Building Warlord ECW 28mm Plastic Cavalry

I've posted previously on how to approach building Perry Miniatures plastic British Light Dragoons which elicited a pretty fair response, so I thought I'd do the same for this set.

I'm embarking on a long desired project, to build a moderate army (both sides) for the English Civil War in 28mm. I have to say, I'm very enthusiastic about this period and it's been a long time coming. My army will be a mixture of Warlord Plastic 28m miniatures and so far, Bicorne Miniatures metals. But enough of the background, lets get to it.

This set by Warlord Games was released in 2009 (pretty sure) and provides for generic cavalry for either English side (Parliament or Royalists) and makes up 12 figures. From what I have observed, these have been divergently marketed over the years and I've seen reviews and unboxing of the same set sold and boxed as 'Royalist Cavalry'. They are the same set.

The horses come in two halves and make up four poses, all what I would say are trotting or cantering - just what most people want. Each horse comes with a pair of pistols in two types of 'bucket' (holster).

Whilst the pistols are molded in pairs on the sprue, there is a trick here as the pairs are a pair of right facing grips and a pair of left facing grips. Two come in tube buckets so this pairing is irrelevant but two pairs come in flat holsters - so I believe you need to mix those two sets if you want both of your pistol grips facing toward the rider or in any particular way.

I like the horses very much but there is an issue. After gluing the two halves together, there is a gap on the right side of the neck just under the reins. This gap is wide enough for me to warrant filling. I use Tamiya Putty (Basic Type) which sets very quickly (about 15 seconds working time, and sands nicely. You might use Green Stuff - suite yourself.

The riders come in a complete torso and leg section including the left arm and I glued this in place before attaching the pistols to the horse. I think you'd be fine gluing the pistols first. They sit really well in the saddles (which are molded with the horse).

The weapons arms (right arms) come with sword extended or at the ready, pistols extended (shooting) or shouldered and come in two types - one wheel-lock and one flint-lock for both extended and at the ready. Each of the rider sprues come with the weapons (as part of the figure's right arm), hats/helmets, trumpet and standard/lance.

Of the hats, there are only three types - wide brim, wide-brim with the front up and a cap on each of the three rider sprues. There are four helmets on each sprue - two single nasal bar and two of the ubiquitous three-bar pot. Each rider has the lobster tail of the helmet pre-molded on the back of the riders head (neck) and the hats have molded long hair which, if opted for, covers over the lobster tail - quite innovative.

The wide brimmed hats are simple and plain - so I will be adding feathers to my officers. The lack of this option is a bit of a minor failure I feel with this set. There is also a correct way for the hats to go on, so play with them first.

Only one of the rider sprues have a commander body which I take to be the figure with the armoured tassets. There are three figures with a musket (or carbine) swivel on their belts which serve as the attachment point for the three muskets if you use them - but only three. There are also three warhammers which I didn't use and there appears no obvious point for them to be attached, but I'm sure you can glue them hanging off their belts anywhere you like. Interestingly, on the box cover is an image of a rider wielding one of the warhammers which must be a conversion.

When opting for the pistols, you might think to cut off one of the pistol grips on one of the buckets if you use them. It reminded me of the need to cut off the sword hilts on their Caesarean Romans for those legionaries who hold the gladius.

A final note is that all three sprues come with a trumpeter option which I love and I wish more cavalry box sets across other periods did the same. This provides for Commander vignette escourts or perhaps a trumpeter per squadron or troop. There is but one obvious officer but then, stick a feather in a hat and anyone can be an officer. There are also three standard/lances.