Rebased and Ready for Battle

Old Essex in the rear and the newer Matchlocks to the front.

As some of you know I bought Field of Glory Renaissance recently and having read the rules and army lists had a few reservations on how the units will look under the rules. The only way to really tell was to rebase some of them and see. The next problem is how the rules will portray the English Civil War and a lesser extent the Thirty Years War. I am not convinced the rules will have enough character to work for the ECW though possibly will for the bigger TYW. The first obstacle though is looks. I rebased 5 regiments of foote to the rules, which in reality means I not only took them off bases of poor standard of finish and rebased MOST of the figures into the regiments. I say most as FoG:R use three musket to a base and 4 pike. Given the old system's I have played tend to have 2:1 ratio of musket to pike (though less for some regiments) it means that automatically I have musket left over. But also add that most of my regiments are 30 figure regiments I can be left over with about 10 figures. Anyone who has already checked out the pic's may well notice six regiments are shown, this is due to two Matchlock Miniatures regiments supplied a number of spare figures which I added a few spares to and painted up a fresh regiment. I have to admit that the main fears over how the regiments will look has been diminished as they will pass fair enough I still have not totally moved away from the idea of going with 10mm and just adding a lot more figures to the bases to give that pike block look. I may well be buying figures to try this at Triples so both Lee and myself can come to a decision.

Whatever the choice I will continue to base up the 15mm to FoG:R at least to the point we can try out the rules. I easily have the foote, artillery and dragoons to make up the starter armies and I feel that the cavalry (especially the Royalist and early Parliament) should be two figures per base so will be able to do these as well. Then onto the Commanded Musket, these will come from the spares I have from stripping the Regiments which ironically is where they would have come from. The only issue I have is that all the lists for the ECW give Commanded Muskets and plenty of them. This is as inaccurate as you can come. Sure they were used but very rare and not on many a battlefield, they have made an exception a rule.

Old Essex Up Close.

The old Essex Miniatures are probably serving out the days what ever the final decision on what scale we will go with. Two of the three have helmets (Lobster Pots) for the musket and they are a little dwarfish. Expect these being put on E-Bay once I have rebased the lot and have decided on rules. Either way they will be sacrificed for new lead which may well be Matchlock but I have an open mind.

Newcastle's Whitecoats.

The newly painted regiment. Every Royalist army seems to have to have Newcastle's Whitecoats in them. The only problem is that they tend to have THIS regiment. This is in fact Newcastle's own Regiment of Whitecoats.

Col. Byerly's Regiment of Foote

But what most do not paint up is any of the OTHER regiments that were named Newcastle's Whitecoats. I present to you Col. Anthony Byerly's Foote. A known Papist and raised in the County of Durham.

Kings Lifeguard of Foote.

I give you my old Regiment, The Kings Lifeguard of Foote. The standard has had better days, though it looked fairly poor on being folded to give the wind effect so many years ago and is the main reason I now paint my own as per the two above. Now all I need to do is crack out another six foote regiments, the horse for both sides and ...... I think give me a few months and we will have our first game, good job all I need to do is rebase them all. Oh that is unless I see some nice command figures and must look up some of those horse handlers from Essex and......

It's Not A Flag It's A Bloody Standard!

Just started to re-base my old ECW figures for FoG:R to give them a try and see what they look like. Jury is still out. I can live with how they look as Regiments of foote. It is leaving me with left over figures as I have to alter the composition but this will allow the making up of Commanded Musket. Not that I really feel this is correct but you take these things with Army Lists etc. One thing though is that FoG:R is not ECW, it will not give a true representation of the war, maybe it's fine for TYW but I don't know a great deal about the period outside of the UK.

I have been able with the repainting of a few uniforms and total painting of seven spares been able to generate another Regiment (it will be one of the Whitecoat regiments of Newcastle's) so this will give me 6 Regiments already based for FoG:R and I have another 8 to do as well as all the horse and dragoons. I needed to go digging in the box for a couple of missing pikes and a Standard that had been displaced in storage. I pulled out the pike but found two loose Standards, both have the same error. Can you spot it?

