After months away, I am finally back! A laptop meltdown forcing its replacement was necessary and I also had to get to grips with Windows 8.1, I know, I know, we are now up to Windows 10 always was behind the times.

So what has been happening since my last update?

Still working on the 28mm English Civil War Project, though it has taken a back seat recently as I have discovered the joys of 6mm!

 A 6mm US town laid out on the war gaming table. The back scene is a N Gauge model railway item.

 

Union and Confederate forces clash.

 

There will be much more on this new scale in the coming months/years. Do I need to change the name of my blog? Oh Dear, should have thought of that when I first started. However, I also have another 28mm project just beginning after being presented with a gift of some War of the Roses figures. Three boxes of plastic and some gorgeous Perry metals.

 

Such beautiful sculpts demand to be expertly painted, unfortunately, it will be me painting them so no chance of that then!

 

Lord Wenlock in pensive mood and a cocksure Lord Somerset giving it loads.

 

So you will also be seeing more of these too. The war gaming table, formerly 8 x 3 feet has had a one foot fold down flap extension to one of its long sides added giving me 8 x 4 feet, also took the opportunity to add castors to the legs, all in all much better. Especially for 28mm games.

 

So a brief update and the reasons for no recent updates. I also could not seem to access the blog either for some odd reason, but all seems sorted now. Updates should now once again come thick and fast.

 

Ian

Demo Battle 3 with guest commanders

Two guest commanders, namely Richard Simpkins and Kurtus Brown will command the Royalist and Parliamentary forces respectively, for this battle. Both are subscribers to my YT channel and when I asked for ideas on movement of forces, both came up with suggestions. I offered each command of a force and both graciously accepted. The sent me the first turn for each of their units which I then carried out on the table.

 Brigadier Richard Simpkins, commanding His Majesty's forces.

Brigadier Kurtus Brown, commanding the Parliamentary forces.

 

 The two Parliamentary foot with their sealed orders under their base. As it happened the unit on the left, failed to receive its orders and had to consult a chart to see what move it made.

More orders waiting to be read, if the commander was unsuccessful at getting his orders through, I did not read them, this prevented the enemy commander obtaining intelligence as to what the other force had planned.

 

Both Parliamentary units of foot advance one full move.

 Both Parliament units successfully received their orders and advanced one move forward, the horse being instructed to screen the artillery.

 The Royalist foot unit seen here, did not receive its orders and after throwing a die, moved a half turn forward. The horse having received theirs, head off a full move ahead, they cannot pass through the wooded copse, so make a detour.

 Here we see them going around the copse, they look close to the enemy horse, but in fact it is some eighteen inches away.

In the centre of the table the forces are about twenty inches apart, the gun is pointing away from the enemy to show it is limbered. It take a full turn to unlimber and prepare the cannon to fire.

 

 

I shall await fresh orders from the two brigadiers and move the troops accordingly in turn two, in which the Royalists have initiative.





Mounted Leader are now complete.

The mounted leaders are now finally complete. They can and will be anyone I choose to make them, as long as the ones with red sashes are royalist and the orange sashes parliament. The actual names of the miniatures are given.

 (left) Charles II, (right) Duke of Buckingham.

 

 (left) Sir Royston Twiston-Rawlings, (right) Lord Byrom

 (left) King's Herald, (centre) Lord Leven, (right) George Goring.

 (left) Sir Ralph Hopton, (centre) Septimus Gryndell, (right) Sir William Waller.

 (left) Earl of Essex, (right) Earl of Newcastle.

 Marquis of Montrose with standard bearer.

 Lord Rothes with escort.

Many of these figures will double for various commanders as and when the battle requires it, some will become fictitious leaders, just like Sir Royston and Septimus.

More painting progress.

More base colours added to the Scots Lancers, they now have boots and leather belts, strapping etc.

Also a little more progress on my mounted leader figures. Trying out a new technique for painting the horses, using different shades of base paint colour, and then using transparent inks to darken the original colour and it also brings reins etc, out more and gives them some shadow and depth.

Painting of the leader figures progressing and another instalment of the campaign diary.

Having continued painting my leader figures over the Christmas period, the leader figures are nearing completion, some final base colours to apply before a wash and then highlighting. I am simply using the horses as holders for the mounted figures at the moment. This saves me having to drill into the metal figures and place them on cocktail sticks, they always seem to fall of at a critical moment when painting. The horses will be painted last.

The Marquis of Montrose on the left, another unnamed general, a standard bearer and finally on the right a mounted guard.

 General view of the figures.

 Front row from left to right, Charles II, Earl of Newcastle and Lord Byrom.

from left to right, the king's herald, Earl of Essex and Duke of Buckingham. 

 left to right Generals Waller, Hopton and Grenville and Lord Leven.

The figures are coming together nicely and are a joy to paint, the main decision is what colours to dress them in. Virtually all the leader figures are named, but of course they can be whoever I want them to be for any particular battle.

I have also entered the January Painting Challenge, set by a modeller on You Tube. Although I still have plenty of work to do on the leader figures, it is always good to enter a challenge to paint up a regiment in a month, give you an incentive to finish the project. I have chosen a box of Warlord Games Scots Lancers, they will be the first light horse in my armies.

