Major Hawkins' Company

Blimey! Long time, no post! Apologies for that, regular followers and casual droppers by........hopefully this will change over the coming months.

However, progress has been continuing here at Pell Mell Towers, with lots going on since January (the last time I posted!). Over the coming few weeks, I'll update people with progress on my Donnybrook ECW project, which has been ticking along nicely. First up is the progress and completion of Major Hawkins' company of Musketeers. I first wrote about these chaps last October http://haveacare.blogspot.co.uk/2014_10_01_archive.html#6929832098667080127, but they've now been finished off.



The completed company, with activation card, Reload and Shaken markers



Here is the completed company of 8 figures - worth 2 points in a Donnybrook faction. In the rules, elite infantry can be 'bought' in groups of 4 figures - worth 1 point - and if required you can then combine troops into units of between 3 and 12 figures. After a few play tests, I decided to join together a pair of elite units, to form a bigger company. This means that my faction isn't quite as tactically flexible, having only one unit of musketeers, but it does mean that the musketeers stick around longer, and pack quite a punch, rolling 8 d10s!



The company in open order

These figures are all Perry Miniatures, from packs ECW8, ECW9 and ECW10. They were painted in my usual manner, working from a black undercoat and using Wargames Foundry paints. I've tried to add a sense of uniformity, with most of the troops having Slate Grey 32 breeches, and Granite 31 hose. I then paint some of the figures - normally one in four - with different colour breeches or hose. The same principle is carried out with the equipment using standard leather-like and 'natural' colours. So for instance, I'll paint three figures with Buff 7 baldrics, then the fourth has a different colour such as Conker Brown 54. This gives units a standardised, well-equipped feel, but with a natural variation. It also means that figures can be painted up quicker as well - always useful!

The company in action!

Next up will be shots of the complete company on parade and in action, so here's just a teaser of how they look together....

Captain Morris' pike and Major Hawkins' shot drawn up in classic ECW style,
 with Hawkins himself front and centre.

Until next time! See you soon.

 

Trees, and time for close ups!

As I continue with my Donnybrook project, along side this I'm also working on building and painting/modelling wargaming terrain and scenery - playing catch up after butterflying between projects for the last 20 years, and not really getting anywhere in all that time! Last summer, I built my terrain boards, I've been working on some buildings, and 'fluff' (see the last post), and finally, I've got round to making and basing up some trees, items which  are just about essential on many wargaming  tables, in one form or another.

Somewhere in Spain.....this is more a 'Birch' type tree, with lighter foliage and bark.

 

Inspired by an excellent article in Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy, I bought some plastic tree frames made by Woodland Scenics, and some of their foliage clump packs - Medium green and light green shades. The tree frames were cleaned up, and flash scraped off, then the tree limbs and branches were twisted into place. I then painted the tree sprues up using the Wargames Foundry Granite No.31 triad, or WF Granite No 31 c shade, which were then drybrushed with pale grey up to white, for a more 'silver birch' type tree.   The trees were glued to 60mm circular bases, from Warbases, and based up in my usual manner, leaving off the static grass and foliage, and given a coat of matt varnish.

The first of the two trees, with a Foundry Rifleman painted up as a bugler of the 5/6oth Royal American Rifles for scale

Next came the fun bit! Gluing on the foliage took a while - selecting clumps, and sticking them on with super glue, but the process is worth it! These clumps were 'sealed' with diluted PVA, to prevent the loosest of pieces from falling off, and when the glue was dry, I then applied the final grass and base foliage. The ultimate question is, is it worth it? Well, each tree (and so far I've made 3 of these out of a pack of twelve) has taken about 3 hours to make. But they have cost just over £2 each to make, and for unique trees, I don't think this is too bad.

Frenchies lurking somewhere in the trees!

 

Along side these bits of timber, there's also a Games Workshop 'style' tree, that I bought at the Derby show last autumn. This has been based up in the same manner, and adds a bit of variety. I've also had a try at making my own trees, out of twisted wire, but these aren't finished yet, and are for a future post.

My 'Silver Birch' type tree, and the GW tree.

I've also been messing about with lighting and my camera phone, trying out close-ups and so forth. I think some of these have worked, so watch this space for future pics of Donnybrook stuff! I'm now at the point where I can finish off my NMA faction Musketeers, so see you soon!



I think the fusilier on the right realised the camera was pointing at him! French infantry advance.... a future project....

Wagons and wildlife....from Warbases!

My Donnybrook ECW project is slowly progressing - more work on my New Model Army musketeers over the last few days - but this post is connected to the 'fluff' that I'm adding to the table.

'Fluff' is the (if we're being honest) unnecessary stuff that is placed on the battlefield,  to add to the atmosphere of the game and to set the scene. In bigger games, it's arguably the case that things such as wagons, camps, wells, livestock, civilians and other such bits and bobs are really not needed; just the figures who fight are all that are needed for the purist! But in my opinion, these kind of things really complete a wargaming table - indeed, exponents of the convention circuit display games often spend a significant amount of time on the 'incidentals', and they certainly contribute to the spectacle of the game overall.