The only Regiments allowed to have a full length Jack are Royal Bodyguard Regiments, such as the Kings Lifeguard and of course the Queens. All other Regiments must halt the progress of the Jack at the halfway point down the Standard. Neither of these two Standards belong to a Royal Lifeguard so will require re-painting. I already have the Kings Lifeguard. Another fault is the lack of any devices to represent company or motto's etc. This will be done in the next few days or weekish depending how the mood takes me. The new Whitecoats will be varnished and based before the weekend and again I need to paint up a Standard for them as well so it's off to do a bit of research.

Oliver Cromwell, Amazing Facts. April Fool

Everything below is true except the Circumcision and converting to Judaism. Shame no one took the rise LOL

In a way you could think 17th Century England meets Da Vinci Code. Cromwell still to this day elicits strong reactions from many people. But what is not really known about him is that he was far less radical than popular opinion would have it and a lot of his great works have been either ignored or made to be the work of others. For instance whilst Cromwell did not forge the New Model Army he was the one who made it a Continental success. The New Model was required to keep order in The Three Kingdoms (Wales was not seen as a Nation) but still saw action in several European Countries. Also not known by many was that our overseas colonies were not a Napoleonic idea but troops were sent out to Jamaica during the Protective. The Royal Navy? Well say thank you Oliver as he made it a priority to out build both the Spanish and the Dutch and through commanders such as Blake was to win important battles that made England master of the waves and something we never let go . With Charles II gaining the thrown he simply took over the navy, renamed the flagship to something more Regal and away he went.

But all this cost money and after the Civil Wars had stripped the land of men and trade the country was struggling. It is firmly believed that Cromwell invited Jews back into England on a purely financial basis. This has a strong argument but does not fully stack up. First of all he was a sucker for Liberty of Conscience and whilst he eventually violently put down the army revolts he only did so once the discussions went from religious to political. Under Cromwell Catholics had more freedom of Religion than under Charles I, so long as they kept their meetings to the household. Cromwell for all this was seen as a zealot, great Victories such as Dunbar he put down to the Glory of God, but it seems he protested to much!

Paxton Hood in his book Oliver Cromwell mentions in his 1st Edition that Cromwell was very close to Judaism and visited their elders more than necessary. Now what is interesting about this was it was removed in the 2nd edition and then on. Several seditious pamphlets were released during the civil wars and after defaming Cromwell and not a few equated him to the devil. But late in his reign a couple linked him to Judaism either directly such as "Cromwell, the Devil and his unholy Jewish Alliance Uncovered". But you just can't trust 17th Century pamphlets as stand alone evidence. It is also clear that Cromwell was in fact a very devout Christian right up to the day he fell from his horse. This brought on another bought of Malaria (picked up in Ireland). By this point Cromwell was a broken man, subject to fits of depression and knowing the Protective was doomed to failure he even picked his successor to be his weak son Richard Cromwell knowing this would speed up the decline and bring about the Restoration. But he did something else as well. He converted his faith and became a Jew. This was very secret (obviously) and all involved had a vested interest in keeping this secret. When Cromwell was exhumed to be hung drawn and quartered he was found to be circumcised and was not in the usual shroud but dressed as that of a Jew. Whilst this was fantastic propaganda for the fledgling King he was forced to suppress the revelation as he was more cash strapped that the Protective and the Jews keen not to be linked any closer to Cromwell were prepared to pay handsomely to keep the secret. And so it has been more or less ever since. The truth has come to light at times but each time it gets light it is driven back in the dark. Even now it seems that Cromwell's conversion is not for open discussion.

Sent To Coventry

OK here is a little help for anyone not from the UK who probably do not know what the title means. Being 'Sent to Coventry' means to have people not talking to you. For years I assumed that just meant the people of fair Coventry were just ignorant gits. If your hoping the picture above is a clue then no it's nothing to do with the Blitz, that's just the nicest image I could find of Coventry and as far as I know it's totally unfounded that the Mayor of Coventry did not send a thank you note to Goering during the war. I can tell you though that during the recent riots that £500,000 worth of improvements was done by the mob. But Sent To Coventry predates all of these events, and by a fair margin and yes of course it's yet another ECW tit bit.

Coventry was a smallish cloth making town that had a strong Puritan community. Not only this but it was in the heart of a Parliamentary stronghold. Being a cloth making town it was to supply Parliament with uniforms for it's armies and at all times was 100% behind Parliament as a town. In fact such was it's support of Parliament that Royalist Officer and Gentlemen prisoners were sent to Coventry under licence. Such was the ardour of the townsfolk that these Royalist prisoners found that hardly a person would ever talk to them, hence if you are to be ignored or given the silent treatment you are sent to Coventry.

