40mm Reinforcements Arrived! Terrain gathering...

Well, they arrived quite a long time ago - almost exactly a year ago.  So long ago that I'd forgotten I ordered them! Quite embarrassing, really.  So just to remind myself what was ordered here it is:

40RTW1 Armoured Pikemen "Charge Your Pike" 5 figs @$17
$17 to make Romanoff Trained Bande of 15 figs + command

40ECW3 Musketeers Firing, 20 figs @ $45
40ECW202 Infantry Command B, 5 figs @ $17
$62 for 25 more foote

40ECW5 Cavalry in Back-and-Breast 7 figs @$45 [parliament cavalry with Pistols]
40ECW203 Cavalry Command 3 figs @$23
$68 for 10 more cav figs

40ECW101 Mounted Dragoons 3 figs @$23 x 2 = 46
40ECW102 Dismounted Dragoons 5 figs @$14.50 x 2 = $29
$75 for 6 mounted and 10 dismounted dragoons

TOTAL = $ 222.00

Shipping from Old Glory was pretty quick, I remember, and no problem despite the Christmas season.

So, first comments...The figs look great - especially the dragoons, who I'd definitely get more of.  The firing musketeers are also very nice.  The cavalry and Romanoff are like the previous cavalry and Romanoff, needing some assembly and work. The foote dragoons and firing musketeers just need their heads screwed on [don't we all...] and a little cleanup.

All are very nice figures, and I'll be doing a series of reviews of them very soon.  This force puts me around 100 foote and 28 horse, enough to do plenty of games.

Along those lines, my recent inspiration has been to play skirmish games where 1 Figure = 1 Man.  This way even just 10-15 men will make a game.  I also have some cattle from my 40mm adventure in Vikings and Saxons - they were acquired inexpensively at a train shop [since closed, regrettably...the train and hobby stores are closing quite regularly in the region].  The only thing left to get organized is the terrain.

To that end, I'm grateful it is Christmastime [well, almost Christmastide] which is when the craft stores will be dumping all their extra stock of Christmas towns, etc.  I'm prepared to hit the local Michael's and wherever else on Christmas Monday to see what they want to get rid of - previously, I've done quite well, acquiring a village wall, plenty of hedges and a few odds and ends. I wasn't sure they'd fit in here, but the hedges are just around gun height, and I'm considering making some stands for the hedge bases in the future:

The hedges look a bit shorter at this angle, but you can see that the second fellow has his hand near the top. In the distance, you can see that the classical ruins from the pet store [for aquariums] are a little small, but not bad, while the 25mm hills just don't fit. Featured to left is my fiery Cavalier general, who is clearly giving an oration to his safely hiding musketeers - is he exhorting them to advance, or just berating them for sacking a local village without his permission? That story has yet to develop!

Very much desired on my holiday shopping will be a bridge, some craft birdhouses and wagons. Plastic floor mats make good planted fields, and there are some sources for Canadian Pine Stems here, which I shall look into:
http://www.miniaturemarketplace.com/Canadian-Pine-Stems-12In-X-20Mm-10Pc-P52122.aspx
http://store.littlecooncreek.com/craft-supplies/canadian-pine-stems-20mm_2503-32/
http://www.dollhouseheaven.com/Canadian-Pine-Stems-12In-X-20Mm-10Pc-P52122.aspx

These sources were found at Lead Adventure Forum, at this nice little batrep I saw recently:
http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=81336.0
not only does the terrain look great, but it is about a game with just what I was thinking - using Muskets and Tomahawks for the late Renaissance, including Colonial Adventures!  More on this very soon...

Hope the return to 40mm is interesting to followers of this blog - interestingly, there will be more on 6mm and rules to play them very soon, but they are all headed in the same direction, which is interesting and fast play with interesting and fast painting!

Reinforcements on the way!

