WMMS 2011 - Alumwell wargaming show

Along with my brother and mates Ade and Jon (WargamingForFun) I attended the West Midland Military Show (WMMS) organised by the Alumwell wargaming club yesterday. The event is actually held at Aldersley stadium in Wolverhampton, a decent venue if you can find a carparking space.

The first display/game that caught my eye was the Battle of Towton put on by Earlswood Wargamings. The game was played on terrain that was relatively simple but very effective. The snow effect was very well done.

The WWII display of vehicles and weapons was very interesting and a real eye opener. The weight of the sub-machine guns took us all by surprise. 

I'm obviously biased but I always enjoy seeing the display put on by the Pensnett Model Makers Society, the emergency service vehicles police cars and sci-fi craft do stand out from the usual military planes and vehicles normally scene at such shows.

Below a just a few photos of the games and displays that caught my interest.

Yorkist (L) hold high ground with Cock Beck in the distance
Towton 1461
Earlswood Wargamers

North East View
Towton 1461
Earlswood Wargamers

Towton 1461
Earlswood Wargamers

Towton 1461

Earlswood Wargamers

Sci-Fi
Pensnett Model Makers Society

Scratch built Sci-Fi
Pensnett Model Makers Society

'East meets West Mekong Delta 1967'

Pensnett Model Makers Society

'East meets West Mekong Delta 1967'
Pensnett Model Makers Society

Leamington and District
Wargaming Club

Battle of Brandy Wine
Birmingham Wargamers

Battle of Brandy Wine
Birmingham Wargamers

J Vaughan
WWII Dispaly

Despite the grim economic situation here in the UK the show and traders seemed busy enough. We played our part and purchased a fair amount of products ("ohh, shiny, shiny" syndrome).

I bought a scenario book for the War of 1812 from Caliver and a few British Light Dragoons to portray the 19th Dragoons for whenever I get round to this project (probably just in time for 200th anniversary for the Battle of New Orleans).

Jon satisfied his dice addiction, picking up several bargain bags of black die and a couple of Mantic Dwarf sets. Ade showed remarkable restraint and 'only' purchased half a dozen paints and a few second hand GW Dark Angel figures. Ade and Jon seem to be attracted to Mantic Gaming system as the rules, lists are free and the plastic figures are considerably cheaper. It'll be interesting to see how far they take it.

My brother out did us all and bought a few packs of 1812 figures from the Matchlock range, numerous    Woodland Indians from the Perry's AWI range, a couple of TYW command figures and book on the Battle of Worcester.

There should be a proper report and gallery on the WMMS website in the next few days.

Warlord Games Feature

In the latest Warlord Games newsletter was an article that features Pike & Shotte Reinforcements. The Covenanters are ones I painted for Warlord and the running officer and drummer from the Firelock set are ones I did for my brother. It's always a nice to see your own work in print (as it were).

I'll be available for autographs, signed photos etc. at the WMMS 2011 event this Sunday. Holding a golden crown over my head and whispering in my ear,"Remember, you are mortal." will be my two mates Ade and Jon who star in a very entertaining (especially when Jon loses) WargamingForFun over on YouTube.

I'll also be hanging round the Pensnett Model Makers Society display, the club I try to attend - held every other Friday night. It's more of a social thing as we often just sit round John's kitchen table drinking tea and eating biscuits. Please feel free to say hello, I'm really not as unpleasant as I look .

English Civil War - Garrisons in the West Midlands

I have mentioned in previous posts about the highly complex political nature of the West Midlands during the English Civil War. The following list of local combatants (which can be easily found through any internet search) helps illustrate this point.

These commanders were all based within roughly a 10 mile radius of each other. If you are familiar with the places mentioned below, you will quickly realise just how complicated the region’s politics must have been, not just in terms of military but also personal allegiance. Even these garrisons were never really secure, for instance Rushall Hall was taken and subsequently lost by the Royalists whilst under the command of Prince Rupert.

The above map is actually to scale, the green box being approx 14miles sq.

The following list is by no means exhaustive.

Royalists:
Sir Thomas Leveson at Dudley Castle.

Colonel Lane at Bentley Hall, Walsall. 0.5 mile north west of Junction10 M6. Lane helped Charles II in his escape after the battle of Worcester.

George Hawe at Caldmore, Walsall. Caldmore is pronounced locally as 'karma'. Why? I have no idea.

