More terrain...

Happy Christmas to all my reader...  trust Santa was kind...

All has not been quiet in the loft-waffe since Sir Ralph's went to their storage box..  in the black Friday sale I managed to get a trio of 15mm buildings suitable for use in western Europe, primarily for the WW2 skirmish project, but these will also be usable for the Marlburian games, I think.. 

I love these kits...  bit of PVA, a brush to apply, 45 minutes of your time, and you get a superb model at the end for a very reasonable amount (and even more so on a black Friday!)... they are also stupidly well made, and as a  result, hugely therapeutic to put together.. 

First one then, is this one..  15S-EAW-104 - the semi detached 2 story...  no mods to speak of except that I mixed the right colour to paint in the edges of the tabs on the roof edges and ridge, but I left the walls as I like the effect of the interlocked bricks...

Complete...  

Second floor... roof removable...

..as is the second floor...

...more to come..

Sir Ralph Dutton's Regiment of Foote

Time for the Royalists to gain some reinforcements..  no idea how it happened but even though I usually paint one for one, the Royalists suddenly find themselves far behind Parliament in terms of unit numbers..

Before the paint brush was wielded then, the Royalists stood at two of foot, one of horse, one of dragoons and some artillery. Parliament however, stands at three of foot, two of horse horse, one of dragoons and the same amount of artillery..

This unit then will re-attain equality in foot for the Royalists, and represents Sir Ralph Dutton's Regiment of Foote. Not a lot I could find about the regiment (by far and away the best source is the ECW Wiki - link below - by the way) but they have the honour of being only the second regiment of foot raised for Charles at the start of the war...  they are described as arriving at Nottingham for the standard raising by Charles, 800 strong and with colours (that's them above) flying...

So they were there from the very beginning, and under their Lieutenant Colonel (Sir Stephen Hawkin), who took over the regiment approximately 1644, they served until the end of hostilities when they surrendered at Oxford in 1646.

In between they were present at the major engagement of Edgehill, Turnham Green, Bristol, first Newbury, Cheriton and the reliefs of Basing House and Donnington. All in all then, a veteran regiment of the Oxford Army, though at the time I have chosen to depict them - newbies, like most of the other regiments on both sides.. 

At the time in question little or nothing is known about uniform - the next year they may have been supplied with either all red, or all blue uniforms, while in garrison at Oxford. Much later in the war they are shown to have been uniformed all in white, but at Edgehill little or nothing is known. There's a really good and coherent argument on this forum [clicky] to indicate that Edgehill was so early in the war  that very few of the regiments may have had a uniform issue, so probably they were dressed in their normal civilian clothes (with the exception of armour etc) - it could also be argued that Dutton (and other colonel's) was known to be rich, and therefore may have made attempts to provide some kind of uniform look for his regiment...  I have gone for a mix of both views, with the men in largely brown trousers, and grey jackets, the kind of civilian type clothes I imagine it would have been possible to buy in numbers...

Speaking of which, Sir Ralph Dutton (of Stratton to differentiate him from the other branch of the family) was born about 1570-1580, and knighted by James I at Woodstock in August 1624. He was married to Mary the daughter of Sir William Duncombe by whom he had four sons and a daughter..  

• William, the first, died 3 days after birth in 1593
• Anna and John were both born c.1596 (John emigrated to America)
• Thomas was born 1619 (an interesting gap between births - it's not clear but I think Sir Ralph may have re-married at some point!)
• Ralph was born 1645 (created a baronet on the 22nd June 1678).

Sir Ralph died in 1646 said to have been wrecked and cast ashore on Burntisland possibly whilst travelling into exile. Interestingly, he compiled a manual of prayers for the use of the regiment.

Figures are mostly Gallia 15mm, the standard bearer is Freikorps, painted November '19..

Sources:

• KING CHARLES I's ARMY OF 1642 - Peter Young (Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research Vol. 17, No. 66 - Summer, 1938) 
• ECW Wiki page for the Regiment - http://wiki.bcw-project.org/royalist/foot-regiments/sir-ralph-dutton

Col. James Wardlowe's (or Wardlow's) Dragoons

Further troops have joined the ranks in the form of the first part of the second Dragoon regiment - this time Parliamentarian's and representing the dragoons commanded by Colonel James Wardlowe (or Wardlow, or Wardley, or Wardlace for I have seen them all used!)..

