For Sale: Perry ECW Musketeers, Dragoons and Cuirassiers

These figures were bought for our Eighty Years War project, but that was cut short by Oleg's untimely death. Without him, I have no reason nor inclination to continue the project so I am offering these figures for sale. I was going to put them e bay but I am posting them here first in case any one has an interest in them. The figures are in good condition, unpainted and entirely untouched. The price on Perry's site for the figures would be £164 not including P&P. But I am only asking £100 (€138) +P&P.

Included are:
ECW2 Foot command (6 figures)
ECW4 Armoured Pike, with tassets (24 figures)
ECW6 Unarmoured Pike, half helmeted (24 figures)
ECW8 Musketeers firing (18 figures)
ECW9 Musketeers loading (6 figures)
ECW11 Dragoons/Forlorn Hope skirmishing (12 figures)
ECW13 Demi-Culverin (9 pounder gun) with crew (2 cannon + 8 figures)
ECW 15 Cuirassier Command (3 mounted figures)
ECW16 Cuirassiers with swords drawn (9 mounted figures)
ECW 26 Mounted Dragoons (6 mounted figures)

Against my better judgement - new acquisitions

The trouble with painting figures is, you always want more. In the last couple of weeks I've been going over all my old projects and deciding which ones to finish. I have a lot of old projects backed up and I need to stop adding to the pile of unfinished models before I start anything new. Right now I am working on my Teutonic paratroopers; the 'Black Arrows'. These were bought almost a decade ago and were used in the very first Rocketman campaign games, and yet they were largely unpainted. Since I plan on using them again soon, I decided to complete the job and get them all done in nice new camouflaged uniforms. The only problem is, I quickly found they need some transport too and duly ordered two Horch 1A schwerer geländegängiger  from Warlord Games. This wasn't quite what I had had in mind when I started but the next thing I realised was I didn't have the necessary figures to provide mobile fire support, so I was obliged to order another MG-34 team from Black Tree (where I'd bought my original figures).

Now I'm looking at another of those Horch 1As which could be used as a staff car, as Warlord have one with its soft top up... and there is also a version with a 2cm AA gun which looks very seductive!

Latest purchase

 
Its been quite a while since I bought any figures, and I almost didn't when I saw the total cost for ten hazmat troopers from Hasslefree Miniatures. At 40kr per figure, these are some of the most expensive figures I've ever bought, but I've lusted after them for quite a long time, and with the later additions, I was unable to resist their temptation, even though I already have five hazmat troopers from Copplestone Castings. I am currently running a modern mystery campaign (X Files style) and if this works out, I may even find a use for these figures eventually. In the mean time I have to decide which colour their hazmat suits should have. I painted the Copplestone figures in yellow, to make them look more utalitarian. I'd like these guys to look a bit more serious, so maybe black (though that'd probably make for dull figures) or a military green? The best/realistic colour would probably be white...

Looking at 20mm

After a break of several weeks, we're gradually building up to resuming regular gaming, and though it will never really be the same without Oleg, hopefully we can make some decent games and have some fun. I'll be running a short RPG campaign in the meantime, but Palle is looking to run a 20mm modern campaign, set in Africa and featuring mercenaries (I'm thinking 'Wild Geese' or something similar). I like the idea of doing modern games in 20mm as it gives you the additional option of using 1/72 scale vehicles, which I think are more available than in 1/55 or 28mm.

So I've been looking at manufacturers and idely pondering whether or not to branch out to 20mm, even though I know I probably won't as I've already invested so heavily in 28mm. Still... its tempting when you see what some people have accomplished.

Expensive frustrations

Its been a long hard month, full of sick children and their various needs and requirements. I've run a few RM games but not had the energy to do much blogging on that subject. Most of my spare time these days is taken up by my tank project or just vegging out with Battlefield 3. Now I'm down with fever too and I think Mette's getting it as well. Summer always seems to end with an onslaught of illnesses now. I suppose thats the consequence of parenthood.

