Time for another go at the English Civil War! (Part 1)

 I'm still painting additional units of Bavarian Napoleonics but for some time recently my old head has been stuffed full of ideas about making an ECW board game style project to be used with Tony's ( 'Foy') excellent - to my mind - ECW/C&C variant. I was thinking about how I could create an aesthetically pleasing overall look that captures the period feel and gave a rewarding game, probably solo but could also be played remotely due to it's compact size. My starting points were:

• Units, affordable and quick to make playing pieces using actual model figures if possible
• A solid one piece board of 75mm hexes, not a printed mat this time but something more hand made, painted and varnished not textured as it's way too messy!
• Nice terrain pieces, I really like the range of 10mm resin half timbered buildings made by Steve Clay. 

So first we must tackle the units to be used. After a lot of thought and planning (I love this stage) I had an idea, could it be possible to cut down the Epic 13.5mm 'Pike and Shotte' strips to make up individual bases of foot? I'm used to trimming, cutting and filling these plastic strips it might seem brutal but it's quite easy to do once you get the hang of it! On a 60mm frontage by 25mm deep MDF base I could fit 18 figures together, 6 pike and 12 shot, all cut down to 3's. I gave them a paint job, (fairly quick job but I wanted them to have a bit of 'Pop') then set them together on the base ensuring the trimmed areas were not on the outside edges even though very little damage could be seen once painted. Because there is only a single command strip per sprue I decided to just use the central pikeman cut down as a standard bearer which is fine, the command strip will be cut up and used elsewhere of course, very little wastage. Vallejo Earth texture and some Javis fine turf to dress the base and the result is what you see here below. I'm very pleased on the whole, I must say. 

So, that's 2 units/bases of Foot from a single £8 sprue with some leftover bits which is pretty good value. I started with two Red coated units, possibly from the Kings Oxford Army and this week I'll be doing a couple of Blue coat units so more to follow as this project develops.

Another box arrives from Old John and a couple of old coins!

Opened this up for a look through this morning and as usual it contains a nice mix of metal and plastic figures for me to paint. Too many to list but you can see from  the photos what's here I hope. Included are a couple of very nice metal horses (not in shot) that have been painted by Mrs Old John (Cynthia) just requiring riders. As always the box arrives with a nice typed list of what's here  and printed uniform details which helps a lot. Cheers John as always mate.

Going through a few old bits yesterday I found this nice example of an 1883 US Dollar coin which is I believe referred to as a 'Morgan Silver Dollar' It's a hefty coin and I just marvel at the number of hands it must have passed through in it's time and how it came to be here in  the UK? Anyone knows any info about these coins please do let me know, thank you. I also found a 1793 French coin, Louis XVI I think? Its very worn but again you just think about it's history, it's journey and how it arrived here in my wifes family souvenir box? These was also a 1914 - 1918 Victory medal amongst others.

1793 French coin! 

LOUIS XVI ?

Warlord Epic Zulu is here!

 For many of my generation I'm sure the 1964 film ZULU would have been an inspiration, it certainly was for me. I had no idea that Warlord Games had plans to do the period in it's Epic range until just two days ago but here it is in all it's 13.5mm glory. They have clearly altered the usual close order strip format for this release and I think it works really well. Link below to the initial releases now on pre order. I doubt I will do this for myself  but maybe a commission might come along in due course.

What do you think guys? These figures are very cost effective for large numbers.

https://store.warlordgames.com/collections/black-powder-epic-battles-zulu

Another batch painted for Old John!

 A few quick photos before I get them packed up ready to post, another mixed batch for Old John. 1/72nd Strelets 10th Foot, Hinchliffe 25mm Streltsi and a few GNW artillerymen. Next it's back to Noel and another Wars of The Roses Faction plus a couple more Epic ACW sprues.

Also managed to paint another Bavarian base for myself!

Found him! - Great Uncle Henry John Gramson Killed in Action 2nd July 1918.

Very sad but nice to see where he was laid to rest. I have been doing a lot of research trying to find out what happened on the Somme on 2nd July 1918 when he was listed as killed in Action because \i thought the 2nd Battle of the Somme, the German counter attack, was over by April 1918. I'll be visiting the Regimental Museum of the Royal West Kent Regiment (Queens Own) at Maidstone Kent this Summer to see what more I can find out. if anyone has any info re events of the 2nd July 1918 I would much appreciate it.

Sadly Henry was a married man with 4 children under 10  years, he had married in 1907  at Camberwell South London. he was 34 years old.

 PRIVATE

H J GRAMSON

Service Number: G/8176

Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment)

6th Bn.

Date of Death

Died 02 July 1918

Buried or commemorated at

BOUZINCOURT RIDGE CEMETERY, ALBERT

II. L. 4.

France

Country of Service    United Kingdom

Tough week with the heat but on schedule for Falkirk Muir (not Culloden!)

