Wargames Illustrated - WI354 April 2017

Anyone who dislikes ‘personal trumpet blowing’ and /or shameless self-promotion may wish to skip this post.

Wargames Illustrated - WI354 April 2017

I was reading an article, in the latest copy of Wargames Illustrated, about The Pikeman’s Lament rules and noticed in the photographs the Covenanter musketeers and an artillery piece looking pretty familiar. On closer inspection, I realised that some were pieces I painted for Warlord several years ago. It’s nice to know that they are in John (owner of Warlord Games) Stallard’s personal collection and that they are still being played with.

Dodgy photographs of the same figures can be found here [Scots Covenanters].

I remember receiving a reply from Warlord implying that the uniforms weren't the correct shade of Hodden grey and the colour for the Scots Saker cannon carriage was too bright and not authentic. This last part made me chuckle because I got the information about it from someone who I later discovered was an expert on civil war artillery and a founder of the English Civil War Society. I don’t think I have a particularly distinctive painting style so it probably the colour of the carriage that helped me to recognise them.

If you want to purchase a copy of the magazine for yourself, you can do so from here [Wargames Illustrated] And no I’m not on commission, in case you were wondering.

I buy my copy from a local gaming store [Asgard GamesUK].

Speaking of which, I seem to be quite fortunate in that there is also a WHSmith store near to where I live where all three of the usual wargaming magazines are normally on sale. Although there is an obvious push towards electronic versions at least having a physical copy in front of you enables you to be able to flick through the mag to see if that issue is worth buying. I think publishers realise this as more and more of them seem to offer online glimpses into the online/PDF versions.

As an aside, another one thing I did notice was that via a combination of blogs, forums, newsletters, Facebook and podcasts I already know or recognised most of the content. Unfortunately, I believe, this doesn’t bode well for the hard (paper) copy versions of magazines given that online versions seem to offer more content. I still prefer to have the ‘real’ thing at hand to read but this may be a generational thing as I also rarely see anyone young (i.e. in their 20’s) reading a newspaper, for instance.

Scots Saker Cannon, Warlord Games

Regular readers may remember this particular post showing Scots Dragoons where I mentioned that I had also painted a saker cannon for the same company. Anyway reading about one of the latest releases from Warlord Games, New Alexander Leslie, Lord Leven I scrolled down right down to the very end and noticed these familiar chaps: Scots Saker Cannon (click on the images to enlarge them).

I had actually initially painted the carriage red but around the same time I attended a re-enactment display at Kenilworth castle. Speaking to the interesting crew manning the artillery one fellow mentioned that Scots artillery was 'associated with the colour yellow' as he phased it. I went back home and re-painted the carriage and was reasonably pleased with the results.

I've been temporary distracted by other periods (and shock horror - another scale!) at the moment. but I do have some more ECW pieces on the workbench but these will hopefully feature some time in early 2012. Looks scary when you write that date down, doesn't it? Where has the year gone?

Scots Dragoons, Warlord Games - Part 2 of 2

The mounted versions of these dragoons are laden down with loot/provisions including rabbits, chickens, lanterns and bottles of liquid refreshment. I must admit that it took me a while to figure out just what exactly was hanging from the saddle but it is definitely worth trying to highlight these details.

Dragoon with rabbit

Careful planning (or just a bit of forward thinking) is needed when fixing the mounted figures to their horses otherwise some will appear to be sticking their firearms right into their colleagues ear holes - never a good idea.

Mounted dragoons on mass

Dismounted dragoons.

As with the Scots Covenanter infantry I painted the majority with blue bonnets, complete with sprigs of heather and saffron shirts. As regular readers will know I'm a complete muppet and will not be surprised to know I forgot to take any photos of the Covenanter Saker I also painted for Warlord Games.

Scots Dragoons, Warlord Games - Part 1 of 2

Further to the infantry detailed previously I was also asked by the chaps at Warlord Games to paint up a set of Scots Dragoons that nicely compliment their Covenanter figures.

There are twenty four figures in total, these depict twelve mounted and dismounted versions of the same Dragoon. It's useful to remember this when you are preparing and painting the figures, especially regarding the bonnets as there are definite matching pairs.

Ensign - Mounted and on foot 

Ensign

Ensign

Dragoon officer - mounted and on foot

Dragoon officer

Dragoon officer - rear view

Drummer - Mounted and on foot

Drummer

Drummer - rear view

Next up will be more of the rank and file figures.

Scots Covenanters Warlord Games - Part 2

Here are a few more individual close up shoots of the Scots Covenanters from Warlord Games. The first are the metal command figures. Typical of WG metal miniatures they are full of detail and reward careful painting. I think if you click on the images you'll get a larger version pop up.

Captain

Ensign

Billy the Piper

Sergeant 

Sergeant - Rear View 

Pike Block

Musket Block

After a recent chance meeting with those nice chaps from Warlord Games, Messrs Stallard and Sawyer (BANG, CLANG - sorry, that was just the sound of my blatant namedropping), I asked if it was ok to post my own crappy pictures of Scots Covenanters (and several others) on this blog.

I understand that these figures will feature in an upcoming newsletter (i.e. they will have been photographed properly) but with the large volume of new products WG are producing this might not appear for a while.

