Plague Physicians

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Earlier this year Peter Pig released a pack of plague physicians. Here's my take on them, teamed up with a 'dead cart' from their Wars of the Roses range.





And here is a real plague mask on display at the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin.







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Baggage, Cannon and Limbers

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In yet another case of déjà vu I sit thinking how to write a blog entry about baggage and artillery.

"But you said..." I hear both my readers cry; and yes, I did say no more baggage. But, well...I had a good rummage around in the spares box, and well, a surfeit of dragoon horseholders were crying out to be used.

So here they are , two more carts for the Parliament's baggage train.


And two more for the King's.


As well as two carts Parliament has gained a demi-culverin (heavy gun) and a saker (medium gun), both with limbers and casualty markers.



As has the King.


As always, the men and cannon are from Peter Pig; wagons and limbers from Museum Miniatures; custom casualty markers from Warbases with a Peter Pig poorly person.
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Recently picked up a copy of this on fleabay.

Widely available from internet behemoths for a lot of money, this can be picked up for less than a tenner if you have patience from a certain on-line auction house.

An eagle-eyed reader reports it is available from the BFI web shop for £9.99. 


Winstanley was released in 1975, and "no" younglings your screen isn't broken, films and telly box were often black and white in those days. We had it hard back in the day...

Armour used in the film was borrowed from the Royal Armouries collection; the V&A and the Museum of English Rural Life helped with the rest of the costumes, and advised on locations.

Whilst the costumes and locations were top notch, the cast were mostly amateurs.

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Houses of Interest: Staffordshire

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The continuing ECW Travelogue miniseries looking at houses/churches and places that have a Civil-War-connection-but-not-tied-to-a-bigger-event continues, this time focusing on Staffordshire. For some reason, rather than looking at the bit of Staffs that is a hop skip and a jump from Château KeepYourPowderDry I've started with the corner of Staffs that is furthest away.

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Sir William Brereton's Company of Firelocks

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Sir William Brereton (the same William Brereton whose coffin got washed away in a flood when his body was being returned home for burial) was commander of Parliament's forces in Cheshire.

He fielded a regiment of foot, a regiment of horse and a regiment of dragoons. From 1644 the dragoons were often referred to as firelocks - whether this just refers to their weapons, or to them doing their soldiering on foot (with firelocks) we do not definitively know, although the general use of the term at the time meant foot soldiers (with firelocks).

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Houses of Interest: Cheshire

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The County of my birth, and just a few miles away from Château KeepYourPowderDry, so why has it taken so long to writing an entry?

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The Legh's were staunch Royalists, although didn't really have much to do with the soldiering due to a series of unfortunate events. Peter Legh XI inherited the property from his father just before the outbreak of war. He was elected MP for Newton in 1640, but died from his injuries sustained in a duel in 1642. His son, Frances inherited the Hall but died without issue in 1643. Frances's nephew inherited the hall. Richard was a mi…
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Houses of Interest: Yorkshire

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When I researched and wrote the Rupert travelogue entry for Yorkshire, and the entry for Adwalton Moor there were some great houses that I was unable to visit (namely because they were shut). I have slowly been plugging away at visiting and documenting them here on the blog.

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Located close to the M62 and the Leeds branch of purgatory on Earth (aka Ikea), this Tudor manor house is beautifully maintained by Kirklees Borough Council.

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I was having a bit of a sort out/procrastinating about doing a gajillion headswaps of Peter Pig clubmen*, when I discovered some really useful figures in my 'spares box'. In the interests of 'balance' it must also be pointed out that there were some pretty useless figures in the spares box too (vampire with modern pistol, lots of deaded/wounded Scots highlanders etc).

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A witches' coven, complete with bubbling cauldron. The impressive bit being the fact I hadn't lost all three (separate) legs for the cauldron. Please note my witches look like witches, so have green skin and black clothes.



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Cromwell (1970)

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I do like a good period film on in the background when painting (painting French line whilst Waterloo is on in the background is the only way to make it pleasurable). This is good fodder to 'set the scene' whilst you stick your tongue out when concentrating on fiddly detail.  Richard Harris and Alec Guiness play Oliver and Charles respectively. Just don't use it as painting inspiration, unless you want to perpetuate the myth of ironsides wearing rugby shirts.


Yes, it's all wrong. Why should anything like facts get in the way of a film script? If historical inaccuracies really offend you, then this film is not for you.

It's a film, it is entertainment. It does have the right 'feel' about it, plus it has massed battles with masses of real people not CGI.

Someone has reviewed the film on YouTube and pointed out every factual error and also what they got right.  Part one and part two
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Chapel en le Frith

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