The First English Civil War in 28mm miniatures.

The English Civil War in 28mm -  The Red Regiment of The London Trained Bands.
The First Regiment of Parliamentarian Foot has been completed over the weekend,  I chose this regiment to start the ball rolling because of the colour scheme red uniforms with black armour looking quite smart. They were present early on in the war and formed part of the Earl of Essex's army.

28mm Bicorne Miniatures ECW range provided almost all of the figures, with the odd redoubt mini thrown in for luck.

 The Banners are in tin foil for durability, folded around wire shafts, the flags finials and cords are provided by Front Rank miniatures.

 I thought 4 banners per regiment would be a good compromise between too few and too many banners.

The odd Redoubt miniatures figure makes an appearance namely the banner bearer with a bicorne miniatures head from their spares range.

Based on 3mm plasticard for durability.

Basing effects use my 2mm and 4mm grass tufts available through this blog or on Ebay.

Finally matt varnish testors dullcote was sprayed on to even out the colours and for protection.

Uniform.

The Red Regiment of the London Trained Bands I assume would be well equipped and sponsored by the City of London. The officers, drummer and sergeants all wear red tunics and breeches the other ranks wear red tunics and grey breeches. The Red regiment was the first regiment in order of precedence, the other regiments being the white, yellow, blue, green and orange. Its flags were red with notable white wavy 'piles' or rays and was recruited from the wards of Aldgate, Tower and Billingsgate.

Formation.

The London Trained Bands were the City of London's militia, composed of householders who fulfilled thier statutory obligation to maintain arms and serve in the defence of their city. They were under the juristiction of the Lord Mayor of London and were commanded by officers appointed by him and the Aldermen. Members of the Trained Bands met regularly at the Artillery Garden in Bishopsgate and the Military Garden in St Martins'-in-the-Field to practice weapon handling, drilling and other military activities under the guidance of officers from the Honourable Artillery Company. These officers made the Trained Bands an effective fighting force, providing professional training for its part-time members. 

Active Service

They were part of the Eastern Association commanded by the Earl of Essex and were present at the relief of Gloucester and a number of battles including 1st battle of Newbury 1643, the London Trained Band Brigade seems to have been equipped with 11 cannon and 3 drakes (light guns) at this time.

Anyhow the next Regiment on the painting board are Charles I Lifeguard of Foote.

The English Civil War - 28mm miniatures

Collecting English Civil War 28mm miniatures.
This is a period of history of which has interested me for  long time, although I have only now been in a position to start two small ECW armies from the early years of the war nominally 1642-1643.

I have painted a lot of ECW minis for customers from various manufacturers though eventually deciding on the 'Bicorne Miniatures' range for the shear amount of variation in figures available and also their size being on the largish size compared to 'Wargames Foundry' or 'Perry miniatures' (the 'Perry miniatures' ECW range I'll use for my future Thirty Year War armies together with 'The Assault Group' thirty year war range).

Anyhow I thought I'd give it a shot and start with a few command bases, Oliver Cromwell early on in his military career when he served in the Eastern association as Lieutenant General of Horse. Note the orange sash worn by officers in that particular army. The Eastern association was commanded initially by Robert Devereux the Earl of Essex (on the painting workbench at the moment) and by 1643 Edward Montagu the Earl of Manchester (I'll try to purchase this guy next).

Oliver Cromwell as a subordinate

a 50mm round mdf base is used for subordinate commanders.

Oliver Cromwell funded a single troop of Horse at this time.

A Royalist commander in full armour.

This is a Redoubt miniatures figure on a Bicorne miniatures horse.

A squadron of  Haselrig's (or Heselrig or Haselrigge) Horse after the majority ditched their cuirassier armour, I think one troop of this regiment still were equipped with full cuirassier armour. 

The flag is the 6th company flag Haselrig's Regiment from 1643.

A Royalist Squadron of Horse, Regiment unknown.

I admit I picked this Regiment for their cool flag.

Each squadron of Horse will have their own flag made out of tin foil and hand painted, the lettering is hand painted as well, my photography skills cannot really pick out the details.

Next in this collection will be William Waller for Parliament and Charles I for the Royalists each on a command base. Also a 'Red' Regiment of London Trained Bands and also a regiment of the King's Lifeguard of Foote.

Cheers for Now,
Peter.