Royal Regiment of Dragoons

Here's another WIP unit of 1672 miniatures- the Royal Dragoons circa 1685. It's not a good photo, I'll take a proper one when they are based. These minis were mostly painted by chum Steve Spence a couple of years back. I eventually plan to have 34-such mounted dragoons (and 34 dismounted and 34 standing horses- don't you just hate dragoons? So much work!).

I'm mounting the minis in eights in two ranks, two bases to a unit. I think the extra rank helps create an impression of mass. I'm particularly pleased with the way the Flags of War guidons came out. I've gone back to including a strip of metal foil, which is great since I can let the flag's glue dry completely before adding billows. Also I've worked out how to create the tasseled edge using a blunt-ish pair of snippers- I might go back and gild the edge. 

My 1672 project is now well and truly underway, I have quite a few battalions on the verge of completion and hope to be able to finish one every ten days or so, and have enough units for a small game by the spring.

There is a paucity of suitable flags for the period, presumable due to its relative obscurity, and my chum Ian is making up some of the more obscure ones for me.

Kirke's Lambs (again)

Here's a WIP shot of my third 1672-era battalion, the Tangier Regiment (later known as The Queen Dowager's Regiment or by its nickname as "Kirke's Lambs") in the 1670s. Behind them are the Foot Guards I finished a week or so back. 

Interestingly, this is the second time I've modelled this unit. I have a larger version in this older post using Front Rank minis. Golly they look good, I'd forgotten! The later unit is better for Sedgemoor in 1685, having flintlocks instead of matchlocks. At the moment I think I'll have two separate collections- one for the 1670's and the other for the 1680's and 90's, using 1672 and Front Rank minis, respectively. It's a bit mad but the styles of the two ranges are quite different, and there was a fair amount of innovation in uniforms and weapons between 1670 and, say, 1690.

The new unit is (again) based to my intended standard for the period - 28 foot on three stands that will work on a 20cm grid. The minis are all North Star 1672, very graceful. I really like the look of the apostles and the sea-green facings. The drummer has reversed colours, very tasteful!

Again, I don't know who the original painter was (he used an interesting non-metallic metallic technique that I can appreciate but can't match) but chum Dave Millett very kindly painted up a few more minis to match and I detailed the minis, and Flags of War flags. I'll get these off to chum Ian later this week, with the Guards, and we'll see how they look, flocked! Proper photos in a few weeks.

In other news I'm very pleased with sales of the new For King and Parliament ECW scenario book "The Siege of Norchester" by Robert Avery that we launched on Friday- if you missed it you can find it here.

The Siege of Norchester Scenario PDF published

Today I'm publishing the digital edition of the "Siege of Norchester", a scenario book written by chum Robert Avery. The Siege of Norchester is a supplement for TtS! For King & Parliament that contains twelve free-standing, fictional scenarios in a loose chronological order. 

The 66 page PDF tells the story of the investment of the fictional, Royalist-held city of Norchester. It starts with the Parliamentarians gradually pushing the Royalist foraging parties back into the city itself, then looks at the Royalist attempts to delay the construction of encircling works. There’s an assault on the outskirts of Norchester and then a Royalist attempt to get a messenger through to the King to ask for aid. Finally, there’s the arrival of a Royalist relief force, the fall of Norchester and the attempted escape of the main Cavalier protagonists.    The same officers and units are used throughout the campaign, and it is hoped that the players will come to adopt and recognise them as their own or the enemy. 

The pack is designed to give players who don't have enough time to write their own scenarios a number of games that they can play with little or no preparation. All you have to do is print out the game and player briefings, set up the table according to the map, break out the figures and cards, and start the first turn. You don't even need to print the pack out in full: just the pages you need for the scenario you're going to play.

The games can be played either as a series of linked games or as a collection of one-off battles. To emphasise: each scenario is free standing and they do not have to be played in any particular order…but it is anticipated that players will play them in order as a campaign, keeping a running total of each sides’ score as they go along. The pack provides a Campaign Record Sheet as an easy way of doing so.

