Assault Parties (take 3)

-

On one of the rare occasions that I visit Facebook I was perusing the Victory Without Quarter page, and saw some beautiful 28mm storming party figures. In amongst the pictures were three figures carrying a ladder. Obviously a storming party needs ladders, but I don't have any! An idea germinated...

Could I make a ladder party? Where any figures suitable to chopped and changed into what I wanted. I've got some ladders tucked into a corner of my Château Hougomont model, might have some spares somewhere.

A rummage through my spares box found some standard bearers from PP pack 17 'foot command advancing' and a lowland pikeman from pack 82 'Scots pike 45' open hand'. Both have potential. 

The 'raw materials'

Couldn't find any ladders, they were from Magister Militum, who have now shut up shop. So no more available from that source, PP make a pack, but I didn't really want to spend the best part of £10 on just a pack of ladders (the £4.50 post and packing charge deterring me from placing an order). So two were recovered from Hougomont (nobody will miss them, I'm sure)

The Scots pikeman: before (l) and after(r), obviously still needs a head

The pikeman was easy enough. Cleaned up, he was decapitated, and his drawn sword removed. His right arm was moulded to his body, so I carefully cut between arm and body. Gentle cleaning of the cut with a fine X-Acto blade separated the arm from the body, an even gentler twist with pliers brought his elbow and forearm out and up. Result! A new head was added. Then a little rounding out of things, and a sword hilt added to his scabbard with greenstuff. He also needed a bag adding as he has a cross belt that doesn't go anywhere, it has nothing hanging from it at all.

The standard bearer: before (l) and after(r), obviously still needs a head

The standard bearer was clearly going to be a tougher nut to crack. Decapitated and his flag pole removed. Then drastic measures. His right arm was cut off completely at the shoulder, cleaned up and a flat face cut to allow me to glue it into the position I wanted. I was going to pin the arm in place, but as I will need to fill in some pretty large gaps with greenstuff, I thought the greenstuff would hold everything in place once set.

Varnish looks a bit too shiny, might need redoing

Would the two figures fit together with a ladder? A dry run found a problem, the standard bearer's newly positioned arm wouldn't fit through the ladder. I'd only got two ladders, so I was quite nervous cutting a section of a rung away. Altogether they fitted together quite well. 

Now that I knew they 'fitted' it was out with the greenstuff and new heads fitted.

Parliament's ladder

If you think I am making this look easy, it wasn't. This is the edited version. The pikeman was easy enough, and the first standard bearer went smoothly. But then I took a break, thankfully I had a number of the standard bearers in my spares box. Second finished standard bearer not as good as the first, but once the ladder is in place he looks better.

In a bout of procrastination/task avoidance* (delete as appropriate) I was looking at the composition of my assault parties - 4 petard teams but only 1 ladder. That's very unbalanced. Surely I will need 4 ladder parties per army...

* I'm really dragging my feet painting Napoleonics, but W3K I jump at the chance

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

The Scots Army and its Flags at Preston and Dunbar

-
Image
Today's post takes a look at a very exciting release from Partizan, that focuses on the flags of the Scottish Covenanters.  Regular readers may well spot a plethora of Scottish related posts over the rest of 2025 - guess where the ECWtravelogue is going on holiday this year... For transparency please note, whilst I do occasionally get sent books to review, I bought this volume with my own money. Nor do I get any commission for recommending any reading materials... which is a real shame... First some background... The Covenanting Armies continually changed its allegiances during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms to support whichever 'side' they thought would further their cause. This book focuses upon the period 1648-1650, where they threw their support behind Charles I, as Engagers, then behind Charles II after the Treaty of Breda. The Engagers had negotiated with the imprisoned Charles I who promised the Covenanters his support of the Presbyterian cause; this effectively star...
Read more

Houses of Interest: Northamptonshire

-
Image
 The big ticket item for Civil War aficionados in Northamptonshire has to be Naseby, and its impact upon Market Harborough and Daventry .  The fictional Arnescliffe * also lies within the County. So what else is there of interest in Northamptonshire? The town of Northampton was for Parliament: the castle was garrisoned, and the town's shoemakers diligently produced shoes and boots for Parliament's armies. So what's there now? In an act of peace and reconciliation Charles II had the entire town sleighted for its support against his father. What little of the town that survived was swept away by a fire that ravaged the town in 1670. So you'd imagine that there is nothing to see in Northampton whatsoever... you'd be wrong. What remained of Northampton Castle was completely flattened by the Victorians to make way for the railway. A single postern gate is all that remains, relocated and rebuilt into the walls to the east of Northampton station. Recent archaeological su...
Read more

Solemn League Artillery (Again)

