My 54mm Bishops War plan for En Garde!

 Having  used En Garde in "the Flashing Blade," and really enjoyed the games, I was keen to keep playing whilst back in Durham.  I had left the  15mm Blue Moon Figures back in Cyprus, but I wanted to try a larger scale.  The idea of fighting a skirmish with larger figures appealed to me, and after all En Garde is a game that uses space well... 

It is true that larger figures allow more personality to come through as well as allowing a figure to be bespoke for the game.  I wanted to get a feeling of the figures as individuals, especially my star figures.

Since this is a solo game I considered 28mm, and the Warlord Games plastics could work well, but I had something entirely more meglomanic in mind.  54mm...

Now back in the day, 1973 or so, I was quite keen on 54mm "Army figures."  I seem to remember that I kept them in a bucket, unpainted, unbased.  Not really what I will be looking for in an En Garde game circa 2018.

It's a neglected scale for wargaming, I suppose because of the sheer table top size a traditional game would need to be.  En Garde is smaller, and I think will deliver a good game within a 3ft square area, even with 54mm figures.

Sourcing the figures I needed presented some issues.  The 1/32 "A Call to Arms" English Civil War figures come 16 to a box, and can deliver Musketeers, Pike and Artillery.  At 2 boxes for £10 I can afford to do some conversions, and Im going to need to.  

En Garde!  A lot of black leather!

 For En Garde I need swordsmen, and that means cutting away muskets, bending arms, green stuffing hands and folds and adding sword blades daggers and hilts. 

Add into this mix head swaps, weapon swaps, and pistols; modifying the dignity of at least one musketeer to create some ladies in gowns, servants and peasants.  

It's an ambitious modelling plan, even before I create the bespoke terrain features for an En Garde game.

I am a novice to working in this scale, but so far its been enjoyable.  The limitations of the plastic figures and one of the most interesting aspects.

Mistress Quickly, the hostess with the mostess, of the Queen's Head, is a case in point.  I have further work to do, including adding a deadly bodkin in her right hand... for non paying customers!


I perhaps went a little too far with the nipple rouge...  still she is a bit of a babe, for a former Royalist Musketeer...