Dark Ages Buildings

-
Always on the look out for suitable buildings I found these from the same manufacturer as my figures, a barn and a store house.

One advantage of seeing my own 'stuff' on a screen, and magnified, is that shows up all the imperfections. In this case just how awful the thatch is. Needless to say, they have been repainted. I will, however, leave these pics here as a bad example. Keep your eyes peeled for a post about painting thatch in the future... see here




The updated version

If you enjoyed reading this, or any of the other posts, please consider supporting the blog. 
Thanks.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Earl of Manchester’s Regiment of Horse

-
Image
The latest five minutes of the spotlight falls upon the Earl of Manchester's Regiment of Horse; coincidentally, this is the 300th post. Which surprises me as I never thought I'd be able to blather on this much. A little celebratory sherry might be in order. The Regiment was large, they were able to field 11 troops at Marston Moor, and as a result,  they had an additional Colonel. The Regiment's troops had cornets with different coloured fields: Manchester's cornet had a green field; Colonel Algernon Sidney's cornet had a blue field; Captain Robert Sparrow's had a red field; Captain William Dingley's cornet also had a red field; Captain Thomas Hammond's cornet  had a blue field; and Captain Valentine Walton's cornet also had a red field. Sidney was the commander of the Regiment in the field; he was seriously wounded at Marston Moor, and relinquished command when the Regiment joined the New Model Army. The Regiment would be known as Colonel Nathaniel R
Read more

Earl of Buccleugh's Regiment of Foot

-
Image
Not a 'new' Regiment, but another in the series of 'briefly mentioned, I'd better go into a bit more detail'. So here is fifteen minutes of fame for the Earl of Buccleugh's Regiment of Foot. Later known as Colonel Walter Scott’s, then Colonel William Baillie’s Regiment of Foot, they were also known as the Tweeddale Foot. The Tweeddale Foot were raised in August/September of 1643 by Francis Scott, the 2nd Earl of Buccleugh (now spelled Buccleuch). The majority of its men came from the presbytery of Selkirk. Numbering 1200 men they joined Leven's army in January 1644 and marched south into England. Their first engagement was at the Battle of Hylton to the west of Sunderland (probably better known as the Battle of Boldon Hills), closely followed by joining the besiegers of York. They were brigaded with Loudon's Glasgow Foot at Marston Moor, but fled the field after being broken by the left wing of the Royalist horse. They were then quartered in South in Yor
Read more

Houses of Interest: East Riding

-
Image
Strangely the modern County of East Yorkshire (or east Riding as Yorkshire folk would have it) has not been visited by the ECWtravelogue before. Which is surprising as the first symbolic act of the First English Civil war took place here. (It's also quite a trek from Chateau KeepYourPowderDry, but that is by the by.)So here goes... Those of you in need of further  Yorkshire adventures should check out:   West Yorkshire , South Yorkshire ,   North Yorkshire  , York and Marston Moor  and Adwalton Moor . Let us start with Hull , the symbolic birthplace of the First Civil War, when Sir John Hotham denied King Charles entry to the town and barred the Beverley Gate. As a consequence Hull became a significant target for Charles's ire, being besieged in 1642 and again in 1643. Hull was Yorkshire's second largest town, only York was bigger. It was a very important port and possessed a large arsenal prior to the outbreak of hostilities. Sir John Meldrum led raiding sorties out of the
Read more

Coat Colours Part 1: Parliamentarian Regiments of Foot

-
Image
When I first started my Civil War gaming project I relied upon the many ECW coat colour tables on wargaming websites. As my project has progressed, my library has got bigger, my research has gone back to primary sources rather than relying upon second and third hand sources; and I have noticed quite a few errors in these lists for wargamers. I have also noticed the same errors appearing in multiple lists.     As a result of continually seeing 'the London Trained Bands and their Auxiliaries wore red coats' (there is no evidence supporting this at all, the evidence, whilst not explicit suggests that the London Trained Bands wore civilian clothes - some of the Auxiliaries might have been issued with blue winter coats) I decided to write my own list.  So here it is. If your allegiance lies elsewhere you might want to look at  Part 2  Royalist coat colours Part 3  Scots coat colours & Part 3B Montrose and the Irish Brigade Pa
Read more

Coat Colours Part 2: Royalist Regiments of Foot

-
Image
Continuing my therapeutic blogging (write rather than rant) antidote to incorrect English Civil War coat colour tables for wargamers, I give you the Royalist Regiments of Foot Part 1  Parliamentarian coat colours Part 3  Scots coat colours Part 4  Dragoons, Horse and the New Model Army coat colours and information about the  Trained Bands Same rules apply here, as they did with the Parliamentarian coat colours: Regiments often got renamed when command passed to a new colonel - these regiments are listed under their first name e.g. Jacob Astley's Regiment was originally Richard Fielding's Regiment. Coat colour notes refer to contemporaneous references and some of the deductions made by Reid, Spring,  Peachey and Prince. You will also notice that some regiments have several coat colours listed. Where there is some question around a coat colour I have tried to give an explanation or provide notes. Don't forget the golden rule of ECW coat colours: there was no uniform
Read more