Coldstream Guards and The ECW

The Coldstream Guards is the second oldest Regiment of the British Army and was founded in February 1645 and is well known for it's ceremonial duties at Buckingham Palace. This is rather ironic given it's beginnings.

The clue was in the date the regiment was formed, February 1645 was the formation of the New Model Army and the beginning of the Redcoats. Originally this was just one of the twelve foote regiments of the NMA and fought at Naseby which lead to the Kings surrender and eventual execution. From here the Regiment served in the subjection of Ireland and then in 1650 George Monck was given command and was used in the campaign against Scotland. Monck was soon to become known for his ruthless methods, both in keeping the Scotts under the cosh but also within his own Regiment. By 1660 Cromwell was dead and Richard his son (Tumbledown Dick) had failed to maintain order and Charles Fleetwood had reinstated Parliament. Monck and many others felt that the only way to bring lasting order to England was the reinstatement of the Monarchy, which Monck entered into secret negotiations with Charles. Monck had been sent back to Scotland to block Charles Stuart King of Scotland (Later King Charles II) from progressing into England by the Lord Protector. Monck choose a spot with a large stream running in front of his positions, the stream was known as Coldstream.

Monck had no intention of stopping Charles progress as he had gained assurances for the Country and himself. Charles knew he needed support within the Protectorate to gain the Thrown and Country so Monck went from enemy to Master of the Kings Horse and raised to a Duke. The Regiment was originally called The Coldstreamers but when they were raised to Guard status they changed their name again. Monck died in 1670 after serving the new King faithfully for 10 years which is the year the Coldstreamers became the Coldstream Guard.

An artists impression of the Coldstreamers laying down it's arms in 1661 and swearing allegiance to the new King of England. This image post dates the period probably by 100 - 150 years based on the dress of the musket. In reality the trousers would have been more baggy. Also note the pike have different coloured trousers on, this was not the norm, but possibly correct if dressed for the occasion though I suspect not. I also question the colours as I do not know of a green background with red cross but do not know if the original colours were replaced with the Protective.

The New Model Army and The First Redcoats.

The New Model Army was formed in February 1645 and for the most part troops and officers came from the various armies within Parliaments forces. Whilst press gangs were not used in the first place when a shortage of troops willing to fight in a National Army (rather than an association based on an area) impressment was introduced. The idea of a National Army was to achieve two aims, to allow it to take the fight to Royalist forces where ever they were gathered rather than only fight within a set area and usually for a set period but also to make it a professional army. For the first and only time until modern day, ability came before rank in commanding within the army. For this to work the Self Denying Ordinance was brought in, this disallowed Members of Parliament command within the Army. This was to remove high ranking and incompetent Gentry from positions that otherwise they would retain and thus continue the cycle of failed campaigns and missed opportunities. Cromwell was famously allowed to take a position within the army and became Commander of the Horse. Ireton his Son in Law also was allowed to serve despite being a Member of the Commons (two other Members of Parliament were also allowed to serve as local commanders on rolling three month commissions). Whilst Parliament found it fairly easy to form the basis of the army, paying and clothing it was another matter indeed. Parliament was skint, having to pay for the Scottish Army was draining the coffers and equipping a new army was causing a great deal of difficulty. Just then a great storm forced a Vatican ship into a Parliament controlled harbour. It's cargo included enough Red Cloth to clothe the whole army which Parliament seized along with the ship. The colour was obviously red and for a time was called Venetian Red (though it is doubtful it is the same colour as today's Venetian Red).

Whilst the New Model Army was disbanded after the restoration in 1660 the tradition of the Infantry wearing Red was kept. So the Iconic Redcoats of Waterloo have more than a passing nod at the Army that was key to the overthrow of the Monarchy.

The Cavalier!

I just Googled Cavalier image aiming for a pic of a dashing fellow to use in this post. Well I should not have been surprised that the first image I came across was not so easy to mistake for our Errol, but I was so smitten I have had to go with it. The word has over time been twisted from it's original meaning and become almost a compliment. In the post below I mention the use of the word as a troop type, well it started a long way away from that in it's first use.