Firstly a correction! Marcus has informed me that the first Public demonstration game is actually Falkirk Muir 1746 and not Culloden although that battle is also in the future plans. I have asked him for details of when and where the game will be hosted in Scotland and I will share them here once I know as it should a great spectacle with huge numbers of Epic figures on the table. Link to some info about the actual battle can be found here: https://blog.historicenvironment.scot/2026/01/the-battle-of-falkirk-muir/

Phew, it's been HOT down here in Kent this last week or so but I have managed to hit my schedule of painting two more regiments of Govt. Foot for Marcus to complete the commission of another four units to be delivered by 17th July as we agreed. I just need to texture the bases (I always superglue the front rank only to make it easier applying the Vallejo texture before gluing the rear rank strips into place), once dry which only takes about 3 hours, I apply patches of static grass leaving areas of bare earth showing. Marcus has the flags ready to add. These will be packed up tomorrow (Monday) label booked and printed via Parcel2go using Royal Mail Tracked 24 service with proof of delivery signature which costs an additional £1.25 to the tracked service. It will go to the Post Office drop off Tuesday Morning. I have used Parcel2go for  many moths now including shipments to the USA and Ireland via FedEx which has really speeded up the delivery time over Royal Mail. 

This coming week I have a pile of 24 Hinchliffe figures which I think are Streltsi? THese are for Old John. I have also taken delivery of another Faction of WoR 15mm's for  Noel along with more Epic ACW sprues for him. 

First base of Bavarians in 1/72nd!

 Things have slowed up a bit with the recent hot weather which dries out the paint on the brushes so fast but having painted a first base of Austrian Cuirassiers I could not resist doing the first base of Bavarian infantry, The figures are by HaT and I used the same combination of poses as with the Austrians, ie two men firing and an officer at the front, standard bearer centre middle rank etc. I'm pleased with the result and a second base is undercoated ready to start next. The Austrian cavalry are nice, bit of a squeeze on the base but OK and I'm not sure if I should add a flag or not to each base. All very colourful anyway,  Flags by Warflags just resized in Word and printed at 'best' quality.

 

3rd Foot (Buffs) and 48th Foot ready to march to Culloden!

 This weeks output has been these two fine Regiments of Foot ready to make the long march to the field of Culloden as they did in 1745. Both are Buff faced units as are the two that I will be painting this coming week but Marcus requested off white (I use Vallejo Cream White) for the belts with a special dispensation for the 3rd East Kent Regt who are of course 'The Buffs' and was my Grandfathers regiment during the First War. I used pure Vallejo Buff for the Buffs!

Have to say I'm enjoying the lighter workload now and genuinely enjoy painting these units of 60 figures for Marcus planned demonstration/display game in July. 13mm Warlord Epic AWI's are the sprues being used so uniform is not perfect for the earlier period but in this scale it's pretty good I think?. I paint just 3 strips in a day session so 4 days out of 7 to compete the 120 figures plus basing, Marcus will add the flags.

Shoulder your Firelocks!

                           Next up are the 14th and 62nd Foot. (Before the magic happens :)

My Grandfathers First World War Attestation paper, 3 Years with the Colours 3rd East Kent The Buffs.

 

Just more Austrian 'Toy Soldiers'!

 I really like this HaT 'Toy Soldier' box that my Austrian Artillery arrived in this week, not seen one like it before as it's just a kind of generic box with no dedicated box art, and as I purchased them second hand on eBay I guess it's an older box maybe? The artillery is a great box set with 4 guns and 24 crew figures for £6 that I paid! I only require 2 for my DBN army so wasted no time in painting them up. Also painted another 'Hungarian' unit this week from the Austrian shako set so I painted the yellow knots on the tops of the trousers, I'm happy with them anyway. 

Just need two bases of Chevauleger to complete the 12 element army (plus command base). I now have the first Bavarian infantry on order and what a fantastic set they are, Link to Plastic Soldier Review of the set:  HERE

A few more photos so far.

A good Austrian start and more Wars of The Roses!

I'd say that these are turning out just as I wanted them to and hoped they would. I really like the wavy edged bases from Warbases which do fit together if wished. I decided upon 9 figures per base sized 50mm frontage by 60mm depth to give more the impression of a body of troops in a deeper formation, they will still suit well for DBN just a slightly larger playing are required than the standard 2' x 2' (600mm x 600mm) so I think 3' x 3' will work well. So far we have:

3 bases of German infantry

1 base of Hungarian infantry (shako and blue breeches)

1 base of Grenadiers (base edge marked with red dots)

1 base of Grenzers ( just 6 figures as these will be Light Infantry marked by Yellow dots)

1 Command base.

Painting. I have kept things fairly simple here, big thanks to 'Jeffers' who suggested Vallejo Cream White as being perfect for the Austrian coats, its a heavily pigmented shade that covers really well and contrasts nicely with the white of the belts etc. I do start with a sparing dry brush of sky grey over the black base coat first then build it up from there. Some photos below to show progress.

Opponents - after a lot of thought I have decided that following the completion of the Austrian 12 element army I'll be doing Bavarians to face off against them! I need a change from French and it's historically correct plus the HaT Bavarians look beautiful. I'm not thinking or planning beyond this, it's my Summer project and I'm enjoying myself again. Flags are from Warflags having tracked down a source to download from because the site seems to have sadly gone now?

Commission work. All of the above is of course secondary to my commission work on which I spend about a couple of hours or so most days, far less than I used to and that's nice. Having completed and returned the Spanish siege troops for Tony I bashed through the WoR Levy (lowest grade troops with very little armour maybe coats of mail and the generic plain helmet)) bill and bow bases for Noel to complete the latest Faction, a good  solid weeks work produced 4 bases of Levy Billmen and 8 of Bowmen (64 figures) plus the circular command base (which I always paint for free by way of a gesture of thanks to my most solid customer Noel). I just to get the bases textured etc over the weekend then I'm back to more 1745 Govt. Foot for Marcus next week. The headset is certainly earning it's keep :)