Keep Your Powder Dry

I know, I know, I did say out loud that I wasn't going to build a Covenator army. I hold my hands up: guilty as charged your honour! Bit of a tricky one this. The manufacturer of my figures does do a range of Scots, but in comparison to the English it is quite limited. The biggest issue is currently there are no lowland pikes open handed. At the moment I've planned on three regiments of foot, a couple of generals, a preacher, and an Earl of Leven figure with standard. I've already mentioned the issue with the pikemen; musketeers, sadly, only come in one pose, and there are no halberdiers. The lowland musket pack was a big influence in my buying into the PP range at the start. They are beautiful figures. Just a bit of a shame there are only three variants of the firing pose (unlike the English musketeers who have rests or not, are loading/standing/firing/marching/waving their muskets in the air/ and have a variety of hats). Command stand is covered by a pack, but wha...

Anyone who has ever visited a wargaming show (or convention for our continental cousins) will know that feeling of "ooooh, shinies" looking at the display stands of our favourite manufacturers. I am no exception to this, I too am afflicted with 'wargamers' disease'. Earlier this month I visited Vapnartak, aka the York Show (mainly because most people can't spell it). Cracking show, and a lovely drive there and back under beautiful blue skies, and a brief sojourn in to York centre for a bite to eat. #4 son was distracted by Warlord's Dr Who stuff, whilst I was weak and gave in to some Covenator Scots - more on that in a later post. Museum Miniatures were there, coupled with the logic of having some dragoon horseholders and appropriate bases in my 'spares box', led to the inevitable and more items were acquired for my baggage trains. This time a brace of covered wagons. As with my other baggage trains they are nominally labelled as Parl...

For the none UK readers of this blog, a quick explanation: fields in the UK historically were enclosed by either hedgerows or dry stone walls, and occasionally a hybrid of the two. Depending upon whereabouts in the country you are you will find a dominant method. Here in the Peak District we have dry stone walls as stone is a free resource lying around on the ground, in nearby Cheshire where stone is less easy to come by you find fields divided by hedgerows (also known in mountain rescue circles as God's barbed wire). Many of the dry stone walls in the Peak were built in the seventeenth century, only requiring occasional repairs. I have a quantity of hedgerows, but fancied some dry stone walls for some variety. Living in the Peak, and knowing a few drystone wallers, any stone walls would need to be correct! I looked around and found that most of the commercially available  models didn't have coping stones on them, so they wouldn't do. I found two models that were accura...

This post, has, by default turned into part 4 of my Rupert's March North series (even though it predates the series by several months). Still not had the call up from BBC2 for a miniseries - bet Ben Fogle gets the gig, or Professor Alice (lovely speaking voice, as my mum would say). York, as the country's northern capital had an important part to play during the Civil War. The siege, Rupert's relief of the siege and the resulting battle of Marston Moor have a lot to offer the wargamer. First we need to learn a little bit about York's place in English history and why it was very important during the Civil War. York was England's capital in the north (shades of Game of Thrones I know), strategically very important as a muster point for any military action against Scotland. Heavily fortified since Roman times, the city was also an important religious centre as well as being a seat of government. Fast forward to the C17th: the north is pretty much under the control of...

The Museum of London has closed its doors for the last time at the London Wall site. It will return as London Museum at a new site, the old commercial market area of West Smithfield, in 2026. Located near the Barbican, visitors to London probably overlook this museum in favour of the larger national museums. There is much to see in this museum which charts the history of London from prehistoric times  (when hippos bathed in the Thames), through to modern times when dinosaur sized fatbergs block the sewers. What is of interest to those interested in the Civil Wars is their small 'War, Plague and Fire' gallery. On display is a small selection of arms and armour, plus Cromwell's death mask. Also displayed are general artefacts from the period, with a particular emphasis on the Great Fire. A new exhibition 'Executions', at their Docklands site, runs until April 2023, the highlight exhibit will be the vest worn by Charles I at his execution. This exhibition i...

If you find yourself at a loose end, with a couple of hours to spare when in town, this gem of a place really does deserve your attention. Originally a private collection housed in a building that belonged to the family that collected the items, the house is located in Manchester Square, W1U 3BN. If you find Selfridge's, it's just behind there. There are a number of formal rooms housing a considerable collection of paintings and porcelain. Highlights include Frans Hals' "Laughing Cavalier". For the wargamer or militaria buff there are a number of galleries which are stuffed from floor to ceiling with arms and armour, including one gallery solely devoted to Renaissance weaponry. These galleries are a pleasant change from museum exhibitions which have been redesigned to be 'interactive' and 'child-friendly'; I love the almost Victorian way in which exhibits are displayed. The other bonus is that if anyone ever accuses you of hoarding - her...

Thanks to Streeter it is 'the law' that every ECW army must have a baggage train. Well it is at Château Keepyourpowderdry at least. Museum Miniatures make a comprehensive range of wagons and carts, so they were my first port of call. As with their limbers their drovers are nearer 20mm and tower over my rank and file figures, so they were discarded and replaced with some dragoon horseholders from the spares box. I also bought a pack of marching musketeers to randomly place next to my carts and wagons to give even more of an eye-candy, diorama appeal to them. Completely unnecessary, but you have to admit they do add a little extra something to the battlefield (and on occasion a useful scenario goal). I have duplicated baggage trains so each side has a hay cart, water wagon and two baggage wagons. I decided not to put visible identifiers on the figures, so whilst there is a Parliamentarian and a Royalist train, if needed I can have one mega train. If you enjoy...

It's all that Streeter's fault: if you have read the other posts on this blog (well done, congratulations for still being here 😉) you'll know that Streeter's engraving of Naseby has held sway over my imagination for most of my life. A major landmark on the engraving is the windmill, long since gone, the site it stood on is now where the memorial obelisk stands. So, as you can imagine I've unconsciously been looking out for a suitable 15mm representation. Well I think I've found one. Can't remember how or why I found the site, but I do remember bookmarking it. Ironclad Miniatures make a  windmill  for the Russian front which I think is fairly representative of the Naseby mill. Obviously I am only talking about the main body of the windmill, the base isn't quite right, a more accurate one shouldn't be too difficult to scratchbuild. The windmill comes in four resin pieces, and a sprue of the sails, ladder etc. It is solid resin so is fairl...