28mm - English Civil War - Earl of Caernarvon's Regiment of Horse

 

Back to my favourite period of history this time.  If there are figures that I really enjoy painting, it is the English Civil War range by Bicorne Miniatures. 

I bought a lot of these when they were first produced and each time I see the Bicorne stand at a show, I saunter over to take a look at the figures.  I nearly did this again at Attack at Devizes in July, but thankfully before leaving I  had got my lead box out of the loft to find around £500 worth of unpainted figures still stored.  I decided against buying any more...yet!

I have had two terrific games with Ian in the last two months.  The Battle of Babylon Hill of 1642 and the Battle of Chalgrove Field of 1643.  Both of these battles are fairly small scale affairs and ideally suited for 28mm on an 8 x 4 foot table.  Both games were superb with so many things happening as occurred at the actual battles.  If I can find the time to to do full write-ups of these then I shall do so.

As I work through the excellent Scenario books published by Caliver Books, I realised that I needed some more cavalry for both sides.  Therefore I was very pleased to put brush to figure to produce another regiment of horse..

I wanted to paint up a regiment that had seen a good number of actions, as I like to to try to use the actual regiments as far as possible, for the battles that they were involved in.  Essentially though, only the standard really ties the figures to any particular unit, indeed they could be used for either side as only the command figures wear a 'scarfe' showing their allegiances. 

I mainly focus on Waller and Hopton's campaigns in the West. With this in mind I started studying unit histories.  One stood out in particular.  

The Earl of Caernarvon's Regiment of Horse had been in the West Country and in the Oxford Army.  As well as being in the West Country, there was a local connection in that they appear to have formed the garrison at Eynsham in West Oxfordshire and were also at the skirmish at Bampton in the Bush.  They would have therefore had ridden on the road going past my house many times (my house not existing at the time though), in their patrolling and marching with the field armies.

The excellent BCW-Project website provided flag information and more unit history.  The Regiment also served at Southam, Edgehill, Lansdown, Roundway Down, First Newbury and after the death of Caernarvon at Newbury, under their new Colonel,  Richard Neville, they also served at Cheriton, Cropredy Bridge, Lostwithiel, Second Newbury, and Langport among many other actions.  

The BCW Project gave details of the flag which enabled me to paint at least one of the Troop standards.

I tried different techniques again to try to give more depth of colour and to try to speed up my painting.

I also glued the rider to the horse before painting.  I think I spent too long previously, painting saddle details that never get seen.  

The Bicorne miniatures really are great to paint. The detail stands out crisply. I was able to use washes which fell into folds really well.

The trumpeter was good fun to paint too. Normally I saw trumpeters as a necessary evil, but this time I just wanted to make a good job on him and make him stand out. More time was spent on lace than I usually do.

I have to admit that I don't think I spent any less time than I normally spend painting, even with the increased use of washes.  I just enjoyed applying the colours.and trying to make a good job of it all.

Bicorne figures have really good faces. Lots of detail but without 'silly' faces - no heroic massive chins or gurning expressions. These are all quite believable characters.

These took about 3 weeks of evening and some weekend days.  I suspect that they are going to see a lot of action.  Now I have painted these up I feel like doing more, maybe for Parliament...but again, we will see. So many projects to do!

Battle of Southam - 24 August 1642 - 28mm Pike and Shotte Rules

 

 

It's not often that I do write ups of the games I play.  I think its more to do with the fact that I don't really take photos all the way through the game to create a good narrative.  I also forget what happened! It's also considerably easier and less time consuming to show painted figures instead.  

However, I should really do more write ups, if only to remember the really great games that I played.

The battle that Ian and I played the other week was from the excellent series of scenario books produced by Caliver Books entitled 'English Civil War Gaming Scenarios'. This battle is from Volume 3 by Robert Giglio.  The books are excellent in that the scenarios are transferable to any set of ECW rules and the information contained within is just excellent.

This battle looked interesting for several reasons. Not least because it was actually before Edgehill, and its not really that well known. The armies are a mix of troop types and it is not totally equal.  One side is stronger in infantry but weaker in cavalry.  Both sides are largely raw troops too...so care needs to be taken to avoid units breaking too soon.

The above image shows the start dispositions.  The horse units on the furthest end have been labelled as 'wings' for image space.  The Royalists have the River Itchen and bridge to their rear. The road runs from Coventry, behind the Royalists towards Southam, behind the Parliament army.

Above we have the Royalist foote unit of the Earl of Northampton's Regiment (though it is actually painted up as a Cornish Regiment with possible flag colours - there can't be many ECW wargaming armies with correct flags throughout!).  Stand-in units playing the part of the historical unit are going to be seen throughout this blog post..so ignore the flags!  I think only my Northampton's Horse regiment has the correct flag.