In the battle the unit was deployed as below (black arrow and circle)

By Jlorenz1 - own creation, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2155575

From the Battlefields Trust site..   "..On the right wing Balfour was extremely weak in cavalry, because a substantial number of troops of horse had not yet reached Kineton. Here again Essex chose his ground well and was able to take advantage of the hedged enclosures that flanked the field on this side. He deployed 700 dragoons to line these hedgerows in support of Balfour. With his right wing thus protected from an outflanking cavalry move, he could afford to deploy at least some of the small number of horse on this wing behind the foot. This was to prove a key decision, for it was to protect them from Wilmot’s charge and enable them to play a crucial role later in the battle....." my highlight...  the unit in question is my boys..

If the terrain on that flank was best suited to defence by dragoons then but it also suited a dragoon attack and in the battle this was how it transpired..  Wilmot, the Royalist left wing commander, ordered his own dragoons forward, probably Washington's, to clear the hedgerows (which they did) which allowed the Royalist cavalry to charge. The result was pretty much the same as Rupert's charge on the other flank, with the Parliamentary (and Royalist!) cavalry disappearing into the distance..

So what of Colonel James Wardlow (or Wardlowe etcetcetc)? I have managed to find next to nothing..  but...

In one of my trusted and trusted sources ("A Military History of the English Civil War, 1642-1646: Strategy and Tactics" by Wanklyn and Jones) I found this reference describing him as a 'professional soldier' ...

...which is interesting indeed as it implies Wardlow survived Edgehill with reputation untarnished...   

In "Plymouth and Devonport : in Times of War and Peace" (Whitfeld, published 1900) it says that the siege [of Plymouth] did not start in earnest until September, 1643..  Exeter had gone over to the King, and Parliament realising the fall of Plymouth would be almost as catastrophic as losing Bristol, acted as follows..

"Colonel Wardlow was sent from Portsmouth in command of a company of Roundheads [I have seen various reports of the size of this force but it seems to have been 500-600 strong and travelled by ship], with instructions to maintain the defence. At the outset, however, St. Nicholas Island was 

nearly betrayed by Sir Alexander Carew, whose honesty was suspected by Philip Francis, 

the Mayor".

Following the arrest of Carew (who was subsequently beheaded with the same axe they had used for Stafford!)..

"Maurice hemmed in the town and no provisions entered it for several weeks. An attempt was then made to raise the relief, and the Roundheads, outflanking the enemy at Plympton and Hooe, seized several of the "malignants". Colonel Wardlow made a similar dash upon a heavy guard of Cavalier horse at "Knockers Hole," with an insignificant force of musketeers, and the besiegers fled towards "Roborow" Down. The Roundheads, in their exuberance, continued the pursuit "too farre," and narrowly escaped annihilation"

...and in another source..

"In November 1643 immediately after the reduction of Mount Stamford by Maurice and while all men stood in doubt of the issue Colonel James Wardlow governor of Plymouth gave orders for securing this Island which at that time from presumed culpability of four deputy lieutenants to whom its defence had been was utterly destitute of provisions and ammunition. Both the Fort and Island were in consequence revictualled and the garrison strengthened by which means and by employing officers of approved fidelity this important barrier was effectively occupied and secured from danger" ("BATH AND BRISTOL With the counties of Somerset and Gloucester Displayed in A Series of Views" BRITTON John, SHEPHERD Thomas Published by Frank Graham, 1829)

Clearly a man of some skill and experience..  

So...  Peter Pig, 15mm, painted August 2019, stay tuned for the dismounted version and horseholders...

Hangers on...

..."oi you, get orf ah ma land".... 

Painted up a little bit of local colour for the ECW project...

Moll from the local tavern..

The landlady of the tavern with a little friendly "persuader"

Slightly blurry...   Lady Featherstonehaugh wife of the owner of the local manor

Father Brimstone

Rasputin 

Dreadful when close up but surprisingly effective at table top view..   

The Rasputin figure is Gallia (and truly awful I'm afraid, but in a lovely way) the rest are Peter Pig from the spares box for the Marlburian project (I like to re-use/use where I can)

Bear with - second regiment of dragoons is half done..

Officers

I was long overdue to add some officer figures to command my nascent regiments and squadrons in the English Civil War project, so over a couple of hours at the end of last month the following were added to the collection..

It's always been my intention to try different figures in this project..  the change is good and part of the fun is seeking out those ranges you've never seen before or tried before, and so it is with these guys...  while Peter Pig will always be the backbone of the project, these are a departure and are by Gallia [clicky]

Bit basic if I am honest, but nice enough..  the guys with the soft hats are standard bearers but without the standard they make a nice 'vanilla' officer figure..

