Keep Your Powder Dry

The opening salvo in the Warwickshire Houses of Interest post takes in a moated medieval manor house. Expect the #ECWtravelogue to concentrate more on the west midlands in the coming years as the academic focus (aka dad taxis & removal services) of Château KeepYourPowderDry shifts to Coventry and Warwick. See also the entries for: Coventry Edgehill Warwick Castle   Baddesley Clinton is a hidden gem of a property: located half way between Solihull and Leamington Spa, the house is cared for by the National Trust. So expect plant sales, café and over priced fudge. Dating from the 13th Century, Baddesley Clinton was home to Henry Ferrers, noted antiquarian. Henry died in 1633 and the house was inherited by his son, Edward. Edward would be made High Sheriff of Warwickshire 1639-1641. The Ferrers were Catholic recusants, and whilst they did try to keep out of the wars and remain 'neutral' their notoriety as Catholics positioned them in the 'probably Royalist because they are...

After a hiatus, the adventures of William Waller's Southern Association continue...   After the battlefield defeat (and campaign stalemate) of Lansdowne  the now reinforced Southern Association shadowed Hopton's army and took position on Roundway Down, above Devizes on the 8th July. Hopton's army had been joined by Prince Maurice's and the Marquis of Hertford's forces to form The Army of The West. As Hopton had been temporarily blinded the Royalist command decided to retreat and regroup in Oxford. Waller put the town under siege; Maurice's cavalry, of little use in a siege broke out and he headed to Oxford, whilst the Regiments of Horse dispersed over Wiltshire. Waller stepped up the pressure and brought his artillery to bear upon the town. Charles was not in Oxford; Lord Wilmot decided to relieve the siege with just a cavalry force made up of two brigades of Oxford Horse; this was joined in Marlborough by another brigade of horse under Crawford and some o...

After the excitement of Captain Frances Dalyell's Troop, recruiting the Army Of Montrose comes down to earth with a bump. Sorry.   A very short-lived troop of horse that we don't really know much about. Raised by the Victorian's very own action hero, The Marquis of Montrose, to serve on Clavering’s brief campaign on the Scottish Border in early 1644. Reputedly boasting Scots gentry amongst their numbers. Their very brief fighting history being the taking of Dumfries; the siege of Morpeth; and a skirmish at Sunderland. And that, gentle reader, is pretty much all that is known about them; other than Blount described their cornet in  The Art of Making Devises. I've chosen to present them as lancers, as I originally intended just to have the Gordon Horse as Montrose's harquebusiers.  Mostly straight from the bag PP lancers. As I was being a cheapskate I rummaged in my spares box to find a trumpeter and a pair of mounted dragoon command figures - all three have had heads...

When I planned my Army of Montrose, it was, as in real life, quite cavalry light. A unit of lancers and a unit of harquebusiers (for the Gordon Horse). But... well I fell down a rabbit hole... and, discovered the intriguing story of Captain Frances Dalyell alias Mrs Pierson. Well, once I knew about her, it just had to be done a Frances in 15mm. It was intended to be the final Montrose unit to be painted, unfortunately I was in headswapping mode and needed to scratch that itch. So here they are. Captain Frances Dalyell, alias Mrs Pierson, was reputedly the illegitimate daughter of the Earl of Carnwath. There are many contemporary tales of women dressing as men and serving in the Wars, so many that Charles had a draft proclamation drawn up, setting out required standards of behaviour for Charles I’s army. It included a hand-written memo in the margin from the king himself stating "lett no woman presume to counterfeit her sex by wearing mans apparall under payne of the severest punis...

Montrose's army wasn't known for it's artillery or baggage trains, but they must have had one. A good rummage (who doesn't love a good rummage?) in the spares box provided some dragoon horseholders, who with a headswap for a Scots bonnet some became little Scottish men. A Museum Miniatures open wagon with load, with a couple of extra PP drums and a Donnington halberd fancying up the cart's load up a bit. As Montrose wasn't really known for his artillery train I had a spare PP frame gun and crew lurking in the spares box. Also residing in the spares box was a Magister Militum pack mule, a suitable candidate to transport the frame gun between jobs. I would like to point out that my spares box is not enormous, nor does it hold riches beyond belief. In fact, apart from far too many standard bearers it is looking pretty empty now. Of course an artillery expansion requires a casualty marker from Warbases. If you enjoyed reading this, or any of the other posts, please ...

The BBC have just released a new comedy series set in East Anglia and Essex in the 1640s. The story follows a failing witchfinder taking a prisoner to court in order to impress Matthew Hopkins, the Witchfinder General.  An impressive cast, the series was written and produced by the team behind Alan Partridge.   More details here Publicity still ©BBC The witchcraft stuff is fairly accurate, apart from continuing the myth of witches being burned alive (they weren't, they were hung). The series looks wonderful, and is well written and researched: not exactly laugh out loud funny, but this is well worth a watch.   This is gentle smile to yourself humour rather than clutch your sides funny - it took until the very end of episode 4 for me to actually laugh out loud. Plus there is the bonus of hearing some Beirut over the closing credits on the first and last episodes. The first episode aired on Tuesday 8th March, 10pm BBC 2, all episodes are now available on BBC iPlay...

Regular readers (hello all seven of you) will be familiar with my tit-for-tat army expansions. So just as Parliament had an artillery expansion, so the King's Army requires one too. With the apparent demise of Naismith-Roundway, I thought I wouldn't be able to get hold of any of my preferred 'light' limbers. Thankfully, I discovered  KeepWargaming  (no relation) who have a dwindling stock of Naismith figures. I quickly purchased all of the limbers in their stock room.   So here are my final planned Royalist figures: two minions, crews and limbers. Figures from PP, the gun is listed as light gun. Regular readers will be aware that I wasn't totally happy with my cannons. Historically the metalwork was most probably black, but it just looked much too flat. So these have painted using my new paint recipe: instead of matt black I now use Foundry blackened barrel. I have two shades of the paint, the lighter version being used for the wheel tyres (my thinking being that th...

Back in the days when the only people wearing a mask to go to the bank were armed robbers, I started this blog as a repository for all my little notes. Since then, the blog has taken on a life of its own and become... well... here is a post that goes back to the roots of the blog. Somewhat selfishly, it is primarily for me. If it helps anyone else out - bonus! Regular readers will know that I am continually on the lookout for suitable buildings.  The bulk of my buildings are Hovels , which are 15mm sized but with a reduced footprint. I've found a few other suitable buildings from PP and Total Battle Miniatures ; and some less suitable ones (from the extensive building ranges stocked by Magister Militum ). So maybe it is time to scratch build a few... I've kitbashed a windmill , making a stone base for it, which doesn't look too shoddy. Could be fun. Equally could be a nightmare (best to gloss over my woodwork lessons at school). Buoyed by my greenstuff adventures making ar...

Regular readers (hello all seven of you), will hopefully have seen my previous post about siege engineers  and will be familiar with the artefacts in museums across the country, and my attempt at creating some figures. As PP still do not make a pack of siege engineers, and not being 100% happy with my previous attempts, I decided to have another go. First off an easy conversion, to remind me how to use greenstuff.  Top tips:  Patience.  When mixing greenstuff twist rather than knead the two parts together. Let it go 'off' slightly before trying to work with it. Build stuff up in layers. A little and often is better than a lot all in one go. More patience.  Trim out and discard the little bit in the middle of the strip where the two colours have been in contact with one another. If you are remotely happy with what you have done, stop! Don't do anymore. You can add to it once it is dry.  Keep wetting your tools (but not too much).  If you have never used...