In a skirmish game like Donnybrook, certain items, such as barricades, piles of barrels and lumber, wells, fountains, wagons, even cattle and other livestock, that might be ignored on a grander scale, even take on a whole new importance. A stack of powder kegs might not be cover for a battalion of Napoleonic French Infantry in a large game -  at a smaller 'scale' skirmish however, they can shelter a few figures. They even might come into play with event cards being drawn - ignited by accident and blowing unfortunate figures that are close by sky-high!  So, along side my factions, I'm also making some 'fluff'; time-consuming it may be, but it all adds to the game, and the spectacle.

As a start, I bought this wagon from Warbases, at the Derby Show in 2014. Listed on their website as a 'haycart' http://war-bases.co.uk/ACCESSORIES/Carts-Wagon?product_id=409, it only cost £3.50, and is made out of laser cut mdf. I topped it up with a resin hay bale, which was £2.50. The product is really well produced, good value, and the resin hay takes paint well, and is cast nice and crisply. There aren't any assembly instructions with the cart, but a quick reference to the website gives some clear images on how it's put together ( I used superglue), and it fits in perfectly with setting a rural scene. This will get plenty of use from the 17th to the 20th century. A quick paint job, with basecoats, washes and dry-brushed hi-lights worked well, and then it was based up.

I also bought some Highland cattle from the same company, when I went to the Warlord Games 'Games day', also last year. These beasties would set the scene instantly in Scotland, and the pack of two adult cows and a calf are perfect http://war-bases.co.uk/figurines/highland I really enjoyed painting these animals, in a mix of colours - Foundry Spearshaft 'a' shade to start off with, then gradual highlights with the Foundry Butter Fudge triad. Lots of consultation of Google images' Highland Cows pics to start off with! I've even tried to make a cowpat out of greenstuff - it looks alright, but I think I would have preferred more 'splat' or 'smear!' Fluff it maybe, but I think these cows may have a role to play at some stage in the future, causing chaos for my ECW and other factions, somewhere in Scotland! Cue the 'wandering cattle' event card! Until next time, happy painting!

Mooooooooooo!

Wha' you lookin' a'?!!!!

Greenstuff cowpat - needs more 'splatter' I think......

View of the rear of the cart - I've tried to splay the wheels out slightly, in a more accurate manner

The cart without the hay bale, bravely defended by men of the Covenant!




 



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.

New Year........old project!

 

 Happy New Year! This blog has suffered of late, due to a dearth of posts - the last one was back in October - but I'm determined to get it back on track. Although my Donnybrook ECW project is crawling along slower than I'd wished for, it's definitely not finished, and I've been doing bits and bobs for it over the last few weeks. New Year, new impetus, more determination, and all that....... so here's the (fingers crossed) start of a new phase of Civil War Donnybrook madness!

First off the starting blocks for 2015, are my New Model Army Faction 'Shaken' markers. When units in Donnybrook suffer casualties that reduces the unit to 50% of their original strength, or when they lose a round of close combat, they have to check their morale. Depending on the result of their test, a certain throw will leave the unit having to fall back the equivalent of 2d6 inches, and leaves them 'shaken'.

 

Now, it's possible to use markers, counters, even scraps of paper, to indicate which of your units on the table are shaken......however, I thought it would be nice to make some purpose-built shaken markers. The marker bases are from Warbases - 2mm thick 4cm diameter bases in this case. Then I typed up the 'Shaken!' text and placed it onto a suitably aged parchment-style background I found on the Internet. This was printed off, cut out, stuck on to the base with sellotape acting as a 'film' over the top, and then the base was covered in my usual PVA and sand mix - taking care not to cover the text!

 

When the sand was dry, and sealed over with a second coat of thinned PVA, they were painted up. For all my bases now, I use Games Workshop's Steel Legion Drab as a base coat, then use Wargames Foundry's No. 10 Sand triad, to dry brush the sand, gradually getting lighter, through the A, B and C tones.

 

 The figures are from two manufacturers - Perry Miniatures' ECW12 Dead and Wounded pack, and Wargames Foundry's ECW49 Casualties pack. They're fairly comparable in size - being sculpted by the same people, though at slightly different stages of their careers!


The downed cavalry trooper and the pikeman wearing armour are Perry Miniatures' sculpts, the poor chap with his hat knocked off from Foundry. All were painted up using a mix of Foundry and GW paints. I've given the cavalry trooper madder red breeches, having read somewhere that red breeches were popular amongst cavalry during the Civil Wars - suitably martial! After they were glued on to their bases, I added my usual mix of static grass, and reeds and bushes etc from various manufacturers. I've kept the figures fairly neutral - the cavalry man could be used for either Royalists , Parliament or Covenanters. The infantry have the yellow facings - and linings inside their coats as well - of the NMA unit that I am painting up; however they could be used for any yellow faced unit, Royalist or Parliamentarian, from the conflict.