Reinforcements are on the way, sire!  Sorry to interrupt your grog and sup...

http://www.1st-art-gallery.com/William-Barnes-Wollen/English-Civil-War-In-1645,-1900.html

Well, having almost kept all three promises I made regarding purchases:

1. Only spend money made on sales of my hobby stuff on hobby stuff, 
2. Not to buy more figs for this project until all 72 figs were assembled and primed,
3. Place S&S orders at the $200 free shipping level,

I can now place my next order!  It feels good that it's both "free money" and that promises were kept [PTL!].  As I'm planning for my holiday break, I have to finish assembling and cleaning my ten buffcoat cavalry and ten command figures by Dec 26.  I think that's manageable, and that I'll then have time to knock out a few more units over holiday but I need to order them now to have them on hand then.

With 20 pike, 30 shotte, 10 command, 10 horse and 2 generals, I need a little more infantry and a bunch more horse.  

I want to have one foot battaglia with armor in an early war "Trained Bande" style, so that means 5 Romanoff pike to match their 10 shotte. The proportions are then a bit off, with 25 pike and 30 shotte, so another 20 S&S shotte are needed for 25/50.  Some more command figs are useful so the other S&S command pack [with preacher] seems like a must.  That will give me 25 / 50 pike/shot, and 15 command to spread around, for 90 foot total, enough for 5-6 small infantry battaglia of about 15 figures.

I'm also ready for some scouting / skirmishing, so I need some dragoons.  While not present in large numbers proportionately, dragoons were present in every battle, especially small ones.  10 Dismounted and 6 mounted would give me both commanded shotte and more horse.

I also need more cavalry since they were common in smaller battles b/c of their mobility - they were always in action.  With only ten horse now, a horse pack with back and breast and command would be good, bringing me up to 26 total horse, or about 1/4 of the total.

40RTW1 Armoured Pikemen "Charge Your Pike" 5 figs @$17
$17 to make Romanoff Trained Bande of 15 figs + command

40ECW3 Musketeers Firing, 20 figs @ $45
40 ECW202 Infantry Command B, 5 figs @ $17
$62 for 25 more foote
$79 for 30 total foot

40ECW5 Cavalry in Back-and-Breast 7 figs @$45 [parliament cavalry with Pistols]
40ECW203 Cavalry Command 3 figs @$23
$68 for 10 more cav figs

40ECW101 Mounted Dragoons 3 figs @$23 x 2 = 46
40ECW102 Dismounted Dragoons 5 figs @$14.50 x 2 = $29
$75 for 6 mounted and 10 dismounted dragoons

TOTAL = $ 219.50

A bit over the $200 free shipping threshold, but it'll give me about 7-8 foot units [6 pike/shot, 1-2 dragoons] and 3-4 horse units, plenty to play with and start experimenting with the ECW rules I'm working on.

In the future, we'll need some artillery to fight over and / or try out rules for it.

40ECW301 Artillerists 5 figs @$14.50
40ECWE1 Falconet 1 gun @$14.50

$29 for a Gun

Cav Order alternative:
40ECW7 Cuirassiers 7 figs @$45 [parliament cavalry with Pistols]
40ECW203 Cavalry Command 3 figs @$23
$68 for Armored Cav troops

As I'm still experimenting with the rules, I don't need to worry too much about details of units, just have enough variety to experiment with rules and fight.  Probably the hardest thing has been for me to hold off on ordering lobsterbacks - they just look cool!

Comparison: 40mm Command Packs, Romanoff v. Sash and Saber

Finally, after quite a bit of delay I'm back on this project.  Real life issues like work, family, moving, and some gaming distractions [witness my Dark Ages blog, "Spear to the Strife"] have slowed this project down quite a bit.  But the Neal Thomas rules and some focus have me back at the ECW.

Goals at this point are to finish cleaning and assembling the ten command then the ten cavalry.  After that, it will be time for gap filling, then priming.  Still can't decide what colors to prime in, tempted to go with white to brighten the color palette in general but grey and tan are also possibilities.

So I've a pack of both, partly for variety and partly because I wanted very much to see what the Romanoff figures were like as sculptors usually try their best for command figures. EDIT: found the pics at the Old Glory UK site:
Romanoff Command Pack Pic @ OGUK
S&S have pics of both command packs.  Anyway, the packs are:

Romanoff = 40RTW3 - Infantry Command (5 figures), $17  

S&S =  40ECW201 - Infantry Command A (officer-Sergeant-Drummer-2 Ensigns), $14.50

S&S Command Pack A pic

Romanoff on the left, Sash and Saber on the right.

