Brown Paper Parcels Tied Up With String

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...were one of Julie Andrews's favourite things. Here's one of mine. A blast from the past, some old Minifig's boxes. A couple of the fabled Hinchliffe blue boxes, and a more recent offering from Foundry*. Okay, completely superfluous and adds an extra cost to figures, but you've got to love a little box haven't you?



* don't worry, I haven't gone over to the 28mm side, I bought some paint from them.

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Parliamentarian Foot

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Another in the latest outbreak of eye candy posts.

My rationale for my regiments of foot can be found here.

Here are the first six regiments of foot, parading in all their finest.

Earl of Essex's Regiment Raised in 1642 for Edgehill, they also took part in both battles of Newbury before being Disbanded and drafted into  the General's Regiment of the New Model Army in 1645. They wore orange tawney coats from September 1642 until re-clothed in an unknown colour in August 1643. Colonel Edward Aldrich's Regiment Regiment of foot of Essex’s Army raised by Lord Saye and Sele but led by Meldrum until he was sent North and replaced by Aldrich. Entered the New Model Army under Colonel Lloyd . Took part at Edgehill, Newark, Lostwithiel and Second Newbury. 

Colonel Charles Fairfax's Regiment Fought in the Second and Third Civil Wars, garrisoning in Scotland during the 1650s.

Lord Robarte's Regiment Part of Essex's army, they fought at Edgehill, Brentford, First Newbury, Lost…
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Regiments of Foot

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Inspired by Streeter's representation of infantry blocks on his Naseby engraving, I set about planning my regiments of foot with the Peter Pig website.

I decided on wings of 8 musketeers, which handily is a pack; a pike block of 12 pikemen (1 1/2 packs); command strip of 4 (1/2 pack), and a couple of halberdiers (1/4 pack). So a regiment was 4 1/4 packs or 34 individuals.

Basing - rather than base for a particular ruleset (not important if I am providing both armies) led to the following idea. Base figures  on 15mm × 40mm. This would suit strips of 4 figures, with halberdiers based 1 per 15×40. A couple of blank bases would make everything neat and tidy for a  120mm × 60mm movement tray. This would also give the option of having the command strip at the front or at the back once the roughtie toughtie stuff starts.

Here's a couple of views of Colonel Charles Fairfax’s Regiment of Foot to illustrate my infantry organisation. Pretty pleased with how they have come out.




Currently…
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Naseby Windmill

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It's all that Streeter's fault: if you have read the other posts on this blog (well done, congratulations for still being here 😉) you'll know that Streeter's engraving of Naseby has held sway over my imagination for most of my life.


A major landmark on the engraving is the windmill, long since gone, the site it stood on is now where the memorial obelisk stands. So, as you can imagine I've unconsciously been looking out for a suitable 15mm representation. Well I think I've found one.

Can't remember how or why I found the site, but I do remember bookmarking it.
Ironclad Miniatures make a windmill for the Russian front which I think is fairly representative of the Naseby mill. Obviously I am only talking about the main body of the windmill, the base isn't quite right, a more accurate one shouldn't be too difficult to scratchbuild.


The windmill comes in four resin pieces, and a sprue of the sails, ladder etc. It is solid resin so is fairly weighty, so …
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Dragoons: Complete

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I make no bones about it, this is an eye candy post. Regular readers will be familiar with my unhappiness with my dragoon regiments due to lack of command stands (see here), well here they are completed. I am pretty pleased with the standard bearers - I was a bit worried about them looking too 'heavy' (they are after all standard bearers from the cavalry command packs), thankfully a 'paint conversion' hid the cuirass pretty well. No fiddly filing required. All in all, I think the command stands work really well.


Figures painted by Alan Tuckey, basing by me.

I decided that there should be a one man one horse ratio for the regiments. Really shows how many men are required to hold the horses, and the actual footprint of the unit on the battlefield.

First up are the Parliamentarians: Earl of Manchester (with a  conjectural guidon, the green colour is taken from Manchester's regiment of horse standard),


and Colonel Wardlaw's Regiment - John Barnes's troop.


Now t…
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The Battle of Nantwich, 25th January 1644

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1643, Charles had signed a Cessation with the Irish and recalled soldiers from Ireland to reinforce his armies. Several regiments were sent to Cheshire where a  new army was being raised. Lord Byron took command of that army in December of that year, and immediately started an offensive against the Parliamentarian forces in the County.

These troops returned to England with a sense of brutality, not seen before in the conflict. One incident in particular shocked the population, no doubt adding fuel to the Parliamentarian fire. When a group of Royalists plundered the village of Barthomley, villagers took refuge in the tower of St Bertoline's Church. The Royalists made a fire at the base of the tower to smoke them out, which forced them to surrender. The Royalists stripped and executed twelve of the villagers and wounded eight others.