Master of Yester's Regiment of Foot

-
Image
Another regiment that appeared only fleetingly: a Covenanter Regiment of Foot raised for the Bishops' Wars, then seeing service in England, Scotland and in the Second Civil War Originally raised in 1638 in Peeblesshire, they were involved in the capture of Dalkeith House, before they joined Leslie’s army at Duns Law. They were disbanded following the Treaty of Birks in June 1639. John, Master of Yester received his commission late August 1643 to raise the regiment anew in Linlithgow and Tweeddale presbyteries. He selected a professional soldier, William Johnston, as his lieutenant colonel. The Master of Yester would spend most of 1642-3 accompanying the Royalist army in England. The regiment marched south into England and engaged in their first combat by storming the fort at South Shields. They would serve at the siege of York and Marston Moor, where they were brigaded with the Stirlingshire Foot in the Scottish second line. After Marston Moor they marched to Leeds. They would retu
Read more

Sir Horatio Cary's Regiment of Horse

-
Image
You probably don't know much, or have even heard of Sir Horatio's Regiment of Horse but you will, no doubt, be aware of their cornets; nor may you know the story behind the less than subtle message emblazoned on the cornets. Cary's Cornet - original artwork by Tony Barton, from a Military Modelling series on ECW flags available to download via BCW Regimental Wiki Sir Horatio was originally a Parliamentarian, fighting as colonel of foot in Waller's Southern Association: Cary would defect to the Royalist cause shortly before the Siege of Bristol in 1643. The history of the regiment is confused by Symonds's mistaken suggestion that the regiment was taken over by the Earl of Cleveland, and that Cary would raise a second regiment in the West Country. The details that we can  attribute to Cary's are: possibly skirmishing at Westbourne, possibly at Cheriton, Storming of Leicester (where they numbered 200), Naseby, besieged at Bristol (the karmic circle catchi
Read more

Which Figures?

-
Image
I see the ECW as the complete antithesis of Napoleonic gaming. I have thousands of Napoleonic figures, old school 15mm Naismith and Heritage, all in the same pose, neatly turned out in matching parade ground uniforms. That's how it should be, that is how I imagine lines of uniform troops shooting bravely at one another (maybe not in their Sunday best, the Funcken's have a lot to answer for with their Napoleonic uniforms books.) The ECW, however, is a completely different kettle of fish. Random uniforms, a mix of reds in a single red coated regiment, different hats, their own trousers (as opposed to standard issue). So a wide range of figures, poses, tweaked to give a ‘group of individuals’ look that I wanted. Plus I had a few other questions that needed addressing. Pikes Pikes are a thorny issue. Have a look on fleabay, search ‘ECW infantry’ to see some beautifully painted miniatures (and some not so beautiful ones too) armed with what looks like over cooked spaghetti. Sepa
Read more

York and Marston Moor

-
Image
This post, has, by default turned into part 4 of my Rupert's March North series (even though it predates the series by several months). Still not had the call up from BBC2 for a miniseries - bet Ben Fogle gets the gig, or Professor Alice (lovely speaking voice, as my mum would say). York, as the country's northern capital had an important part to play during the Civil War. The siege, Rupert's relief of the siege and the resulting battle of Marston Moor have a lot to offer the wargamer. First we need to learn a little bit about York's place in English history and why it was very important during the Civil War. York was England's capital in the north (shades of Game of Thrones I know), strategically very important as a muster point for any military action against Scotland. Heavily fortified since Roman times, the city was also an important religious centre as well as being a seat of government. Fast forward to the C17th: the north is pretty much under the control of
Read more

Coat Colours Part 5: The Trained Bands

-
Image
As I was about to post about the Tower Hamlet's Regiment of the London Trained Bands, and about to go down my usual ranty rabbit hole about coat colours I thought it better to write a general post about Trained Bands. This got out of hand a little and became the coat colours series, without even touching upon the Trained Bands.  When I first started my ECW project I took at face value lots of information from what I believed to be 'trusted' sources: it only took a little  cursory reading to quickly realise that many of these 'trusted' sources replicate the same errors. Which is why my original Tower Hamlet's Regiment wore red coats and carried the 'wrong' flag. They were quickly given the correct flag, but the red coat issue was slowly nagging me. They have since been rechristened John Birch's, and the Tower Hamlets LTB has been raised anew. This post is a bit more than  Coat Colours Part 5 Part 1  Parliamentarian coat colours Part 2  Royalist c
Read more