...these are small....

Chum Andrew Brentnall has painted and based a regiment of the new Baccus 6mm minis for our coming For King and Parliament rules. The base is one of my irregular Batbases, just over 60mm wide.

'Cos the rules are grid based, units and bases can be any shape or based for any rule system. Below is the Royal standard, very appropriate as we are off to Nottingham tomorrow, where it was first raised.

Mustering the first wave

On the metal basing trays are most of the remaining unfinished regiments of what I am calling the "first wave" which need to be completed by mid-December. When fully based, these will give me nine regiments of foot, one of horse and some combined shot and dragoons. I will then engage in a furious "dash" to finish some more cavalry... Most of the above are red-coated Royalists from the Oxford army, for no particular reason other than they are at the top of the (below) spreadsheet. (Images are clickable).

Phase Two will involve a similar number of infantry regiments and a lot more horse and will be complete by Salute. Phase 3 will involve whatever I have left and commence post-Salute.  I'd like to think I'll end up with at least 30 regiments of foot and 20 of horse.

For interest, below, is a snip of the top part of the spreadsheet which I am using to plan the army. It is surprisingly complex to plan an ECW army when one is using odds and ends of minis from eBay and other sources and not getting them painted one regiment at a time. One needs to match the flags to the uniform colours and the monteros to the Royalists. Above all, I want to have regiments in a similar pose- if the pike are charging, I want the shot to be firing or going in with clubbed muskets, and animated command minis, to give a "vignette" look. I use highlights to track the state of completion of the units. Green is good; but there are not a lot of green units, yet!

Meeples podcast

I recently had a fine chat with the guys at Meeples about forthcoming To the Strongest! developments and the forthcoming TtS! "For King and Parliament" English Civil War rules, which they have kindly made into a Podcast which you can download from here:-

https://meeples.wordpress.com/2017/11/12/meeples-miniatures-episode-234-for-king-and-parliament/

It is always a great pleasure to chat with Neil, Mike and Mike!

In other news.... I now have 9 regiments of ECW foot on on bases (but not flocked), one of horse, some dragoons and some combined shot. It's coming on well! Alas I've had no time to photograph anything.  :-(

Heroes in a half shell

A terrible, quickly snatched (clickable) photo, just for Millsy. Hesilrige's lobsters mustering on my new bases for "horse". They  are in the deeper Dutch formation, relying primarily on firepower.

Sir Allen Apsley's Regiment

 

Here's the latest regiment for my For King and Parliament project; Sir Allen Apsley's regiment from Hopton's Royalist army. All photos are clickable!

Below, the regiment ready for melee, with the command stand behind. The pike stand are in the red coats, trousers and monteros of the Oxford army- later I will swap them out for some more down-at-heel campaigning minis in grey trousers, in attaching poses.

The quality of the painting on these is stunning; the shot, above, were painted either by David Imrie or by Chris Meacham, who painted the command minis, below. I merely did the flags (again, lovely Flags of War) and based on the new Batbases I designed for the ECW (not yet in the BigRedBatShop). Here's a first; I flocked the edges of the bases. Works really well...

Most of the minis are lovely Bicornes, with some Renegades mixed in. I love the look of the pikes massed behind the command (below).

That's it for now; In a couple of weeks I hope too finish the first cavalry regiment!

Surf and turf

....being Sir Arthur Hesilrige's famous regiment. This is my first ECW cavalry regiment, based around a dozen minis from David Imrie (left) and another 17 from Shaun McTague (right). I have decided to give them all tawny orange sashes and am half way through a repaint. Lots of finishing work to be done!

Pub play test

Last night chum Ian and I play tested an aspect of the FK&P rules in our Muswell Hill office- the "Mossy Well", using a "travel set" that Ian has made, on a 3' x 4' 10cm plains mat. Great fun... even though all my troops ran away.

Earl of Essex's Regiment

Here's another regiment arriving at the For King And Parliament muster- my first Parliamentarians, the Earl of Essex's or Lord General's regiment (all photos clickable). They started the Civil War in pretty tawny uniforms, as described on the excellent BCW site.

