Partizan 2016

Yesterday saw the RAWgamers putting in an appearance at the new-look Partizan show, held for the first time at the Newark Showground. Having attended the show at Kelham Hall for many a year, I was intrigued as to how the new venue would work. The old-world character and atmosphere of Kelham has, of course, sadly gone, only to be replaced by......well, light! And air, and openness, and space and everybody all in one place. Judging by feedback elsewhere on t'interweb today, the move has proved to be a success, with increased footfall, people staying longer and really positive comments. Whether this is just a first-time 'boost' remains to be seen, but if this is the future, I'm all for it. A massive well done to Laurence, Richard and the rest of the 'Partizan/Irregulars/Newark' team, and thank you so much!

Before the mayhem started...

On to the day. 'Somewhere in Scotland, 1650' made an appearance once again, this time in an enhanced format, with more figures (and sheep), and drew quite a few favourable comments. People popped by, and said hello, asking questions about the rules, terrain and figures. At one point Barry Hilton and Dave O'Brien dropped in - we just about resisted the temptation to ask them for a rules clarification! Dave's put some pics up on the League of Augsburg Fighting Talk Forum,  http://www.leagueofaugsburg.com/fightingtalk/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=6835, and they both said some very kind words about the game - cheers everybody! We had one chap who seemed very interested in Donnybrook as a set of rules, so hopefully we've spread the message, and judging by the laughter springing from the table, we certainly enjoyed ourselves. No, wait, correction......we had a blast!!!! Some pics, in no particular order...

New Model Army shot advance over the bridge...finally!!!

The Covenanter dragoons spur into action...

Plundering the chickens - but they're tough bu@*ers!

Formed up for a volley - the chap at the back must be posing for the camera...

Major Hawkins leads his men on...

The New Model Army Musket have a target rich environment...

General fun and hilarity...

Tam McLeod makes a last stand...

The Scots pike advance after an 'epic' journey to get over the ford
....moments later, only 3 survived after a crushing volley from the redcoats

We managed to cram in 5 games, in 6 hours, with a 3-2 score line to the Covenanters versus the New Model Army. We used the 'Events' card for the first time, and it created some amazing moments, including unforeseen bogs, a desperate attack on some vicious chickens, a building setting on fire (three times! I'd check the insurance policy on that barn!), a Hero quitting the field, death or glory moments of one-man attacks on formed musketeers, some great use of the 'shadow' ploy (where you're allowed to look at and re-arrange the next six cards in the play deck in your favour), a feral creature - we used a highland cow - taking down one NMA pikeman, and quite a few passing showers of rain! Absolutely brilliant fun.

A massive thanks to all the usual gang - in no particular order, John, Alex, Luke, Neil, Jez and lastly, but by no means least, my card-shuffling wonder that is my wife Sam! Couldn't do it without you! I'm going to finish this project off over the next few months, and it will have a final run out at the 'Other Partizan' in August, then we'll be looking at something new. Thanks for the continuing support, and see you soon with more updates!

More Scots, and my first NMA character.

Hi all - just a quick update amidst the pre-Partizan painting frenzy!

Firstly, the next unit of Scottish Shot has been started - four done, and four more to go. When those are completed, that will give me two basic  4-point factions for the project. I'm aiming for larger of course.....



The Scots shot - start of the second unit.

These chaps are all Perry miniatures - after the Partizan show, I'll add more posts about them, concerning colours used, which packs they were from and so on.

Here they are in a different setting, and more detail of the rear rank.



Even the grey-haired veterans are called to the ranks...

Here they make a bloody last stand - maybe some of this in a few weeks time?

Stand firm, my lads!....

I also decided to give myself a break from painting Hodden grey (or variations of it), this week, and painted up my first character - Master Thomas Playwell. He's a Perry Miniatures fifer, from one of the command packs in the ECW range. I quite like him! He was quite quick to paint up, given the lack of equipment, and is something a bit different. I'm lucky enough to be married to a re-enactment drummer/fifer, so a few questions her way about paint colours for the fife, and I was away. He has a morale-altering capability in 'Donnybrook' - again, more details and a longer post after Partizan. Here he is with his activation card from the playing deck, and in action.

Hope you like 'em! See you soon. Apologies for the brevity, but.....just under three weeks to go!!!! See you soon.