 
 


Finally, I've included a group shot - a small unit of 4 'Elite' musketeers, worth one point in a Donnybrook faction. They have their shaken marker - and a reload marker to indicate that they've just fired, and now need to wait for the 'Reload!' card to be turned over, before they can take any more firing actions.

See you soon, with more goodies! And apologies for the layout of the page - it bears no resemblance to how it looks before being published! ( I'll have to get my head round Blogger tutorials!)
 

Donnybrook Diaries - the advance of the shot!

Hello again! Well after last week's post about my terrain, I've been working away on my New Model Army musketeers for my Donnybrook English Civil War project. I had one figure completed a few months ago, as a test figure, but had to get the rest finished. These chaps are worth 1 point, and are classed as Elite infantry. They will be fielded as Major Hawkins' company, and here they are with their activation card. Elite infantry in Donnybrook can be bought in groups of four figures, but they can be combined with other elite infantry, to make a unit up to 12 figures strong. So these chaps will be combined with another point's worth of elite musketeers, to make a unit eight figures strong, which will be less tactically flexible on the table, but will at least stick around longer. They are all Perry Miniatures, based on 25mm Warbases circular bases.

I decided to paint these chaps with a variety of headgear - the black 'beaver' felt hat so beloved of ECW gamers was not as ubiquitous as the Victorians would have us believe, and a broad range of headwear was available to people of the 17th Century - the Perry twins have recognised this, so along with beaver hats, there are also Montero hats - the peaked cloth hat, often worn by members of the Oxford Army, but also sported by generals including Prince Rupert and Fairfax amongst others; knitted peakless Monmouth hats,

and 'Pound' hats - knitted headwear with a brim.
My musketeers and pikemen have a range of these.

Here we see the pikemen drawn up in normal order,

with a sleeve of shot next to it. The following photos show them in action, advancing over a bridge somewhere in Scotland. The next lot of musketeers are on the painting blocks, and are underway, so see you again soon! Apologies for the random layout again, I'm still struggling with Blogger, so if anyone can point me towards any decent tutorials, or offer any tips - is it better to add text before or after pictures, that kind of thing!



Donnybrook Diaries.....making ground!

Hello again - It's been a while, but I've gone to ground because......I've been making ground! Well, terrain to be specific. About three months of the last year has been taken up by making terrain boards; an afternoon here, a couple of hours there, it all adds up. But now, after twenty or so years of being interested in this hobby, I'm now the proud owner of two large terrain boards, that give me a war gaming table measuring 4 feet by 4 feet.

The boards are made out of MDF board, with timber battens along the edges, then this was filled in with polystyrene sheet. Inspiration came from many sources, but was especially drawn from Gary Chalk's excellent series of articles in Wargames Illustrated, way back in the dim and distant past. Lots of sand and PVA glue, filler, a polystyrene hot wire cutter, varnish, emulsion paint mixed up at my local DIY store to match commercially bought model paint, towelling (inspired by Dave Andrews' beautiful terrain boards), static grass, reeds and bushes from various modelling shops.....the list goes on, in terms of what I have used. But the end results have been worth it. The bridge is from Hovels, and is a permanent
fixture.

 Ideas for the layout of the roads and the river, have come specifically from Clarence Harrison's excellent Quindia Studios website. Clarence has a guide on there about making his own terrain boards, and I wanted to make mine flexible, and adaptable, just like his. Although the bridge is fixed, I can use this particular board from the Mediaeval period, right up to the present day, which suits me just fine. I will eventually do another river board, which will feature a wooden bridge, which I will use for all my pre-Mediaeval games, but that is a way into the future. I like the idea of having a fixed bridge, as for me, the look of war gaming terrain is almost as important as the flexibility, and this just looks 'right'. There is also a ford located further down stream, which I'm sure will be used in some of my games.

 The colours of the board have been mixed to match GW's Steel Legion Drab as a base coat, then the 'Sand' no. 10 triad, from Wargames Foundry. This has a mid-tone to it, allowing terrain ranging from Europe, north and south, all the way to the United States, to be portrayed. Eventually over the next few years, I'll be building up collections for the American War of Independence, ACW, Peninsular War, as well as continuing with my Donnybrook ECW project, amongst others. So here I've got a random selection of buildings - Spanish and European - on display, and my first completed bases for my League of Augsburg period French force. That will be making a bigger appearance next year, but this year's aim is to complete my Donnybrook forces. I'll leave you with a few more snaps of the boards, as now it's time to crack on with some actual figure painting! These boards have taken up a LOT of time over the last few months, but I'm just a tad happy with them. It's definitely been worth it. Next year will see a 'hill' board being made (I'll play with the hot wire cutter again!), but for now, it's on to the important business of figure painting. See you far sooner than last time!