Mostly Renegade with lovely Bicorne command, these were all painted (or repainted from eBay purchases) by Shaun McTague- I highlighted, added the super Flags of War flags and based on my custom wobbly-edged ECW bases. I was very pleased how the standards appear like they are being waved together in a display.

Above, the command base can be in front at the start of the battle, and moved behind once the shooting starts- the flags look great through the pike. I was also very pleased with how the pike casualties came out- I'm trying to use more casualties in this army.

Colonel James Wardlawe's Dragoons.

I have finished some more units- here is the first, Colonel James Wardlawe’s dragoons. These beautiful (and very clickable) minis were painted by David Imrie, Chris Meacham and Meic Kelly, I have merely rebased onto five of my new wobbly bases- very pleased how this worked out. The minis are Bicorne and flag is from Flags of War. I'm really chuffed with them! I'll need some horse holders in due course...

Colonel John Talbot's Regiment of Foot

Here's Talbot's regiment- the first completely based regiment in 28mm for my "For King and Parliament" collection, for use with the new ECW rules that Andrew Brentnall and I will publish late this year/early next. This is the first of 20 regiments of foot for a planned Salute game. 

It has three stands of 12 minis and a command stand of six. The minis are all Bicornes, beautifully painted by Chris Meacham, and the flags are from Flags of War. The photo is clickable- the detail on the minis is superb!. This is the way I'll base my minis for the game but, because it's gridded, minis can be based in any way that people want; no need to rebase existing collections!

I'll be at Colours tomorrow with Andrew Brentnall, running a big 10/12mm ECW participation game, do drop by and say hello. I'll have these minis (and some more) with me. Hope to see you there!

This week I shall mostly be basing ECW....

Here are a couple of quickly snatched WIP shots of the units I'm basing for a table display at Colours*. Above are some artillery pieces which were painted by David Imrie- I've rebased them onto larger bases. Below is Talbot's with an attached frame gun, also by David. Soon, I will need to make some scary decisions about flocking.... colours of grass and extent of coverage.

* We are there with a big ECW game; not sure where though, where we'll be demoing the ECW rules that Andrew Brentnall and I have been writing over the past year.

Colonel John Talbot's Regiment

Here's my latest regiment, part-based; Colonel John Talbot's Regiment, from Ireland, which served in Hopton's army. All the splendid Bicorne minis were painted by Chris Meacham- I just did the flags (which are Flags of War and very nice, indeed). I particularly like this regiment's yellow coats. Pictures are clickable.

I have complete four regiments on bases now, with another two partially based and roughly ten more-or-less painted but unbased foot regiments.

Andrew Brentnall and I are putting on a demonstration game (above) of For King and Parliament at Colours on Saturday week. The game will feature Andrew's impressive 10-12mm collection, but I'll have some of the 28mm units with me and we will be demonstrating the coming "For King and Parliament" rules. Do please come by and say hello!

King's Lifeguard of Foote, mustered

I've been slowly chipping away at modelling my new ECW army for a hopeful Salute game in 2018; I've just added the wings of shotte to the King's Lifeguard of Foote; I have tried to give an impression of them closed up to fire salvee (although I don't have the perfect poses for this). Photos are clickable.

Some of the minis were painted by Chris Meacham, others by Shaun McTague, and a few by me.

I have worked out that I need to finish/base around three regiments of foot or horse each month before Salute. Gulp.

Andrew (and Ian and I) will be bringing his impressive 12mm Battle of Lessie's Moor game to Colours at Newbury on 16th September, and I'll be bringing the advanced guard of my own 28mm ECW army. If you are around, please call by and say hello- or stay and turn a few cards with us!

King's Lifeguard of Foot command

I spent a couple of sessions basing up the command stand for the King's Lifeguard of Foot. The minis are Bicornes superbly painted by Chris Meacham. I did the flags- this time by GMB - lovely designs! Starved of banners during my long sojourn in the ancient period, I couldn't resist gorging by using all four. Reminds me of the palio in Siena!