Alan Garner's novel "Red Shift" uses this incident for one of the three stories within a story.




Sir William Brereton, the Parliamentarian …
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Marquis of Newcastle's Regiment of Foot

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The latest Royalist regiment of foot to come off the painting table gets a special post all to itself. Why? Marquis of Newcastle's whitecoats are a bit special, even if they are Royalist.

Plus what's not to like about having a Colonel called Posthumous Kirton? Newcastle having a second wife who was known as Mad Madge of Newcastle is the clincher.

In 1642 the Marquis bought 3000 Scots "blew bonnets" to equip his regiments of foot, so this necessitated a few head swaps.

At Marston Moor, they famously made an heroic last stand (we'll gloss over the fact that they arrived late as they were looting the Parliamentarian defensive positions around York). Refusing to surrender, they resisted repeated charges by the Parliamentarian cavalry until no more than 30 were left alive. This famous last stand was probably a  rear guard action to cover the surviving Royalist infantry as they retreated to York.

For a potted history of the regiment try this article on the Newcastle&#…
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The Commandery, Worcester

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The Commandery in Worcester is a magnificent building rooted in the history of the ancient city of Worcester. For the ECW gamer it becomes particularly relevant as Charles II's headquarters during the Battle of Worcester. 
The building has been beautifully renovated, and is approached from the city centre by crossing a bridge which has a balustrade resplendent with pikes, breast plates and helmets.


The galleries were revamped last year, and now tell the tale of Worcester in the Civil Wars more appropriately. 
The galleries don't just tell the story of the building during the Civil Wars but also it's  role in medieval times. 

For the ECW aficionado there are a number of artefacts and interpretive panels, some reproduction uniforms and artillery pieces, as well as some hands on exhibits for the small people. But what really shines out is the beauty of the building itself.

Bank holiday weekends often have a re-enactment society event on, which coupled with a stroll around t…
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Arms and Armour of the English Civil Wars

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...is the title of the latest in the Royal Armouries Arms and Armour Series.


This book is absolutely fantastic. Well illustrated throughout, using portraits and period illustrations to introduce each section, then copious colour photographs of artefacts from the RA collection.

Keith Dowen has penned not only an excellent primer to the period (if you are new to the Civil Wars) but also, a volume that a seasoned Civil War enthusiast would benefit from too.

This is how an arms and armour book should be, take note Osprey and Helion!

Available now from the RA museum shops or their online store. Remember you can always save the postage costs by picking it up in person, if you do you might as well have a look around whilst you are there. Be rude not to.

Also available on Amazon from 1st April.

Arms and Armour of the English Civil Wars K. Dowen, Royal Armouries Museums £12.99

Apologies to Mr Dowen, my autocorrect keeps turning him into a Mr Downton, all corrected now. (Must resist urge to wonde…
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What Colours To Use?

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The mental images we have of seventeenth century dress are invariably of a dashing cavalier, wearing extravagant clothing and an ostentatious feather in a broad-brimmed hat; or a dour Puritan dressed in black and white. A heavily stylised, but very enduring set of images created by the Victorians. But what was the reality?

Some clothing from the time still exists, although this will, by the very nature of things, have belonged to rich owners. It has been suggested too, that due to interest in the civil wars, that these surviving garments have been fancydress-ified to achieve the romantic nature of dashing cavaliers and their ladies.

One example of surviving clothing items  is a royalist officer's sash in the Victoria and Albert museum which has intricate silver/white embroidery.


A quick trawl around the National Gallery throws up a number of useful paintings. There is a gallery of Van Dyck's, showing portraits of Charles’s inner circle: the colours on display clearly shout …
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Hopton Heath

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After visiting Adwalton Moor and Rowton Heath battlefield sites, I've started to get the bit between my teeth for visiting and documenting local Civil War battlefields.

The latest instalment saw me visit Hopton Heath in Staffordshire, where Sir John Gell (Parliament's Derbyshire commander) possibly took a marginal victory*. This is the same John Gell whose infantry standard is proudly exhibited at the National Army Museum and whose buff coat is on display at the Royal Armouries in Leeds


Sir John Gell
Gell's buff coat, Leeds
Early 1643, the war was at a hiatus, the Royalists were under siege at Lichfield, and Parliament wanted to take control of the Midlands (and thereby disrupt the King's supply route north from Oxford).

Gell took Lichfield in early March, the Earl of Northampton was tasked to retake Lichfield, but had to respond to Gell's march on Stafford. They met on the heathland outside the village of Hopton.

Gell had been joined by a force from Cheshire led by …
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