Soggy Bottom - the Royalist Right

Here are some pictures of the other wing of our recent game at Colours. Again, these were taken by Ian Notter. All the photos will enlarge when clicked-upon.

Above, Colonel Skippon directs his command from a field outside Soggy Bottom. Skippon (close-up below) is a splendid mini painted, I believe, by David Imrie. 

His wing included four regiments of "Dutch"-style horse, including Sir Arthur Hesilrig and his famous London Lobsters, below.

The red-cornetted "Dutch" regiment, above, seem to be focussed on the mobile rations to their front. The flock of sheep absolutely stole the show, I hope that 1st Corps sell a load of them! Below, they are charged by the more-aggressive Royalist "Swedes" of Sir Horatio Cary’s Regiment of Horse. "Cuckolds we come, indeed!" I was delighted with the Sherpa grass I used on this wing- the scalloped edges of the bat bases sink into it and are rendered almost invisible.

Finally, here's a shot along the Royalist line - that's Sir Jacob Astley's Regiment in the middle ground and Henry Tillier's, beyond. The eponymous marsh of Soggy Bottom is on the right, defended by Major Undertaking's commanded shotte (below), a hard-fighting bunch of n'er-do-wells, if I ever saw one.

That's all for today! Photos of the centre are to follow in a few days time. If you missed the photos of the left wing, you can find them here.

In other news, I have just re-supplied the shop with lots of things that have run out. In particular, I include a new mat that I am calling the "The Ginormous One", which is designed for those playing "For King and Parliament" on a 12" grid in the grand manner.

Soggy Bottom - the Royalist left

On Saturday, Andrew Brentnall, Tim Thompson, Ian Notter and I took Soggy Bottom to Colours. This is the demo game for the For King and Parliament rules, designed so we can use all my completed units. Above is a (click to enlarge) view of sundry Royalist regiments advancing on the eponymous village, taken from the Royalist ridge. All the other photos are of the Parliamentarian right wing and Royalist left.

Here are Colonel James Wardlawe’s dragoons, who held the Parliamentarian extreme right in both games. During the second game, half of them even tried a mounted charge, a la Okey, but with rather less success.

Above, Oliver Cromwell led the famous (but newly painted and consequently ill-omened) Ironsides to their doom, in both games. In the first he was killed, in the second merely wounded. Below, you can see the six troops on the left, these were recently painted for me by Steve Spence. Grahame Black of GMB very kindly made up the flags for me (I was one short, so used a Northern Parliamentarian flag) you can buy them here. Facing them are the front two regiments of the Royalist Northern Horse.

Above is a closeup of one Ironside troop and the flag of Captain William Packer. The new flags are lovely... Below are the King's Lifeguard of Horse, left, and a third regiment of the Northern horse, right.

So that's it for today, more photos in a day or so and there . Both games were great fun and at times there were twenty or so people round the table. If you are interested, the rules can be found here.

Lord Hopton's Regiment

Here is Lord Hopton's regiment. Raised in Somerset in 1643, this blue-coated regiment fought for the King at both Newburys, Cheriton, Cropredy Bridge and Lostwithiel. There's more about them on the invaluable BCW site. Photos are clickable.

These Bicorne minis were, again, painted by Chris Meacham and based by me. The flag is by Flags of War. I plan to make alternative command stands for this regiment, so that the pike and shot can also depicts Rupert's Bluecoats and, perhaps, other units. Eventually I hope to have lots of alternative command stands.

They will be at Colours on Newbury on Saturday. Please drop me a line if you'd like to book in for the big For King and Parliament game.

Sir Charles Vavasour’s (Matthew Appleyard's) Regiment

Sir Charles Vavasour's was an English regiment, raised for service in Ireland, that returned to fight for the King under Hopton and later within the Oxford army. It was present at a pleasingly large number of the battles of the war, including Cheriton, Cropredy Bridge, Second Newbury and Naseby. Earlier, too, it had seen action in Ireland. There's more about them on the invaluable BCW.

The Bicorne minis were painted by Chris Meacham and based by me. The (conjectural) flag is by Flags of War, I felt it went well with the primrose tunics. This is my second yellow-coated Irish regiment; in fact I now have four regiments that fought in Ireland.

If you'd like to see them in action, they will be at Colours on Newbury on Saturday- you might even get to command them! Please drop me a line if you'd like to book in for the big For King and Parliament game.

Old Noll

Here's Oliver Cromwell, not yet Lord Protector, but already a Lieutenant General of Horse. Cromwell is looking out for the arrival of his Ironsides, who are presently in the flocking queue. Pics are clickable.

I think David Imrie painted him, it's certainly a lovely job! I painted the cornet and fount the other rider in my bits box. The base is from my circular command base pack. The minis are mostly (all?) Bicornes. The simple white flag is from a new pack from GMB, who have kindly also done flags for the Ironside troops, to follow.

I must apologise for the desultory nature of posts on this blog. I have at least a dozen regiments of foot and horse that are finished and awaiting photography, and several more on the basing tray, along with other officers. More pics to follow!