"ECW Uniforms: Good References?" Topic

Hi Guys,
Beyond the Ospreys and Haythornwaite, are there any other good, and up-to-date, armor and uniform guides?
Thanks for your help.

Try the Pike&Shot society they have color pictures of re-enactors.

This is the best site I have found for information and known colours – wiki.bcw-project.org

Bear in mind though, a lot of units weren't uniformed and probably had nothing more than un-dyed coats of white or grey.

The original version of Old Robin's Foot by Partizan Press is worth hunting out. There is a wealth of information in it. Some of the Haythornthwaite plates are inaccurate. If you read Old Robin you'll be able to judge which ones.

Beyond that you don't really need anything else. For most of the war most battalia of foot, when drawn up for action, would not be of a uniform coat colour. From what we know it seems that only a very small number of Royalist units were ever issued with breeches to match their coat colour.

If you read a reference to say 'The Red Regiment' then this usually refers to the flag colour, not the coat colour and they are not usually the same colour as each other for a given unit.

As Timmo points out some of the Haythornthwaite plates are inaccurate; some of the Ospreys have clearly used the Haythornthwaites as inspiration, and possibly perpetuate myths. Which in turn have inspired figure sculptors… I can think of one commercially available armoured siege engineer who has stepped straight out of a Haythornthwaite plate, whilst every example of exhibited siege engineer armour has been completely different to the one modelled.

Caveat: lots of links to my own blog – quicker than hunting out a gazillion other links from all over, I tried to put lots of things all in one place

For inspirational pictures "The ECW in Colour Photographs" link is brilliant. Re-enactors from ECWS and SK.

For a colour palate here's my take on it (some links to articles by people who know much more than I will ever know) and ruminations on period portraiture link

If you want to know about coat colours the BCW wiki should be your first stop, few other good sites too – I've put all the best links together in one blog post link

Okay, mainly officers and the great and good but period portraits give us so many clues and ideas: link and link Also try 'Portraits of the English Civil War' by Angus Haldane.

Thanks guys. Very useful information.

Nice blog KYPD38!

I would also recommend the "Wargame the English Civil War" by Peter Dennis, which contains the paper soldiers.

Silurian glad you like it. Hope you find something helpful/inspiring on the blog