The original word is a bastardisation of a Spanish word and meant a heavy drinking, womanising waste of space. This fit the image Parliament wanted the rest of England to believe the followers of Charles I King of England were. In short it was both propaganda and an insult. As mentioned yesterday, this was countered by Royalist circles introducing the term Roundhead when talking or writing about Parliaments leaders. Whilst Roundhead fell out of use soon after the Restoration the Court and hence the rest of Britain continued to use the term Cavalier as a badge of Honour. The breed of Dog favoured by the now dead King Charles I was named King Charles Cavalier Spaniel hence the cute pic. More recently a car (1970's) in the UK was rather aptly named the Cavalier (cornered like crap and in the rain well crapper) and was sporty and the desired car of every boy racer who could not afford a real car.

OK a bit of a reach for ECW related post but I am trying to pad out till the bomb shell post (and trying to link them all LOL).

ECW Riot, with a twist

Demonstrations were not at all uncommon in 17th Century England. In fact the term Roundhead was originally coined in response to Students and Apprentices who wore their heir cropped close to the head giving a far more rounded shape to the head in comparison to the norm that of wearing your hair long. The term was used by Royalists as an insult to supporters of Parliament.

Full blown riots were less the norm at the start of the ECW but as the war wore on more and more demonstrations started to turn ugly and Parliament had to struggle between quelling anti Parliament demonstrations and the fear of turning the City against them by not allowing the people to have their say. Lord Essex summed it up best when he famously stated (roughly) "If we beat the King a Dozen Times, He still be King, but he beat us but once and we will be hung as traitors" well words to that effect anyway.

So in an attempt to keep the ECW theme somewhat in the twilight zone I give you a double whammy. First of all the riot that happened on 8th August 1643 (14 days before the first anniversary of the start of the war) was by women. It seems girl power did not start with the Spice Girls! The demonstration was sparked by Parliaments rejection the day before of the latest Peace Proposals. Women with white ribbons in their hats blocked up the approaches to Parliament crying out for peace and down with Pym and Say. The following day they gathered at Palace Yard, but in even greater numbers and presented a petition for peace them banged on the door to Parliament demanding Pym, Say and other Roundheads to be handed over so they could be thrown in the Thames. After an hour the guards tried to clear a passage and when this failed they loaded their muskets with powder and wadding (no bullet) and fired as a warning. The women thinking the guards had no bullet to fire became bolder and violent, tearing up cobbles and other objects carrying them in their skirts and started to pelt the soldiers. After suffering this for some time these troops finally loaded with ball and fired into the crowd. They still seemed to have scruples as the only killed were two men, one of which was egging on the women. Rather than bring the women to submission it emboldened them and more missiles were thrown and chants of "That Dog Pym" were added to the threats and demands. A troop of Wallers Horse arrived but this just aggravated the women more. Shouts of Waller's Dogs were soon followed by the women attacking the troopers. At first these men flayed about them with the flat of their swords but with the women still attempting to drag them off their mounts they started to use the edge. Quickly women started to be injured, some through cuts whilst others by being ridden down. This was enough to start to disperse the crowd but unfortunately not before a women who was passing on an errand was shot and killed. At least one other women died from wounds. The innocent passer by was shot by one of the troopers who was later arrested and charged with murder. Whammy two. His successful defence against the charge of murder? At the range the shot was fired, if he had aimed at the women he would have missed so hitting her had to be an accident!

ECW Musket Balls

Whilst in the Sealed Knot we put on a muster at Newbury and as we often did we found ourselves down at the pub. I got talking to one of the locals who was really interested in the Civil War but was obviously disappointed with the distinct lack of knowledge of the average Knotter. So he was rather happy that I not only knew something of the period but actively wanted to chat about it. By the end of the night not only were both of us as tight as a drum but he was my new best friend! He was more than just interested in the Civil War he was keenly interested in the two Battles of Newbury and had visited the battle sights a good number of times. Would I be interested in a tour of one of them before the battle the following morning? Yes but it would have to be early and I would have to bring my hangover with me.

So next day EARLY saw me and this guy (I have forgot his name) walking around part of the battlefield and after he has given me the this happened here and that there for some time a twinkle came in his eye and out of his backpack he pulled a short spade, handing it to me he instructed me to dig. The photo's are the musket balls I dug out of the bank. Seems their is hundreds of the things in that area, so much that they are no value to the local historians or museums as they have so many already. For me it made my year and these balls remain one of my most savoured treasures.