In the meantime, I've just bought a few more Perry miniatures (four packs of unarmed pikes and a pack of skirmishers) and I'm hoping to find the time to start painting and basing my Sixteenth Century Dutch army (now 128 figures strong). To that end I went online to try (again) to find a book or two which might give some indication of colours, but so far I've not had much luck. On the Lead Adventure Forum some of the guys suggested 'Armies of the Sixteenth Century: The Armies of England, Scotland, Ireland, the United Provinces and the Spanish Netherlands 1487-1609' by Ian Heath, but pointed out how expensive this book is (it seems to sell every where for £100+. I went online and found a copy in the USA for £27 (inc P&P) and thought myself as proud as Punch... only to discover the day afterwards that the title was misleading and I had bought 'Armies of the Sixteenth Century; 2. The Armies of the Aztec and Inca Empires, other native peoples of the Americas, and the Conquistadores 145-1608', also by Ian Heath. Both books having the exact same cover of course and so leading to my confusion. To say I was disapointed is an understatement. I almost lost my self control and ordered the first book to the tune of £100. I didn't however, as I can't really justify (yet) that level of expenditure on a book that I only need to paint a few figures.
In the meantime, the Aztec book is winging its way across the Atlantic to me. I have no idea whether that purchase will inspire me towards new horizons or simply languish upon a book shelf here in my lair.

With regards to my tank casting project, I have reached a point of extreme difficulty. No one in Denmark seems to know what resin is. I have all the parts and pieces I need to make the master mold, but I can't cast anything because it seems no one in Denmark has ever heard of resin. I shall have to buy from the UK, but I am loath to do so as the postage costs will make the whole project that much more expensive. I bought the starter kit shown above (it cost £60 to get it to Denmark) and I'll use that for my first attempt (it is after all a starter kit), but after that, I hope to track down a supplier in Denmark for all my subsequent models. I'll add some more tank images soon.

Africans!

With RM7 over with (I'll post a write up shortly), its now time to get on with my C20 Africans, of which I have forty figures ready to begin (all from Copplestone Castings). Twenty of them are German Askari's (though I shall paint them generically) and twenty of them are Azande musketeers. The latter appear to be from the Victorian era, but again, I'll paint them as generic Africans so they can be used in future games also. Also underway for RM8 is an 'African heavy tank', which I am converting from a Ironclad Miniatures steam tank. The beauty of alternative history is you can make up such anachronisms as African heavy tanks. The trick is to do it convincingly. The idea with this model, is that tank is a one off thats been based on an FT-17, scaled up by a renegade French engineer on behalf of a Congolese queen rebelling against Belgian rule.

Baggage wagons

I worked on these and some Teutonic cavalry in my spare time in the last two months. Four baggage elements completed, though the farm wagon still needs a cargo, and its oxen are yet to be painted. The cargo on the water wagon is detachable, as is the articulated ballista on the artillery cart.

More and bigger guns!

Reinforcements have arrived to bring the Dutch army up to something approaching fighting strength, and a general has been found to take command. Still got a way to go before we're ready to take on the Spanish, but the big gun should make an impression! I think I need a few more skirmishers though, and possibly some more pikes, and another cannon or three, and some cavalry wouldn't go amiss...

The first recruits!

The first Dutch regiment begins to form with 12 musketeers and 6 pikemen (equalling 6x100 men) from Perry Miniatures which arrived yesterday. I still haven't found any good source for uniform colours yet, and we still need to establish bases sizes for playing DBR in 28mm, but the Dutch commanders are optimistic that the Seventeen Provinces will soon find victory on the field! I reckon another 412kr (cira £45/$71) will see a Dutch infantry army (with artillery support) ready to muster.

The figures are very nice. They're some what diminutive compared to Black Tree Design (which I used for my Normans/Teutons) or Copplestone Castings (Rocketman), but the poses are nice and the detailing is superb.


I also came across another manufactuer of ECW figures today. Eagle Figures have a limited but pretty well sculpted range. An infantry regiment (36 figures) would come to circa 269kr which makes them very interesting.