'The worst picket duty EVER!! Looking after the hay wagon, keeping an eye on dinner, and now a chap learning to play the fife comes and stands next to me......great.....'



The countdown to Partizan begins!

I've not posted anything on here for a few weeks - since February in fact - but that's not to say I haven't been busy!

With only five weeks to go before Partizan weekend, on Sunday 22nd May, it's all systems go for painting and production of figures and scenery. The RAW Gamers are putting on an enhanced version of the 'Somewhere in Scotland, 1650' skirmish game we put on last September, and I'm working away to get units and scenic bits and bobs completed in time. We'll be using the Donnybrook rules again, with added characters and expanded forces to those we used last time.

So, to wet your appetites, and to give a brief snapshot of what I've been up to since February and the previous post, here's a few pictures. I find that blogging takes up valuable painting time in the evenings, so will keep posts to a minimum over the next few weeks, until I've finished, but I just wanted to keep people updated. I'll do a more in-depth post on each unit or item after Partizan, but until then, here goes!:

First up, some camp items - the troops need feeding after all. These were picked up at one of the Derby Shows over the last two years, from Irregular Miniatures. They are listed in the 'siege equipment' section on their website.

Next, a hastily dug grave. I had some Greenstuff left over from basing trees, so smoothed it into a pile on a Warbases pill-shaped base, and then added a cross made out of balsa strip and superglue. Just right for setting a more sombre atmosphere - it could have been bullet, blade or plague that did for the poor unfortunate victim, and is a definite 'multi-period' item!

The vegetable gardens were inspired by an article on the Too Fat Lardies blog, and judging by the searches online, it seems as though I wasn't the only one who liked them! The 'flowers' used to make the cabbages were picked up from a shop on the high street, in the materials and craft section, and painted up. Rather convincing, I reckon; though possibly overly large for 28mm scale.....must be good natural fertiliser! They made their first appearance at the last Partizan game, but haven't appeared on here before. I want to add some fences at some point, to keep nibbling vermin out.

 

 

I've always liked The Last Valley's stuff - their scenic items always seem to appear on gaming tables around the conventions, and in many wargames rules and publications. They're good value, and well made too. I bought a couple of their trees at the Derby show last year, and rebased them in my style - a bit pedantic possibly, but now they 'fit' in with the other trees I've made. The flock on the trees was sealed using a non-perfumed hairspray (a railway modeller's tip!), and so far, it seems to be working!

A while ago, I started making my own trees, out of twisted wire frames. These were then based up using a hot-glue gun, and covered in air-drying clay. This was sealed with PVA and painted, then they were based up, sculpting the roots with Greenstuff before adding my usual sand and PVA mix. When everything was dried and painted up, I added some Woodland Scenics foliage. Perfect for small 'gnarly' trees, that wouldn't look out of place in most wargames 'theatres' of conflict, from Scotland to Spain! I'm quite proud of these, as they're totally scratch-built.

Having completed a unit of dragoons for my Scots faction for the Donnybrook ECW project, which gave me my first faction 'point', it's time to show my next unit, the pike. These chaps have made a few appearances on the blog in recent months, but not in full force. A small unit of 4 figures was on the table at the Other Partizan last September, but now I've finished them all off. It was the figures in plaids that were awaiting completion! (Have I ever said I dislike painting tartan or checked patterns?....) These 8 figures give me a full unit of 'regular' pike, worth another 'point'.

A few close ups:

 

All these pike-wielding chaps are Perry Miniatures. The same goes for my first Scots Musket unit, which gives me another point for the Scots faction.. Again, these 8 figures are classed as 'regular' in Donnybrook terms, and include the very first figures I had painted up for this project when I started it, back in 2014! For ages, I only had these two musketeers, then the dragoons made an appearance, and now finally, this first unit of musketeers has been completed!

Tam issues the order to fire!

Once again, it was the plaid-clad figures that slowed down the completion of this unit, but last Monday, I was able to get them done. The casualty marker in the background is a figure from the Wargames Foundry ECW casualty pack, which I hi-lighted in the last post.

Foundry also provided the figures shown in the last pictures, drawn from their ECW civilians packs.

Màiri keeps a close eye on her brother, as he staggers back from the well...