Scots Covenanters, Warlord Games - Part 1

A while ago Warlord Games asked me to paint up a set of their Scots Covenanters infantry. The main challenge was attempting to paint Hodden Grey. It's an unusual colour; not exactly grey and not really brown. Take a look at the ceremonial dress of the modern Territorial Army London Scottish Regiment to see what I mean. On reflection most of these figures are too light/grey as I tried to copy the box art (if in doubt - blame someone else, in this case the excellent cover artist Peter Dennis) rather than the browner version seen in some of the figures. Anyway you live and learn.

Covenanter Regiment

Command Group detail  

Note the damaged flag complete with bullet and cannonball holes. Don't tell anyone but it wasn't my initial plan to use this particular flag (also provided with the box set). I cocked up and ruined the undamaged version so replaced it with the one shown.

Command Group

Part of the brief was that the the command group and the four of the pikemen were to be based individually. This is a practical method which would enable them to be photographed. Easy peasy for the command group as least. However the position of the separate pikeman had to planned because if I had positioned them all centrally then there is no way the bases would have lined up. Therefore the rear placed pikemen were offset to their right and the front pikemen were offset slightly to their left. Hopefully this makes sense when you look at the photos above.

The blue bonnets complete with sprigs of heather and saffron shirts are all quite subtle but really do make these distinctive figures stand out but also make gives the unit a cohesive look.

TV Celebrity Manhandles My Miniatures

After a inside tip-off I was recommended to watch the recent History Cold Case programme where "Professor Sue Black and her team use forensic science to shed light on the past. They look at two skeletons discovered among 113 bodies in a mass grave outside York."

After 20 minutes into 'The York 113' episode, featuring a certain Dr. Xanthe Mallett, I was quite taken aback to recognise several miniatures I had painted for Warlord Games. Mine are the Covenanter infantry and dragoons (they're all the ones with the blue bonnets). Hopefully I will be able to detail more of these figures quite soon.

I believe the programme may only be available in the UK (i.e. to B.B.C. licence payers) and can only be viewed over the next few days. It's a interesting programme which indeed challenged a number of my pre-conceptions about this historic time period. 

Dr. Xanthe Mallett is now my favourite forensic anthropologist (if only for the pulp fiction name). Admittedly that's quite a narrow field of interest but she is definitely now my favourite television expert.

ECW Covenanter Command Group

After what seems an age, I've finally completed these figures from Renegade. After painting them I looked through my growing collection of ECW flags for a suitable match. Spotting 'COV 9 - DUKE OF HAMILTON'S REGIMENT' by Body Banners from Redoubt Enterprises, I decided to use these with this set which I'd picked up at the Derby Wargaming Show back in October of last year. I saw the Hamilton description and assumed it was for the William Hamilton, 2nd Duke of Hamilton who died during the battle of Worcester, although after checking their website I realised that they actually represent the flags of his equally ill-fated older brother General Sir James Hamilton 1st Duke of Hamilton. I can only assume that his brother would have carried a similar (if not the same) flag.

 

As I normally prepare flags on a spare spear/pike this has allowed me to swap and change the various flags I have. In the following images I have used flags taken from the following site Dux Homunculorum.

The Covenanter flags are designed and drawn by Alan to suit his 1/72 scale figures but I think they work perfectly for 1/56 (28mm) scale and, more importantly, they're free - bargain! They are easily as good, if not even better, as several others I have bought. There are more available on the site so it's definitely worth having a look.

"It may have been the colour of Colonel Sir Alexander Sutherland."

"Another ensign captured at Preston in 1648. This was the Colonel's colour for Lord Cranston's Regiment of Foot (the Edinburgh Levies)." Coincidently this is the same battle where James, the 1st Duke of Hamilton, was heavily defeated and later captured. 

Unfortunately the 15th Duke, Angus Alan Douglas-Hamilton, died on the 5th June 2010 at at the age of 71. His son, Alexander Douglas-Hamilton, now becomes the 16th Duke.

Scots Civil War Ordnance

After experiencing a creative block painting previous figures I decided to switch to something slightly different. As I have family connections to the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers (hence the blog title) I'm always drawn to field pieces and other heavy equipment. Following a swift rummage through a few boxes I chose to paint this artillery set from Perry Miniatures.

As the other Scots I've already painted look quite dour and miserable I thought I’d introduce some colour with this gun and crew, therefore the red carriage ("Finally.." I hear you cry, "he's actually painted something!").

The gunner is based on the main figure shown in Plate 25 of Haythornwaite's excellent ECW book showing Royalist artillery. The matrosses have been painted to compliment the other northern forces already completed.

The barrel is from Renedra (the toolmakers used by Perry's, Warlord etc). I added greenstuff to replicate the leather lining which could be draw together; the barrel is also painted to show it banded with rope rather than iron.

I purchased this artillery piece from a show last year. The box label said it is a Falcon (9 pounder gun) plus crew - (SW19) from Scots of the Civil War 1639 - 1652 range. However looking through my large ECW lead pile I noticed that the gun and carriage are exactly the same as another Perry box I'd bought previously, Culverin (12 pounder gun) plus crew - (ECW13) English Civil War range. It's no big deal really, just thought I'd mention it.

I'm not certain the bronze colour looks right (i.e. like bronze), it's painted with GW Dwarf Bronze shaded with GW Flesh and Mud washes; comments and thoughts are welcome.

Next up should be the command group stands for the Renegade Covenanters but as usual progress is slow - four down, four to go.