Thursday, June 30, 2022

A Pikeman's Lament.

Equipping a militia regiment, I thought it might be nice to play around with their weaponry. I tried my hand at some rural looking pole arms to sprinkle in amongst the pike.

These were made in the same way as the pike, just the brush bristle being flattened further down the shaft. The long blades were then given an edge with a craft knife to finish the effect.

The unit probably lost a lot of its pikes to passing field armies. These farm implements will have to do for now.

Tassel update, these were bent into shape with pliers and then painted. I will do all my tassels like this from now on I think. It's another ECW hack, just like the plastic brush bristle pikes.

This is a pole arm being created by flattening down more of the bristle and then shaping with a pair of scissors.

 Once painted yellow, I gave them a wash with yellow contrast paint for some shading. I love the way the ends splay out. Very happy with this new idea.

Buckingham Trained Band WIP

Here's the latest from the muster on Aylesbury common. Two sleeves of shotte are forming up to await the arrival of the pike block 

I had to be really careful with these standards after my last experience, but I took it really slow and there were no accidents. It's nice seeing the Buckingham swan fluttering around. For this reason I didn't crunch the standards up too much, as I wanted to make the most of the swan in the middle. The swan emblem dates back to Anglo Saxon times when Buckinghamshire was known for breeding swans for the king. Ironic that this regiment will fight against king 

More picture frame tassels, they seem to work well and are a lot easier than drilling the proper lead flag tassels. The lead flag tassels from 1st Corps are great and a lovely little extra put into the standards pack, but they are fiddly to drill. The picture wire is so much easier to do.




Flags on parade. The newly done Garrison troops join the line up. I do like the simple Buckingham standards, they look quite Elizabethan in design, especially with the swans.
You can see here how much bigger the Trained Band's bases are compared to a standard regiment. For Victory without Quarter, I may give the large Trained band regiments an extra wound. However, they can't have it all their own way and the enemy will probably get a +1 to hit such a large formation. The same as it would for shooting at a column of march.
The real danger I see for this poorly trained unit. is being broken by artillery. Units in VwQ can be routed by failing a moral test, no causalities are needed for a roll. A direct hit from a cannon ball is enough to cause a morale check. An easy to hit, poorly trained regiment will not fair well I fear.

Is the purpose of tassels to help tie the standard around the pole when not in use?  I came across this picture and the thought did cross my mind.


The buff jerkins of the Trained Band's help to give them a distinctive look and separate them from other regiments. Now to crack on with the pike block. I ordered my pike block from Redoubt miniatures as they do some nice buff jerkins.

 They're ranks are not the tidiest and this is reflect their  poor quality.

Saturday, June 25, 2022

Tyrrell's Foote

These merry chaps finally get a coat of mat varnish to dull down their strong tone dip.

 Below is an idea I had for creating tassels on the standards. This really was intended for my Confederate forces, but it should work just as well for ECW too.
I found the best way was to fold it around the pole and then pinch it tight with some pliers. The pole was coated in superglue, so the wire stays in place. Still a test project so watch this space.

This bunch of Roundheads are getting some holy inspiration and divine armour to help them with the fight ahead.


There will also be a command base that will attach itself to the rear of the block. I don't think Commanded shotte had standards, but mine will have two different colours. This will show the two detachments that have been combined to form the ad-hoc unit.
I had to pull a few extras from another regiment to finish this one, they still need their dull coat added. The men are a mix of Bicorne and Renegade miniatures. There are also a couple of Foundry and Redoubt figures in there too. The Foundry figures have been mounted on an extra piece of plastic base, to help them match the height of the larger figures. 
Having the unit divided into four bases means the preacher can be placed in the rear when the lead starts to fly. 

I base my musketeers on these multiple times bases so they become more versatile. They can now line hedgerows and defenses. They can also be split to form smaller detachments or added to other regiments to form larger units. All these formations should be easy to cater for in Victory without Quarter.
Green trousers mark out one of the detachments.
"Keep your faith in God and keep your powder dry!" All this shouting and hat waving gives the impression of a mob rather than a disaplined unit. Maybe the men of Sunnybank aren't mixing with the garrison of Buckley very well.  

 "No Popery!"

UPDATE:
So I've finished the command base and the unit is finished. Just need to flock the bases now ...


I found these thin paper flags from eBay quite tricky to get right and went through a few before success. They stick instantly with the woodglue and are very hard to adjust into position. This is a little scary as my Buckingham Tryned Band regiment has the same type of ink paper standards. I'll have to be really careful.
Men stripped from two garrisons form up. This unit has no pike and will be vulnerable to cavalry attack. In Victory without Quarter this smaller formation only has two wounds as they are missing their pike element.
 However, they can still deliver a full six dice musket attack so are still a formidable unit on the field.

Enemy horse has been spotted forming up on the low ground behind the church...what are our orders sir?
Colonel Tyrrell is getting advice from all sides, but they can't all be right. It's tough at the top.
The picture frame wire looks good in the end, but it doesn't like acrylic paint at all. I will have to complete the standards and then undercoat them with the figure. That might be the answer to the paint coming off while ink washing.
Two standards show the different garrisons the men have been drafted from. This may not be historically correct, but I love units with lots of flags.

Saturday, June 18, 2022

Friday, June 17, 2022

New Orcs from Alternative Miniatures

I came across this new brand of miniatures while surfing eBay and was ammediatly struck by the Centurion style helmet. I have created my own versions in the past with plastic card, so it was nice to find an actual mini which had the design.

There are a mix of different characters and they definitely have a Peter Jackson Uruk-Hai vide about them.
They do come with little extras that can be added to their armour, but I left these off as they looked fiddly. I also went with my brush bristle swords as these will not get lose once superglued.

These will make great headhunter orcs, now I have to remove some weaker ones to find places for these guys.


These normally come with plastic slotta bases but I will be sticking mine on flat bases for multi basing.

The guy behind the company was called Alan and was really helpful over eBay. He even gave me a spare Centurion head for convention. He said in the future they will be doing spare heads etc for exactly that purpose.

Megga Choppa Boyz...sorry. This officer was given a large cutting blade. The ones that come with the figures are good, but these plastic pieces are bombproof.

 I'll have to fast track a few of these to get them on the headhunter bases.

Update: I painted up two of the new Orcs to use in my head hunter unit. I was surprised to see they stood quite tall amongst the others. Nice figures!