I have taken the above pic for scale, these are 15mm Magister figures. The balls are various sizes, note the damage to some of them? Possible corrosion or possibly hit something on their way to the bank. These balls all but certainly missed their mark given that they were in the bank in the first place. Just one is almost perfect with a clear mold line round it. Also some of the dents would probably been from being chewed to make a better fit, though in these cases it seems the smaller balls are most pitted.

You wanted your ball to be as close a fit as possible to the muskets barrel as possible. If it was much smaller it would rattle down the barrel and be far less accurate. Consider at Marsten Moor that many pikes had their heads shot off through the enemy firing too high. This of course was early in the conflict and it was possible that the men firing the muskets were far less intent on killing their fellow man. Only later did it become a truly uncivil war. Oh and yes it's a great hangover cure.

OK I have decided to keep with the ECW theme a little and try to post some little bits that most won't know and I have a real shocker that was covered up for Religious harmony. To this day it has been covered up almost exclusively, but that as they say is for another day.

If you talk about rifled barrels you often think of Green Jacketed British Riflemen. If your of the fairer sex it may well be Shaun Bean in his tight britches. Whilst I am not claiming that my example is the first use nor is it likely to be the one most people (read many people) think of but I think it's the most interesting!!!

Prince Rupert received a brace of pistols and was showing them to his Uncle. Being a bit of a show off he took aim at the Metal Cockerel atop of Colchester Cathedral (I think I remember this right) and fired. The bullet hit his mark and his Uncle declared it the most lucky shot and wagered he could not do the same again. Rupert took up his second pistol and again hit his mark. The King was so impressed he not only paid the bet but bought a pair of pistols for himself.

These pistols had a screw on barrel that had to be taken off to load it. The bullet (a lead ball) was larger than the hole at the end of the barrel but at the other end it was wider. The barrel tapered down to the exit and also had groves cut into the barrel that spiralled around the inside of the barrel. The combination of the rifling and the reduced size of the barrel both span the ball and added to the exit speed. This combination meant that the ball would both travel further but also straighter. The draw backs were the cost of a set of these pistols and the time it would take to reload. These were more fashion items that weapons for the battlefield. Still it pre-dated the 37L ATG of the Germans which used exactly the same principle.

The Sealed Knot, A Historical Mystery And A Need To Pee

OK I just know I have your interest now. But what has all these things got in common? Well for those who don't know, The Sealed Knot is one of two English Civil War reenactment societies based in the UK. They were formed by Brigadier Peter Young to promote one of his books (Edgehill I think) and from promotion work to charity work was a little bit of a long journey but lots of beer was spilt and blood drunk between. Er, or maybe the other way round! Anyways, the SK grew to become rather large and amongst it's membership was a number of part time historian's, you know the type, the ones the real historians loath with a vengeance (well some do for sure, paging Mr Newman). Well you won't have noticed but many sets of Back and Breast are missing a single Tasset (leg armour that hangs from the Brest plate as shown above). This means a lot of Back and Brests in Stately Homes tend to be missing Tassets. As many soldiers would discard their tassets as soon as they could on campaign this is no surprise. The issue is that it was almost always the right tasset that was missing and mostly from Garrisoned sets. The Professional Historians had yet to figure out why but it was at one of many musters that the mystery was solved. As SK members started to buy armour it became like mini arms race. My Regiment (The Kings Lifeguard) soon found that having the whole front rank in armour put the fear on anyone tasked with taking us on. We were the biggest Regiment in the Knot and were known at the time for being tough to fight. Anyway I digress, imagine the scene. It is Sunday morning, some of us will have made it to our tents sometime between midnight and dawn, some of us may well have had a drink or two. You tend to form up at least an hour before you march onto the battlefield and the public eye. So maybe just maybe you want a pee? So imagine the scene, 20-40 men in B&B with tassets on all pissing for all we were worth. Every one of us had lifted up our left tasset so that we could get to our friend and point him at, well bushes mostly! I always had a horrible image of dropping the tasset as they almost joined down the middle!!!!!! Anyway, why is this relevant? Even with a slight wind, that right tasset got somewhat splashed. Pee is corrosive you know and repeated leaks would have a steady effect. Why Garrison troops? These not only fail to discard their tassets (and are often forced to wear them, more so the less likely they were to be attacked) but these guys often stood round for hours and often relieved themselves at their posts.

