Welcome.

This blog will run alongside my main 'Napoleonic Therapy' blog and record the development of my new 6mm English Civil War collection. Like my Napoleonic project this be based upon the 'Commands & Colors' rule system, which is a hex based board game that has been successfully adapted to playing with miniatures by many gamers, some listed in the links at right. Having only fairly recently been introduced to 'C&C' it has totally revolutionised  my enjoyment of this hobby. GMT Games who design and market the 'Commands & Colors' games do not as yet produce an ECW version, although I understand that the designer Richard Berg is currently play testing a pike and shot version. Luckily for me my good internet friend Tony of the excellent 'Prometheus in Aspic' blog has also been developing his own ideas for a set of ECW adapted C&C rules. So I have decided to use these as the basis of this project.

Figures/basing.
All figures will be Baccus 6mm. I am a committed fan of these fine little figures and in the long term I plan to produce Ancient armies and others based on the C&C game system. I will be basing the ECW units in the same style as my Napoleonic collection, using a standard infantry base of 60mm x 60mm onto which will be placed a central pike block of 3 ranks of 4 figures, two 'wings' of musketeers each of 2 ranks of 4 figures, plus 4 command figures slightly out in front of the unit. A total of 32 figures, with the pike block looking slightly deeper than the musket blocks. Units comprising all 'commanded' muskets will feature slightly less figures possibly. Blocks representing troops or regiments of horse will be of 18 figures, in 2 ranks plus a couple of command figures in front, again as per my Napoleonics. On the rear of the Foot bases I will record the actual ratio of pikes to muskets, type of unit, C&C 'blocks' represented etc.

My love of the period.
This goes back a long way! In the mid eighties I painted my first collection as pictured below, comprising 15mm Minifigs. It's amazing that these pictures even survive from then but they were a lucky find in a old album and I have scanned them. I later moved on to Matchlock Miniatures, joined the Sealed Knot for a couple of seasons and played many great games to the excellent 'Forlorn Hope' rules. Something about the period just grabs me.

Enough to begin with! First order is going into Baccus this week for a few test bases which I am really looking forward to painting. I'll leave you with these old scans from the distant past, pretty good those old Minifigs looking back.