Keep Your Powder Dry

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...

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 I had a littl...

The dreadful Witchfinder movie sent my train of thought to the myths, plague, and superstitions of the seventeenth century. Which ultimately led to the  Witchfinder General rules. A fierce group of  C17th Welsh women, in national dress, seeing off some strange  cat/bird hybrids. Once the seed had been sown, I needed to do some research so the Underworld box set had to be watched. PVC catsuits must get hideously sweaty in battle, plus it's probably not a look everyone could carry off. I've already got a motley crew of civilians, some rather splendid plague physicians, priests, and a witchfinder figure from Matchlock, so I didn't think that it would be too much of a leap to find werewolves, vampires, barguests and noctelingers. Or so I thought. Figures are easy to find in the '15mm' interpretation that is closer to 20mm, less so in the '15mm is 15 actual millimetres' figure sizing. I eventually found some. Magister Militum provi...

Clearly trying to avoid finishing the latest regiment of horse, I had a look at the Matchlock listings over on Caliver Books (if the 'one legged musketeer with pig' ever comes back into production I'll be first in the queue) and noticed 'general in mule litter with servant'. I'd heard tell of such a set but had never noticed it in the listings*. So it had to be ordered, along with a few other generals, purely in order to justify the postage. An adventurous casting, which needed considerable cleaning up. Painted the inside Railmatch weathered black, and block painted the general before gluing the two halves of the compartment together. Liquid green stuff applied to the join lines. The mules had their undersides and muzzle stippled with Coat d'Arms bone to make them look distinctly mule like, rather than just undersized horses. I began to wonder how it would attach to the mules when complete. I needn't have worried as it glued neatly and sec...

Here's Parliament's command. Painting by Alan Tuckey, basing by me. Cromwell, and cornet (with his cavalry regiment standard rather than his Lord Protector's standard). Parliament's second in command, identified by having a dog. A proper dog, not a poodle. Haven't decided who it represents yet. Another as yet unidentified general This is a Matchlock general, paint job is one of mine. Has a look of Black Tom about him. Might rebase him with the dog. His sash looks a bit untidy ''blown up' so he might get a minor repaint too. Finally a brimfire and treacle preacher. If you enjoyed reading this, or any of the other posts, please consider  supporting  the blog.  Thanks .

Painting by Alan Tuckey (with one exception), basing by me. His Majesty, Charles I. Prince Rupert of the Rhine and Boye. Poodles - not really a 'manly dog' are they? And who were they trying to kid calling it a war poodle? As yet unnamed generals This one is from Matchlock, and is one of my paint jobs. And finally a priest, looking suspiciously sympathetic to the Pope and the Church of Rome. If you enjoyed reading this, or any of the other posts, please consider  supporting  the blog.  Thanks .

I've been pretty quiet of late: in the unlikely event that you have been waiting for the latest thrilling instalment I apologise. Salute, turned into a bit of a fiasco, only really managing to pick up preorders. Which was a real shame as there were a number of ECW games I wanted to view, and a number of vendors I wanted to visit. Alas, it was not to be (one of my boys was rather poorly). Straight after Salute I had shoulder surgery, so that put a bit of a dampener on my new found painting enthusiasm. Thankfully all looks to have gone well so time to ease myself back in gently. And so to the Matchlock range, they have much more meat on their bones than my usual figures, although heightwise they are surprisingly close. Which is why I have only really used figures from their 'characters' section to bolster my civilians or baggage train. The main focus has revolved around putting Essex's coffin on the battlefield. Inspired by an Easter showing of 'Cromwell' ...