Showing posts with label Late c.17th. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Late c.17th. Show all posts

Saturday, 29 August 2020

Mild wargamer OCD

 


Here my mild wargamer OCD is demonstrated by the fact I am collecting armies for both 1672 and 1685+, despite the fact that the differences in uniform are pretty trivial. I suppose I'm also driven, in part, by the somewhat different sculpting styles between North Star and Front Rank ranges which I both like, in their different ways.

I've picked up around 800 painted minis so far. The plan is to form large battalia of c.40 minis, similar to my ECW battalia, but with a slightly different configuration. Also many will need grenadier companies and sometimes battalion guns. I'm planning to look at the 1672 fighting between the French and the Dutch, Sedgemoor in 1685 and possibly the Boyne in 1690. I'll need to write some rules, too.

Saturday, 22 August 2020

Going full Vauban

 


On a whim, I've bought myself a c.17th fortress. I have slowly been accumulating late c.17th minis and they need a secure base of operations!


This came from Germany, and mostly made from foam, with resin details. It's around 75cm square.

That gate needs some outworks- the whole fort does, really, earthworks and a ditch. It would also be nice to add a house for the governor.


I'm quite taken with it- with a little additional detailing, I think it will look very good on the table.


I particularly like the sentry points. 

The model came from More Terrain in Germany and was very reasonably priced. I'm really not sure how I'll use it- perhaps on the edge of a table at a show, just possibly in a siege.

Wednesday, 25 March 2020

Blue horsemen


Here are some minis I bought on eBay a while back, and retouched and rebased. They are a somewhat generic troop of Late c.17th horse, that I'll later expand to a full unit. I'm not sure what I'll use them for, exactly, perhaps militia; I've not come across a regiment that is recorded as having worn uniforms in these colours. They are a tough-looking bunch! Front Rank Minis, of course.

Friday, 26 July 2019

Kirke's Lambs


Here are Kirke's Lambs, more formally known as the Queen Dowager's Regiment of Foote, hard-bitten veterans of the Tangiers garrison. There was nothing lamb-like about their behaviour after the battle of Sedgemoor, when they ruthlessly hunted down fugitive rebels and executed .

The historian Lord Macaulay describes the eponymous Colonel Percy Kirke as "a military adventurer whose vices had been developed by the worst of all schools, Tangier.... Within the ramparts of his fortress he was a despotic prince. The only check on his tyranny was the fear of being called to account by a distant and a careless government. He might therefore safely proceed to the most audacious excesses of rapacity, licentiousness, and cruelty. He lived with boundless dissoluteness, and procured by extortion the means of indulgence." He was personally responsible for ordering the hanging of at least 100 rebels. He famously promised to spare an innkeepers life if his daughter slept with him. She did, but in the morning awoke to find her father's corpse hanging from the window.


I bought around two dozen of the painted Front Rank minis on eBay, and some more (including the super Colonel Kirke) from a chap called Malcolm (sorry don't know the surname). The splendid flags are from Iain at Flags of War.


Here are the shotte. I messed up by using only flintlock-armed minis; at Sedgemoor, most of the Lambs would have carried matchlocks. Still, though, not too shabby!


Finally, I really like this shot, from the rear. I mixed madder, a brownish red, into the paint for some of the minis' tunics, as it was likely a major component in the dyes of the time. The bases are of my own design, so that I can swap out the command stand and even the pike, for more shotte.

Sunday, 14 July 2019

Royal Dragoons WIP


I've been very busy painting and basing, recently, too busy to post very much, although I will catch up. But here is a WIP shot of the Royal Dragoons, for a future Sedgemoor project. They are North Star 1672 minis, very nicely painted, mostly by chum Steve Spence, although I couldn't resist painting a couple, myself. They are nice Copplestone-sculpted minis, with a fair few variants, and (very conveniently) North Star have recently begun to extend the range with some new dragoon command groups and rumours of Spaniards.*

I've decided to go with the dragoons as a 24-man unit which (at least for Sedgemoor) will operate in two halves, on the wings of the Royal army. I also plan to do the unit dismounted, with all 24 horses and horse holders. Raising a regiment of dragoons is a serious commitment, and not for the fainthearted!

