Keep Your Powder Dry

 Jings and crivens! Even more baggage? I'm afraid so. The last part of my Montrose/Solemn League/Irish Confederate baggage extension is complete. Erm... actually it isn't. Now that I have discovered that I can't actually see the figures properly when painting, and that 2.0 readers from the cheapy shop help enormously, I will be tidying these up. The strap work on those bags is shocking! The Irish Confederates have two pack horse trains. These are Chariot figures from Magister Militum. Magister Militum are in the process of shutting up shop, and these figures are now unavailable; MM are finding new homes for their ranges, to date I haven't heard any news about anyone talking the Chariot range on yet. Originally the pony handlers had Scots bonnets, they have been replaced with Peter Pig Irish heads. The Confederates also have two, two-wheeled carts added to their baggage train. Both from Museum Miniatures' extensive baggage range. Each cart has a Peter Pig dragoon ho...

Reading books doesn't half cause problems, and I don't just mean finding shelf space for yet another book. Glenn Price (Soldiers and Civilians, Transports and Provisions) argues that a significant hindrance to the Scots armies manoeuvring in Scotland, was the quality of the roads - their baggage and supplies had to be carried on pack horses rather than carts in the main part, roads were often impassable to carts. Which ultimately means a bit of a rethink on my Scottish and Irish baggage trains. My Covenanter army has a couple of pack horses (one hander to one horse), and a four wheel heavy cart. Fine for the lowlands and their excursions south of Hadrian's Wall, but no good for campaigning in Scotland. Throw into the mix Magister Militum shutting up shop, I decided to pick up all the remaining packs of pack horses. I also purchased some two wheel carts from Museum Miniatures. With a little reorganisation, this gives me a slightly more appropriate baggage train. Each of the ...

Bit of a buy one, get two more free post today, kickstarting a new year. Regular readers (hello all twenty of you) familiar with my Cannons for The Catholic Confederacy post will know a little about the state of Ireland's C17th roads. (TL;DR they were a bit pants). As a result of the rubbish roads, it is sort of inevitable that the Irish baggage train would be light carts and pack horses. But, as we know that they did haul demi-culverin around they would have been able to move heavier carts around too. So here's my fledgling Irish baggage train: a heavy cart from Museum Minatures. Additional drum from Peter Pig, a Peter Pig dragoon horseholder (with a headswap) as a drover, a SteelFist drummer rounding the base off. I will be adding some light carts to my two Scottish armies and my Irish army at some point. With Magister Militum shutting up shop, I have managed to pick up the last three packs of pack horses in stock, and some Scots horseholders; hopefully, a buyer will be found...

My original Which Figures posts have grown exponentially, so much so that I decided to revise the information. For the full picture see:- Which Figures?   - the original post, where I ruminate about what I want from figures, and what led me to choose Peter Pig  Which Figures? What is Available   - the state of play with current 'ECW' 15mm figure ranges; a continually updating look at what figures are available, and what is included/missing from ranges. Which Figures? Part 2a: Size Matters: Foot  - I take a look at what is available in 15/18mm and show side by side comparisons  Which Figures? Part 2b: True 15mm/Epic Compatibility: Foot   - a more in depth look at smaller 15mm compatibility Which Figures? Part 3a: Size Matters: Horses   - I take a look at what is available in 15/18mm and show side by side comparisons  Which Figures? Part 3b: True 15mm/Epic Compatibility: Horses  - a more in depth look at smaller 15mm compatibility (th...

Regular readers (hello all seven of you, maybe even eight now) will have seen my claims that my baggage train was finished and that there would be no more expansions. In fact you will have seen me claim this a number of times. Cutting a very long and tedious story short, space appeared in my baggage train boxes. Oh noes, I hear you cry, what is to be done. Fortunately the now vacant space was just the right size for a small cart... Not wishing to upset the karmic apple cart by having empty space I ordered two barrel carts from Museum Miniatures. As always, the drover that came with the pack was discarded and replaced by a PP horseholder.  In the interests of prettification the Royalist incarnation has a Naismith marching musketeer on its base; Parliament's has a Steel Fist flautist (from command pack 3). The complete Parliamentarian baggage train... ...maybe I have overdone it. A little. (The Royalists have a similar sized train too.) If you enjoyed reading this, or any of the othe...

Montrose's army wasn't known for it's artillery or baggage trains, but they must have had one. A good rummage (who doesn't love a good rummage?) in the spares box provided some dragoon horseholders, who with a headswap for a Scots bonnet some became little Scottish men. A Museum Miniatures open wagon with load, with a couple of extra PP drums and a Donnington halberd fancying up the cart's load up a bit. As Montrose wasn't really known for his artillery train I had a spare PP frame gun and crew lurking in the spares box. Also residing in the spares box was a Magister Militum pack mule, a suitable candidate to transport the frame gun between jobs. I would like to point out that my spares box is not enormous, nor does it hold riches beyond belief. In fact, apart from far too many standard bearers it is looking pretty empty now. Of course an artillery expansion requires a casualty marker from Warbases. If you enjoyed reading this, or any of the other posts, please ...

I quite fancied a coach, no other reason that it would look nice on the battlefield.  No doubt Robert Morley as the Earl of Manchester had a hand in this 'need'. A little bit of research (i.e. Google) showed two options available. Magister Militum and Essex both having a C17th gentleman's carriage in their listings. But no picture on the Essex website. A little more Googling brought up a review: the writer* ditched the Magister Militum offering as it was too complex and fiddly to build. So I ordered the Essex one on the strength of it (and my experience of having had a run in with MM Scots frame guns, which are really fiddly to assemble, which went in the bin). The coach arrived promptly, along with a restock of brown paint... must be more harquebusiers in the offing. The coach body comes in three parts: two sides and a roof. Attached to the body are the springs - take very great care not to damage them!  Unfortunately the two halves needed considerable greenstuff action to...