Essex miniatures Clubmen

Having a large Parliamentarian army now of basic troop types, I thought it would be fun to collect a unit of clubmen. 

These are great fun because they are just a motley mob of thugs. This means they will be fun to paint as they are all civilians with nasty looking weapons.

I saw a bag of Essex miniatures clubmen figures on eBay and didn't do anything at first. A month later they were still there, so I took a chance and grabbed them. There were twenty four figures but only three poses. So I thought I'd better get creative to make this lot look more like an unruly collection of individuals.

I found that by cutting the hands free from the body with a scalpel, I could bend and twist the limbs in different poses to carry weapons. I wonder if they are designed for this...they look like they might be, but I haven't seen it done anywhere else before. Above a man now carries a club rather than holding it by his side.

Having discovered these bendy arms, I went to town coming up with different poses.

When creating a clubman unit, I think pitchforks are really important to get over the rural mob look. So I made sure I used as any as I could in the mix of weapons.

This figure from Bloody miniatures acts as a great leader for the mob. He's obviously someone of great social standing in the town.

 There is another pose that is less easy to pose. The guy with the bag has arms that can't be cut away, so is much more limited. I found by cutting his hand free and bending it, he can hold a pole arm type weapon. He will be useful for the rear ranks.

The third type of pose was one of a man holding a pole arm vertically. The head sculpts were all the same and would of looked a bit odd. So I twisted off the heads and replaced them with some old spare ones from Redoubt enterprises. I made sure to select the peasant looking ones.

These figures could be bent and reposed too, so the effect was quite good. I used my brush bristles again to create scythes that had been straightened. Lots of different, crude weapons straight out of the blacksmith's smithy.

The figures look so much better with a new head and bent arms.

The pole arm crew were taking shape too. I used a few plastic figures from Warlord games to bulk out the poses. I made sure to give them crude farm tools so they fitted in.

The mob.

I don't like the fact that the Warlord games figures don't have hats. This is obviously so you can use plastic ones, but none come in the pack, so they all end up looking bald. I managed to find a few plastic hats but they're not great.

I think these clubmen have turned out really well and I'm glad to took the gamble with the scalpel. The first figure is how they arrive.

Another warlord games figure, again I was annoyed at the bald head so I twisted it off and drilled a spare one on. It looks much better now and has become one of my favourite characters.

More pitchforks to cement that angry mob look.

Here we can see a tweaked figure next to an original.

Scythes are another classic rural mob weapon but are a little clumsy looking. Still, the odd one or two is a must.

Here we can see the mob with all their new heads and weapons. Considering these were all the same, I think they look much better now. The brush bristles weapon were fun to do too. These guys are looking quite organised...that leader must have a military background.

Dismounted Troopers

Heres that old idea that I've finally got around to doing. A unit of troopers on foot for Victory without Quarter.

These are large figures mostly from Bloody miniatures, so I used two bases instead of the 60x60mm. This gives the figures more room but also allows them to be split and formed into line.

As units can only target enemies  directly in front of them, a wider unit would be very useful. It's also more realistic to be able to shake out the squadron up in open order to form a skirmish line.

These are basically heavily armoured dragoons, but being dismounted cavalry I will tweak the stats slightly.

Dragoons get three shooting dice and two melee dice in combat. I think for these guys you could up them to four shooting dice, as they are armed with dog locks. 

I would be also tempted to give them the '6' save at long range like their mounted version. This nods at their armour taking the sting out of a spent ball or two.

The down side is that their weapon range would be less. A carbine's range...12" off the top of my head, I need to check that.

Horse stands get three melee dice in combat, one more than foot in Victory without Quarter.

I suppose you could use that logic on these dismounted versions. They are armed to the teeth with pistols, carbines and swords. So, these two bases could rack up six attacks in melee as well as in firing dice. Very effective, I can see now why troopers were dismounted and used to carry positions and breaches.

The splitting up of the squadron is not in the rules, but I thought it might be fun when it comes to manning a defensive structure. The split unit would still only get four shooting dice (dog locks), but could have a wider field of fire being in open order.

The horse holders are still to be painted up...

These are beautiful sculpts and come from Bloody miniatures. There are a few Foundry figures in there for old times sake.

 I didn't dip these as the details is so nice on these sculpts, instead I used the water based shade instead.

Below, a full regiment in open order (skirmish).

Draw swords! These two figures sit nicely together and suggest some animation.

 There's even a sneaky conversation I did using a metal head from Redoubt and a plastic body from Warlord games. It all helps to add some unique figures to the mix.

Regiment of Foote

The unit has finally come together today and has been based. This is a small regiment of foote as all the others have three ranks. This will act as an under strength regiment.

I know four flags might be a bit much for such a small unit but I can't bare to waste any.

A good tip is to use the Tamiya weathering kit to add a bit of mud onto the flags. This leaves a subtle dirt effect which helps to just set the flags into the environment. I didn't go too crazy with them, just a light touch here and there. These standards have been dragged through a campaign or too it seems.

The motley crew waiting for their base. Although this is a smaller unit compared to what I normally do, it did seem to take a while. I suppose this was added to by waiting for the dip to dry over night.

I'm quite tempted to dig out a dog to go on this base just to act something extra.

I like this stand as it looks quite realistic with the wind catching the standards in the background.

I used picture hanging wire to add some cords to the standards. As these are gold I didn't bother to paint them. I think they add a little extra flair. Simple but effective.

I always like to add a command base as an extra on my regiments. It looks good and helps to increase the figure count slightly.

On the march. Now I have to come up with a name for these guys.

 This is now been named thanks to a viewer...

                    ' Brights Regiment of Foote.'

I bought these dogs years ago for just such an occasion  from Warbases.

The regiment parades in better light.

The officer gets a trusty hound to keep him company on campaign. I did a bit of research into 17th century dog breeds to get a faithful colour.

Pikemen on parade

This morning I started the small unit of pikemen, again these are a mix of green and grey coats. The older green coats being replaced by the newer grey ones.

After the paint and wash was dry, I painted on some Dark tone dip to shade and protect them.

The officer of the regiment is now painted and ready for orders. He looks very New model army, so I had to give him a red coat to finish the look.

This Sargent gets a plastic pole arm to replace his missing one. It comes from a Fire forge set of plastic weapons and works a treat.

 

Time for a coat of dip, this will give him a little extra shading and a rock hard protective layer.

The Sargent also gets a light coat.

I wasn't going to dip the officer as I had spent some time shading him already...but did it anyway. A light brushing doesn't really hide anything.

As the dry dip is really glossy, I had to use some Ultra mat varnish from Ammo. This drys really mat of course but can deaden the overall look of the figure. 

So after this varnish, I used some Vallejo mat varnish on the weapon and belts etc. This has a slight sheen to it, so is great for certain items of equipment, this just makes the figure pop more and stops it looking flat and dull.

These soldiers have had their muskets and snapsacks picked out with Vallejo mat varnish to add some contrast.

The sword and any metal work is given a lick of the Vallejo varnish too.

The regiment is coming together now and is over half way finished.

UPDATE: The second batch of musketeers are dipped and on the drying shelf, that just leaves the command base.

The pike have been given their Matt varnish and are now finished. I gave their steel helmets a lick of gloss varnish to give them a metallic look.