Finally, although specifically designed for FK&P, with a little work the scenarios can be adapted for any set of English Civil War/Renaissance rules: the basic elements of why, where and with what each side is fighting being largely common to all systems.

So whether you’re for the King or for Parliament, The Siege of Norchester gives you everything you need for many hours of joyful gaming!

You can order "The Siege of Norchester" from the BigRedBatShop or if you prefer (or if you are based in the EU) from Wargames Vault.

IR Van Birkenfeld (I-59)

 

This is my second 1670's/80's era unit - Dutch IR Van Birkenfeld (I-59). The musketeers were painted by chum Shaun McTague, but I painted (!) the pike and command and highlighted everything. The bases are my FK&P06's, with integral magnets for storage and transit. I'll take a proper photo later- I'm going to have to make a flag up for them, unless anyone has any ideas what it looked like?

Postscript- I've found a partial flag in Hall from Triomphe 1693, against NLI38- I'll need to get chum Ian onto that!

I'm developing the impression that the majority of Dutch units started the 1670's in really bold colours (typically blues, but also reds), but by the late 1670's most had changed to shades of grey with coloured facings, possibly based on their original uniform colour or facing colours. This unit is in light grey as we know they were wearing by 1678- the socks should really be red, but I won't tell if you won't. ;-) I chose to put the officers in reversed colours. 

I'm going to concentrate on collecting units that were present at the battle of Seneffe in 1674, because it was the main field battle of the war and because we have images of some of the standards that the French captured. For this reason most of my units will be in the early, bold colours. I'd like to think I'll eventually end up with perhaps 16 battalions of Dutch foot, and nearly as many units of horse, and as many French, which would be enough for a 12-15' wide table at a show.

In other news, I'm doing The Plastic Crack Podcast from 8pm tonight. I'll be wittering on about writing rules and what I'm up to, in general, ie Renaissance, why it's been so slow coming and why its going to be so good.

Finally I've received the PDF version of The Siege of Norchester scenario book for For King and Parlaiment from Robert Avery (who also wrote the popular Marlowe to Maidenhythe scenario book). It represents a series of small battles fought around the fictional city of Norchester. It looks very entertaining and I intend to publish it on Friday.

1st Foot Guards

Here's a WIP shot of my first battalion, the 1st Foot Guards ca. 1683 (slightly after the 1670 period that most interests me) armed with new-fangled snaphances.

This is my intended standard for the period - 28 foot on three stands - a smaller battalion than my ECW ones but they will work on a 20cm grid, a practical size for gaming. The third rank is somewhat superfluous, although it helps give an impression of mass, and make the unit look a little more like the period engravings than they would in two ranks.

The minis are North Star 1672. I don't know who the original painter was (he was good!) but chum Dave Millett very painted up a few more minis to match and I added some details to the minis, and Flags of War flags. I'll get these off to chum Ian next week, and we'll see how it looks, flocked!

Franco-Dutch Interlude

 

Sorry for the lack of recent posts- I was busy with Partizan and then publishing the updated Ancient and Medieval army list books, which went out last Friday (if you've previously bought a copy, you should have received a copy or download link, if you haven't, please email me).

I've been on a brief vacation in the 1670s, painting British, French and Dutch for a new project. The above aren't yet finished but look great in the flesh as opposed to the unflattering photo. I'll take a better one when they are on bases in around a week's time. They are from the North Star 1672 range- absolutely lovely minis although the range is unfortunately not complete. I seem to have enough minis for 30 battalions, like this, and 20-odd squadrons, but they are by no means easy to paint- the innumerable buttons, and the hat bands, sashes and feathers take an eternity. Waagh!  At this stage I'm not looking to finish the armies but want to get three or four units on bases as a proof of concept, then I plan to get back to the Swiss that have been on hold over the summer.