Friday, 10 December 2021

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.

Monday, 6 December 2021

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.

Friday, 3 December 2021

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. :-)

Thursday, 2 December 2021

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.

Friday, 19 November 2021

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.

Tuesday, 16 November 2021

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.

Friday, 12 November 2021

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.