ECW project. For King and Parliament rules.

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Sounds right - colourfast dies are late 19th Century at the earliest. Certainly Newecastles Lambs would be varied shades as they wore undyed wool. New Noddle would be reasonably uniform in colour red is more stable than most.

[mmcv]

I'd say you're probably right on that. Certainly early on there wasn't a lot of uniformity unless the Colonel specifically bought coats for everyone. Most of the Royalists were clad in red or blue a bit later, but there were a mix of others too. Parliament would have been a bit more of a hodgepodge. There was also a lot of "brigading" where understrength regiments were mixed together so you'd see a mix of coats there.

I'm doing Naseby at the end of the war. New Model Army are all in red, but for the  Royalists I'm doing a mix of all one colour regiments (like Rupert's bluecoats) then a mix of mostly red and blue coats with a few other colours thrown in for good measure for some of the others where they're brigaded together.

[DecemDave]

I'm doing early war and I did an early unit in "civvies" i.e. browns, greys and the like intermingled but I didnt like it much when based - just looks a mess and so I went to "red" regiment, "yellow" regiment etc with a bit of shading for variety.  Multi-colour is probably more correct early war for the majority of units except maybe for the regular royalists and a few well equipped trained bands.  But there is only patchy knowledge on coat colours and the various re-fits and campaign wear mean you are unlikely to be completely wrong whatever you choose except for a few famous units.

[jimduncanuk]

800

1024 is a better number especially for bigger screens.

[sheepman 1]

I see a couple of regiments had purple coats, was purple an easy colour to obtain? I associate it with more wealthy individuals or had it become more accessible by the ECW period.
Dave.

[DecemDave]

yes Brookes on one side Bagot on the other. 

Brasseys History of  Uniform's ECW goes for majority being blues and reds even early on as these are the cheapest once clothing was centrally made and issued . Its supported by some quotes on imports like enough madder (for red) arriving in Bristol to dye 58,000  coats.  Blue done from Indigo (imported in big quantities from the West Indies) or from locally available Woad hence predominant in SW armies.

Purple is just double dyed (I think the royal/expensive applied more in ancient times), so yes more expensive, but we know a few colonels put their hands in their pockets for the cause. Orange/Tawny is also double dyed and quite a few in Essex's army had that

P62 has a discussion on how they got the other colours (green, yellow, orange, grey) .   

the pricey one was black and there is a good discussion on that (not ECW specific) on another thread here.
I did a black coated Puritan regiment under Sir Victor Meldrew. 

[fsn]

Brooke's Regiments wore purple. (I think?)

[sheepman 1]

Really interesting lads, thanks.
Dave.

[FierceKitty]

The subject of black uniforms has arisen a few times. I've been wondering - wool was doubtless the cloth coats were made from, and black sheep exist. You can also make coats from leather, which is not hard to find in a suitably melanistic tone.

[Techno II]

Cracking work on the figures, Dave.

Cheers - Phil.

[DecemDave]

The subject of black uniforms has arisen a few times. I've been wondering - wool was doubtless the cloth coats were made from, and black sheep exist. You can also make coats from leather, which is not hard to find in a suitably melanistic tone.

Yes. ECW Officers could have anything they could afford.   But if its centrally produced for the ranks you need material for hundreds at a time, so cheap=good!   Brassey states the usual coats were of wool but then it gets complicated (as today) by method of manufacture and quality.  "Nice bit of wool broadcloth sir or will Kersey do?" So linen and canvas and mixtures all got used, coats might be lined or not etc.  Oddly Brassey states black coats were dyed but grey coats made of a white and black wool mix.  If true, there must be some problem with black wool on its own. The buff-coats of "fat" cavalry fame were mainly oxhide and naturally variable in colour usually near white to yellow ochre but rapidly stained in use which is a great excuse for sloppy painters like me.