French and Indian Wars: Horse and Cart

Just a bit of scenery or an objective for French and Indian Wars. I showed it off in the same picture as the Village Girls a few weeks ago but it was in the background and I though it should deserve a larger photo. The horse and  cart are from Warbases and the cargo is from Ainsty Castings. It will be useful for many setting as well as the FIW, from ECW right through to VBCW and WW2.

ECW: Reinforcments

I just about finished painting these English Civil War figures ahead of the To Defy a King game last Sunday, but never got round to photographing them until today. This is a big field cannon called a demi-calverin, from Perry Miniatures. I call it Big Blue. 

And here are my dismounted dragoons. Mostly Perry Miniatures, with a few Warlord Fire-lock armed musketeers left over from my fire-lock unit. I opted for the same red coats, but most of the dragoons sport buff overcoats as they like to think of themselves as cavalry. Dragoons of this period didn't fight mounted, and perform a skirmish role protecting the flanks, baggage train etc. 

Scenery for Pirates (Arrh! Jim Lad!)

Here is a few of pictures of the latest bits of scenery I have been making. These are from 4Grounds and they are from their Fabled Realms fantasy rage (they are from the Mordenburg range- not at all based on inspired by Mordhiem) They certainly wouldn't look out of place on a Warhammer table but I think they will do for a number of other genres as they are mercifully free from grinning sculls and other Games Workshop inspired oddness.


Included in the range is three different types of houses- Dockside, High Street and Back Street. Dockside is the grandest quarter, where the burgers and merchant's homes and so on. They are three stories: The ground floor is accessible from the street and is a cellar or a shop. The main family residence is accessed via an external staircase. High Street houses are simpler affairs, but still impressive, while back street houses are simple single story structures. There are also a number of ruined versions of the houses and a very imposing inn. 

I picked up a back street house and a dockside dwelling, principally to use for On the Seven Seas and Freebooter's Fate. They are pre-painted and Laser Cut from MDF, and come with a step by step photographed instructions which were very useful. The smaller house took about an hour to build but the larger one was more complicated and took about 5 hours (I would probably be quicker next time, and I used PVA, which I had to wait to dry during a few of the more delicate stages). 

They are lovely models, with lost of nice details like doors that open, and even a trap door. They also have fully detailed interiors, which is great too, especially for skirmish games. I lightly dry brushed the timber work and roof tiles to help pick out the detailing and cover a few burn marks. This took about five minutes, but really enhanced the over all look. I particularly liked the way they are made to look a bit 'wonky': the roofs and walls slope at weird angles. Having grown up in Chester, where we have some of the best preserved Tudor timbered buildings in England, I really liked this as it looks very realistic and stopped them looking too boxy. 

While I intend to use these houses as pirate dwellings I can also see they will be useful for Lord of The Rings, VBCW, ECW or a whole host of other settings. My regular gaming buddy Pulp Citizen is getting a couple too, and when we put the together we will have the start of a little town!

ECW: TO Defy A King

Today I had my first game of the new English Civil War wargame 'To Defy A King', alongside the chaps down the Earlswood Wargamers, under the expert eye of the games designer, Keith Johnson. We played a game set in the Scottish highlands, pitching Royalist again Covenanter (I was on the side of the Covenanters). I fielded, for the first time, my two cannons, a regiment of firelocks, a regiment of dismounted dragoons and a roughly regiment sized rabble of scummy clubmen. Luckily some other players brought some proper troops. 

Highlights for me were halting a Irish regiment mid-charge with some devastating musketry and cannoneering, and Allan failing two consecutive moral roles (a roll of 3 and a roll of 2 on 2d6) causing an entire regiment rout away from a howling, kilt wearing regiment of highlanders, even though they hadn't even taken a single casualty!

Keiths game, To Defy a King, is a great game, fast paced and easy to pick up. It's best suited for clubs or for players with very large collections of ECW figures, as you really benefit from having lots of regiments on the table. It is well crafted and flows well, coping easily with the complications of having lots of figures on the table, and it played out a whole battle in just a couple of hours. 

