Rebased Royalists

New commander planned out and awaiting some paint. All these troopers are from Dixon.

Here they are in all their dashing glory.

Here is the next unit ready for the paint que. Unlike the previous unit, I have gone for mostly helmeted troopers this time. I think when I first painted the first lot, my main reference was the film Cromwell. Things have moved on a lot from then, great film though and the one responsible for me getting into history. Looks like things have gone full circle here.

 

Northern Horse WIP

These veteran Royalist horse received a little extra love today in the form of campaign booty. As well as improving the character of the figures, the bundles also help to balance out the models too. The Essex troopers don't have the big buff coats of the Renegade sculpts, so a little bit more at the rear of the saddle looks good I think.

These are hard, well travelled squadrons of horse and have collected a fair few things on their way down south.

The Northern horse have always captured my imagination for some reason. So it's good to be creating them after all these years.

I bashed through these simple green stuff sculpts as I had a lot to do. They should look the part when painted and will certainly make the unit look different.

I swapped out the bendy lead flag pole for a brush bristle too, now this figure is a lot more serviceable than before.
 

Update: So after saying I was going to take it slow, I've ended up putting together quite a few troopers.

It's good to put a load together at once as it makes it easier for adding the greenstuff pouches and blankets. Painting wise though not so good as a sight like this is enough to freeze the project in its tracks. So after everything is dry and undercoated, I will put it away out of sight, accept for the four I'm going to paint.

This morning I dug out some old Foundry figures I bought in 1998. These too have been given bigger mounts and have now joined the Royalist ranks.

There's enough cavaliers here to last me a while. 

Here is a Foundry trooper on a new mount. It's nice to mix a few three bar pot helmets in with all of the others.

The units are now given their black undercoat.

Update: 

So a day has passed and I've managed to get some paint on the new unit. 

I do like this commander with his iron broad brimmed hat. The plastic horses look good too and add some nice variety to the ranks.

I found another good paint for buff and that is Tamiya desert yellow. It's always good to have a few colours that are subtly different for buff.

So far the first four have been painted and given a brush with Dark tone Army paint from the tin. The Dark tone drys over night more or less, which is a real advantage over the other shades.

I'm really enjoying this little project again after a couple of years away from it.

A bit of wheel lock reference, I just wanted to see if they had brass fittings.

Rebasing Royalists

Right, well this is something that has been eating away at me for a while.

 A few years ago I had the idea of basing my Royalist cavalry on larger bases than the Roundheads. This was so I could spread them out and make them look like they were charging. It was only another 20mm on the depth of the base so I thought it would be okay.

The finished bases looked good with the horses spread out, very dynamic!

Well, recently I have been thinking about this decision as I gear up to paint some more squadrons of dashing cavaliers. I've made the hard but right decision to rebase these first four bases to match the ones of Parliament. Both sides have to be mounted the same, this will make things a lot clearer with movement rates etc. The big one is a routing unit being caught by a persuer. If the unit being chased is on deeper bases it could lead to confusion over measurements.

It was a pain to do, with a few casualties due to the thick basing mud paste. However, now it's done I feel a lot better. I will repair the chipped paint and match the basing as it was before. I will also improve a few things as I go.
 

I also dug out some plastic horses, the last of my oil painted batch. These were paired up with heavy troopers from Dixon miniatures.

A poor cavalier lost his sword in the carnage, so a shaped brush bristle was crafted for him. Now his sword is stronger than before.

A mix of Royalist troopers. The Essex figures have really nice detailing on their lobster pots. I sorted out all the ornate looking Dutch style helmets to use in the Royalist ranks. The Essex miniatures are a little stylised but they have a lot of excellent qualities, helmet detail being one.

A Bicorne miniature will add some variety with another classic Royalist helmet design.

Another reason I've sorted out a troop of heavy troopers in helmets, is to try and get away from the floppy hat look so loved by early historians. I love the idea of the sides looking identical apart from a few little touches. The Dutch helmets will look great pitted again the three bar pots of the Roundheads.

These Royalist horses are mostly cantering at speed, a nice contrast to the trotting mounts of the Parliamentarians. 

I think these plastic horses will be a little bigger than the older Essex mounts of Parliament. However, this could just be the King and his gentlemen having access to better horse stocks early on in the war. I can live with it.

Some nice close ups showing the detailing on the Essex troopers. Nice heavy buff coats too making them a carbon copy of their Roundhead foes.

So here they are, the moment of truth, all rebased. 

I had the idea that I could still make them look dynamic without adding the extra depth. The trotters of Parliament are riding knee to knee, so are in nice straight lines.

So, by simply staggering these troopers on their energetic horses the unit looks like it is moving at speed. Perfect, job done and everything is legal and above board. No tricky measuring nightmares to come in the future.

'Gallopers' living up to their name.

The thunder of heavy hooves.

Another idea I will use in the future is arranging a squadron in a wedge formation, this will lend itself to a charging look.

These mounts are definitely not trotting, their formation has broken up slightly as some mounts pull ahead of others in the dash.

Here is a before and after shot, the newer bases look a bit more in formation which I like, but still has the staggered look on a charge.

Full tilt now, nothing can stop these men of the King, not even a ragged shower of pistol shot.

It was a bit of a faff to do but it was a 'no brainer' in the end. The bases look great, both forces are now the same and I feel much better. 

God save the King!