English Civil War Update: Life Interrupts!

Yes life can interrupt. My boss called on a Monday, I was flying toward my destination on Tuesday . . . and now 6 weeks later I am back.  Until I fly back again for another 4 weeks . . . but home for Christmas!

I started my English Civil War project in January of 2013 with the discovery of the rules Victory Without Quarter written by Clarence Harrison. I now had the perfect set of rules for what I wanted to do with gaming the English Civil War in 28 mm.  Even better the set of rules only cost the price of printer paper and ink.  Yes they are free! 

Victory Without Quarter is a card driven, element based, Warmaster/Blackpowder kind of game.  Clarence clearly states that he has liberally used ideas from various sources in his rules to create a game he would enjoy playing that was not too complicated yet realistically portrays the challenges and outcomes of this pivotal period of military history.  Most infantry regiments are generically based with two stands of musketeers and one stand of pikes based as "elements" on 60 x 60mm bases. Aesthetically this looks really good on the dining room battlefield and looks right to me.  Cavalry are organized as troops with two stands 80 x 60 mm bases that can be combined into cavalry regiments.

Standard basing for Infantry: 1 stand of pike and 2 stands of musketeers.  Note the casualty markers.

Typical Regiment of Horse being led by their Brigade commander, the War Poodle 

The rules give basing sizes for the other common units and some ideas for units that different ratios of pike to shot.  Markers can be used for various states and casualties which add to the fun of the game.

 Highland Clan casualty markers

 

Reload Markers

 Phase I of my project is complete and consisted of 5 regiments of English foot, 2 regiments of English horse, 1 regiment of cuirassiers, 2 army commanders and 4 brigade commanders.

 King Charles I

 

Phase II of the project (though not planned for at the beginning) is also complete with 2 regiments of Royalist Irish foot, 3 units of highland clansmen and 3 more brigade commanders.

 Irish Regiment of Foot

Phase III, which would have been complete on the original time line, is to consist of 5 regiments of English foot and 2 more brigade commanders; 4 of the regiments are complete.  The last regiment is approximately half way finished and the 2 brigade commanders are primed. My new goal for completion is January 10th, 2016.

Part of Phase III: The Green Regiment of the London Trained Bands

Phase IV will be the addition of 3 more regiments of horse while Phase V will be the additions of 2 artillery guns with crew with a projected completion date for all by December 31st 2016.  Eventually I want to add 2 regiments of dragoons but they will have a "to be determined" as there are other projects and figures I may be painting.  More to come!