Keep Your Powder Dry

I've seen a few discussions along the lines of "how do I take good pictures of miniatures" on different fora over the past few months. I can't help you take good pictures, but I might be able to help you take half decent pictures. King Charles will be our model for the day. (Picture taken in portable studio mentioned below) I also like cameras. There I've said it. Now that is out in the open we can move on. I can happily drop phrases like 'macro', 'bokeh' and 'full frame' into a conversation, but my eyes glaze over when 'f-stops' get mentioned. As a glasses wearer of 40+ years I let the camera do the hard work, so it is 'automatic' all the way here. First we need to talk about cameras. Photography anoraks will drone on and on about cameras for ever, if you allow them. Simple answer is, got a smartphone? Answer yes? Then the camera in your phone will be more than adequate. No camera phone? Then you'll need a ca...

A jolly to Paris led to a slight painting detour via Napoleon's Rheinbund regiments, but I'm back in seventeenth century England again. What do we know about Tyldesley's Dragoons? In a nutshell - not a lot to be honest. We know that Thomas Tyldesley commissioned William Blundell to captain a company of dragoons. Blundell had got himself into trouble ''inciting riots" in the 1630s so was probably quite suited to a military life. Thomas has the dubious distinction of claiming the first recorded casualty of the First English Civil War. A street fight on 15th July 1642, claimed the life of Levenshulme linen weaver Richard Perceval, when Royalists tried to force the town to hand over its gunpowder stores. Perceval, was allegedly killed by Thomas Tyldesley. Proceedings were begun against Thomas for the killing; however, on 11th August the House of Commons ordered the judges in Lancashire to cease the action. Most likely raised in Lancashire, believed to have d...

...is the title of the latest in the Royal Armouries Arms and Armour Series. This book is absolutely fantastic. Well illustrated throughout, using portraits and period illustrations to introduce each section, then copious colour photographs of artefacts from the RA collection. Keith Dowen has penned not only an excellent primer to the period (if you are new to the Civil Wars) but also, a volume that a seasoned Civil War enthusiast would benefit from too. This is how an arms and armour book should be, take note Osprey and Helion! Available now from the RA museum shops or their online store. Remember you can always save the postage costs by picking it up in person, if you do you might as well have a look around whilst you are there. Be rude not to. Also available on Amazon from 1st April. Arms and Armour of the English Civil Wars K. Dowen, Royal Armouries Museums £12.99 Apologies to Mr Dowen, my autocorrect keeps turning him into a Mr Downton, all corrected now. (Must ...

So, gentle reader I hear you sigh and wonder how a trip to Les Invalides can be shoe horned into a British Civil War gaming blog... There are many reasons why you should visit Les Invalides when visiting Paris, but possibly the best reason to justify a visit is the fact that the ticket office queue is usually pretty none existent and therefore becomes the best place to buy your Paris Museum Pass  from (which means you can join the shorter queues at all the other museums). Think of Les Invalides and you will immediately imagine a temple to l'Emperor. Well it is, his body is entombed under the very impressive golden dome after all. Whilst all that is jolly good to see, my blog will focus upon the Renaissance exhibits. There are morions a plenty and some beautiful suits of armour, many rivalling the lion armour in the Royal Armouries collection (they have their own suit of lion armour too). Fine selection of wheelock muskets (didn't immediately see any matchlocks but...

First of my new dragoon regiments... My previous dragoon regiments are all on foot with horseholders, and kit bashed semi-mounted command. I like my existing dragoon command, and the overall look of my existing dragoon regiments (it's all that Streeter's fault), so I wanted to create something similar utilising the new figures. Once again the body of fighting men (twelve) are on foot, with six horseholders each with three horse, and a command stand consisting of mounted officer, cornet and drummer. That way I have managed to use figure from four of the five new packs. Part way through painting the figures I did start to question my wisdom of unit makeup - 18 horses, 18 foot figures, a casualty figure, and 3 mounted command figures. Lots and lots of horses and horseholders Waller's dragoons were raised in 1643 and fought extensively throughout the First Civil War: Battle of Lansdown, Roundway Down, Siege of Basing House, Alton Church, Cheriton,...

