New Year....and here come the Scots!

Happy New Year, and welcome to 2016......well, at least that was the thinking - it's hard to believe that January has almost disappeared! However, it seems appropriate that a day after Burns Night, it's time for my first post about my Scots Covenanter faction for my ECW Donnybrook project.

So without further ado, let's say hello to Major Tam McLeod.



A stoic Scot, ready for action...



He is a Perry Miniature, from pack SW3 (I think - the picture is not shown on their website). Although he's in a similar pose to the NMA leader - Major Rob Hawkins - I still like the fact that he's urging his men on with a suitably martial air.

He's mounted on a 30mm hex base from Warbases, to mark him out as the Leader figure of the faction. I decided to paint his doublet a golden yellow colour, using Foundry's Yellow 2 palette, which gives him a distinctive look. This was contrasted with piping of red, using Foundry's Bright Red 15 triad of shades. I painted the piping in first, along the sleeves, and around the 'tabs' of the coat, then added a trim to across the shoulders to indicate 'wings', which were a particular fashion of the 17th century. Then I blocked in the yellow colours, and worked up the main tones and hi-lights of each shade. His breeches were picked out in a grey colour - I forget which now, but I think it's Quagmire 63. I added some piping to his breeches in Butter Fudge 55, with leg ties of Madder Red 60. I picked out his hose in Storm Green 27. His sash was painted using a combination of colours, starting off with a shade and main colour of Deep Blue 20, then a hi-light of 20C mixed in with Sky Blue 21B tone, just to give the folds a bit of a 'pop'. Blue sashes were a recognised 'marker' of Scots Covenanter officers and sergeants. His bonnet is done with French Blue 65, mixing in a touch of Deep Blue 20B with the final 65C shade. I decided to give Tam a slightly darker and richer bonnet, which marked him out as being able to afford a more expensively dyed wool, rather than the usual colours I use for my Scots rank and file of Night Sky 62 and Storm Blue 39.


I'm not entirely sure how I did the tassels/fringe of his sash - I know it involved some washes, over (I think) Deep brown Leather 45C highlight shade, and other yellows, but whatever it was - it gives a nice subdued yet 'just bright enough' effect. His hair was a bit of a cliché I'm afraid, as I went for a red-head shade. It's done using Conker Brown 54A as a shade, main tone of Chestnut 53A, and hi-light of Tan 14B. Gauntlets are done in the Rawhide 11 triad.

Overall, I'm rather pleased with Tam. The mix of yellow and red echoes the Royal 'Lion Rampant' flag of Scotland, and the combination of these two colours, the blues of the sash and the bonnet, and the green of the grass and bushes on the base, give a nice colourful feel to this figure. He's had an eventful time so far in the games that we've run, including a stand-off with Rob Hawkins where Tam hid behind a wall, and Rob was lurking behind a stone cross. It only ended when Tam carried out a do-or-die charge (with a suitably blood-curdling yell, of course!), and fired off both his pistols, winging Rob and ending the game in the Scots' favour!

Next up will be a post on my favourite troops of the Scots faction - the dragoons! See you soon!



My first Donnybrook Hero - and the naming of Bobby 'the Bob'!

 The next entry for the 2015 Donnybrook Diaries, introduces the Hero character for my English Civil War project New Model Army Faction.

This is Major Robert Hawkins, a fictional name I plucked out of nowhere, yet one that sounds suitably virtuous and inspirational! Every Donnybrook 'faction' or force has a 'Hero', who acts as the leader or commander - your personification on the table. He also acts as a 'character' for your faction, but is cost free when it comes to working out the amount of points you have to spend on your faction. Heroes use a d12 die to determine their ability to carry out actions such as firing, or landing a blow in close combat, and succeed in both on a 6 +. They therefore have a 7 in 12 chance of managing this, only right for such fine upstanding fellows......or evil, dastardly rapscallions - take your choice!

They can also act as the final checking point for faction morale when forces reach 50% of their original strength, a trigger point to see if the game is coming to an end. A die is thrown that matches that of the highest surviving characters' ability die. 7+ means that the force is able to carry on. So if your Hero is unhurt and still fighting, then he uses his d12 die to test against. Pretty useful!

Robert Hawkins comes from Perry Miniatures pack ECW2 Foot Command, and I knew straight away  that he would be a good Hero figure. I've decided to base all my character figures for Donnybrook on hexagonal bases (from Warbases). My heroes are based on 30mm diameter ones, as opposed to 25mm for my other characters, just to make them slightly easier to pick out on the table. He's painted up in the usual manner from a black undercoat, using GW/Foundry paints. Madder red trousers (again!), with green piping, and a Slate grey doublet. His sash is painted up using the Wargames Foundry No.23 Tomb Blue triad; ECW re-enactors tend to portray New Model Army officers and sergeants wearing this pale bluey-grey coloured sash, and I like the contrast with the other more earthy colours.

Major Hawkins has had a dramatic life already in our Donnybrook 'test' games, and is starting to develop something of a character. Whilst he always seems to be one of the first to have his activation card turned up - meaning he gets into action pretty quickly - he has so far swung between being foremost in the action, to vacillating nervously at the rear! In our first game, he was shot, and eventually dragged from the field by his own retreating pikemen as his faction crumbled around him. He subsequently recovered, only to spend a subsequent game keeping out of harm's way behind a rather substantial stone Celtic Cross. Some might say he was seeking Divine inspiration, muttering psalms and prayers to inspire him and his men. However, the image of him bobbing back and forth nervously from behind the cross to see what was happening,  was one that stuck slightly firmer in the mind, and it wasn't a gigantic leap to get from Robert Hawkins to Rob the Bobber, to Bobby 'The Bob!' Not quite 'Seamus an chaca', but a nickname that could have slightly less favourable connotations than just ducking and diving! We'll have to see what the future holds for Major Hawkins!

Out from behind his cross.....but for how long?......

Major Hawkins'  Activation card.