Keep Your Powder Dry

This week a bit of a book review. Which is a bit odd, because it is two books. Steve Archibald published his first volume with Redcrest Books (part of Amazon) a couple of years ago. The first volume covers English and Scottish Foot Regiments. His second volume covers Cavalry Cornets and Guidons. Both books are well researched: anyone familiar with the source material will be able to see that the author has gone back to primary source material to check the designs rather than simply rehash the Military Modelling flag articles from 79/80. You'd be surprised how many other authors and flag manufacturers have used the MM articles as their source material. The giveaway that the author went back to original source material Many flags were only described, rather than illustrated, in source material - so they are only an artist's interpretation. Publishers of flag books take note: this is how to do a flag book - full colour illustrations! The Foot volume starts by explaining the differ...

Due to continual 'ah, but I need to represent this unit' type scenarios I came to the conclusion that I needed some more artillery for my armies. This coincided with the demise of Naismith-Roundway and I thought I wouldn't be able to get matching limbers.  Thankfully, I discovered KeepWargaming who have a dwindling stock of Naismith figures. I quickly purchased all of the limbers in their stock room.  (So expect similar artillery posts about the Covenanters and the Royalists.) So here are my final planned Parliamentarian figures: two minions, crews and limbers. Figures from PP, the gun is listed as light gun. I must confess that I wasn't totally happy with my cannons. Historically the metalwork was most probably black, but it just looked much too flat. So I decided to paint these differently. I decided to use Foundry blackened barrel. I have two shades of the paint, the lighter version being used for the wheel tyres (my thinking being that the paint would be more worn)...

Hold your horses partner, as the denizens of the former colonies might say. Sashes? If you mean the fancy silk thing worn by officers in C17th portraiture then you are in the right place, but they weren't called sashes. Thems were called scarves. Now we've got correct nomenclature out of the way we can move on. Colonel Nathaniel Fiennes 1641, by Michiel Janszoon van Mierevelt You will often see portraits of Charles, his sons, and his nephews wearing blue  sashes  scarves. Only these aren't sashes, or even scarves. These are ribands, signifying that they are members of The Order of the Garter. The Order underwent a bit of a renaissance during Charles' reign, and also his eldest son's, no doubt as a means for raising revenue. Charles wearing the Order of the Garter riband, Sir Edward Walker wearing a rose scarf and a riband signifying that he is Garter King of Arms  But first let's start with who wore scarves and how they wore them.   One only has to look at portr...

I quite fancied a coach, no other reason that it would look nice on the battlefield.  No doubt Robert Morley as the Earl of Manchester had a hand in this 'need'. A little bit of research (i.e. Google) showed two options available. Magister Militum and Essex both having a C17th gentleman's carriage in their listings. But no picture on the Essex website. A little more Googling brought up a review: the writer* ditched the Magister Militum offering as it was too complex and fiddly to build. So I ordered the Essex one on the strength of it (and my experience of having had a run in with MM Scots frame guns, which are really fiddly to assemble, which went in the bin). The coach arrived promptly, along with a restock of brown paint... must be more harquebusiers in the offing. The coach body comes in three parts: two sides and a roof. Attached to the body are the springs - take very great care not to damage them!  Unfortunately the two halves needed considerable greenstuff action to...

Regular readers (hello both of you) will know that I have a bit of a bee in my bonnet about Wargamer Facts ™ . Here's the latest Wargamer Fact ™ to go under the KeepYourPowderDry investigative microscope. By default this post has become part of my coat colours series. You can find the rest of the posts here: Introduction   Part 1  Parliamentarian coat colours Part 2  Royalist coat colours Part 3  Scots coat colours Part 3B  Montrose and the Irish Brigade Part 4  Dragoons, Horse and the New Model Army coat colours The Trained Bands Scarves   Having seen the phrase "the London Auxiliaries may have received blue coats" many times I decided to look into the source of this information. Just as another  wargamer fact™ asserts that the London Trained Band wore red coats*, this "blue coats" fact™  would   seem to be on equally shaky ground. 1939 Player's Cigarettes card: Trained Bands of London But first, who were the London Trained Bands ...