Planning the Eighty Years War Part 2; Manufacturers of European miniatures pertaining to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

A few years ago I worked out a comparison of the most expensive manufacturers and its been quite an eye opener to see how prices have changed in the mean time. Back then Essex Miniatures were the cheapest of the companies I had book marked and Games Workshop (followed by Foundry) were the most expensive. GW was so expensive they were over five times as much as Essex for a single figure.

Perry Miniatures, (28mm) English Civil War range. I think I like these the best. They look suitably generic enough to pass for Nederlanders, and Perry (whilst slightly small) usually have a nice amount of detail and character.
The price for six figures is £6.00 + 17% P&P. This translates to 368kr for an infantry regiment.

Copplestone Castings' (28mm) Glory of the Sun range. I really like Copplestone's figures, but they do tend to be a bit on the big size, (more like 32 than 28mm). The best part is the range has specific Dutch musketeers. The bad part is, they belong to the period directly after the EYW and may not fit well with Perry's figures.
The price for six figures is £6.75 + 10% P&P. This translates to 384kr for an infantry regiment.

Essex Miniatures (25mm) 14th to 17th Century Dutch range. These have the advantage of being specifically Dutch, but frankly, they look like crap and I can't see myself going for them. As 'Dutch' they just don't look all that much different from the Perry English Civil War range, except in quality.
The price for one figure is £1.00 + 30% P&P. This translates to 407kr for an infantry regiment which actually makes them more expensive than the Perry or Copplestone figures.

Foundry Miniatures (28mm) Elizabethan range. I don't like Foundry. They are simply over priced and subsequently the quality they offer (poses & variations) is a joke.
The price for eight figures is £13.20 + £10 P&P. This translates to 662kr for an infantry regiment.

Bivorne Miniatures (25mm) English Civil War range. This is a nice range of miniatures which I came across by accident. Admittedly they are more expensive than most, but they have a very wide range of poses and they are suitably generic enough to be Dutch.
The price for eight figures is £9.00 + 15% P&P. This translates to 451kr for an infantry regiment.

Renegade Miniatures (28mm) English Civil War range. These are nice and generic enough for me, and Renegade have a suitably wide range of troop types. I might consider mixing these figures with Copplestone and Perry in order to break the monotony of figures per base.
The price for eight figures is £6.95 + 30% P&P, which translates to 395kr for an infantry regiment. Renegade also have regiment prices but their regiments are 24 mixed figures.

Tradition of London (25mm) English Civil War range. These figures look very old fashioned and given the name and age of the company, I think they specialise in a much older game than anything I'm interested in. I don't care for the sculpts at all and the range of poses isn't anything that counter balances the poor quality of the figures.
The theoretical price for one figure is £0.95 + 20% P&P. This translates to 358kr for an infantry regiment. The only trouble is, the online shop doesn't allow for a purchase of 36 figures so in order to make a regiment, one would have to buy 50 figures.

Redoubt Enterprises (25/28mm) English Civil War range. Redoubt seem to be similar to Essex, but I've never bought anything from them so I have no idea what they are like. The images they have on their site indicate a mediocre quality with a reasonably wide range of poses.
The price for one figure is £1.10 but P&P to the 'rest of the world' is determined 'by weight' which makes it impossible to guess how much a regiment might cost. There is a regiment deal of £30 for a thirty figure regiment pack, but this is still without any idea of P&P. I'm guessing they are too expensive to be worth considering.

Edited to add;

Front Rank (28mm) Late 17th Century range.
The price for one figure is £1.05 + 20% P&P. This translates to 395kr for an infantry regiment

Second edit;

Warlord Games (28mm) Pike and Shotte range. Plastic figures which sell in unit boxes. Each infantry box contains 4 pikemen and 8 musketeers. Quality seems good but I have a prejudice against plastic figures which I find annoyingly light and easy to knock over.
The price for twelve figures is £7.00 + 10% P&P. This translates to 201kr for an infantry regiment which makes these figures very attractive, despite being made of plastic.

