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!'

Donnybrook New Model Army Faction - The Horse!

Following hot on the heels of the foot for my Donnybrook New Model Army Faction, come the horse. These figures are all classed as Elite troops, and therefore 1 point gets you 3 figures. These guys are equipped with pistols, long swords and carbines, and wear armour. As Elite troops, they use a d10 to resolve firing and combat.

The Horse, with Activation card and Shaken marker....and random barrels!

The choice of Captain Hynde as a name was purely random - with all my 'unit' and character names, I've just gone with what sounds good. I wanted these units to be fictional and flexible, so I can use them for any actions of the NMA between 1645 and 1660. (I have, however, prepared a pack of Donnybrook cards for use in a different ECW action that are very much based on fact, but that will be a project for the future.) The figures are all Perry Miniatures, from packs ECW22 and ECW23.They've got a slight angle on the castings, but I can't work out if this is due to them getting bent slightly, or being sculpted like this, appearing to be 'on the move'.....I quite like the latter idea, and it certainly adds an air of motion to the figures. The shaken marker is from ECW12, and more about this chap (and others) can be found here:

http://haveacare.blogspot.co.uk/2015_01_01_archive.html#9029017225886469322

A close-up of the unit Shaken marker.

The figures were painted up using my usual mix of Wargames Foundry and Games Workshop paints, working from a black undercoat. I used WF Buff Leather 7 on two of the cavalry, and Rawhide 11 on the other. This added a bit of variety to the unit, and it's clear from pictures of Buff coats of the period, that there's lots of difference in shades. I also used Deep Brown Leather 45 quite copiously for boots and equipment. I have to admit that this colour is becoming one of my favourite Foundry colours - there's just enough of a variety in the shade, main and highlight tones to give a nicely balanced and realistic feel. The horses were painted using the Bay Brown 42 and Charcoal Black 34 shades. I was slightly apprehensive about painting these chaps, as horses always seem to be daunting, but in the end, it wasn't too bad. I guess that this is another advantage of skirmish rules, as you don't need too many figures.... as long as you don't want to game with a Mongol horde army! I'm still not convinced about my ability to paint black confidently, but I'll keep persevering and trying new shades or methods.

Once the horse were completed, this meant that my basic 4 point faction for Donnybrook was complete. In a future post, I'll detail ways that I'm going to expand on this, but for now this will do. These chaps have had a mixed bag so far in games - they do fairly well most of the time, but at Partizan they swept round a cart in a dramatic fashion to take on some Scots musketeers, only to meet a sticky end! They did look good though!  These figures were painted between March and September 2015.

Here come the Ironsides...

Thank you for all the positive feedback, both here and on other forums - it's good motivation to finish off this project, and to share more pictures and ideas. In the future, I'll add some more information about the historical background of my forces and the Dunbar campaign. To close, here's some more pics of the figures, both on their own and in action. Next up will be some scenery and 'fluff', then I'll move on to the Scots! See you soon.

 

 

 

 



Have they been seen off?...

 



No! Flee for ye lives!...

Cromwell's men on the rampage!...bye-bye to the vegetable garden! 

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.

 

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!)