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.

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.

Sir Charles Gerard’s Regiment of Foot

I've been very slack with the blog posts recently but will hopefully catch up in the coming weeks! This is Charles Gerard's regiment, from the King's Oxford army. They fought at Edgehill and First Newbury- there's more about it on BCW. NB all photos will expand if clicked!

The miniatures are all Bicornes, painted by Chris Meacham. The lovely flags are GMB- Gerrard's has a gyronny design, the finest ECW flag style in my opinion. 

The bases are my FK&P batbases for a 30cm grid, which can now be bought from the BigRedBatshop. I'll shortly be adding bases that will work with a 20cm grid.

In other news.... I have lots of ECW regiments that are finished but I've not had time to take photos- I will try to catch up in the coming days!

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.

Sir Allen Apsley's Regiment

 

Here's the latest regiment for my For King and Parliament project; Sir Allen Apsley's regiment from Hopton's Royalist army. All photos are clickable!

Below, the regiment ready for melee, with the command stand behind. The pike stand are in the red coats, trousers and monteros of the Oxford army- later I will swap them out for some more down-at-heel campaigning minis in grey trousers, in attaching poses.

The quality of the painting on these is stunning; the shot, above, were painted either by David Imrie or by Chris Meacham, who painted the command minis, below. I merely did the flags (again, lovely Flags of War) and based on the new Batbases I designed for the ECW (not yet in the BigRedBatShop). Here's a first; I flocked the edges of the bases. Works really well...

Most of the minis are lovely Bicornes, with some Renegades mixed in. I love the look of the pikes massed behind the command (below).

That's it for now; In a couple of weeks I hope too finish the first cavalry regiment!

Colonel John Talbot's Regiment of Foot

Here's Talbot's regiment- the first completely based regiment in 28mm for my "For King and Parliament" collection, for use with the new ECW rules that Andrew Brentnall and I will publish late this year/early next. This is the first of 20 regiments of foot for a planned Salute game. 

It has three stands of 12 minis and a command stand of six. The minis are all Bicornes, beautifully painted by Chris Meacham, and the flags are from Flags of War. The photo is clickable- the detail on the minis is superb!. This is the way I'll base my minis for the game but, because it's gridded, minis can be based in any way that people want; no need to rebase existing collections!

I'll be at Colours tomorrow with Andrew Brentnall, running a big 10/12mm ECW participation game, do drop by and say hello. I'll have these minis (and some more) with me. Hope to see you there!

Colonel John Talbot's Regiment

Here's my latest regiment, part-based; Colonel John Talbot's Regiment, from Ireland, which served in Hopton's army. All the splendid Bicorne minis were painted by Chris Meacham- I just did the flags (which are Flags of War and very nice, indeed). I particularly like this regiment's yellow coats. Pictures are clickable.

I have complete four regiments on bases now, with another two partially based and roughly ten more-or-less painted but unbased foot regiments.

Andrew Brentnall and I are putting on a demonstration game (above) of For King and Parliament at Colours on Saturday week. The game will feature Andrew's impressive 10-12mm collection, but I'll have some of the 28mm units with me and we will be demonstrating the coming "For King and Parliament" rules. Do please come by and say hello!

King's Lifeguard of Foote, mustered

I've been slowly chipping away at modelling my new ECW army for a hopeful Salute game in 2018; I've just added the wings of shotte to the King's Lifeguard of Foote; I have tried to give an impression of them closed up to fire salvee (although I don't have the perfect poses for this). Photos are clickable.

Some of the minis were painted by Chris Meacham, others by Shaun McTague, and a few by me.

I have worked out that I need to finish/base around three regiments of foot or horse each month before Salute. Gulp.

Andrew (and Ian and I) will be bringing his impressive 12mm Battle of Lessie's Moor game to Colours at Newbury on 16th September, and I'll be bringing the advanced guard of my own 28mm ECW army. If you are around, please call by and say hello- or stay and turn a few cards with us!