 Twelve figures, well actually fifteen mounted troopers as the box included a bag of metal that contains three Moss Troopers. I shall not be using them as I have another project in mind for them later. The figures are superb moulds as you would expect from Warlord Games. When the box arrived at my home it was minus the bag of metal parts, which of course included the six arms holding lances, not much of a lancer regiment without lances! I contacted Warlord and they sent the missing bag within a couple of days, not only that. I had enquired about cavalry casualty figures for the Pike and Shotte range, they have no current plans for any but did send me three dead horses from their Zulu box set free of charge.

The plastic sprues, also comes with a metal bag of arms holding lances, different headgear and of course the previously mentioned Moss Troopers.

Finally, for this post I have penned another episode of the fictional Civil War campaign, I hope you enjoy part 5.

A Flight of Fate

22^nd March 1642

Twiston Hall

James Appleton stood by the large table in the dining room, as he had done for many years. He had served as head servant to the old Lord Twiston-Rawlings, a kind, generous and caring man, the total opposite of his son, who now sat finishing his meal in the company of John Parr, the captain of the foot regiment, that was even now camped in the grounds of the hall.

But although James was silently comparing the old Lord with his only son, he still listened to every word, though most of what Sir Royston had to say wasn't worth listening to, but every now and then he would say something which was of interest to the Governor of Hull and the Parliamentarians who occupied it. The faithful old servant would carefully write a note, privately, up in his quarters and attach it to the leg of a pigeon in the coop situated in the grounds. The bird would carry these little snippets of information to the parliamentary held town, some sixteen miles away, a short, quick flight for a pigeon.

Now was one of those times when it was worth listening to the spoilt, oversexed fool who now, through no effort of his own, owned Twiston Hall and all it contained. The pair were discussing the loan that had been promised, to aid the king in gathering weapons and supplies.

'Appleton, my good fellow,' Sir Royston turned in his chair and bid James forward.

The old lord always addressed him as James, but not this young cock, oh no, he was lacking in manners to anyone who he deemed to be beneath him, thought James as he stepped forward to stand beside Sir Royston.

'How long would it take to pack up the family plate for wemoval to a safe place in York?' he said, pointing his finger to his empty claret glass.

James reached forward for the decanter, I could throw it in a couple of chests in thirty minutes if I so wished, he thought. He refilled the glasses of both gentleman. 'It would take at least two days sir, there is rather a lot of it.'

'Two days!' Sir Royston spat the words out, 'for goodness sake, surely it can be packed up quicker than that?

Not if the parliamentarians in Hull wish to intercept it and remove it from your worthless hands, thought James. 'Sir, there are items of great value, not to mention of a very fragile nature, all need to be carefully wrapped and protected in chests filled with hay. Not only that sir, I would expect that you would want a full inventory of every item that is packed for your future reference.'

Sir Royston picked up his glass and swirled the contents around. 'Of course you are wight on all those things Appleton, an inventowy would certainly be needed. Make a start on it tomowow morning and it can be twansported in three days time on the 25^th.' He turned back to face Captain Parr, send word to York that the escort of horse will be wequired to be at the hall by the evening of the 24^th.'

Captain Parr nodded, 'Will we be transporting it overnight? Less prying eyes to see what is happening, he said.

Sir Royston had imagined entering York at midday, when most of the population would see the grand entry of Brigadier Sir Royston Twiston-Rawlings and his command, flags billowing in the wind. Why even the king may be among that number to see his triumphal entry, not skulking into the city during the dark of night. No, that would never do, he thought.

'No, we will leave at 8am on that morning, that webel scum in Hull are too busy wowwying about the appwoach of the king and his army, they won't be able to spare men to venture this far.'

Captain Parr said quietly, 'The king seems in no rush to travel to the town and demand its surrender, and each day the garrison grows stronger.

'I think the king and the Earl of Newcastle know what they are about captain!' Sir Royston snapped back. 'Back to the matter in hand, the webels will never know about our twansporting of the plate until it is too late for them to interfere in any way and they could never march a force up here in time, my plan is perfect.

Thanks to a little flying messenger, the Governor of Hull was reading about the plan just an hour later...

Mounted Leaders

I already have some leader figures painted. King Charles I, Prince Rupert, Oliver Cromwell, Sir Thomas Fairfax and two un-named brigade commanders. I needed more leaders for my projected campaign, some of the figures will double as fictional characters in my Campaign Diary.

 

 The figures have been primed and an initial coat of flesh has been applied to hands and faces.

 The rear rank consists of the Marquis of Montrose and some of his staff.

 The next rank from the back, with Lord Leven closest the camera with Generals Waller, Hopton and Grenville.

 The second rank consists of from left to right, a herald who will be attached to the king, the Earl of Essex and the Earl of Newcastle.

The front rank consists of left to right, Charles II, Duke of Buckingham, Lord Byron, Sir Jacob Astley and finally George Goring.

 On the left here, General Waller will also double as Colonel Septimus Gryndell.

I really do like these figures, and of course they could be used to represent any of the Civil War leaders. The Duke of Buckingham (2nd left, front row) will double as Sir Royston Twiston-Rawlings in my fictional Campaign Diary.

I shall take my time painting these beautiful figures in all there finery. I have entered another painting challenge for January, for that I intend to paint up my box set of Scots Lancers and if enough time some cattle, pigs and chickens that I received today in the post.