*Some grenadiers in furry hats, with firelocks, would be a splendid addition, Nick  :-)

Thursday, 4 July 2019

Tournaisis


Here is the first finished battalion for my Late c.17th project, in fact the very minis that attracted me to the period. David Imrie very kindly sold me these miniatures some five years back. They represent a battalion of around 1690 from the French Regiment Tournaisis, which served in Ireland and elsewhere. The picture is clickable. David's painting is superb- I can't get anywhere near this standard.

All of the miniatures are from the superb Front Rank Late c.17th range, and the flags are Flags of War. Having bought the 40-odd minis from David, I find that I have bought some four hundred and fifty more painted minis from various sources. Eventually there will be a set of rules and a display game, but don't hold your breath. :-)


It took me years to decide how to base them, and I settled on two wings of 12 shotte, 8 pike and a command stand of 5. My friend Ian Notter and I designed a series of wobbly-edged bases to carry them. There are four bases which means I can swap out the command stand for one with different flags, from a different nation, perhaps, or swap out the pike for an extra stand of shotte so that I can use the minis for the early c18th. The new bases can be found in the BigRedBatShop, here.


Finally, here's a closeup of the command stand. What I love most about this period is the cut of the uniforms, but I'm also mad for the floppy hats with ribbons around the edges.

Saturday, 29 June 2019

Louis Quatorze's Warses


This week I've had a really heavy cold and haven't been fit for much other than some light basing duties. Here are some miniatures that David Imrie (Saxon Dog) painted that I've finally managed to re-base onto one of my wobbly-edge command bases. They will lead a brigade of French that I am slowly building (one of the battalions also painted by David); pictures to follow next week.


I'm also basing my first British battalion, Kirke's Lambs. These incorporate minis from three or four different painters, including myself. Much better photos and more details of the completed unit are to follow in a week or so. I absolutely love the Front Rank minis; it is entirely possible to build a 37-man unit with 37 different variants.

Eventually there will need to be some rules so that I can put the minis on a table. The working title for these is Louis Quatorze's Warses, which name was picked at the end of an evening of brainstorming (=heavy drinking) before Colours, last year. I won't start on the rules before I've finished Renaissance, however.

Sunday, 23 June 2019

Wargaming Butterfly


Much of the time I'm painting and basing on some huge project or another, against a tight deadline. At the moment, though, I'm not and consequently I'm flitting about, completing projects that have been on hold for six months or more, just for fun.

This weekend I've been painting Kirke's Lambs for the battle of Sedgemoor, 1685 (a long range project that probably won't be delivered for three or four years). I blame David Imrie for this 'cos he sold me some stunning French, three of four years back, and the project has subsequently ballooned into an obsession. There's something I love about the cut of the uniforms; also the relative obscurity of the period.

Today I more-or-less completed the 37 minis for this regiment, there is the work of three painters in this (including me). I have decided to ride roughshod over my mild OCD and have painted the minis with colour variations in the tunics; some are bright reds, and others a subdued madder red, with the facings in various green hues. I think it will look unusual and interesting, once based in a week-or-so.

Saturday, 8 September 2018

Experiments


Long time, no post. Above is something I'm experimenting with; teddy bear fur grass, after a tip from James Morris. I have, hitherto, resisted the wholesale slaughter of teddy bears, but find myself very taken with the material and sacrifices must be made. The bases just vanish into it. Would be absolutely great for steppe warfare... or perhaps Roundway Down.

Below are the first fluttering flags of a new, late c.17th Project. I won't have time to do anything material with this until Q2 next year; but a man can dream! Minis ex David Imrie, and very clickable.


Finally, here's a link to my ECW blog, where I'll be posting lots of pics of units in the run-up to an ECW game at Colours next Saturday. If you are coming to Colours, do say hello, and maybe turn a few cards with us! Co-author Andrew Brentnall will be there, with chums Ian and Tim.