William Hopkins at Oakeswell Hall, Wednesbury – the Hall was later the home of Jacob Epstein’s wife/muse Kathleen Garman.

Sir Thomas Holte at Aston Hall. North Birmingham. Located yards away from Aston Villa F.C.'s ground, Villa Park

Parliamentarians:
Sir Richard Leigh at Rushall Hall (1.5 miles north of Walsall).

Edward Dudley at the Greenhouse, Tipton (site of the Battle of Tipton Green, 12th June 1644). The house has long gone but its location was in the region of Mad O'Rourkes Pie Factory pub on Hurst Lane.

Simon Montford at Bescot Hall, Walsall (Junction 9 M6, opposite IKEA furniture store)

Thomas Parkes at Willingsworth Hall (half a mile to the west of Wednesbury)

Colonel John "Tinker" Fox (from Walsall but he commanded the garrison at Edgbaston House, Birmingham). Fox was such an irritant to the Royalists that he became their bogyman. It was later rumoured that he had even been the executioner of Charles I.

Warlord Games ECW Cavalry Modifications - Part 6 of 6

Whenever a figure is shown wielding a sword obviously they would not have another sword still in their scabbard (at least I don’t think they carried spares). On some of the model types the hilt is cleverly hidden by the sash. Where this is not the case you need to carefully cut away the sword hilt from the side of the model. I mention this because once I had finished all painting the figures I noticed I had made this very same mistake (twice!) and naturally they were both in the most inaccessible place possible. After removing the offending articles I could finally say that I had completed the regiment.

Troopers Albert and Ernest

In a similar manner where a figure is shown holding a pistol I removed the pistol grip that protrudes from the top of holster and hollowed out the plastic with a hand drill to improve the overall look. And just to show off I also hollowed out the mouth of the trumpet.

Trumpeter Horatio Horn

Last, and definitely least, by far the easiest addition is to simply glue a feather taken from the infantry box set onto the hat of a rider. This very quickly adds just a little bit more variety to the figures.

Captain Thomas Plume

Captain Thomas Plume

Warlord Games ECW Cavalry Modifications - Part 5 of 6

Major Harvey Cummerbund

For the figure shown above Greenstuff was again used to create a sash. It proved to be pretty easy to make. Normally I quickly mock up any modeling using Bluetack, then I can divide it into two in order to give me a good idea how much of the separate blue and yellow component parts of Greenstuff I’ll actually need. I’ve found this method helps prevent me from wasting too much of the modelling material as I usually wildly overestimate how much to use, a little really does go a long way.

The folds and creases were made with a sculpting tool and a metal scribing tool (or a good old fashioned wooden toothpick will do). If it does go wrong (and I can guarantee it will go wrong if I’m doing it) you can quickly pull the stuff away and start again.

The other figure on the base was one of two models that I initially forgot to remove the sword hilt from.

Warlord Games ECW Cavalry Modifications - Part 4 of 6

Cornet Marmaduke Hood

Perhaps the most iconic and easily recognised object associated with the ECW is the lobsterpot helmet. Often linked with the Parliamentarian Ironsides, or Roundheads, this style of helmet would have been worn by both sides.

As there are plenty of spare helmet parts in the Warlord Games box I thought I could depict a couple of troopers with their visor/faceguard raised. This was easier said than done. Taking two helmet components from the sprue, with the first I removed the visor and on the second I carefully cut away the main body leaving just the visor. This proved to be the trickiest operation as the vertical plastic bars are quite fragile. It was then just a matter of gluing the two parts together at an appropriate open angle.

Warlord Games ECW Cavalry Modifications - Part 3 of 6

Major Maxwell Silver

As the Warlord Games box set provides a warhammer on each figure sprue I used one to help depict one figure carrying a proper side arm. This involved removing the sword and filing away the hilt detail. A small hole was then drilled through the cleaned up hand. The warhammer staff was cut into two and the points sharpened so that they could be located and fixed back into the hole on the right hand. I used exactly the same method to make the one armed command figure even more distinctive.

This next alteration on the same figure is so cunningly subtle I’d forgotten I’d made it until it came to write this post. Supplied in the box set is an older style continental type helmet with a single nasal bar (also called a Zischagge or 'Dutch' pot). I simply cut the bar from in front of the face and glued it on top the helmet to give the impression that the user had adjusted the bar by pushing it upwards. It actually proved quite tricky to achieve and, unlike the other faceguard mentioned previously, I honestly don’t think it was worth the effort.