Trained Bands WIP

 

“If you run I’ll shoot you myself “

Getting there, both sleeves of shotte are now done.

A tough veteran acts as the backbone of the regiment keeping the ranks in line.

Pike block marches off to the Dip

I sprayed these guys brown again rather than black, it really helps with the pikes. These were then dry brushed with lighter shades and Citadel Contrast paint was used to shade the trousers and snap sacks.

These are Redoubt figures and have nice big buff coats. I’ve enjoyed painting these Trained Bands, there’s something very Elizabethan about them. To this end I gave some of them older styles of helmets to help with that look.

Fun in the sun, the sticky, smelly forest, drys in the warm breeze.

I’ve over done it with the numbers as I painted up two plastics as well, I’m thinking I’ll use all of them as the Trained Bands were big formations. The extra two pikemen could go on the command base at the back. It really will look a behemoth on the field with its expanded musketeer blocks and pike formation.

 

Band of Brothers

Creating Dragoons or assault troops using Redoubt spare cavalry heads and warlord games plastics. Well the results were better than I hoped for, as the firing position figure can be cut down as easily as the running one. This means the options are now endless for different troop types using the spare lead heads from Redoubt.

I took a little off the length of the muskets with a knife, just to make them look a bit more Dragoon like and the result works.

I toying with the idea of adding some green stuff bucket top boots, but really there is no real need. The debate is still out as to whether they wore them or not and opinions seem to be changing. Still one pair would look good I suppose.

 I might remove the match cord so it looks like a Dog lock once the glue dries. Very happy with these, I can’t believe I have basically gone through a whole box of these plastics already, still at £18 for 40 who’s counting.

The pike Machine cranks up again

More pike for the masses, this time it’s the Trained Bands turn to get shafted. I hand picked a group of pikemen with buff jerkins. Most are Redoubt miniatures but I have also included a couple of Bicorne miniatures with tassets. This is because the Trained Bands had a lot of equipment and so would have access to the best stuff. I’ve only put two in as most sets of tassets would of been dumped. I’ve worn mine once and that was enough, let alone March in them.

The second rank of musketeers are put outside for a couple of hours to take the smell away. My old Soft tone does dry quite quickly so loses its smell pretty fast, still give it 24hrs though just in case.
 

London Trained Bands WIP

There is a good splattering of buff jerkins in there including a new officer with a head swop. His hat looks like a giant Spanish one from the Thirty years war.

The sneaky converted plastic musketeer looks good in the mix.

 

Messing Around with Round Heads

After some thought I even took the head of a painted guy, his was the only plastic head that looked a bit small compared to the Bicorne figures. Luckily, many years ago I had bought some spare heads off Bicorne and these look great on the new plastic torsos. There’s no looking back now.

Well I had to try it after the success of the pikemen. I love how long the musket barrels are on these plastic figures.

Just by changing the angle of the head these figures take on a whole new dynamism. These would be great for skirmish troops, or even marksman.

 

Fun with plastic Pikemen

Even though I have hundreds of pikemen I can’t resist making a few unique ones myself. When you order from Redoubt miniatures they always give you buckets of extra heads. These have always gone to waste... but not any more.

The straight ahead stare of the plastic pikemen is effective but a lot more character can be added with just a slight turn of the head.

My first attempt was on a figure I had already made up and so the pike got in the way. This was a learning curve and the next soldier was a lot easier.

Now all those spare lead heads have suddenly become very useful. Soft hats too will look great. This lead me on to start thinking about the plastic cavalry, but on looking their hair is moulded down their back. It could be done; but some green stuff might have to be broken out.

 It’s a bit of a side note, but one thing I found a bit disappointing about the fantastic box set from Warlordgames, is the fact that their are only two helmets in the sprue. There are some pretty useless hats that could of been easily swopped out with helmets. Just a couple more would make a big difference to the look of the pike block. 

Oh well, now it doesn’t bother me so much thanks to Redoubt.

Trained Band on Tour

These are coming on, the first sleeve of shotte are done.

The blue coats work really well and break up the red uniforms.

A bit of everything here, Redoubt, warlordgames, Bicorne and Renegade miniatures, a proper militia rabble.

 

Basing Roundheads

The tracks go off in this direction...

The Roundhead commander in chief is getting ready to take to the field.

These 60mm round bases are designed to be Forlorn Hope bases for Victory without Quarter. These have been tweaked from the Artillery guard stands. On a certain card from the deck, both sides skirmishers can act, very similar to the cannon. It’s work in process at the moment but it quite fun trying to work it all out. 

They will have an attack of three D6 which makes them pretty useless against a regiment, although lucky rolls can happen. This makes them more of a annoyance really as they can’t combine their fire with other bases. They have a single wound so three hits would destroy them, if they receive two hits they have to roll for morale and could route 2D6.

However, they are always classed as open order so are quite hard to hit and if in cover as well, are going to be a real pain. A regiment using its volley fire to try a flush out annoying stinging knats is going to be really ticked off and so will be good to tie up units. 

They can not melee and are destroyed on contact with large regiments. I suppose skirmishers vs skirmishers could duke it out with three D6, higher score wins in melee.

Watch out for cavalry, so get those bases into buildings or fortified cover.

 There are bases of Dog locks too, these are meant to be companies so have six figures to a base. They suffer all of the same rules as above but fire with Four D6 making them a very different story on the field.

I added tiny stones from Army painter which seem to work well.