I know I said that my baggage train was complete, but in the words of Sean Connery's Bond reimagining "never say never". I was searching for a yellow and a red for some new dragoon regiment coat colours. Not being totally convinced I decided to paint some test figures. In my big box of spares I have lots of dragoon horseholders, so they seemed ideal candidates. Cutting a long story short they came out as I wanted them to, but what to do with them? Strangely, I hadn't actually thought about putting them to one side and using them in the new units. Vapnartak was on the horizon, and Museum Miniatures would be there.  Each baggage train consisted of eight carts: nine carts would be unbalanced, ten would be better.  Another quick rummage through the spares found two more horseholders, four marching musketeers, and two dogs. New additions to the King's baggage ...and Parliament's baggage I'm sure you can imagine the rest - two new engineer...

Always on the lookout for suitable buildings to populate the battlefield. I noticed that Magister Militum had a number of potential buildings in their range when I purchased my star fort . As MM were attending Vapnartak I thought I could pick up a couple of test buildings, and save on postage. As they don't normally take their building range to shows I pre-ordered them. Both buildings were pretty clean casts, minimal clean up required, only a couple of small bubbles visible. First up BD108 Wealden House. Nope, I didn't know what Wealden meant, I presumed it was a style of framing. A quick Google showed that I was on the right tracks: " The  Wealden hall house  is a type of vernacular medieval  timber-framed   hall house  traditional in the south east of England. Typically built for a  yeoman , it is most common in  Kent  (hence "Wealden" for the once densely forested  Weald ) and the east of Sussex  but has also been built else...

The great and good of the ECWS solemnly carry their wreath. Charles was beheaded on Tuesday, 30 th January 1649. This year was the 370 th anniversary of the regicide. Charles had spent time with two of his children, Henry and Elizabeth,on the 29 th ; and, had been allowed to walk his dog one last time in St James’s Park on the morning of his execution. He had a last meal of bread and wine, then walked from St James’s Palace, where he had been held captive, to the Palace of Whitehall. An execution scaffold had been erected outside the Banqueting House. Famously, he had asked for two shirts to wear, as he did not want anyone to mistake his shivering for fear. At 2pm, he placed his head on the executioner’s block and bade him make a clean strike. He signalled to the executioner his readiness by putting out his hands. So, I hear you wonder, have I suddenly become a monarchist lamenting the execution of King Charles? Not for one minute, it does give me the excuse...

 A snow-day allowed me to crack on and finish the final regiment of foot to be raised before Vapnartak. Colonel George Dodding's regiment was raised in Lancashire; George Dodding, himself, was from Conishead Priory in Ulverston (at the time it was part of Lancashire, now it is in Cumbria). He also raised a small unit of horse which took part in the siege of Lathom House and Marston Moor. His Regiment of Foot fought at Selby, the Siege of York, Marston Moor and Ormskirk. There's are a handful of headswaps in the mix, my favourite being the bandaged head on the drummer. Bases, and custom casualty marker from Warbases. The colour is the one illustrated in  Fahnen und Standarten , as for the coat colour... like so many regiments we simply don't know. As five of last seven regiments of foot I have painted have had grey coats I wanted to use some colour. Looking at my Parliamentarian regiments there are lots of reds, so I fancied painting a blue regiment (blu...

1643, Charles had signed a Cessation with the Irish and recalled soldiers from Ireland to reinforce his armies. Several regiments were sent to Cheshire where a new army was being raised. Lord Byron took command of that army in December of that year, and immediately started an offensive against the Parliamentarian forces in the County. These troops returned to England with a sense of brutality, not seen before in the conflict. One incident in particular shocked the population, no doubt adding fuel to the Parliamentarian fire. When a group of Royalists plundered the village of Barthomley, villagers took refuge in the tower of St Bertoline's Church. The Royalists made a fire at the base of the tower to smoke them out, which forced them to surrender. The Royalists stripped and executed twelve of the villagers and wounded eight others. Alan Garner's novel "Red Shift" uses this incident for one of the three stories within a story. Sir William Brereton, the Parl...