"ECW in 15mm" Topic

Good evening

One of the upcoming projects I want to start is ECW is 15mm. The issue I have is who should I go with? I'm tempted to go with Old Glory\ Blue Moon figures. I was looking at Steel Fist but they don't have a US distributor and I don't think the line is complete yet.

Any ideas? Also – what rules are people using for the 15mm?

Thanks kindly!

There are a niumber of rules out there. For King & Parliament, Baroque, Pike & Shotte. I have Baroque, its part of the Impetus family of rules. I have heard good things about FK&P, Pike & Shotte is part of the Hail Caesar rules family. I'm sure there are others. My armies, which I am finishing this year, are mostly Essex. But, if you are avoiding importing OG/BM are a good choice. Khurasan Miniatures has ECW as well.

Steel Fist does not have a distributor in the U.S., but the postage is free if you buy in bulk. They are the best, IMHO. True variety in the figures. Every pack of cavalry has 12 unique figures, and there are at least 13 packs. Infantry has 28 unique figures per pack.

Most of my 15mm English Civil War are by Peter Pig, they have a great range that really look the part for the ECW. The Essex pikemen are nice with a sturdy pike, but are really more general Renaissance; the new Steel Fist Oxford Army figures look good as well.
For rules, you are really looking at For King & Parliament or Black Powder: Pike & Shotte.

If you're in to playing more than painting there's Wofun minis.
link

We've successfully used "For King and Parliament" rules with our 15mm figures. Almost all of ours are vintage MiniFigs.

FK&P is played on a square-gridded battlefield with movement and combat controlled by a card draw.

FK&P is available from Simon "BigRedBat" (UK) -- link and through Wargame Vault (US) -- link

Here's an old play test of the rules before they were published by Simon. link

Jim

If only somebody had written a blog devoted to the British Civil Wars using 15mm figures 😉

Ahhh.. Took me a few minutes to get it. It's a very nice blog! Thank you for pointing it out.

Thanks. There's two which figures posts, which look at what is and isn't available. Size, buildings etc

Yes my benchmark is Peter Pig, soo I do look at whether other ranges are compatible with PP.

As you are on the wrong side of the pond, it might be logistically easier to go with Blue Moon. Note that PP have a US distributor.

Good luck with your quest!

Now that I found your blog (and your Twitter feed) I think I'll have a much easier go of things! Thank you!!

If you plan a large order of BM its worth joining the "army" to get their discount @40%? Now that Scots are released their range is fairly complete except for Highland clans and old eyes find their style easier to paint, especially the personalities.

Thanks. There's two which figures posts, which look at what is and isn't available. Size, buildings etc

Yes my benchmark is Peter Pig, soo I do look at whether other ranges are compatible with PP.

Good luck with your quest!

The Twitter feed is usually a load of nonsense 😉

Steel Fist are superb sculpts; very much "true 15mm" . I have a lot their cavalry in my army, which is mainly a mix of Peter Pig ( which I do like) and the old Minifigs, and they work together OK. Whilst there are more figures planned for the Steel Fist range, it is perfectly possible to build an army with the existing range, especially if you are interested in the earlier period. Lots of different types of cavalry, dragoons and both pikemen and musketeers, all with suitable command figures.
I looked at Blue Moon, but they are much bigger figures, pushing towards "18mm" and, although I like the style, they would not have fitted with the core army that I already had.
As for rules, I use my 15mm with Warlord Games' "Pike and Shot", (using rules for combined infantry units), with " For King and Parliament" and mainly with a set written by members of my current club and refined by them over a period of years. I have used 15mm figures for "Baroque" as well. I think most rules are "scale agnostic".

Wow… Thanks for the advice everyone. I think I want to look at Eureka. If he's at Historicon then it'll be easy.

Thanks again!!!!

@KeepYourPowderDry – what size bases did you use for your army?

See link

Thank you!!

You have this all figured out!

Hopefully you might find a few things to help out on the blog. Just one or two posts to keep you entertained (hopefully)

I'm enjoying the blog.

I used to collect 28mm ECW from Foundry before they had a website. They used to mail out paper catalogue with drawings. Those armies are painted and gone.

I wanted to get back into ECW but painting another full 28mm army was too much for me. Since I'd have to do both sides it would me taxing both financially and time wise. That's when I made up my mind to do 15mm.

So far you've helped me with my figure choice and base sizes.

Thank you

Happy to help. Good luck with the project

Hope you'll entertain one more question. Pikes – I thought they were roughly 16' – 18' – just about three times the size of the miniature. I intend to make my own from brass rod (I don't like when the cast pikes bend).

Your thoughts?? Am I on target with the size? Or should I just double the size of the mini?

Okay very contentious issue. The big question is how tall was a 'man' in 1640's England. Are 15mm figures 6 foot tall?

So I started with the rough 3 times the height of a figure. But my pikes have leaf points on them. So I decided to go 3 times the figure height, plus the leaf point (thinking I could always cut the point off if I changed my mind).

So my pikes are about 52mm long. Slightly oversized. But I really like them. Much of my inspiration comes from Streeter's Plan, I think the oversized pikes give that feel.