There's a second Romanoff command pack 40RTW8 that has "officer in armor" in the description.  There's a second S&S command pack B that has officer, ensign, fifer, drummer, preacher.  

S&S Command Pack B pic 

I will find this obvious Parliamentarian pack irresistible!  Actually, I'll be getting them both...

Anyway, what is in them?

Well, there's one unfortunate problem, which is that I appear to have used the command bags as a place to store much of the extra bits for both makes, as well as having grabbed some of the bits out of the bag for use on my infantrymen.  Very sorry about that!  But there are some pieces that are definitely included in the command bags, so no doubts there.

The Romanoff bag has - more importantly than the bits - four identical bodies lacking arms and heads, with the fifth being different, slimmer, check out the pic.  The four certainly have a big buffcoat and turned down boots, the fifth just a regular coat, stockings and shoes.  

Gear included is a selection of heads, a sprue or two of their arms, two arms with flag staffs, a sprue of their excellent swords in scabbards, an NCO halberd, and officer's partizan, and of course a drum.  All the poles seem a bit soft to me, and would need replacement with piano wire as they'll bend, rebend and then break, needing to be replaced anyway.  Hands included are pistol, baton, open, closed around pole [needs drilling], gesturing.  Plenty to work with.

The Sash and Saber bag has five different bodies, as follows:

1. drummer with tassled buffcoat, right hand holding drumsticks and left arm draping over drum [quite a casual pose, really], stockings and shoes.
2.  A "likely" officer due to the VERY big sash, armor, and sculpted lace.  Also has the big turned-down boots, holding right arm in air [quite a dramatic pose].
3. Two Ensigns with right arm, open hand.  One has lace, a large sash, and turned down boots.  The other a jack [maybe buffcoat vest] stockings and shoes.  
4. Waving left hand fig, sort of a "move up with me" gesture, has jacket, large sash, stockings and shoes.  

Gear included is a drum, an NCO halberd hand and an officer's partizan hand, both pole arms with tassles.  There's several heads including a bare one and of course an arm waving a hat.  Overall, if you are realistic about the variety of clothing that may be used in the field, most of the figs offer quite a bit of variety for poses in the command group or among the infantry, really.  Perhaps the only restrictive thing is the lace which should really be for officers - but then again, there's always looting, eh?

Size comparison: the 2nd from the start and end of the line are the Romanoff.  You can see that they run about 2-3 mm taller, mainly in the legs.  Still, people come in all shapes and sizes, so they should mix fine especially with heads and arms.  I think that I'll put two of the Romanoff in each group, where their sameness can be hidden a bit better with good posing and painting, not to mention arm/head selection.

A bit blurry, but this photo shows the height difference a bit better.  Basing can also help - cutting down or raising up the figures base when mounting into units.  Not worried about it, actually just happy with the variety.

Next up will be cleaning and prepping, then of course assembly.  None of the figures has excessive flash or mold lines, but all have some.  Shouldn't be too much trouble, but how the heads and arms fit is important - dictates how much green stuff will have to be used to fill the gaps.

Excited to get to these, finally, after lots of delay!  All that's left after these bags is the 10-fig cavalry unit from S&S [7 troopers and three command], which I very much look forward to - ECW oddities and plenty of cavalry are a big part of the period's interest for me.

40mm Figure Comparison: Romanoff v. Sash & Saber

Well, inevitably there just HAS to be a discussion of this, it's one of the most popular and perhaps important topic of shared info regarding figs.  Amazingly, I didn't even think to compare them and I didn't notice a size discrepancy until I started to play around with basing schemes.  Check out the photographic evidence:

The Romanoff has longer legs and is a bit bulkier.  They're a net 2-3mm taller and I probably wouldn't mix them in the same regiment altho they'd be fine on the same table.  This is important b/c there isn't a ton of 40mm sculpts out there for ECW.  The variety Romanoff offers is quite useful for my early war style of regiments, and I wouldn't want to have to pass on them.  The identical pics just vary the light conditions as each shows different aspects better, I think.  At some point I need to get some Jacdaw figs as well:
http://www.oldgloryuk.com/disp_items.php?m=47&sh=2

While the Romanoff are more expensive and take some time to assemble, I still enjoy the final result and look forward to the command pack.  I'll add some pike to it as well for a full regiment which I intend to use as Trained Bande.  Then they too can fight for either side!

