Keep Your Powder Dry

Continuing the theme of figures becoming somebody else, I thought I'd steal the reveal from Stars In Their Eyes... I'm Oliver Cromwell, and tonight Matthew I'm going to be  Colonel John Okey.  Possibly my favourite figure from the entire range of 'characters'. This pose really lends itself to a vignette with the figure talking to a figure on foot. The perfect figure for this being the General Coaker collectable figure from PP. Originally these limited free figures were available for attendees at PP game days, but more recently they have become a wonderful way of remembering gamers and friends of PP who have passed away. Limited to one per household, I'd already utilised my General Coaker figure in a regiment of foot, but was fortunate to be a gifted another (thanks Will). Maybe the figure on foot has just climbed down from a tree at Naseby and is reporting the location of the King to his colonel? John Okey was a London merchant, and later an MP for Bedfordshire....

The current rash of 'new senior officers' continue. When will it stop? Pretty soon I'd imagine (the box of shiny things is now empty). So here is a senior officer apiece for the The Solemn League, Montrose, and The Catholic Confederacy. These are PP figures from their 'personalities section, who have been repurposed. As with previous figures from the PP personality section, major surgery was required to remove the vast majority of their bases. First up is  John Lindsay, Earl of Crawford-Lindsay , who is the Hasselrigg figure from the range in case you are wondering. John is resplendent in full cuirassier armour. John, born around 1598, was the eldest son of Robert, 9th Lord Lindsay,  and Lady Christian Hamilton. On his father's death in1616, he became the 10th Lord Lindsay of the Byres. 1633, he was elevated to  Earl of Lindsay. He also inherited the Earldom of Crawford following his cousin, Ludoivic, forfeiting the title in November 1652. He was appointed Treasurer...

 Two more PP characters are re-appropriated to be somebody else.  I had thought long and hard as to whether I would actually use these figures, the ensigns quickly made their way onto fleabay, the personalities have sat in a drawer awaiting their fate. Each figure has a much thicker base than the normal PP figures, which accentuates the size difference. Figures also have their name in raised detail on the base. I needed to trim down the bases. Thinner bases would help blend the personalities into the rest of my armies. Henry Bard, 1st Viscount Bellomont ( This is the Charles I figure. PP missed a trick by not sculpting the figure wearing his Order of the  Garter riband. Thankfully, by not having a garter riband it makes it much easier to change who the figure is.) Henry has graced these pages before with his Regiment of Foot . Bard had travelled considerably, having visited Paris, and journeyed on foot through France, Italy, Turkey, Palestine, and Egypt. It is alleged tha...

Realising that my finished* Irish Confederate Catholics were lacking in the command stakes, I decided to utilise the Peter Pig characters that were sat in my spares box. The character packs are heroically sized in comparison to the rest of the PP ECW range, I had thought long and hard as to whether I would actually use these figures, the ensigns quickly made their way onto fleabay, the personalities have sat in my spares box for a very long time awaiting their fate.  Each figure has a much thicker base than the normal PP figures, which accentuates the size difference. Figures also have their name in raised detail on the bases. Thinner bases would help blend the personalities into the rest of my armies. The base trimmings from just three figures Next I had to decide who they were going to become... So here are my latest Irish Catholic command figures. Sir Ruaidhrí Ó Mórdha ( This is the Essex figure from the character range.) Sir Ruaidhrí Ó Mórdha, sometimes Sir Rory O'Moore, or eve...

The original Irish Command post focused solely upon the spiritual leadership of my Connfederate Army. Although I really should have an Archbishop GianBattista Rinuccini figure, mounted on a donkey or on a litter. This post features the military leadership. Figures are gleaned from the Peter Pig Scots generals pack, number 40. General Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill  was a talented soldier who learned his soldiering in Spanish service on the continent. His personality, and distrust by his contemporaries meant the seemingly natural commander of the Confederate Army was often sidelined. For a fuller biography see here . Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill Eoghan's personal standard is the Irish harp on a green background, which was reported as being used by Eoghan in 1642. Prior to this the traditional background had been blue. As always, flag created for me by Stuart at Maverick Models. The ensign figure has been given  a PP Irish hat head. Sir Phelim macShane Ó Néill Sir Phelim macShane Ó Néill Phelim, ...

Just as Montrose's army has had some more command figures, so have the Covenanters. These are from Peter Pig Scots generals pack 40. All three have had headswaps. Sir Alexander Hamilton Hamilton was the Covenanter general of artillery until 1649 when he died. Known to friend and foe as 'dear Sandy' he fought for both Denmark and Sweden. It is believed that he may have refined the Swedish leather gun, but he is best known for inventing the 'Dear Sandy Stoups' - four light bronze barrels mounted upon a frame. John Campbell, 1st Earl of Loudoun Loudoun was more of a politician than a soldier, despite being the colonel of regiments of foot and horse. A leading light in the Covenanter cause, he was one of the commissioners sent to London to negotiate with the King after the First Bishops War. Appointed Lord Chancellor of Scotland in 1641, in a vain attempt by Charles to win Loudoun's loyalty; his loyalty was with the Solemn League. He would venture south again: to ne...

Whilst perusing the Keep Wargaming (no relation) Naismith ECW listings I noticed pack EC11 mounted highlander with sword and pistol. An idea germinated that they could become highland commanders. But that would involve painting tartan again.  Undeterred I ordered them, and as usual mounted them on Peter Pig horses (tl:dr Naismith horses are 'esoteric' to say the least, their artillery limber horses are brilliant) . The pose was a bit unique and I decided that they would look a little odd all in the same pose. Only one figure would remain as cast, the other two would have more animation in their sword arm. Swords were cut and arms gently eased into position. The first figure went fine, the second... clearly a bit too adventurous and his arm snapped off. His arm was pinned back into place and greenstuff repairs carried out. Both had new swords fashioned from staples, and greenstuff hilts helped strengthen everything up. The first adjustment, the original figure, and the second sw...

 Just as my Royalist command got a bit of a spruce up, so has my Parliament command. A gentle reminder that these figures are true 15mm sized; the names given but figure manufacturers and sculptors is 'nominal' at best, as they are too small to look definitively like portraits of the people that they are supposed to represent. Whilst some of the Steel Fist character figures do have more than a passing resemblance to portraiture, they can represent whomsoever you jolly well want them to be - very few will have any idea, and the few that do, probably don't have a magnifier with them. These figures are tiny. With this in mind, I have picked my Fantasy Football League team of Parliamentarian command figures... This time, additional figures coming from Steel Fist's ECWH 21 pack: Parliamentarian Commanders. As a number of the characters in the pack are already represented in my Parliamentarian army, a little repurposing will be required.  My 'senior commanders' are ba...

After much prevarication I finally took the plunge and purchased the Steel Fist commanders packs to boost my command figures representations. A gentle reminder that these figures are true 15mm sized; the names given but figure manufacturers and sculptors is 'nominal' at best, as they are too small to look definitively like portraits of the people that they are supposed to represent. Whilst some of the Steel Fist character figures do have more than a passing resemblance to portraiture, they can represent whomsoever you jolly well want them to be - very few will have any idea, and the few that do, probably don't have a magnifier with them. These figures are tiny. With this in mind, I have picked my Fantasy Football League team of Royalist command figures... Steel Fist list their Royalist command figures (pack ECWH 22) as King Charles I, George Digby Earl of Bristol, Sir Jacob Astley, officer with telescope, aide delivering message and standard bearer. The standard bearer woul...