-
Image
Regular readers (hello all eight of you), will have seen me complain that I had underrepresented the Solemn League artillery train, so I added a paltry minion and limber to beef up their artillery train. A handful of frame guns and a minion doesn't really cut it, does it? So I have added a brace of  sakers. Sakers and crews from PP; limbers from Museum Miniatures, with a PP horseholder who has had a headswap. Custom casualty markers from Warbases This time I went for Cd'A wood for the gun carriages, with my now trusty mix of Foundry blackened barrel shades for the metalwork (light for the wheel tyres and dark for everything else). If you enjoyed reading this, or any of the other posts, please consider  supporting  the blog.  Thanks .
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. For all of my coat colour articles see: Introduction   Part 1  Parliamentarian coat colours Part 3  Scots coat colours Part 3B  Montrose and the Irish Brigade Part 4  Dragoons, Horse and the New Model Army coat colours The Trained Bands London Trained Bands Auxiliary regiments Scarves   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 aro...
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  Introduction   Part 2  Royalist coat colours Part 3  Scots coat colours Part 3B ...
Read more

Sir George Vaughan’s Regiment of Horse

-
Image
What's this? More Horse? I hear my regular readers exclaim (hello all eight of you). I know I said that there would be no more Horse, but a reorganisation of 'the boxes' threw up some emptiness; fearful that such expanses of box wasteland would cause cataclysmic chaos theory consequences, I thought I'd better fill it. So one more Horse a side it is. So here, for your delectation, is Sir George Vaughan’s Regiment of Horse. Raised in Wiltshire. They fought at Lansdown; were probably at Roundway Down; stormed Bristol; the siege of Gloucester; First Newbury; possibly at the siege of Wardour Castle; were able to field two troops at Cheriton; Cropredy Bridge; Lostwithiel; Caradon Down; Second Newbury; before rounding the First Civil War off (and their existence) at the relief of Donnington Castle. Vaughan, himself, was wounded at Lansdown. he was captured at Hereford in 1645. As a result, he would be imprisoned at Southwark, and fined £2,609 for his "delinquency".  ...
Read more

Kitchen Matters

-
Image
One can not simply spend one's life visiting sites associated with the wars, or painting little men. You do have to eat, now and again... Now even the most die hard seventeenth century afficiando can take their passion into the kitchen with them! Stuck for a recipe? Try Mrs Cromwell's Cookbook , available from the Cromwell Museum  online shop, or in person from the museum itself: although this book was not written by her (it was actually written after Oliver Cromwell had died as a way to make fun of her) the recipes are good examples of food that they might have eaten while they were alive. Maybe I should have ironed it for the pictures... Once you have dined upon your 'Cromwellian' feast I'm afraid there is the washing up to do. And what better to complete the task than a World Turned Upside Down tea towel? Also available from the Cromwell Museum or in person from the shop at the National Civil War Centre. Other seventeenth century themed tea towels are availabl...
Read more

Houses of Interest: Norfolk

-
Image
The 'hostilities' bit of the Civil Wars pretty much passed the County of Norfolk by: not a great deal of fighting happened here. Norfolk's role was primarily as a recruiting ground, and bank roller of the Eastern Association.  That's not to say that 'nothing' happened here, or that the county was solely for Parliament's cause. Norwich's defences were bolstered, and a small garrison was established. Conesford, St Giles, Pockthorpe and St Augustine’s Gates were all blocked as part of these precautions. The gates have long been demolished but a number of markers exist documenting their locations. The best way to locate the walls, and gates is by downloading the walls trail leaflet here . Norwich Cathedral was damaged by an anti-Papist mob, and was later used as barracks.  Not all of Norfolk was for the Parliamentarian cause. In March 1643, Oliver Cromwell was sent to King's Lynn to investigate rumours of a Royalist conspiracy. These rumours were unfo...
Read more

Warlord Pike and Shotte Epic Battles: the infantry sprue

-
Image
Firstly a big thank you to Warlord Games who sent me a sprue of their new Pike and Shotte Epic Battles infantry. (You can see how I got on with the cavalry sprue here. ) I will try and look at these figures from three different angles: the first impression of someone completely new to the period, the button counter’s standpoint, and then from a seasoned wargamer’s point of view. In all cases I'm looking at these through Wars of the Three Kingdoms spectacles. (Wars of the Three Kingdoms is a more accurate name for the conflicts that were fought in the British Isles in the mid seventeenth century. The English Civil War was just one of these conflicts.) The obligatory next to a ruler picture (the ruler is lined up with the soles of their footwear) The 'new to the period' view This one sprue provides enough figures for one unit (a Regiment of Foot or RoF). Figures look very detailed, moulding is clean and crisp with no flash and only minimal mould lines. The pikes look a bit d...
Read more

Chirk Castle

-
Image
The ECW Travelogue made a packed lunch (or as we in Derbyshire say 'a pack up'), and headed over the border into Welsh Wales. Wrexham to be precise. Chirk Castle  is in the care of the National Trust, so expect the obligatory café, and shop selling fudge and wooden swords. Built in the late thirteenth century, Chirk was part of Edward Longshank's chain of castles across North Wales.  From a Civil War point of view we'll fast forward to 1593 when the Myddleton family bought the property. Sir Thomas Myddelton II was an MP having represented Weymouth and Melcombe Regis in the 1620s, before he represented Denbighshire in 1625, then again 1640-1648. Sir Thomas Myddleton II The area around Chirk was on the whole sympathetic to the Crown, so it was somewhat unusual that Sir Thomas declared for Parliament. At the outbreak of war he was made Sergeant Major General of the Parliamentary forces in North Wales, and went off campaigning.  In the summer of 1642 he returned to Wales to...
Read more