Major Undertaking's Shotte

This is NOT the same battalia as yesterday, although it does incorporate some of the same miniatures. This is Major Untertaking's Royalist commanded shot; the photo is clckable. Commanded shot were musketeers detached from their parent battalia for special purposes such as defending or contending woods or villeges, where pike would not fare well. In FK&P they will struggle, when in the open, against enemy formations with pikemen, or enemy horse. However, they can ably defend a hedge or hamlet.

The miniatures are Bicornes painted by Shaun McTague. The unit incorporates two stands of six shot from the 19cm-frontage small battalia of yesterday, and another 15 shot and command minis. It is 26 cm wide. I decided that Major Untertaking would bring his flag along with him, as a rallying point, although there is no historical evidence for this.

A sensible battalia

Here's a departure for me; a battalia for FK&P that is, for once, a sensible size. This unit is 19cm wide, with 22 minis, and designed(to fit in a 20cm grid.  This is the format in which I anticipate many 28mm players will game the rules- quick to paint and you could game on a 6' x 4' table (although 8' by 4' would be better). 6 pike are flanked by 12 shot and led by 4 command minis. Photo is clickable.

All the miniatures are Bicornes painted for me by Shaun McTague; flags are Flags of War. The bases are new ECW batbases that aren't yet in the shop; they are just over 6cm square. You'll see some of the shot, moonlighting in another unit that is designed for the larger grid, tomorrow...

The King's Lifeguard of Foot writ large

Chum Ian came round yesterday and took some photos of my burgeoning ECW collection. Here is King Charles' Lifeguard of Foot; I strongly recommend clicking on it for a larger view!

This is a big unit I put together just for fun; it is composed of most of the miniatures from four battalia of my "Oxford army". It is daunting to thing that, even so, it only contains around a third of the number of men in a historical ECW battalia. At 50cm wide, I fear it is too large to be practical for the gaming table.

All of the minis are lovely Bicornes, painted by Chris Meacham, David Imrie, Shaun McTague and myself. They are based in twelves on my ECW Batbases (which I really need to get in the shop!). The flags on this one are GMB.

The For King and Parliament rules themselves are close to completion; we have started the final proofing and I hope to get them out to a printer in two to three weeks, so on target for Salute.

Wargames Illustrated interview

An inteview with the very fine chaps at Wargames Illustrated, about the coming rules... and some shots of the demo game we played with them in December. The minis are looking very fine, if I say so m'self!

Colonel Hampden

John Hampden was a Member of Parliament for Buckinghamshire- one of the five who fled when the King raided the House and trued to capture them. A prominent and respected Parliamentarian politician, he also served in the field as a colonel of the famous greencoated regiment of foot which he raised from his Buckinghamshire estates. He guarded the baggage at Edgehill, commanded a brigade at Turnham Green and participated in the siege of Reading.

In 1643, whilst away from his regiment, he volunteered as a common trooper to join a force of cavalry that were engaged in the pursuit of a raiding Royalist force led by Prince Rupert. At Chalgrove Field, on 17th June he was severely wounded in the shouder, possibly as a result of his own pistol exploding. He died of his wounds six days later, and was sorely missed as a moderate politician who nonetheless managed to remain on good terms with the more militant Parliamentarians.

I have based him as a colonel for King and Parliament where he will lead a brigade of three or four regiments. The Bicorne mini was painted by David Imrie, I believe, and I've placed them on one of my new circular batbases. Now I need to get his regiment based up...

"Swedish"-style horse

Here are a couple of regiments of "Swedish"-style horse for the coming Salute game. "Swedish" tactics were introduced from the continent and promoted by Prince Rupert. Three ranks deep, "Swedes" would charge aggressively, reserving their pistols for the moment of contact. Many rules refer to them as "gallopers", although they would more likely charge at a "good round trot". Initially only the Royalists fought in this manner, but in 1644 the Parliamentarians had also adopted it and both sides fought in the same manner.

These are Redoubt horse that I bought ready painted (and got a few more painted, to match). I don't like them quite as much as the Bicornes I generally use- that said, some of the minis have great character and animation and the sizes are broadly compatible with Bicorne. Funnily enough, whilst writing this, a third Redoubt regiment that I'd bought on eBay and forgotten about, just arrived in the post.

One thing that I do feel strongly about, is adequately representing the unusually high ratio of horse to foot in some ECW battles. I intend to base a LOT of horse; up to 500 minis. :)