Hodden Grey

So, after thinking about the ECW for thirty years or so, I am finally beginning to paint a few figures - specifically Warlord's Scots Frame Gun.  I'm mainly planning to do stuff for Northern England in the first civil war - almost certainly Scots Covenanters versus English Royalists - though I'm not aiming to be particularly 'historical' - there may be some anachronistic elements.  And that brings me onto the subject of this post - Hodden Grey - and my favourite part of figure painting: choosing the colours to use.  And here I am, typing whilst thinking, so I'll share my thoughts with you, and how this process often goes...

Wargamers usually paint Hodden Grey as a very plain, neutral, grey - the same way as they paint elephants (rather flat, and cold, looking).  But, as with the elephants, I don't actually believe that Hodden Grey is really grey.  Tradition has it that Hodden Grey cloth is woven from yarn made from undyed wool - twelve white fleeces to every one 'black' (which is really a very dark brown).  This gives rise to a cloth of what can best be described as a pinkish brown.  The closest colour match in 'model' paints I can come up with are Wargames Foundry's Palette 61B/C 'Peaty Brown', or Vallejo Model Color 825/144 'German Camouflage Pale Brown'.  I could even paint some garments in Foundry's 'Quagmire' (Palette 63), which is a bit greyer.  As you probably know by now, I don't really like too much uniformity of colour amongst my 'pre-industrial' figures.  Three or four similar, but subtly different, shades can really make a unit 'pop'.

But do I want to 'buck the trend' completely, and go with colours which, whilst I 'know' they're about right, are going to cause raised eyebrows amongst any wargamer who also 'knows' what he's talking about?  

They're quite nice, warm, colours, unlike the cold grey most wargamers use, and contrast nicely with the variety of blues I was thinking of using for their hats - Foundry's 'Storm Blue' (39 - though probably not the 'A' shade, which is very dark) and the three 'Night Sky' (62) shades.  All quite 'sad' colours, which I think suit the period quite well.

Boots are likely to be variations on Foundry 'Rawhide' (11) and/or 'Buff Leather' (7) - though I haven't quite decided yet, since I will also, eventually, need a set of shades for buff coats.  Be nice if buff coats and boots were different colours…  That needs more thought I think!  

I often paint some of the accoutrements across a project in the same colour - despite being 'unrealistic', it helps 'tie together' the disparate elements of the project.  So belts might all be Citadel 'Bestial Brown' (or, now that 'Bestial Brown' has been withdrawn, Vallejo Game Color 'Beasty Brown'); all scabbards Foundry 42B; etc.  Boots are quite 'prominent' in 17th century costume, so I probably want to avoid painting all the boots the same colour - I'll probably stick to belts, bandoliers and other straps being one colour, scabbards another, and leave it at that.

The English Royalists will share some of these colours - for instance the belts, boots, buff coats, scabbards, weapons, armour, etc., will be the same colours, with the distinction coming in the clothing and such things as standards.

So that's where my thinking has got to.  Watch this space for developments as I get on with painting - so far all I've done is prime the figures grey (not sure now, that that was a great idea, because I'm going to be painting all the clothing other 'greys' anyway!) and paint the flesh.

Copyright © Dr. P.C. Hendry, 2010