Reiver, via Under the Bed. (28mm) Covenanter Rebellion range. (1666 - 1679). The sculpts seem decent enough, but the figures look too a tad too modern for the Dutch Rebellion.
The price for ten figures is £10.00 + 20% P&P. This translates to 419kr for an infantry regiment

Parkfield (25mm) Glorious Revolution range. These are much like Reiver's Covenanters. They look good enough to grace the tabletop, and they are decently cheap, but they look too modern for the Dutch Rebellion. Not enough in the balloon pants department!
The price for one figure is £0.70 + 25% P&P. This translates to 275kr for an infantry regiment

The Assault Group (28mm) Rennaisance range. This looks like a nice big range with multiple European nations represented (those in the image are German) and a wide range of poses. The biggest draw back is the price which is not as bad as Foundry's, but still high enough to be uncompetative.
The price for four figures is £5.95 + gratis P&P. This translates to 468kr for an infantry regiment

More Rocketman characters

French resistance girls from Black tree design (May have been discontinued, as they do not appear on BTD's new home page).

The first two are French resistance fighters from Black tree design and the third is an American mercenary from Copplestone casting.

The first is Thrilling tales character from Artizan designs, the others are from Copplestone castings. The one in the middle appears to be modelled on Brendan Fraser's character Rick in the film, 'The Mummy'.

Two more from Copplestone, but the heavy machine gunners have been converted with African heads for RM5. Originally they were British Indian army Sikh's.

The first two are from Copplestone, and the mad fireman is from Hasslefree Miniatures.

When I was painting these figures, Freja came over to inspect them and after a few minutes of grave examination, she turned to me and asked, 'why do they all have water pistols?'

Rocketman characters

I currently have no more than about three hours every day to devote to my own devices. I know that most adult human beings in the western world will not think this is at all strange, but for me, its a new and some what curious development. I was told that having a job, and children would make for very little time and that I'd be too tired to do anything once the kids were put to bed. This has not proven to be the case and although my output has been severely reduced, it has not been curtailed entirely. Quite the opposite in fact. I find the less time I have the more concentrated I become, and although I have now put aside Rocketman until after my current deadline at work, and my summer holiday which starts on the 18th of this month, I do have a few individual finished figures to display.

North African characters, all by Artizan.

The figure on the left is apparently modelled on the Guardian of the Holy Grail from the film 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'.

The centre figure is a French Legionaire type which will be used in RM5, as Dominique Lavarre, Second in command of the pirate ship Le Mollusc.
The figure on the right appears to modelled on the character of Beni, from the film, 'The Mummy'.

..

The figure on the left is by Copplestone and was used as Moros, the villain of the RM4 games.
The centre figure is a Black Tree German officer which I have adapted, and will use in RM5 as Captain Wangai of the pirate ship Le Mollusc.
The figure to the right is another from Artizan's Thrilling Tales range and appears to be modelled on Che Guvarra, though I shall not be using it as such as he doesn't make an appearance in Rocketman.

Le Mollusc is an old French tramp steamer, long since fallen into decay and disrepute. Abandoned by her original owners in Indochine, then bought, sold and gambled from owner to owner she is now currently the property of a motley band, the dregs of the south seas, a crew of smugglers, pirates and mercenaries commanded by the enigmatic Captain Wangai. Le Mollusc is armed. Her primary armament is a single French 75mm main gun mounted in the bow. She also carries a twin .50 cal battery which can be employed as an anti-aircraft battery. The ships sides and super structure give +2 effective cover.

The model is made of card, and painted with acrylic paint. It measures 73cm in length, 20cm wide and roughly 20cm tall. The superstructure comes apart to reveal some internal rooms but the hull is closed. As is apparent from a close inspection of the image, the model is still a work in progress, but only details remain and the model is good to go, except for one missing staircase and some internal walls.

More to follow.