A view from behind the Royalist right wing. These cavalry troops are from the Redoubt Enterprises range which still look good, but when they came out nearly 30 years ago, were just incredible.

Still behind the Royalist lines. The light gun and Saville's Dragoons get ready in the Royalist Centre.

View from behind the Royalist Left. The cavalry are a mix of Redoubt and Bicorne figures.  This Royalist wing refused all orders to make it move throughout the entire game!)

 

The left half of the Parliament army arrayed above.

Another overview shot

A close up of fine Bicorne Miniatures cavalry

A rare sight, some of the English Civil War cavalry produced by Front Rank (closest to camera).  I painted these in around 1991. They have been re-based several time but they have held up well to the decades.  The Royalist cavalry have the better of the fight on their right and push break the Parliamentarians. Above, the reserve Parliament line attempts to make a charge to hold back the tide.

On the Parliament right, things should have gone much better. The Royalist cavalry they were facing consistently disobeyed the orders they receive to charge.  As my Parliament cavalry wing receive the order to advance to take advantage, they 'blunder' their order and move off to their left oblique to stand in front of my infantry.  This was not the 'infantry protection' movement that they were intended to make...someone blundered for sure!

A view of Northampton's Infantry from the point end.  Figures are Bicorne with possibly some of the old Renegade troops mixed in.

With my left wing of horse routing and my right blundering, it was down to the infantry to save the day. my Parliament army was stronger in Infantry so I had to make use of it. I decided to advance down the hill and attack.  Unfortunately the cavalry blunder blocked my infantry from moving, except for Col Denzil Holles's Regiment.  A raw regiment but imbued with courage (or imbued with something!)

It was a bloody affair.  The red marker shows they unit has become spent and the cotton wool smoke is disorder.  The Royalist light gun and infantry fire poured a deadly fire into Holles's men.  It was too much for them and alas they discarded their arms and broke and ran.

That was effectively the end of the battle. My narration makes it seem short but the game lasted a few hours and several game turns (we chat lots too!).  It played like many of the smaller battles of the Civil War historically seemed to.  Raw troops fighting with major collapses once things start going wrong.

With one broken cavalry wing and my Infantry brigade with most of its units spent, this meant that 2 of the 3 brigades were counted as beaten, so the last brigade had no choice but to turn tail and flee.

All in all it was a great game and made me wonder how 3 years could go by without playing one of my favourite periods (and probably with my biggest collection).  The game played well and it was brilliant to read about and play another battle in a war that set the whole area around where I live between Oxford and Burford, ablaze with battles, sieges and skirmishes.

In the actual historical battle, it appears that Colonel John Hampden's Parliament regiment made a determined assault down the hill, with the light guns advancing and firing to support with grapeshot at close range, causing the Royalists to break and flee (offering to sell their weapons in the nearby townes 'for 12 pence a peece'). So in history it was a Parliamentarian victory.

I look forward to playing more Civil War games soon, though with the arrival of hot weather, my mind often wanders to the Western Deserts of WW2...

English Civil War - Artillery

Progress has been immensely pleasing in the last month or so with completed units and models joining their comrades at a great pace.  It is often the inspiration from finishing a unit which acts as the spur to get the next batch of unpainted lead moving through the painting desk.

I have completed these guns and crews in just two weeks.  This is incredibly fast for me.  I painted and based 3 models in about 5 days and then 2 more models in another 5 days.  It was nice to get models out which I had undercoated a few years ago and put aside and finally get some paint on them!

These models are from Bicorne miniatures and are mixture of 'Galloper' guns and Falconets.  Actually two of the Galloper guns are very old Minifigs pieces which I had retired.  They had been painted in a gaudy red and looked dreadful.  However I noticed that size-wise they fitted very well with the Bicorne models, so I would see how a darker hue would look.

The two central models in the pics above and below are the Minifigs Galloper guns, suitably worn from travelling on poor English roads.  I'm really pleased how they have turned out. Now manned by an able Bicorne crew they are worthy of taking their places in the gun lines (or in hedgerows, placed by Sir William Waller, ready to ambush the Royalist vanguards in the lanes of the West Country!).

Paints were a combination of Foundry Triads, Vallejo, Miniature Paints, and even Flames of War.  I am using Foundry Paints probably for 75% of my painting these days. 

There are some real characters amongst the gun crews but I think the Parliamentarian officer above is one of my favourites.

I have just received a much needed set of reinforcements for Waller's army which are just waiting for some paint to go on.  I have been side-tracked by an unexpected project though.  More to follow!