The Grand Muster: Parliament

Last time I presented the King's forces as of the completion of Phase 3 of my English Civil War project.  As stated previously the composition does not follow any exact table of organization as I decided to paint units that I thought looked good and to present a "generic" force for Parliament when gaming.  All units are based for the excellent set of rules Victory Without Quarter.

Six Regiments of Foot make for an impressive battle line and "battalia."

Parliament's forces now consist of 6 Regiments of Foot: The Earl of Essex, Lord Brooke's, Sir John Gell's, Samuel Jones', Lord Seye and Sale and the Green Regiment of the London Trained Bands.  In addition there is one Regiment of Horse, Lambert's and Haselrige's Lobsters which is a cuirassier regiment.

Lord Seye and Sale's regiment with Jones behind and the Green Regiment in the third rank.

Jones' Regiment, also know as the Farnham Greencoats was the first unit I finished. 

 Lambert's regiment with his father-in-law Oliver Cromwell in the lead.

Haselrige's Lobsters.  All of the cavalry units are Perry Miniatures.

The Green Regiment of the London Trained Bands is lead by an experienced, hard nosed veteran from the wars on the continent.  One of my favorite Warlord figures.

Sergeant of Sir John Gell's Regiment of Foot.

 The Earl of Essex's Regiment of Foot.

At point of pike.

Last shot with Lord Brooke's Regiment in the second line.

Haunted Subalterns

"Man can't feel comfy with a regiment that entertains ghosts on its establishment. It is against General Orders." - Rudyard Kipling

The Grand Muster: The King's Forces

I have finished Phase 3 of my English Civil War project and like any normal person who has a day off I decided to line them up for review by His Majesty.  My forces are mounted for Victory Without Quarter and are very much a "generic" army as I have painted regiments that I like and to me give the flavor of the period.

Newcastle's Lambs in the front rank and Talbot's "The War Poodles Own" in the second rank.

Close up of Talbot's Regiment.

Phase 1 consisted of painting 6 regiments of foot as well as a few cavalry and command stands.  Phase 2 (shiny new toy syndrome!) happened when I noticed the Warlord Games Highland clansmen and I also received a box of Irish Brigade from Warlord Games.  Phase 3 was completing 4 more Infantry regiments for both sides.  Phase 4 will be the addition of 3 more cavalry units when I get around to "recruiting".

 The Kings Lifeguard of foot with support from Prince Rupert's Regiment of Foot.

Another view of the Lifeguard and Rupert's Regiment.  About 98% of the figures in my army come from Warlord Games with a few Foundry and Perry Miniatures thrown in for variety.

The Royalists consist of 4 Regiments of Foot, 2 Irish Brigade Regiments and 2 to 3 Highland clansmen (depending on how they are deployed) and one lonely Regiment of Horse.  The army is heavy on forces from Scottish theater but heck, it's my army!

The clans charge.  Brittle in battle but if they can close with the enemy they are devastating.

Yes that is "Norm !" from the TV show Cheers.

The Irish Brigade advances behind their Gaelic cousins.

Another view.

 The lone cavalry unit is Rupert's Horse.  Cavalry are Perry Miniatures while Prince Rupert and War Poodle are from Warlord Games.

The animation of the Perry figures is phenomenal. 

 His Majesty Charles I.

The Brigade commander for the Highland Clans.

 Both mounted officers in front of the line are Perry Miniatures.

One last view before heading into quarters.

Hey! Where's the WIP for Lord Saye & Sale's Regiment Regiment of Foot?

A friend of mine wanted to know where the work in progress pictures were of Lord Saye & Sale's Regiment Regiment of Foot were.  I completely forgot to post.  Here they are:

When painting 28mm figures I mount them on the lids from plastic soda bottles.

Now we have hats!

Metal headgear from Warlord Games for the pikes. I had to slice the upper part of their heads to make them fit properly.  Not a big deal when working with hard plastic.

  . . . and the headgear is painted.

Pike men marching convert nicely into color bearers.

 Musketeers and a pike men converted to a sergeant.

 The figures are mounted on 60mm x 60mm square bases for the rule set Victory Without Quarter.  Most foot regiments are 2 stands of muskets and 1 stand of pikes.

Musketeer stand with sand added.  I always put a second coat of watered down PVA white glue over the sand when it dries.

The other musketeer stand with officer and drum.

Base color of dark brown.

All mustered and ready to fight for King and Parliament!

“Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian . . ."

 

“Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandaled feet.” 

A while back, a long time back, a friend gave me a copy of the old Milton Bradley/Games Workshop board game Hero Quest.  I dusted it off recently to paint the figures with a mind toward doing some dungeon crawling . . . and then I purchased Dragon Rampant.  How could I not have everyone's favorite barbarian join the fun?

The Barbarian hard plastic figure is relatively easy to paint. For the skin I gave it a base of Vallejo Dark Flesh followed by a wash of GW's Dwarf Flesh and then some lighter highlights.  Everything else were various browns and of course the hair is black!  I initially painted the base for the dungeon environment of Hero Quest.

Barbarian and Elf Hero.

Once I decided that he would definitely have to be in Dragon Rampant, I mounted Conan on a 40 mm round plastic base so he would have a slightly larger footprint on the battle field.

The rock is from my gravel rock path in the backyard.

Add same sand . . . 

  . . . then paint the sand dark brown and dry brush with flat brown then buff.

 Add some static grass, a bush and some lichen and we are done.

For Dragon Rampant Conan is definitely going to be Elite Foot with the Special Ranger rule and fielded as a single unit model unit or adding a few others and as a reduced model unit.  

"Come on boys . . . I need a little work out."