collection. The results were okay and it worked nicely on the soft buff colours. Not as harsh as strong tone but still provides the hard shell protection.

Horses of different qualities make up this quickly raised regiment. Let’s hope they get a chance to show their true metal in battle. This bunch of tanners and apprentices from London, God help them when they face Gentleman’s sons from the Shires.

This guy is interesting, I have two of them bought in a bag of minis off eBay. He is an old 25mm figure but when mounted fits in nicely with the others. I love his Lobster pot helmet.

 The Warlordgames plastic horses are well worth grabbing when you see them. This second batch of troopers was made easier by using the horses I had painted a few years ago using the Oil paint method. It’s a messy process, but around thirty horses can be done in one go... these seem to last you for ever and make painting cavalry units a breeze.