Hi All,

Well I couldn't resist any longer opening up and starting on my first ever Pendraken figures.  So I have deflashed them and washed them (there was hardly any flash on them at all by the way - a little on the end of muskets and pikes), and of course the horse belly 'metel feed'.

Now, in the old days there used to be debated whether black or white primer was best, but having read through WeeWars (Michael's) '1809 Blog' (http://www.michaelscott.name/1809/1809blog.html - one of the best wargaming blogs I have ever read and highly recommended) I realised that I was not restricted to the 'old ways' of undercoating in either just black or white.  After a little thought I have decided to go for a dark brown, after all most horses are brown, and there is an awful lot of leather as well on ECW figs.  Using a dark brown would seem to mean that should I inadvertently miss a small patch whilst painting it is likely (or should that be 'hopefully') to appear as just shading.

I would really appreciate any thoughts on this from fellow members before I dive in, as the choice of undercoat can drastically alter the final appearance of the figures.

Go for it. Try a sample figure maybe but overall as long as your dark brown covers well do it. Get a slight notch brighter than you want as figs at that scale need more bold colours as 28mms...

I like brown base coat for cavalry - as you say it gets you close to the right colour for the horses from the off, and it is a good shade colour for most clothing.

One thing I sometimes find is that I need to remember to change the colour of some of the horses to stop them all ending up the same.

Sebigboss - thanks for the reply.  I think I will try one mounted and one foot figure just to see how they look when finished.  I know when painting 6mm figures compared to 15mm and 25/28mm I always tended to go for lighter/brighter colours just because there was so little area of the colour to actually show off the colour.  I wasn't sure if this applied to 10mm, but given your experience I will definitely heed your advice.

Fred - ah, the problem that always caught me out, in the past either every horse turned out brown or their was only 2 brown horses in 20, then having to start repainting them.  (Perhaps that is why horses are generally not peoples favourite figures for painting.  )   But I had totally forgotten about the problem until you mentioned it, so many thanks.

One thing I have decided is to go for the earlier part of the ECW with these first figures.  After this set I shall get a Parliamentary army pack, and although yes the red of the New Model Army looks great it just doesn't have the flamboyance of the individual earlier units with their individual colours.  (Mind you, that then brings about the problem of I will of course also need NMA regiments, and then of course I will need later Royalist Regiments, and of course the Scottish army, then I will also need ..............................................     )

I use brown extensively, as discussed here http://luddite1811.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/seven-years-war-with-maurice-part-two.html

I'm now convinced its superior to black in almost all cases.

Yeah Ive gone over to brown primer ofr many things now- I spray with Army Painter leather brown, then wash with devlan mud before painting.

Spray black undercoat for me followed with a overbrush of a mid-brown (Vallejo Beasty Brown usually) - gives a touch more depth I think than going straight to brown undercoat.

Fair point Nik but i find that the depth and tone comes from the ink wash rather than the undercoat.