The Tangier Regiment- twice

Here's the second regiment of my 1672 force- the Tangier Regiment, AKA Kirke's Lambs. This regiment cut it's teeth defending the British outpost in Tangiers and later fought at Sedgemoor. 

Most of the minis are by an unknown painter but chum Dave Millward filled out the ranks of musketeers, I highlighted and mounted the Flags of War flags- the billows came out particularly well on these. Ian Notter flocked the FK&P6 bases, and I tufted.

This is my second take on this iconic unit, I've also raised it (below) using Front Rank Miniatures. The original unit had a bigger frontage (25cm as opposed to 19cm) - it is rather less practicable, for that reason, but looks magnificent. Armed with snaphance muskets, it's better suited for the 1680s than my current 1670's obsession, and I'll probably use it for Sedgemoor. You can read about my other battalion here. I think I can live with the new, smaller unit size (above) - it'll be much easier to fight large battles with this size of unit, and rather less painting per unit, which means 50% more units. Of course, there would be even less painting if I'd gone for 2 ranks, but then one must suffer for one's art.

In other news, I've finally bitten the bullet and am in the process of painting the actual BigRedBatCave, photos next week, hopefully. Until then, stay safe everyone!

1st Foot Guards finished

Here are my first battalion for my 1670's project, the 1st Foot Guards ca. 1683. Strictly, they are outside the 1667-1672 period that I'm concentrating on but I had them mostly painted and couldn't resist finishing them off. The minis are North Star 1672. Unfortunately they have been in my "reserves" boxes for so long I can't recall who the original painter was, but chum Dave Millett very painted up a few more to match and I detailed and finished them. The flags are from Flags of War. The bases are my FK&P06's and they were beautifully flocked by my chum Ian (I tufted).

This will be my personal standard for the period, 28 foot on three stands 19cm wide, a practical size for gaming. The third rank is largely superfluous but helps to make the unit look a little more like the period engravings. I hope to eventually raise 30-40 battalions, and as many cavalry regiments/batteries, primarily Dutch and French (including Swiss and Walloons) but also Spanish, English and Scots. Eventually I'll need to write a set of rules or perhaps an add-on to the For King and Parliament set.

If anyone has any spare 1672 minis, painted or unpainted, I'd be keen to buy up or swap for them to swell the ranks, you can email me at the address on the left.

In other news, I've recently had a couple of big restocks in the BigRedBatShop and now have pretty much everything in stock, particularly bases and the splendid coloured activation chits. 

I have quite a few units underway and hope to be able to post one a week for the next month or so.

Régiment Pfyffer WIP

Here's my fifth 1672 infantry battalion, the Swiss Pfyffer regiment in French service. I love this regiment's jaunty yellow tunics! I picked up some mostly-painted minis for this unit on eBay, painted some more myself and the remaining minis were painted by Richard O'Connor. 

They are on bases but not yet grouted (I find it best to mount the flags before grouting, and the flags that chum Ian is making aren't quite ready yet).

I really like the North Star Swiss minis- they have bags of character. Most of my infantry units will have the same basic structure as this one, which has six pike, two sergeants, 16 musketeers and four officers. They are in three ranks on three of my FK&P6 bases so around 19cm wide. I'll take proper photos when they are finished.

Régiment de Douglas

 

Here's a WIP shot of Régiment de Douglas, later the Royals Scots, Dumbartons etc, in French service in the early 1670's. These minis were mostly painted by Richard O'Connor, although I painted one pikeman and someone else a single musketeer. Richard did a lovely job. They are all from the North Star 1672 range, and include an OOP Spanish piper who has changed nationality. Next week I'll pass to chum Ian for flocking. I'll take proper images when they are finished.

Including these, I have four battalions mostly finished, and another 6 or 8 well advanced. I also seem to have accumulated enough unpainted infantry minis for another 30 or so battalions, plus horse, dragoons and artillery. :-)

Jengaaa!

In the (no doubt temporary) absence of any meaningful numbers of mid c.16th miniatures in the BigRedBatCave, I've been mocking up a couple of armies from wooden blocks (Jenga and birch cubes). This is a portion of the units- the big blocks represent roughly 3000 pike, the smaller blocks arquebusiers. The taller blocks to the right are cavalry, there are also guns (not shown). Eventually I plan to put flags on the tops which will show facings. I have most of the minis for Ceresole 1544 which I plan to use as the first test game for Renaissance, I'll probably also look at a French Wars of Religion battle, too, to test troop types such as Reiters that weren't present earlier on.