"28mm ECW Question" Topic

I have been building up armies for the ECW using 28mm figures from Bicorne and Renegade. As the prices of their figures are towards the top end of prices for 28mm figures I am considering switching to either Perry or Old Glory. I don't intend mixing these within the units I already have but keeping them as separate units.
I know the size and style of Perry as I have some of their AWI range. My question is, in terms of quality is the OG range as good as Renegade/ Bicorne or would I just be exchanging quality of sculpting for a cheaper figure?

OG's ECW range is one of their best. However, they are about a head shorter than Bicorne or Renegade. 25s, not heroic 28s.

I don't think it will save you any money – but you should take a look at the Empress Miniatures range – they are awesome figures.

Those new veteran musketeers from Warlord look nice.

Should work fine as separate units. I use both OG and Redoubt, but keep them in their own units. Works like a charm.

Like Pkay says, in separate units they are fine.

Stick with Bicorne or Renegade!

Steer clear of Empress, they are awful figures, when compared to the others

Redout will mix in fine as separate units

Keith

Perry's are beautiful, in correct poses with variety and the cut of their clothes is spot on.
I like Renegade a little on the big side.
The old Foundry rang is still pretty good.

I was very disappointed with OG's Musketeers figures in unmanageable poses.
Pike,Horse and Artillery are just OK.

I gather you're not impressed by the plastics ?
They have a style all of their own, cost makes them very cost effective.

Many thanks for all your replies. I'm not impressed by the plastic figure that I have seen (this being the freebie dragoon given away a few years ago by WI magazine). Have they improved since then? If so I may give them another look. The size issue with Old Glory has made me hesitant to go with them and Mac1638's comments about some of the poses do concern me. Although I have the Perry AWI do their ECW match up to Renegade / Bicorne size wise or is it again a case of separate units? As to Empress I do have a saker and gun crew but am also disappointed with them overall.

Perry figures, while up to the usual Perry standards, are noticeably smaller and slighter than Renegade/Bicorne.

Although beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I have no problem "managing" OG musketeer poses.

In spite of the fact that most of my figures are mounted on multiple figure bases for "battles", below is a blog entry for an ECW skirmish game using OG musketeer and dismounted dragoon figures.

link

Despite all the new research behind the range, there is the odd Empress figure that doesn't quite look right – overly long arms, or odd shaped shoulders. That said, the Prince Rupert figure I bought at Salute is very good.

The Perry ECW range is sculpted by Michael, whilst the AWI range is sculpted by Alan. Michael's figures do tend to be smaller than Alan's.

The Bicorne range was recently taken over and is being added to again – some of the new stuff is very nice and covers all sorts of gaps. Like Empress, they are putting out figures in monteros for the King's Oxford army. They are big though, and within units, you can really only mix with Renegade and Redoubt.

I don't have any Old Glory 28mm (I'm not a fan of the "knees bent, running about" type poses), but I have been told by several friends that their Renaissance/TYW/ECW ranges are their best work. Just so long as they haven't overdone the "Hey, Steve!" poses.

I have quite a large collection of ECW figures numbering few thousand figures really and they include figures from:

Perry, Foundry, Empress, Old Glory, Warlord, Bicorne, Renegade Redoubt, Corvus, Essex, Dixon, Front Rank and possibly some others.

I do like the Old Glory figures despite the over animated look of some of the figures, but then like most ranges they have their good, bad and ugly figures. I do however mix figures very carefully within units and make sure that I don't put massive figures in the same units as really small figures.

I do agree about the Empress figures that they appear sort of long in the arms and legs, to the point that I decided to cut them down a litle, having said that I have done the same with some of the Redoubt figures who seemed to have extra long legs compared to their arms and bodies. As said before their Prince Rupert, Oliver Cromwell and any of their cavalry are pretty damn fine though. Also I found that within the infantry there can be as much as a heads difference in height within the range.

As nobody seems to have mentioned cavalry much It is worth noting that most riders seem to fit in well with each other and I happily mix and match those. I do however like Heavy cavalry to be on big horses and dragoons and Scots to be on nags, so I swap out smaller horses such as Old Glory, Foundry etc. for Horses from Warlord or Front Rank for cavalry. I then use the small horses for the dragoons and Scots.

I'm not impressed by the plastic figure that I have seen (this being the freebie dragoon given away a few years ago by WI magazine). Have they improved since then?

Warlord's Firelocks- the freebie you received- are very poor compared to their regular plastic infantry. The detail varies from good to excellent (the plastic command sprue), with probably the cavalry being the best overall: detail is good with easy assembly yet decent variety is achieved by simply mixing right arms and helmets/hats.
Cavalry:

Musketeers:

Command:

Beautiful work Codsticker!

Big Red,

Codsticker came by to watch our resumption of our Edgehill game today . . . and got to actually play ECW for the first time. And I have seen many photos of his painting and it is far better than my own. He does lovely detailing.

We live in a lightly-populated area so he had never had any chance to play any historicals before today . . . but today's game won't be his last.

-- Jeff

Thank you Big Red.

Jeff and his buddy David were great hosts; very engaging and full of information regarding the ECW period. It was very inspiring to see the table full of figures in a great games room not to mention actually playing.