Keep Your Powder Dry

Another four regiments of horse for Parliament. Variations on a theme of brown. Realised that I used fourteen different browns painting these (if you include the horse tones). When based, with the earth base added I was really disappointed with how they looked, only after the greenery was added did I start thinking "yes, they're alright those". Flags from Maverick Models - not currently listed as available. Thank you Stuart for your patience with my continued requests to produce specific standards. Half way through painting these four regiments I became a convert to headswapping, and I do confess to having become slightly evangelical about the subject. So, yes there are a few headswaps amongst their ranks (I particularly like the lobster pot with raised face guard).   Col Francis Russell's Regiment of Horse   Part of the Eastern Association; fighting at Newark, the Siege of York and Marston Moor, before joining the New Model Army. Colonel George Dod...

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...

Part three of the Prince Rupert travelogue sees him enter the land of strange dialects, decent beer, and the unholy use of offal in cooking; before he triumphantly enters York, and foolishly rides out to Marston Moor. For ease of writing east of the Pennine watershed* is Yorkshire, west is Lancashire. Black Tom's tomb, Bilbrough Rupert's first port of call was the Royalist stronghold of Skipton. Rupert's forces relieving the siege of Skipton Castle  which had been on and off since 1642. After Marston Moor the siege started again, the garrison eventually surrendering honourably in December 1645. Rupert's forces spent two days here resting and preparing for battle. (A more in-depth post about Skipton Castle can be found here ). Skipton Castle Rupert made a statement by routing his march via Denton Hall , the home of the Fairfaxes. The current hall is a much newer building (dating from the late eighteenth century) and is used as a wedding/corpo...

Part two of the Prince Rupert travelogue sees him venture through Lancashire towards York, and ultimately the battle of Marston Moor. For ease of writing south of the Mersey is 'Cheshire', north of the Mersey is 'Lancashire'. After crossing the Mersey, Rupert bypassed Manchester as it was too well defended, instead storming Bolton. Immediately after Storming Stockport his army camped on Barlow Moor in what is now Didsbury. A plaque on Didsbury Library marks the spot. Rupert attacked Bolton on the 28th of May three days after taking Stockport. The loss of Stockport led to the Parliamentarian forces besieging Lathom House to retreat to Bolton. The attack started in pouring rain, the 4000 defenders repulsing the Royalist attacks. A fresh attack led by the  Earl of Derby broke the defensive line. James Stanley, Earl of Derby Two of the Royalist regiments of foot had returned from fighting in Ireland, and during the initial attack a number of their men were cap...

Regular readers (hello both of you) will realise that my mini-series of battlefield visits is on a bit of a break, due to my battlefield 'hit-list' being not so local anymore. However there were a number of skirmishes and sieges locally. Each of these actions probably doesn't warrant an article by itself, however many of these incidents were related to Rupert's march to York. So I have decided to retrace Rupert's route through Cheshire and Lancashire, adding in any other events/locations as asides. For ease of writing south of the Mersey is 'Cheshire', north of the Mersey is 'Lancashire'. 1644, the Marquis of Newcastle is under siege in York, a last stronghold of Royalist power in the north. The Parliamentarian army of the Eastern Association has been joined by the Scots army of the Solemn League and Covenant. A beleaguered Newcastle has requested help from the King in his stronghold at Oxford. Charles dispatches Prince Rupert north with an army,...

After visiting Adwalton Moor and Rowton Heath battlefield sites, I've started to get the bit between my teeth for visiting and documenting local Civil War battlefields. The latest instalment saw me visit Hopton Heath in Staffordshire, where Sir John Gell (Parliament's Derbyshire commander) possibly took a marginal victory*. This is the same John Gell whose infantry standard is proudly exhibited at the  National Army Museum and whose buff coat is on display at the  Royal Armouries in Leeds Sir John Gell Gell's buff coat, Leeds Early 1643, the war was at a hiatus, the Royalists were under siege at Lichfield, and Parliament wanted to take control of the Midlands (and thereby disrupt the King's supply route north from Oxford). Gell took Lichfield in early March, the Earl of Northampton was tasked to retake Lichfield, but had to respond to Gell's march on Stafford. They met on the heathland outside the village of Hopton. Gell had been joined by a fo...