As a quick note, my tassets shown above could also give rise to a second and possibly more correct reason for the ruin of a tasset. Mine was stored with the rusty one under the none rusty one, both in the same good condition. It is clear to see the result. I question this though as a greater mix of odd tassets would be rusted rather than almost always the right one.

At a later point I will do another post on my observations of wearing Armour.

Down On The Farm

Had these sheep, goat and dogs for a very long time (as well as the cows and pigs still waiting) and after painting shall we say more challenging projects I decided to take it easy with these guys. Finished them about a week or so ago. They are for my ECW project, I thought at the time it would be funny to have them dotted around in the background, way back before it was the norm to have diorama style battlefields. The pic is not a great one (yes I have done the last lot can you tell?) but the sheep have more than a hint of yellow to their wool whilst the lamb's are a nice white.

Whilst on the subject of ECW, I am hopeful of getting a game using Forlorn Hope 2 in the coming month or two. Hope these are the answer to the rules search. I have a New Model Army fully done (though old and really needs fresh blood) and a Royalist Army still mustering. Matt has Parliament which I used to battle under Tercio Rules (5th edition?). I recently painted up a Regiment of Dragoons (see early post) and have one regiment of foot waiting painting, maybe get that on the table soon.

Talking of painting table. For a bit of a mix I have 12 Companions about a third of the way through being painted in 15mm and to keep with the cavalry theme have 8 regiments of 6mm French Napoleon's on the go. Six are Baccus and the other two are left over Irregular. Two of the Baccus are Hussar's whilst the rest are Dragoons. I still have four Irregular regiments of Cuirassiers waiting to paint with about the same of Baccus. No question that the Baccus have the better detail and look forward to posting pictures of the final comparison but at this point only the horses are painted so you will have to wait.

Waiting, that's a good one. Bought something else off e-bay the other day, but in this case it was for me. Two Heroic's and Ross wagons that I thought would add a little colour to the battlefield. Arrived two days ago and are sitting on the side of the painting table, these will fit into the que somewhere. As will the Reading haul. Lee is planning on dropping them off mid-next week so will wait happily for the chance to paw at this lot. Triples seems so far away.

Also waiting for Tuesday to turn up, I have a game planned with Barry, this time it's Romans V Dacian but we will be starting nice and early so will get the full game in. Well I say that but Monday I have my first Vivisection, supposed to be rather unpleasant which I do not understand as it's just Blood Donating without the biscuit.

But what I'm really waiting for (and very impatiently) is a trip to London on Saturday to meet up with a couple of ASL buddies, one I have met many many times but it's always a pleasure as he just radiates good will and fun, yep that's Dave. The other guy just happens to be an Australian not even visiting the UK, rather he is at a conference in Paris and is stopping buy for a chat!!! Never met the guy before but we have crossed swords on the battlefield so many times. Rob is an incredible bloke who I have EVER yet to hear moan about his dice, yep unbelievable!

And to think this post started with sheep.

Wave Goodbye and Say Hello

No I have not suddenly got into 90's Pop, but it sums up my experience last night. At Derby it suddenly occur ed to me that I could exchange my old Back & Breast for gaming vouchers and what better place to do it than at a wargames con. Seeing as we had a Reenactment Society right in front of us I got talking to them and a price was agreed if they liked the look of the armour. I sent the photo's and sure enough the deal was made.

It turns out that two of the controlling members live in the Mansfield Area and better still attend the local Wargames Club in Mansfield (not far from me). My first club was the Mansfield Club but after a while we just drifted back to our playing in isolation as a group of about 6 players which suited us (no late start, early finish as we saw it then). So I was a little unsure what I would find but on entering the club I found it a mix of slick looking games and others that still require paint jobs of the many of the figures! The Heresy of it all. Actually the snob gamer in me shouts no you can't play with unpainted figures but the bigger part of me remembers the days I was building my first armies and to be able to play I had to use unpainted figures. What was important was that the guys were having fun and a very relaxed mood was in play.

