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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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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Hex (2017)

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Hex is a micro budget British film set during the Civil Wars. Be careful looking for it as there are a number of films that share the same title. Not heard of it? No neither had I.


This film is currently included with Amazon Prime in the UK, but is listed as Hex (2019). Hex (2018) is a completely different film altogether, with a much higher body count.

Two soldiers (a Royalist and a Parliamentarian) meet after a skirmish and their conflict leads them into the woods. Only the woods are... well that would be telling.

Think A Field of England but with an even smaller budget and in colour.

The film looks at seventeenth century superstitions and witchcraft in particular; using cinematography, music and good writing to set the scene.

The film is beautifully shot. The Sealed Knot provided props for the camp scenes, and no doubt one or two dead extras. Locations in and around Staffordshire and the Derbyshire border - Lud's Church looking splendid, and as atmospheric as ever. The final s…
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What Colours to Use Part 2: Paint

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If you are new to the blog, or new to painting ECW figures - welcome. Now go and read what colours to use first, as this entry will make much more sense if you read this second.

Caveat: I paint true 15mm figures and apply a heavy wash of Citadel Nuln Oil. These colours work in this setting, with the heavy black wash subduing the colour a bit. If you are starting painting out different sized figures you might need to go brighter or slightly darker depending upon size of your figures.


A number of people have asked me what colour paints I use for certain regiments or a particular item. So here is my attempt at converting the colour chart found in part one into a brand and colour of paint.

I must confess that I am a fan of Foundry and Coat d'Arms (Cd'A) paints, so mostly I have identified their paint colours. If you are a fan of other brands there are a number of paint comparison charts available on the web, one of the best is Dakka Dakka.

Other colours I use (that don't fit the…
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Total Battle Miniatures Buildings: Take Two

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Regular readers (hello both of you) will remember my original TBM post a few weeks ago. Impressed with my sample building (and how it blended well with my Hovels and Peter Pig offerings), I took the plunge and ordered a couple more.

Again from the 15mm Big Battalions range (correctly scaled height, reduced footprint) I went for 'three story buildings' (15BPBB07U) and 'warehouse' (15BPBB17U). My parcel arrived quickly and was packaged securely. The buildings were very clean and needed no cleaning up. I gave them a very good scrub to remove mould release agent.


With some of my Peter Pig dragoons for size reference
The three storey buildings is very neat, thankfully this isn't the Architectural Journal magazine so I can't nitpick about rendered stone in the seventeenth century (stone was an expensive building material so generally wasn't rendered, it was shown off).





The warehouse, again, a neat and simple design.



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Total Battle Miniatures - Buildings

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Regular readers (hello both of you) will know that I am always on the look out for resin buildings that will work with the Hovels and Peter Pig buildings I had a look at Total Battle Miniatures' (henceforth TBM) ranges.

Why resin? My own house is almost 200 years old, nothing is straight, nothing is true. Whilst laser cut mdf buildings can look good, they are a bit too crisp, neat and square for the seventeenth century. Hence resin. Sagging roof lines, wonky windows are all better represented in resin.

I already own a few of their Big Battalions Napoleonic buildings (Essling Granary etc), so I hoped they would work size wise.


TBM make two ranges - Skirmish which are accurately scaled, and Big Battalions which are the correct height but have a reduced footprint.

My test piece is from the Big Battalions 15mm Black Powder Europe section: 15BPBB12U 'Row of Houses'


A clean, crisp hollow resin model which required no cleaning up. I thought I'd washed all the mould release ag…
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Coat Colours

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The tricky question of 'what colour' should I paint my armies was my next conundrum. The fanciful Victorian imagery of the wars has pretty much been dispelled (Roundheads in striped sleeved shirts, Cavaliers in poncey big hats); in reality both sides were, very much of a muchness. There are some surviving uniforms, and documentary evidence of colours and flags, which give us a starting point.

Whilst I do strive for accuracy, at the end of the day my armies are a pastiche, they aim to give a 'feel' rather than pleasing the 'button counters' that populate the darker corners of the wargaming community. But, as there is so much that historians don't know about Civil War uniforms, a pastiche is probably the best that anyone can aspire to.

My unit choices are based upon coat colours (or civilian clothes in the case of the London trained bands) that are known with standards that are  known or we can have a very good stab at. These were my methods for choosing regi…
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Royal Armouries, Leeds

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Update: they appear to have had a slight revamp of the Civil War Gallery. There's a few extra bits on display. 

One of the most stunning museums I have visited (if you can ignore the wealth of smelling mistooks on the exhibit labels and interpretation boards). One of my favourites too.
Lots to see and do. If you have small people in tow, check their Events page.  They usually put a tournament on over the Easter weekend. If you have particular interests check out the schedule of talks and demonstrations before you go, and plan accordingly.


On entry choose the stairs which give close up views of the Hall of Steel.


Civil War interest lies with the Littlecote Collection, the most important surviving armoury of the Civil War; in the audio visual theatre tucked away at the back of the gallery there is a 15 minute dramatisation of events at Marston Moor (on a continuous loop). Spot the mistake on the large interpretation board showing Streeter's Plan of Naseby - it's actually Stu…
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Baggage Train (Again)

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Yes, again. Baggage.

Bit of a recurring theme here.

For the benefit of new readers I keep getting tempted by shiny things and add to my baggage trains - all the while vowing that that is really is my final addition. Probably done this three or four times now. My baggage trains are now mahoosive.



When I discovered that a relative was a captain in Holland's Regiment of Foot, well I had to represent them (and him). Which meant that the Royalists needed another regiment of foot. Which meant I needed to rebalance the armies as they were becoming very foot heavy. But this post is about baggage - I'm coming to that, be patient.

So a really big sort out of the spares box was in order. I discovered that I had enough dead harquebusiers for my big cavalry expansion, and also enough dead musketeers for the few more regiments of foot. But then I started rummaging around in the spares box. Museum Miniatures had thrown in some 'pack donkeys' into one of my orders in lieu of postage ch…
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The Sealed Knot - ECWS: re-enactors

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Bank Holiday weekends usually mean that The Sealed Knot, and The English Civil War Society are re-enacting somewhere. If you have never been to a re-enactment they usually take on two forms - a small demonstration with maybe just one regiment, or major battle with horses, cannon and hundreds of foot soldiers.


The Sealed Knot recently put on one of their major meets at Deene Park in Northampton. Here's a photo album as painting inspiration, or as a taster of what to expect.

The living history camp...


Prior to the battle 

the apprentices regiment drilled...

...and Hesilrigge's Lobsters rode out

The battle


The resident kites weren't sure what to make of it all








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The English Civil War in Colour Photographs.

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I find that it is all too easy to become jaded and lose focus when trying to paint 'uniqueness' into a painting block of 30+ infantry figures. Napoleonics are easy, especially if you go for the box fresh parade ground look (which, let's be honest, is the big appeal of Napoleonics) as everybody is exactly the same.


Random trouser colours, and shades of red coats? All too easy to slip into formulaic convenience for speed.


The English Civil War in Colour Photographs by Honeywell and Spear is a gem of a book. It really helps give inspiration for the 'variations on a theme' notion of colours. Plus it is a pretty good starting point when picking out colours for your palette: what colour for the funny little bottle on a musketeer's bandolier, for example. For those just starting out with an ECW project, the eye candy inspiration is second to none.

The authors have followed Sealed Knot and ECWS reenactors at various events, taking pictures to tell a story about a battl…
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