Keep Your Powder Dry

Baroque, from Dadi & Piombo, are based on the popular Impetus rules for Ancient to Medieval warfare (adapting ancients rules to the renaissance is something that we will see as a recurring trend in future rules reviews). The full colour 53 page rulebook is ring bound (the preferred rulebook binding at Château KeepYourPowderDry as books lie flat on the table). The rules are very well written and easy to understand even if you are completely new to the game, without a guide to help you through the mechanisms. Other rules writers please take note of this, and remember that these rules were originally written in Italian. Admittedly there are a handful of occasions where the translation falls down a little, particularly with acronyms (e.g. base value unit is VBU). On first reading the use of acronyms is a little confusing, but familiarity does away with this. The book is lavishly illustrated with diagrams explaining mechanisms, and lots of 28mm eye candy.  Basing, for those who...

The third here's an excuse to post lots of pictures of my armies, post. This time the Army of Montrose takes centre stage. A 'completed' Solemn League Army post has appeared before - but as we all know, armies are never 'finished'. Here they are with all the recent additions - baggage, artillery, extra command. The Solemn League Army consists of: 6 regiments of foot, each 34 men (204 total) 1 regiment of dragoons, 21 men and horses 1 regiment of cuirassiers, 16 men 1 regiment of harquebusiers, 16 men 3 regiments of lancers, each 16 men (48 total) 2 sakers, each with 4 crew (8 total) 2 heavy limbers, each with a drover 1 minion, with 4 crew 1 liight limer, with drover 4 frame guns, each with 4 crew (16 total) 4 frame gun horses, each with a horseholder a priest  3 'commanders' Lord Leven and ensign 1 baggage cart, with 2 figures 2 pack horses with drovers Lord Leven takes centre stage Scottish heavy metal - pure conjecture based on a teeny weeny possibility F...

Another set of rules from the pen of Pete Berry. Clearly the rules deserve to win a prize for the name alone. These are now 30 years old, but are still available new from Caliver Books (or OMM if you find yourself, through no fault of your own, on the incorrect side of the Atlantic). The game is designed for 1:1 small scale skirmishes: but it is not a role playing game. Written for 25mm sized figures, players using 15mm simply convert inches to cm. Games are best with about 10 figures a side. Figures can be raw, trained or veteran. It is fast to learn and equally fast to play. Combat is handled by simple dice rolls, so this is not a game for the player who wants a long Hollywood style duel. This is a really simple, fast paced game that is great fun.  There are optional rules for using pike blocks, but I really wouldn't expect pikemen to fight as pikemen (i.e. with their pikes) in such small engagements; grenadoes; and artillery. There are two scenarios to help you get a feel for th...

One can not simply spend one's life visiting sites associated with the wars, or painting little men. You do have to eat, now and again... Now even the most die hard seventeenth century afficiando can take their passion into the kitchen with them! Stuck for a recipe? Try Mrs Cromwell's Cookbook , available from the Cromwell Museum  online shop, or in person from the museum itself: although this book was not written by her (it was actually written after Oliver Cromwell had died as a way to make fun of her) the recipes are good examples of food that they might have eaten while they were alive. Maybe I should have ironed it for the pictures... Once you have dined upon your 'Cromwellian' feast I'm afraid there is the washing up to do. And what better to complete the task than a World Turned Upside Down tea towel? Also available from the Cromwell Museum or in person from the shop at the National Civil War Centre. Other seventeenth century themed tea towels are availabl...

There are a number of Forlorn Hope scenario guides hidden away in the Caliver Books listings. I've managed to find six such volumes, there may well be more. (They are quite old, so definitely in the 'new old stock' category - all of the titles that I have listed below may not be available for long.) Description of the Royal Standard, and Rupert's Banner from First Newbury Whilst written to accompany the Forlorn Hope rules, these scenario guides are much much more than just simple scenario booklets. If you are familiar with Peachey and Prince's Flags of the English Civil Wars Volume 1, then you'll know exactly what sort of booklet you'll be getting: A5 stapled booklets with a coloured card cover. These are old, and now look very dated; but the contents are absolutely superb.  They do duplicate some of the material from Peachey and Prince's flag book, but there is also a lot of material which was supposed to have appeared in their never completed volume 2....

The second (I posted pictures of my Royalist Army some time ago,) here's an excuse to post lots of pictures of my armies, post. This time the Army of Montrose takes centre stage. Before anyone says "hang on a minute...", yes there is too much cavalry. The army consists of: 6 'regiments' of highlanders, each 24 figures (144 total) 3 regiments of the Irish Brigade, each 34 figures (102 total) 1 regiment of Scots (34 total) 2 regiments of harquebusiers, each 16 figures (32 total) 1 regiment of lancers, 16 figures 1 frame gun, with a crew of 4 1 frame gun horse with horseholder 1 piece of baggage, with 2 figures 3 'commanders' singularly based Montrose and ensign If you enjoyed reading this, or any of the other posts, please consider  supporting  the blog.  Thanks .

The ECW Travelogue made a packed lunch (or as we in Derbyshire say 'a pack up'), and headed over the border into Welsh Wales. Wrexham to be precise. Chirk Castle  is in the care of the National Trust, so expect the obligatory café, and shop selling fudge and wooden swords. Built in the late thirteenth century, Chirk was part of Edward Longshank's chain of castles across North Wales.  From a Civil War point of view we'll fast forward to 1593 when the Myddleton family bought the property. Sir Thomas Myddelton II was an MP having represented Weymouth and Melcombe Regis in the 1620s, before he represented Denbighshire in 1625, then again 1640-1648. Sir Thomas Myddleton II The area around Chirk was on the whole sympathetic to the Crown, so it was somewhat unusual that Sir Thomas declared for Parliament. At the outbreak of war he was made Sergeant Major General of the Parliamentary forces in North Wales, and went off campaigning.  In the summer of 1642 he returned to Wales to...