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 ...

Well, obviously, it is never a good day for a hanging, but how else was I to title a post about C17th capital punishment other than to utilise the title of the 1959 American B Western film? Or movie, as our continental cousins would have it. In the C17th if you had been really bad* you were condemned to death. If you were rich you had your head chopped off; if you weren't rich or noble, then it was an appointment with the gallows. Gentle reminder, despite what Hollywood insists, witches were hung - they were not burnt at the stake. My victim has green breeches ties at his knees, a not so secret sign that he supported the Levellers. Was he involved in one of the many Leveller led revolts of the Army Newly Modelled? Was that what led him to his appointment with the gallows, a victim of military justice? Hallmark Miniatures make a man in C17th dress hanging from a gallows,  something that I have kept adding to my basket and then removing every time I'd been placing an order at Ma...

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...

The first of the Irish Confederate fighting men to roll off the production line here at Château  KeepYourPowderDry. And there I was, thinking that fathoming out the history of the Scots gentry was complicated... Colonel Turlough MacHenry Ó Néill was the son of Sir Turlough MacHenry  Ó Néill, who was the son of Sir Turlough MacHenry Ó Néill; neither are to be confused with Sir Turlough MacHenry Ó Néill who was the father of Sir Phelim Roe Ó Néill of Kinard, who 'started' the 1641 rebellion. Or any of the other Turlough MacHenry Ó Néills... Dissection of the name might help us understand who was who. The Ó Néills were a large extended family who effectively ruled Ulster, the different branches of the family being chieftains/lords of smaller areas within Ulster, they are usually (but not always) differentiated by having the name of their lands in their title. The Fews was rough wild land, mostly upland, the name coming from the Irish  na Feá/Fea...

Following on from Professor Furgol's talk at the Helion Century of the Soldier Conference, it became apparent my Irish men needed some spiritual leadership to take them into battle. (Too complicated to explain, I'm sure it will be in his new book.) I found a pack of monks from Magister Militum that pretty much fitted the image that Ed had shared of a Spanish tercio going into battle with a cross held high to inspire the soldiers. So here they are, no idea if the robes are accurate, but they 'feel' right. Irish you say? Yes, I've taken the plunge and started creating an Irish Confederate army, these Godly men will inspire the Confederates and the Irish Brigade fighting for the King with Montrose. There are quite a few spare monks in my spares box now, so don't be at all surprised if one or two appear in the command bases of a Confederate RoF. If you enjoyed reading this, or any of the other posts, please consider  supporting  the blog.  Thanks .

As I appear to have run out of things to paint, I have started revisiting stuff to make things look better. Or should that be 'slightly less worse'? Every ECW/BCW/Wo3K gamer should own a sconce. It is the law. Some time ago I took the easy route and bought two halves of a 'star fort' from Magister Militum (now sold by TSS). And it was okay. Had a few problems, but was generally okay. But deep down I knew that it wasn't. For a start it was built of stone. Had two entrances, and was much too Vaubanesque. So, as regular readers will imagine, it has been bugging me for a while. So after a good coat of thinking about it I set to work. I took the plunge and removed it from its base. A quick Dremel cutting session would remove one of the entrances. But my Dremel appears to have magically been broken - I think somebody might have some explaining to do when they next come home from uni! So I decided to use my angle grinder. Not the delicate implement I would have chosen for ...