I have enough in the order from Gallia to make an infantry regiment so we shall see this range again in the project..  but in all likelihood, probably not again - stupidly cheap figures, but I can't say I felt the love...  

Colonel John Innes's Regiment of Dragoons.. part the second...

...and after far too long a delay (I was in Kefalonia for a week reclining on a sunbed and supping Alfa/Amstel/Mythos until it came out of my ears.. (what can I say..  you have to stay hydrated in that kind of heat!) as previously promised here are the dismounted version of the dragoons recently added to the project [clicky]..

Colonel John Innes's line a wall in readiness..

...these re a mix...  some Minifigs sourced on eBay and some Peter Pig..  the horses are Peter Pig and some I found in my spares box (Dixon??)

Pleaesd with them...

...and en complait...  lot of painting involved in a dragoon regiment! 

Colonel John Innes's Regiment of Dragoons

Apologies for the delay - been much caught up in matters best described as "life" and in addition to that and all it entails, we are also well into the sailing season, so "Sparrow" [clicky] is claiming a fair amount of my time..

Onwards and upwards though, and these guys, the first of the dragoons to join the project, have been finished for some time but posting has been delayed due to the serious lack of information about them.. it would seem that dragoons were not only cheap to recruit but don't warrant much considerations in the histories!

The regiment were also known as  Prince Rupert’s Dragoons but at Edgehill they were commanded by the John Innes mentioned - they were one of the units in the Royalist Oxford Army.

They had a long proud history of service, serving all the way through the army from Edgehill (their first engagement) to their surrender in the west country (at Truro) in 1646 - along the way in addition to edgehill they were also present at First Newbury, Cropredy Bridge, Lostwithiel, Second Newbury and Torrington. I am more than a little interested to know that they were also present at a skirmish very local to me - in January 1644 they were in a little to do at Havant, which is only just up the road from me (I've blogged on that before [clicky])

Not managed to find very much more about Innes - looks like he was born in about 1610, so he was 32 when he commanded at Edgehill..  the indications are that he was a professional soldier, of Scottish extraction. He is on record as commanding an infantry brigade in the Scots army at the Battle of Dunbar in 1650 (which included his own regiment), and on the assumption that it is the same man there are records indicating he was still alive (and married to a Jean Campbell with two sons at least, James and Hugh) in 1669, so he survived Dunbar. This was, reputedly, the colonels colour of his regiment at Dunbar..

...what little more I know is summarised here [clicky]

No coat colour is mentioned anywhere, so I went with green, as it happens the only other weargame representation I've seen is in the same colour! Like me he chose it as a change from red and blue...

Figures are Peter Pig 15mm painted May 2019. The dismounted version of the regiment, and a base to represent horse holders, are on the painting sticks as we type..  just need some time..

Infernal machines...

A saker - this one is in the Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg

So, having re-read my notes on artillery [clicky] just to refresh my brain, it was time to add some artillery to the English Civil War project...

Choice for these was Peter Pig, which I had the chance of seeing in the flesh at Salute, so bought there and then - the guns are lovely, the crews are as characterful as the infantry and cavalry..  not surprisingly.. 

What I was looking for at this point was mediums..  there's scope, and I will definitely add, some lighter battalion level pieces later, but for the moment I wanted some battle level assets..  these represent saker/demi-culverin/culverin type ordnance.

I also thought about limbers, but that's a lot of painting for something that wouldn't usually appear on the table so I decided to forego - if there is a scenario specific requirement at some time in the future I'll add then.. ..

So on to the guns..  four of them (Peter Pig Medium gun), with crew (16 figures - one pack Gun Crew Firing, one pack Gun Crew Loading) allocated two of them per side..

I researched but didn't find any specifics about gun carriages being coloured/painted, so went with natural wood for the carriages, the guns are bronze as per the example above - in all reality, on campaign they would probably not have been polished, the barrels may even have been blacked, but artillery barrels are always this colour in my armies (except when I know they're iron )

Two part bases - the crew are mounted on 30x30 as per the infantry, with space left for the cannon trail. The cannon are mounted on a separate 15x30.

The idea being that the cannon can be left in situ when the crew are destroyed, or they leave the gun to seek refuge with the nearest pike block, or for any other reason..

Painted in a variety of muted colours, grey and brown predominate, 16 figures, four guns, painted May 2019.

Next on the painting table, 'dragooners'!