Keep Your Powder Dry

Having spent quite a bit of time, not to mention a few thousand words, prattling on about the colours (and paint codes) that I use to paint my toy soldiers, it is probably only right and proper that I discuss the hardware carried, and worn, by soldiers. This is an excuse to share lots of little bits of information that I have come across whilst researching my armies, and wider questions such as coat colours. Don't be surprised if there is a digression or three. For those of you new to the blog here are the other posts: What Colours To Use? What Colours To Use Part 2: Paint Coat Colours Part 1: Parliamentarian Regiments of Foot Coat Colours Part 2: Royalist Regiments of Foot Coat Colours Part 3: The Scots Coat Colours Part 4: Others - NMA, Dragoons & Horse The Trained Bands Caveat: these are my observations, with a smattering of references thrown in for good measure, they are in no way definitive. They could never be. The best we can ever aspire to, when modelling soldiers of th...

If you are new to the blog, or new to painting ECW figures - welcome. Now go and read what colours to use  first, as this entry will make much more sense if you read this second. Caveat: I paint true 15mm figures and apply a heavy wash of Citadel Nuln Oil. These colours work in this setting, with the heavy black wash subduing the colour a bit. If you are starting painting out different sized figures you might need to go brighter or slightly darker depending upon size of your figures. A number of people have asked me what colour paints I use for certain regiments or a particular item. So here is my attempt at converting the colour chart found in part one  into a brand and colour of paint. I must confess that I am a fan of  Foundry and  Coat d'Arms  (Cd'A) paints, so mostly I have identified their paint colours. If you are a fan of other brands there are a number of paint comparison charts available on the web, one of the best is Dakka Dakka ....

Caveat: if you want a guide to painting horses that employs 16 shades of the same colour to highlight and lowlight horse flesh look away now. This is a quick and easy average painter's guide to painting horses averagely. I must confess that I am not the biggest fan of horses; I blame having a horse mad older sister, who didn't have a horse but had a little brother she could bully.  So I always used to paint horses as quickly as possible, dark brown, with dark brown manes and tails, and dark brown tack. My token gesture to 'not dark brown' was the occasional white flash or sock. Here is my current horse formula. Well it works for me, and my horses look, well, horse like. Colours: I avoid greys and blacks unless absolutely necessary (commanders being known for only riding horses of a specific colour, or certain Napoleonic cavalry units). So my horses are almost exclusively chestnut , bay or dun . In the seventeenth century there wear superstitions surrounding hor...