English Civil War Clubmen

Day two of the Clubmen build. Swooping the heads worked so well with the others, I thought I'd give it a go on the last remaining figures too.

The best way to remove a head is to grip it in pliers...and twist. It tears the lead and leaves a clean break. After this I drilled in a new head from Redoubt enterprises.

 

The pole arms are looking good but I think they can be improved slightly. Before I had scored on the binding with a scalpel, Now with more time, I decided to use some cotton to improve the effect.

I added some super glue gel and then wrapped a length of cotton around it. This is very easy to do but can be messy on your fingers. Any loose bits can then be trimmed off with a scalpel.

This 'bag' body looks good with a new head and really helps add variety to the poses.

Someone has even managed to acquire a helmet, probably from a dead body mind.

The pole arms are flattened with pliers, then cut to shape with a scalpel. Cotton is then glued around the bottom of the blade area. 

I learnt this trick on my orc forces, but it works just as well for militia types.

I started to stick plastic bases to some figures so that their height will vary. These ancient Essex figures are quite small by modern standards, so it just helps everyone up to the same size.

This bill hook worked out well by pulling the plastic with the pliers. Again, a new head really improves this 'bag' pose.

Close up of the new cotton binding, it's much better than the scored effect.

This figure turned really well I thought, it's one of those clubmen figures with a new head and pole arm. Turning the head to look down the weapon really works well.

The rabble. 

Here they come marching over the fields, laughing, music playing and ale flowing. It's more like they're going to a picnic than to a meeting of war. Groups of men all heeding the sound of the church bells as a rallying cry.

After doing some more research, it turns out that preachers were heavily involved in these musters. Leading the common folk was something they were very used too and these military gatherings were no exception. Rejoice in the Lord!

A gamekeeper adds his crack shot to the singing mob.

Height variations with the help of some cut up bases. I also took the opportunity to find some more plastic slouch hats, these look so much better now.

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.