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Royalist Cavalry moving down one flank

Cavalry making a mess of my clubmen

The wind blasted highlands disturbed by battle

Big Blue and Little Red, by new cannons

At short range cannon can make a mess of Irishmen

Earlswood Wargamers Christmas 'All-Dayer'

It is the tradition at Christmas for the Earlswood Wargamers to have a big 'all-day' game Unfortunately, due to real-life commitments I was't able to attend, but I did pop down to take a few photos. This year there was a civil war theme and the games featured a game of 'To Defy A King', the English Civil War rules. They were recreating the battle of Edgehill. The other game was American Civil War on the stunning Gettysburg board built in meticulous detail and to 28mm scale by Alan. It really is a thing of beauty 

Alan's meticulously researched Gettysburg plan

ECW-Battle of Edgehill

 

To Defy A King: English Civil War Firelock Armed Musketeers

I have previously stated that the English Civil War is not really my sort of thing...I don't know why, but as a wargaming period it just doesn't do it for me. However, at the Earslwood Wargaming Group ECW is very big, especially amongst the veteran gamers. Indeed one of the movers and shakers at the group has just published his own set of rules called "To Defy a King", which seem a lot of fun. Given that the prospect of playing more ECW games in the future is quite high, I thought I had better get some more troops together. I have previously painted some armed peasants (called 'clubmen' because they clubbed together to defend their homes, not because they were wielding clubs -although some certainly were) and when I spoke to Kieth about what I should paint next he suggested cannons, as there is a bit of a shortage of cannons in the group. Seeing a little niche I thought I could fill, I have decided to go into artillery. 

To start off my little ECW army I have painted up a regiment of firelock armed musketeers. The artillery officers at the time were said to have preferred firelocks for their guards because they were less prone to spark and make the gun powder wagons explode- which is probably a good thing.  They are supported by a minion, which is a sort of small cannon that can be manhandled across the battlefield (unlike the larger cannons which were emplaced before the battle and were effectively immobile).

My next plan is to add a small regiment of dismounted dragoons (also armed with firelocks) to protect the flank, a brace of field guns and a supply wagon laden with powder and shot. 

The musketeers are from Warlord Games and the cannon is from Perry Miniatures. 

Some game pictures from Earlswood Wargamers Club

Here are a few more pictures from last weeks wargaming night at the Earlswood Wargames Club. As I have already reported I played an exciting game of Dead Man's Hand, but there were two other games on- I took a few photos just for fun. The first game is a War of Spanish Succession game- not a period I know anything about, but lots of nice figures in fancy hats. 

Next up was English Civil War. Keith Johnson from the Earlswood Wargames Club has just published his own set of rules with the nifty title "To Defy a King". I have yet to play it but I have had a good look through the rules and they look gorgeous- serious eye candy for any fans of the English Civil War. And with large print for those of us who are not perhaps as you as we were. 

If you want to know more about "To Defy A King" here is a link. 

ECW: Club Men

And now for something completely different!

English Civil War is not really my bag...I have never really been that interested in it as a period for wargaming or reading about, but I understand that it has its followers. When I joined the Earlswood Wargaming group I found out that they do a fair amount of ECW, and that Keith, the club's treasurer has even wrote a set of rules he is due to publish in the autumn of this year. 

Despite assurances that I didn't need to paint any figures as between them the Earlswood group have more that enough, I thought I would show some commitment and paint something to plonk on the table. But which side? Not being a fan of the period I had no particular favourite: I admire the politics of the round heads, but am equally seduced by the floppy hair and style of the cavaliers. 

The answer was the Club Men, by Warlord Games. Club men are so called, not because they wield clubs (although some of them do) but rather because they are local militias formed from mutual protection clubs. They don't really care about the politics of the war- they just want the soldiers off their land. This had the advantage that I could use them on which ever side I was due to be fighting on...brilliant. The fact that they are really characterful and fun figures helped too. 

I don't imagine that I am going to be tempted to paint a huge army of ECW figures, but I quite enjoyed painting these. I am a bit tempted to paint some artillery as Keith says that are short of that...but apart from that I think my ECW project is now complete (as far as any wargaming project can be called complete).

Squire Toby Fitzgerald, local landed gentleman and sponsor of the club men

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