Montrose- To Win or Lose it All

Hi all, today I'm launching a new scenario book and also an accompanying "extra rules" book, for use with the TtS! For King and Parliament English Civil War rules. The 90-page Montrose- To Win or Lose it All scenario book contains nine free-standing scenarios covering the Marquis of Montrose's battles in Scotland in 1644-45. Eight are historical and one, a "what if". Each scenario contains a background briefing, separate briefings for each of the players, a deployment plan and an order of battle. The scenarios can be played individually or in sequence, as a campaign. The book also includes a background to the campaign and descriptions of the principle personalities involved, including Montrose, Alastair MacColla and Archibald Campbell. It could be adapted for use with other rule systems.

The 26-page Celtic Fringe Extra Rules book is intended for use alongside the TtS! For King and Parliament English Civil War rules and the Montrose "To Win or Lose it All" scenario book. By Celtic Fringe, we refer to the land and people west and north of the "Highland Line" in Scotland, and their Gaelic-speaking cousins across the Irish Sea. The book contains extra rules that build on the For King and Parliament mechanisms, modelling the traditional styles of fighting that still survived in these areas. As well as the Montrose scenario book, it will also support two planned future scenario books in the same series, concerned with the Insurgency and the Catholic Confederation in Ireland, and with Cromwell's campaigns in Ireland and Scotland.

These are available both as print books, in the usual-for-TtS! wire O bound format, and as digital downloads. If you live within the European Union, please purchase the digital downloads from here on Wargames Vault.

There is a modest discount if you buy both books together, and postage will also be somewhat  cheaper, especially if you are outside the UK. Enjopy!

Mea Culpa

...it has been two months since my last post! A mix of real life stuff- and the BigRedBatShop has been insanely busy (thanks!). I've also been getting ready for publishing the ECW Montrose book towards the month end, and an updated Medieval Army List Book.

I've been trying to sort out some additional ECW cavalry for the big Salute game. So far, I have three squadrons of Dutch ready for flocking, two Swedish regiments half finished, a Dutch regiment needing snagging and basing. One more Swedish regiment is unseen, since it is still mustering. By Salute I hope to have 27 regiments of 18 men plus some separate squadrons.

In other news, I've just added some new bases in the BigRedBatShop- new command base sizes and a variant on the popular FK&P13b.

Siege Mound

Here is a WIP shot of my new ECW siege artillery battery on a mound. Last night I added a few more Debris gabions, build the earth around them up and cut the base. Tonight, I need to model the approach ramp at the rear. I have an idea that I could build a gunpowder magazine into the side of this.

It will be an earthen mound, roughly 5cm tall, with storming poles and possibly an abattis.

I'm building the piece to accommodate some Bicorne siege guns painted by chum David Imrie. It feels strange that it is so much quicker to build huge bits of terrain than it is to paint a few tiny 28mm figures!

Battery and Battlechat 105

Over the weekend, I've been working on my first ever siege artillery battery, for the Salute '24 game. My plan is to make it useable for both the ECW and 1672, by having interchangeable siege guns and crews. It will sit on top of a raised artificial mount with a ramp up to it, and store away in a RUB. The gabions are all from Debris of War, and very nice they are, too. I'll show some more images later this week; right now, it reminds me of back when I had braces, back in the '70's. ;-)

In other news, I did an interview with Henry Hyde last week which is up on his Battle Games site. Henry was a lovely host, asked lots of interesting questions and we chatted for longer than we should have but then, I could have talked all day! The interview can be found here:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/battlechat-105-92383129

To access it you'll need to join Henry's Patreon (which I've just done, I'm very keen to support him and  hear some of his other interviews) or wait for a week or so. I shall try to prevail on him to chat with me next year about my new enthusiasm for gunpowder...

1672 work in progesss

As is so often the case, when I should be painting one thing, I find myself painting three other things. My excuse to myself is that I'm finishing them to make room. These are above, Walloon Regiment Vierzet, and below the Listenois Dragoons and some Royal Dragoons which I decided to give ECW flags to.  All for my 1672 project. Proper photos later, when flocked.

Royal Regiment of Dragoons mustering

 

This is a unit for my 1670's project. They are British dragoons, probably most useful in 1678, by which time the British had allied with the Dutch and there were nine squadrons of dragoons in the field. I plan to depict them both on foot (with horse holders) and mounted. All North Star 1672 minis, mostly painted by Shaun McT. and finished by me. I still need to finish basing them.

Since the 1672 rules aren't yet written, I'm keeping my options open so that they can either be fielded as dismounted units of squadron size, whilst retaining the option of grouping two or three of these together to form a larger unit of up to battalion-size. In battle they will most likely be found out on the flank, somewhere, lining a hedge or guarding a supply column.

Ancient Ruins

No, this is not about me and my grognard chums, but rather this printed scenery which I bought on eBay for around £50. I'm gobsmacked about the value- it's almost a foot high (28mm figure for scale) and there must be weeks of work in the design of it, and a ton of filament within it. O brave new world that has such buildings in it! How long would it have taken to build a model like this from scratch? I plan to customise it and use it in my Salute '24 game.

In other news I had an absolutely super chat with Henry Hyde of Battlegames this morning, which he'll be posting as a Podcast in the next few days, I'll talk about it more when I know the release date, soon, I think.