Romanoff Figures: Cleaned, Assembled, and Reviewed!

Two packs of Romanoff 30YW / ECW figures.  These I got from S&S who export them from OldGloryUK.com far as I can tell.  I _believe_ that OGUK also adds to the line with new sculpts periodically.  At the S&S catalogue, they are:

40RTW4  Musketeers - firing and loading with felt hat             (5 figs) $17.00

40RTW4a Musketeers - firing and loading with monmouth caps (5 figs) $17.00

Unfortunately for the pic, I sorted out all the monmouth caps for pikemen and added more felt brimmed hats from S&S.  But you can see what you get, basically.  Each pack had five identical bodies (humph, would prefer at least two different bodies) and six sets of arms/gear to make the 5 figures.  So you can make three loading/three firing, then two of the other.  Five nicely sculpted swords and I believe it was six heads, maybe a couple more (the command pack has 8 heads for 5 figures).

*research point - Osprey ECW vol 1: Infantry suggests that the monmouth / knit caps were favored by the pikemen as they wore them under their helmets for added comfort, while the brimmed hats and caps like the montero were favored by musketeers [perhaps to keep sun out of the eyes while firing?  maybe the brims helped keep the lock dryer during wet weather firing?].  Interesting and makes sense, so I'm running with it*

The amount of mold lines, flak etc was average for an OG casting, but there weren't any really bad ones across the face and such, and most cleaned up easy.  Only annoying problem was a line that was _in_ the trouser side, sort of a groove in fact, that resisted all but the most aggressive filing attempts.  In the end I had to settle for a combo of filing and filling them, unknown if it'll work.

Assembly was not bad and often fun.  I enjoyed making natural poses and thinking about what the guy was doing.  Also, as a former military man, I know that during any drill there's always some variation in how people stand and do things.  During this period drill was even less strict and uniform, so there should be more variety.  With the slight variation in the arms and different heads, several different figures can be made. 

At $17 for 5 [$3.40 ea.] they cost 50 cents more a figure than S&S 5-packs, and $1.15 more than the "value-pack" of 20 firing figures from S&S.  So the bottom line is get them for pose variety - if you value that then great, but if not go for the S&S, I guess.

Now, how do they turn out?  Well, just fine, really.  But it takes a bit of modelling to do it with the separate arms, weapons, and swords, and heads!  I found it pretty fun, but not something I'd do for an entire project.

Cleaned and assembled, five giving fire and 5 loading.  Are the poses accurate?  One seems to be - my copy of de Gheyn has the exact loading posture, holding musket and priming the pan w' fine powder from a flask:

And this is how my assembly came out:

I also tried to vary their relative foot positioning so they didn't look _quite_ so identical in body.  I think with the painting and basing I can succeed in this a bit more, altho for real variety I'll have to await the Montrose highlanders Chris is progressively offering this summer and fall!  Now the shooting posture and posing:

The Romanoff pose has the gun crooked in the bicep/elbow [ouch!] disregarding recoil.  The de Gheyn postures don't show that in the postures just before/after firing either, so in my mind they've been taught their postures by a veteran who has them holding their 'peece' slightly lowered just before/after actual firing.  They still look just fine and having done lots of shooting/drilling, I'm certain that there's not just one way to do it, and the period definitely had lots of self-proclaimed experts with their own ways.  Fair enough.

This stage went fine - big question for me is will the priming process fill up the gaps between the arms and bodies a bit more - they're too obvious right now.  I'll try some gap fill and see how it goes.

Overall, I give them a 7.5 for average casting and value, but superior posing and pose variety.