The third of three Covenanter regiments of foot to get their time in the spotlight.   John Lindsay, the Earl of Crawford-Lindsay would serve as a Colonel in both of the Bishops' Wars; however, he did not share sole colonelcy of these regiments. He would not take sole colonelcy of a regiment of foot until he was commissioned in 1643 in both the Ulster Army, and the Army of the Solemn League and Covenant. It is assumed that most of the men, for the Ulster regiment, came from Fife. It is thought that the regiment may have taken part in expeditions led by Munro in 1643. Lindsay would return to Scotland in 1644 to join his 'other' regiment.  The Solemn League regiment was raised in 1643 in the Fife presbyteries of Cupar and St Andrews: they were commanded initially by Thomas Moffat, whilst Lindsay was in Ulster. There appears to have been a considerable amount of exchanges of officers between he two regiments during this time.  The regiment marched south with Leven's Army ta...

Another regiment that appeared only fleetingly: a Covenanter Regiment of Foot raised for the Bishops' Wars, then seeing service in England, Scotland and in the Second Civil War Originally raised in 1638 in Peeblesshire, they were involved in the capture of Dalkeith House, before they joined Leslie’s army at Duns Law. They were disbanded following the Treaty of Birks in June 1639. John, Master of Yester, received his commission late August 1643 to raise the regiment anew in Linlithgow and Tweeddale presbyteries. He selected a professional soldier, William Johnston, as his lieutenant colonel. The Master of Yester would spend most of 1642-3 accompanying the Royalist army in England. The regiment marched south into England and engaged in their first combat by storming the fort at South Shields. They would serve at the siege of York and Marston Moor, where they were brigaded with the Stirlingshire Foot in the Scottish second line. After Marston Moor they marched to Leeds. They would ret...

Not a 'new' Regiment, but another in the series of 'briefly mentioned, I'd better go into a bit more detail' posts. So here is fifteen minutes of fame for the Earl of Buccleugh's Regiment of Foot. Later known as Colonel Walter Scott’s, then Colonel William Baillie’s Regiment of Foot, they were also known as the Tweeddale Foot. The Tweeddale Foot were raised in August/September of 1643 by Francis Scott, the 2nd Earl of Buccleugh (now spelled Buccleuch). The majority of its men came from the presbytery of Selkirk. Numbering 1200 men they joined Leven's army in January 1644 and marched south into England. Their first engagement was at the Battle of Hylton to the west of Sunderland (also known as the Battle of Boldon Hills), closely followed by joining the besiegers of York. They were brigaded with Loudon's Glasgow Foot at Marston Moor, but fled the field after being broken by the left wing of the Royalist horse. They were then quartered in South Yorkshire, ...

The latest five minutes of the spotlight falls upon the Earl of Manchester's Regiment of Horse; coincidentally, this is the 300th post. Which surprises me as I never thought I'd be able to blather on this much. A little celebratory sherry might be in order. The Regiment was large, they were able to field 11 troops at Marston Moor, and as a result,  they had an additional Colonel. The Regiment's troops had cornets with different coloured fields: Manchester's cornet had a green field; Colonel Algernon Sidney's cornet had a blue field; Captain Robert Sparrow's had a red field; Captain William Dingley's cornet also had a red field; Captain Thomas Hammond's cornet  had a blue field; and Captain Valentine Walton's cornet also had a red field. Sidney was the commander of the Regiment in the field; he was seriously wounded at Marston Moor, and relinquished command when the Regiment joined the New Model Army. The Regiment would be known as Colonel...

The next five minute's of fame spotlight falls upon George Dodding's Regiment of Horse. This short lived regiment probably only numbered two troops, as Dodding only claimed pay as a Captain of Horse (he also claimed pay as a Colonel of Foot ).  What troops they had, appear to have been hastily assembled - Captain Cripps' troop was mustered two days before Marston Moor, and numbered just 50 men. The Regiment fought at Lathom House; Marston Moor; a skirmish at Ribble Bridge; a skirmish at Witten Cop; Ormskirk; and the siege of Greenhalgh Castle. If you enjoyed reading this, or any of the other posts, please consider  supporting  the blog.  Thanks .

 After what seems like a very long break from painting I return to my last, currently planned*, Regiment of Foot. So without further ado, let me introduce the White Regiment of Foot of the London Trained Bands. The second most senior regiment in the LTB, they were recruited from north of the City: Cornhill, Lombard Street, Fenchurch Street, and upper Gracechurch Street. An area of London populated by goldsmiths, financiers and wealthy merchants.  Their colonel, Alderman Isaac Penington had been elected as a sheriff of London in 1638, and would be appointed Lord Mayor when Parliament removed the Royalist Sir Richard Gurney from office in August 1642. In 1649 Penington would be made a commissioner of the High Court of Justice and attended the King's trial: he did not sign Charles's death warrant. He would surrender at the Restoration, hoping for leniency as he hadn't been a signatory of the death warrant. His lands were confiscated and he would spend the rest of h...