...Wee Willie, with his not so wee bucket! Mind it doesn't spill!

I really like these figures, and I have a few more civilians to paint up, to populate the settlements that are going to feature in our game.

There's 8 more Scots musketeers to paint, and 8 characters 4 civilians, then a few more bits of scenery - walls and suchlike, maybe some more trees, then I'm done. I'm not sure where we'll be yet at the new 'Partizan' venue, but I'll post before the show with more updates so people can pop by if they wish. After the show, I'll showcase more of the units and bits of scenery, in greater detail. Then it's on to a new project, which readers can follow on here over the summer. Thanks for the continued support, and see you soon! Five weeks to go!... back to the brushes....

Scots faction 'Shaken' markers

Last year (January of 2015 - blimey! Where's that time gone?!), I posted pictures and thoughts about the 'shaken' markers for my New Model Army faction. This time, it's the turn of the markers for my Scots Covenanters.

The Scots Covenanters faction 'shaken' markers

As per last time - these chaps are a mix again, of Perry Miniatures and Wargames Foundry figures. I've tried to paint them up in the coat colours that will match 'their' units, so the dragoon marker below is in a nice shade of Drab 12 from Foundry paints.

This is one of the Foundry figures, from Casualty pack ECW49. He was a nice figure to paint, and one that, in my view, is full of character - the older Foundry figures often get a bad press, because they're a bit long in the tooth now, but the Perry twins really gave these figures a sense of 'life' (ironically), and this particular sculpt has a real sense of a soldier on campaign. His doublet and breeches are ripped and torn, and his shirt and doublet hang off his shoulders. Painting the shirt underneath his clothing was a bit of a challenge, but I managed to get a very fine brush in the gaps, and it looks ok.

Next up is the figure I'm using for one of my musket companies, also from the Foundry pack.

The first musket 'shaken' marker

A different version can be found in last January's post. With this figure, I carved off the hat that was sculpted on, lying on the ground next to his head. I wanted a slight change to my NMA shaken marker, and also liked the idea of him looking a bit more 'Scots'. I suppose in hindsight, I could have used a flattened blob of Greenstuff to make a bonnet, but he's multi-use for any grey coated regiment, even English ones. He's got a coat of Slate Grey 32.

The next chap is from the Perry Miniatures casualty pack ECW12. I'm using him for my other musket company. He's a beautifully sculpted figure, with his bottles on his bandoleer strewn at all angles, and a shoe missing. It's little touches like that, that really set the Perry's apart in the poses that they choose for their figures. His doublet is painted with Granite 31 palette, though I've mixed the B and C shades together for the final highlight, as the transition to the pure C shade is a little too stark and too much of a contrast for my liking.

The second musket 'shaken' marker

Finally, here's the 'shaken' marker for my pike company. He's also from Perry Miniatures, and although it's not overly clear here, I've painted a dark red patch on his breeches to represent the fact that he's been shot in the leg. His coat is Slate Grey 32 as well.

I really like this chap as well - I've got plans for the same sculpt to be used inside a tent, at some point in the future - he looks like he could be rousing himself after a rough night, maybe under a threadbare blanket or cassock.  At this point though, he looks in quite a bad way, and sleep's the last thing on his mind! He'll probably be hirpling off the battlefield quite soon.

Yes.... 'hirpling'. From the word 'Hirple', which means to walk with a limp or a hobble. It's a word that's first recorded in the late 15th century, and probably comes from the Old Norse Herpast, or 'to suffer from cramp'.  Our group of friends in the re-enactment group I belong to often pretend to limp away, whenever we do events and we're close to the watching crowds. Over the last 20 years or so, we've developed a good line in 'hirpling' - staggering away, clutching our legs, or other pseudo-wounded limbs. If there was an Oscar for hirpling, we'd be nominated every year...... Hirple..... a word that actually rhymes with 'purple'! Add it to your vocabulary, and look intelligent ( or silly, depending on your point of view). As luck would have it, the irony is (given our subject and faction list) that 'hirple' is....an Old Scots dialect word. You couldn't make it up!

Next up - the Scots pike. See you soon!

'See 'em off, boys!'