My first tertio

The (clickable) army is forming up; I'm two command stands (and some grout and flock) short of four battalia. Some lovely baggage arrived yesterday, from a certain Mr, Imrie, and I'm currently working on the standards for the Royal Lifeguard Regiment of Foot. Once these are based, I shall put everything away until after Partizan. 

What I've managed, so far, is to prove the concept of the bases and get a feel for how long it takes to base a regiment where most of the minis are fully painted. This turns out to be around a week, assuming a little snagging and the time needed to drape the standards. This means I'll need 20 weeks to base all the foot I have planned, perhaps 15 to base the horse and guns, and at least 5 for terrain. It'll be a busy winter (and spring!) preparing for a Salute game...

First ECW artillery

Here are the first guns for my ECW army; I'll have two to a battery. These are field guns originally painted by David Imrie. I decided to re-base them onto larger bases, to give them a bit more room to "breathe", and so I could add extra crew, a budge barrel and some buckets of water for sponging. 

The guns are mounted on the same bases as I'll use for the horse- they take six cavalry in two ranks. You can see where the magnets fit, and the directional arrow that reminds me which way the minis need to face so that the bases can fit together. Later I have some larger siege guns to base, and a small frame gun that will be attached to a battalia. 

New Model command

This is the command stand for John Pickering's regiment of the New Model army. These are from Ian at Flags of War; very nice they are, too! I distressed them.

The command minis are mostly Bicorne.

The above snap is a bit "washed out"- they are actually pretty colourful. I'll take some better photos when  the bases are grouted.

New Model models

Above is my third regiment is forming up- John Pickering's from the New Model Army. All being well I should get the command stand based tonight. This regiment are all Renegades- slightly bigger minis than Bicorne but which work fine as separate units. Unusually, I painted these myself and they have come out pretty well but aren't quite as good as the pro-painted minis in the other units.

Below is the army so far- elements of four battalia. I plan to raise at least two dozen foot units, drawn mainly from Hopton's, Waller's, the Oxford and New Model armies.

Pike at charge

Last night, I couldn't resist basing another "at charge" pike stand. I feel very conflicted about lowered pike; they are hard to store, have a big footprint on the table and the command stand has to sit behind rather than being in front. And yet...

In this second photo, below, chum Ian Notter designed the bases so that they "lock" frontally and to the side. He has also very cleverly designed them so that a command base can lock midway in front or behind two other bases; darned clever! This is handy as I intend to take photos of double and quadruple sized regiments (for photos and fun rather than for gaming).

All minis by Chris Meacham (or possibly David Imrie). I plan to put a few more stands together, over the next week, and then I had better get back to ancients for a bit!

Alternative pike stand

I wanted to see what the units with vertical pikes will look like; in this case, the command stand can be in front (retiring behind when the lines close). Most units will have three flags instead of the four on this one; so there may be a chance of seeing the £60 worth of pike behind them!  ;-)

First battalia coming on!

Here's the army's first battalia deployed on its Batbases (the photo is clickable). For regiments with lowered pikes the command stand will sit behind the pike. The empty base at the front is there to protect the lowered pikes- it'll have casualties on it, too. Again, all the minis were painted by Chris Meacham- in this regiment they are in attacking poses.

Put out more flags!

I'm very pleased with these- the minis were superbly painted by Chris Meacham, I did the standards. Four standards is too many, but, painting ancients, I have been starved of big flags and thought I'd indulge myself!

A new beginning!

Welcome to my new English Civil War-themed blog! 

It is early days, here, but this is a picture of the bases that I've designed for my own regiments. This is for a foot battalia; it is 25cm wide. The larger bases are each intended to take 12 shot or pike miniatures, and the smaller one at the front, 6-7 command miniatures.

I designed the bases and chum Ian laid them out using Inkscape- there are bases for everything (horse, guns, dragoons, different pike to shot ratios), and they all have wobbly edges but fit together. Martin at Warbases did a fine job cutting them! Later today I'll fit magnets and start to think about putting some lead on them.