After some consistent painting on Napoleonics my thoughts have been turning to a new project the English Civil War, I had picked up a few of the Warlord Epic ECW figures either free from magazines or at shows for £1. I wanted these to try painting them up, firstly to see what they look like with my painting techniques and secondly to see how easy/quickly I could paint them. One of the challenges is of course is these epic units are 80 man units ! which if I can’t paint them quickly would be a non starter.
Anyway I tested a couple of the infantry units and here are the results.
Both units were fairly generic
And not based on any specific colour scheme.
My approach was to paint the infantry on the sprue which worked pretty well. One of the key factors for painting was undercoating in brown meaning I didn’t need to paint the pikes, muskets etc. time wise I estimate each unit took a bit under 4 hours. I have placed them on slightly larger bases than provided with figures in the sets which I prefer and kept them simple for ease. Generally I am very impressed with the figures, the sculpts are very clean and easy to pick out the details, but small enough to not bother with too much. Having done the two units I took the plunge and ordered a starter army which I managed to pick up off eBay for a very low price given the amount of stuff you get.
This meant I now had some flags to complete the two units which certainly improves the look. Obviously at 13.5mm and with big units the plan is for massed battles similar to our SYW approach.
Despite the cheap price and free postage the starter army arrived extremely quickly
Excitingly opening the box packed full off stuff
The box states something like 1300 figures ! I plan to spend some time seeing how much variety I can create for units from the box ? I know many people don’t rate the cavalry so we’ll see how they look painted up, I might also expand the collection with some metals as others have done. So watch this space for progress.
Somewhere I also painted up these 76mm American anti tank guns which had been undercoated but unpainted for ages.
Also played a splendid battle with Jon remotely, I will leave the full report to him. A battle that was close until my Carthaginian army collapsed !
We haven’t had many landscape shots for a while, this weekend saw us visit the nearby Shap Abbey for a picnic a very nice spot including a swim in the river
Thanks as always for checking by, another battle to post soon
Matt 😀
Matt, very interested to see the ECW enter your collection. You have done remarkably well to get 80 man units painted up in around 4 hours, you must have just found the sweet spot in painting them.
ReplyDeleteThe cavalry have attracted some comment and when you look up close at them from the front, that comment can be understood ….. however, whenever I have seen painted examples en masse at normal playing distances, those issues just go away (in my view).
Looking forwards to your further experiences with these. Osprey do two useful books in their elite series, (25 and 27).
Thanks Norm I think there is some more learning with the painting, the figures are perhaps slightly darker than I want and they improve with more variety and lighter hats I think. I too am looking forward to seeing some cavalry panties up, the first unit is prepped and ready to go…but i am finishing some french Napoleonics first
Delete‘Cavalry panties’ - wargaming suddenly became more interesting. Anyway, thanks to your post, I have ordered a starter set!
DeleteThanks Norm for the correction 😀 I hope you got a good price. I’m impressed if you are going with both Warlord Epic’s that is a big undertaking !
DeleteEDIT - also for buildings, I think the Sarissa MDF are a bit on the large size, but Battlescale do some nice 10mm resins for the period.
ReplyDeleteNot sure about terrain yet, obviously I have all the general stuff, trees hedges etc. I agree I think 15mm is a little large, although I have matched the figures against our 10mm SYW buildings which look a bit small for my liking. I don’t plan to play sieges etc so I don’t really need many buildings ?
DeleteLook forward to seeing your progress on these Matt. As Norm states the cavalry look better at normal gaming distances. I've bulked mine out with Peter Pig and Steelfist
ReplyDeleteThanks Neil yes I have watched your progress. I will paint up some cavalry units and see where I get to. At the moment I may buy some metal cavalry but use them as separate units rather than mix them in , we’ll see….🤔
DeleteI'd keep Steelfist figures in separate units. The Peter Pig and Alternative Army figures I picked up mix in well with the Warlord figures
DeleteThanks Neil that’s useful to know I’ll look forward to seeing how you did them and how they match up
DeleteA nice start and a frighteningly large box.
ReplyDeleteThanks big box but small figures 👍
DeleteIt's been on your mind for a while. Nice to see how it comes together.
ReplyDeleteThanks Martin we all need another project 😀
DeleteYour new project looks fab! Super brushwork on them too! w enjoyed a fun Ilipa game. Battle Report once activities slow down here.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jon 👍
DeleteBravo! They look just the ticket, it would be beyond me these days.
ReplyDeleteThanks Phil a different style of painting is needed to get these fellows done treating them as a block unit rather than individuals
DeleteFine paint jobs on the tiny ECW toys… Matt
ReplyDeleteThe armies should look rather splendid…
You certainly continuing to keep yourself busy.
All the best. Aly
Thanks Aly it will take some time for the armies to come together but a fun project
DeleteECW painting is smashing on such small and packed-together miniatures.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing more.
Thanks Dai I hope to get some cavalry done next
DeleteI really like these Epic sets and was tempted to go that way for ACW, but the price of individual add-on stuff seemed over the top to me at 15 pounds for a single 12mm limber. The quality does look good though.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lawrence the sculpts are nicely done given the size. At the moment the ECW doesnt have many add ons so we’ll see what happens in the future ? The good thing is many people have indicated a number of metal manufacturers match in fairly well.
DeleteOh, new project! Look forward to seeing your progress :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Michal
DeleteKeeping busy I see! Best of luck with the little chaps!
ReplyDeleteThanks David 👍
DeleteCracking work on those Matt and the brown primer certainly allowed you to paint at a fair old pace! A £1 per sprue is excellent value as at a recent local show they were trying to be sold for £3 a pop. Nice work on the US ATG's and nice to be able to swim in a river, not that I'd do it in the Avon near us due to the water quality (or lack there of) and the boats, but some people do.
ReplyDeleteSpeed of painting is important with such big units and the brown undercoat worked well. I do enjoy swimming in open water but we are lucky here where we have plenty of water !
DeleteThat’s a grand new project .
ReplyDeleteThanks Dave , I’m trying to keep it as a focussed project so it doesn’t grow too big ?
DeleteGood luck on the new project. Good start.
ReplyDeleteThe ECW isn’t as cool as the ACW but I know you already got that covered so why not? 😀😀
Thanks Stew……..obviously both civil wars have their interests 👍
DeleteNice work on your epic ECW, that's a big box! I'm sure you'll be knocking them out in no time!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thanks Iain ……I’ll get to them when I get bored of my Napoleonics 🤔
DeleteHuzzah for a new project - juts what you need Matt! Your test units look pretty good but the real test will be the cavalry!
ReplyDeleteYou didn't say much about the game with Jon but enough to reveal the result!
Nice local scenery as always!
Thanks Keith …..will try and test those cavalry soon !
Delete