Covenanter Dragoons

When I drew up the composition for my Scots Covenanter 'faction' of my ECW Donnybrook project, I was fairly sure I wanted some dragoons in the mix. Not only would they provide another aspect to our games, with their flexibility of being able to operate both mounted or dismounted, but there's something quite iconic about Scottish dragoon regiments of the 17th century English Civil Wars.

This is in part, down to the actions and history of Hugh Fraser's regiment, the exploits of which are detailed briefly here, on the excellent Project Auldearn Blog (one of the inspirations for my own project). Fraser's regiment (or Frazer's - I've seen both spellings) was one of the more renowned regiments of dragoons of the era (there is evidence for a significant number), but by the autumn of 1645, following the Battle of Philiphaugh, it received permission to convert to a cavalry regiment, and became equipped with sturdier horses, and fought from the saddle rather than dismounting. Judging by the brief descriptions of other dragoon regiments that I've found, this seems to be a common path taken by many of these units. Fraser's regiment ended their days at the Battle of Winwick Pass, during the  Preston campaign of 1648.

'The Dragoons are coming!...'

During the Dunbar campaign, which acts as the backdrop for my project, the Scottish forces purportedly had dragoons in the form of Lord Kirkcudbright's Regiment. There's no real indication as to which brigade they were attached to, but judging by contemporary accounts, Lord 'Kilcowberry's' (sic) men possibly fought in an action at Haddington, on the night of 31st August 1650, when Cromwell decided to retreat from Musselburgh back towards Dunbar. The English rearguard was already in disarray as it approached Haddington, but 'the Lord by his providence put a cloud over the moon' and the Ironsides managed to break contact with the pursuing Scots. Later that night, around midnight, the Scottish attacked again, this time with a 'party of mounted musketeers', and it's these chaps who were supposedly Kirkcudbright's men. They were clearly made of stern stuff, as it took an hours worth of fighting, before they were finally seen off by Colonel Charles Fairfax's Foot.

There is scant record of their actions during the Battle of Dunbar - presumably they fought on foot as a block of troops - and then were caught up in the subsequent retreat and surrender towards the end of the battle.  Any survivors probably evolved into 'Moss troopers', a development of later actions in Scotland, where the regular Scottish army was supported by rough and ready bandits who harassed Cromwell's forces. They gradually developed into an organised force of 'light' cavalry  under such people as Captain Augustine Hoffman (an officer from Southern Germany!), who attacked the English at Linlithgow in April 1651 with a mixed party of Mossers and dragoons.

My own dragoons have been 'christened' as Lieutenant Gordon's company. I decided to class them as elite troops, not only out of sentimentality for the quality of Fraser's veterans, but also because it got around a rather practical problem that wargamers have with dragoons of this era - the fact that you need 'two lots' of the d%^ned things! To cut back on the numbers I needed to represent both their mounted and dismounted versions, it was an easy choice to make them high quality - in Donnybrook terms, therefore, I'd only need 3 figures of each type. I couldn't resist making a dismounted marker though, and also included my usual 'shaken' casualty marker for my unit.

The unit in full - dismounted troops, their mounted versions, dismounted marker,

Shaken marker, and activation card.

The figures all come from Perry Miniatures - SW4 Musketeers firing, and SW6 Musketeers advancing for the dismounted figures, and SW15 for the mounted versions. The casualty marker figure is from Wargames Foundry ECW49 Casualties pack.

Dismounted Dragoons - mind those powder barrels

I tried to replicate the figures in both dismounted and mounted form - this was reasonably successful, but was largely dictated by the style of the mounted versions. Hair colour, and colour of the uniforms and equipment was the main method of doing this, but for the sharp-eyed, there's a few subtle differences mainly with the facial hair!

The uniforms were painted in a mix of colours - with the doublets being Foundry's 12 Drab palette. This is a slightly 'washed out' brown, with a pale khaki hint to it, and I like the fact that it's a different tone to the usual mid-grey tone that's often used for Covenanter troops. It also makes my dragoons easier to spot on the table!

The dismounted marker is on based on a 60mm round base from Warbases, and features a figure from the Perry SW5 Musketeers loading pack, and a spare horse from another pack of dragoons. The fencing comes from Renedra.

Finally, a few pictures of our friends, in close up and in action. Next up will be the Scots casualty 'shaken' markers. See you soon!

Off we go again - more English to find and fight!...

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!