So what games were in play? A gunfight skirmish between two Indian forces that was the first scenario in a campaign using the Games Workshop rules, this was over quickly (they told me they often play 2-3 games in an evening), a Fantasy game that had lots of large creatures in it but mostly unpainted. A second Fantasy game but this one was all humanoid with no beasts in site and very well painted. A very large 15mm battle involving Turks and Battle Wagons on hexgrid terrain which looked very busy and the four playing it were having lots of fun. Last up was a 28mm Naps game with very nice looking figures and great terrain but again a good number of yet to be painted figures.

What came across the Most was the peaceful easy going nature of the games, no shouting no moaning about dice, rules even the weather was passed over. OK I lied about the weather. It's a friendly group too as I looked over the games I was chattered with and I am sure I will go back and join them. Whatever I play it seems the scale is wrong or they don't seem to play it at the moment but already I have a couple of guys saying they are happy to give mine a go so lots of wriggle room. Rather a small club by most standards but that is what probably gives it the comfortable feel.

Last shot of the armour, one Tasset has a fair amount of surface rust that will just wire brush off and it's good to go (Tassets don't tend to be worn for anything but displays, major threat to your own health if worn on the field). Goodbye dear heart, I hope you like your new master.

ECW Dragoons by Frei Korps

Whilst looking for a knife to clear the flash off a few Chariot Miniatures (now Magister Militum) I re-found a bag of both cleaned up and primed ECW Dragoons. 10 figures mounted and the same again dismounted. Now these guys were really old as the priming was done in black and I have used white as a base coat for all but 6mm for a long time before stopping painting and this may well be why they continued to be passed over. But once I had painted up the first batch of Ancients and made some headway into the 6mm Naps I wanted to have a crack at these as it seemed only right for me to get these put to bed.

All my ECW reference books are rather out of the way and whilst I will dig them out at some point for now I was happy just to paint them in green as I know a few Dragoon Regiments wore Green and as I have both Parliament and Royalist armies I really did not have to worry too much.

I really like the figures on foot, these have multiple poses and so was not at all difficult to give a skirmish line feel to them. Just the opposite for the mounted as only the hats are changed (two designs) and it looks like these guys have never ridden a horse before. Frei Korps paint up rather well, the paint flows into the corners and crevices which helps but the figures themselves are a curious mix of detail and plain. Take a close look at the locks on the musket for just one example (bottom picture) and the foot figures are full of it. But the mounted lack even a decent part to the musket and the whole figure leaves me cold. Maybe two different people sculptured the figures but the great foot version really blows away the mounted. All told I painted all 20 figures in about 3-4 days tops but they had to wait about 4 weeks for me to get round to varnishing and basing them.

The mounted troops arriving at a farm that is being defended by a Royalist Northern Regiment. In the Background is the Kings Lifeguard of Foote. One big negative of these figures is how brittle they are. One block of two are hidden by a large bush as the nearest figures base broke off (along with a horse leg) when I dropped it, of course on a stone floor. Another horse is missing it's back leg that came off post painting!
I painted a mix of hat and trouser colours to give a campaign feel to the regiment and not only matched mounted and dismounted to give a exact copy to each figure but also based them in tandem as well.


Having dismounted and put the horses in the barn (to say nothing of shep in the farmyard) the Dragoons spread out to cover the frontage of the White Regiment whilst the Guard make their way forward. A small Saker (?) is to the right as the crew realise what a useless thing they have been dragging round all campaign.

I wish I could remember who supplied the gun, fences dog and trough but it escapes me. The wagon is Museum Miniatures, the building also escapes me and the two foot regiments are Partisan Press.

A close up of two of these 15mm Dragoons, they take rather a good photo which is thanks to Cath my wife who seems a natural at snapping a great shot. The flag in the background was handpainted though I am fairly sure that's out of my skill range right now but I am more than happy with my brush work on these guys.

A shot taken further back showing a few of the poses and gives an indication of the variation of colours used. The flash has made them look gloss finished but in fact I used Vallejo Matt finish.

I will post more pictures of other finished figures over the next week to get up to date. Right now I have 47 Magister Militum Macedonian Pike to deal with, the 48th is at large and I hope will be replaced soon (I don't know if I lost it or it was short in the pack but I know I need it!!) I have also started to talk about painting plans and look to have two possible commissions already. More on that in a later post.