Keep Your Powder Dry

A little reorganisation of the storage boxes vacated some space for my Army of the Solemn League and Covenant. Here's the second of two new units. A return to painting after a very Scottish-centric focus for most of last year, sees a Covenanter commanded shot unit come to life: Sir Alexander Fraser of Philorth's Firelocks. Philforth' s  served in the Bishops' Wars and on the Preston campaign in the Second Civil War. Sir Alexander Fraser was born in 1604, the grandson of  Alexander Fraser of Philorth, founder of Fraserborough. Sir Alexander inherited his grandfather's estates in 1624, to the exclusion of his father. He was known as the 'younger of Philorth' until his father died in 1636/7. It is doubtful whether Sir Alexander was an enthusiastic Presbyterian, or whether  he had any strong objection to Episcopal government of the Church, but he seems, like many others, to sign the Solemn League and Covenant when it was  brought to Aberdeen by Montrose in 1638....

 A very brief bonus post! Always alert to Civil War related podcasts ... ...the latest mini series on Noiser's Short History podcast covers the English Civil Wars. Part 1 of 2 has just been released and is a very good explanation of the causes of the Civil Wars. An excellent way to fill 50 minutes of commuting time. Available via all good podcast apps, and BBC Sounds. Recommended!

No, I'm not talking about washing your hands on a regular basis, or standing up to meet people, or using personal hygiene products (surely those are all a given? although attending a wargames convention might suggest otherwise) - I'm pontificating on the oft asked question on wargaming forums... Did commanders have personal standards? TL;DR answer 'no'. Here's a slightly less succinct answer. But first a note: Peachey and Prince wrote  the seminal 'ECW Flags and Colours 1: English Foot' in 1991, this was planned to be the first in a series of booklets.  Looking through the current Partizan catalogue would suggest that book 2 exists and covers the Scots, and book 3 the regiments of horse. However, books 2 and 3 are not the books planned by Peachey and Prince. Some of their notes and illustrations for the planned books appear in a number of other works, the most easily accessible are the Forlorn Hope Guides. The Royals...  We know that Charles raised the Royal...

Yes, you read that title correctly. English Civil War Lego . The good people at the Cromwell Museum have teamed up with United Bricks to create a small range of Civil War figures. As it was the Cromwell Museum who initiated the project, it will come as no surprise that Old Knoll has been created as a minifigure. Old Knoll and his hat. In case you are wondering, the blutack keeps him in place on top of my monitor  On the grounds of impartiality, Charles I has also been created. As it is Lego you can easily recreate his beheading without all the gore and mess.  As Château KeepYourPowderDry has familial links to the Parliamentarian cause, I don't own his minifig. There are a number of soldiers in the range: a musketeer, a pikeman and a pair of harquebusiers.  There's also an officer, Samuel Pepys, and Matthew Hopkins the self-styled Witchfinder General, a very foppish looking Rupert, complete with his trusty Boye, and the latest release Elizabeth Cromwell. The museum sold ou...

Inspired by last summer's holiday to Scotland, and in particular the imagery on display at the West Highland Museum, Fort William, may I present Lord Brechin's Regiment of Horse. I realised that my Scots fielded lancers and harquebusiers, but there was no pistoller/Moss trooper type unit (lightly armoured with buff coats and armed with pistols). So here they are: oodles of headswaps for Scots blew bonnets, and a little bit of filing to remove chest and back armour. George Maule, Lord Brechin, spent most of the Wars abroad, only returning to Scotland when he was commissioned as a colonel of horse, and ordered to raise a regiment of horse in Forfarshire, the Mearns and Aberdeenshire on the 28th February1649. His goal was 480 men, by the end of July he had  managed to raise just 160.  Early in August the Estates ordered the levying of more men, exact figures actually raised are difficult to establish (390 more men were to be raised but this total figure was split between Bre...

We all have these 'I could just...' ideas about our toy soldiers which usually involve buying even more shiny things™. There's a couple of *big* thoughts kicking around my head (my RoF really need a third line of musketeers, I need a highland pike and shot equipped regiment, and surely I need to represent my dragoons mounted too) which get beaten with a metaphorical big stick every time they start making any sort of noise. Recently a new 'I could just...' thought appeared, and before I could find the metaphorical big stick, I had placed two small orders. Jings and crivens*. My armies field three types of artillery - light, medium and heavy (not including frame guns, or the solitary shared siege mortar). Each gun has its own limber. Light guns have a Naismith limber pulled by two horses. Medium and heavy guns have Museum Miniatures limbers and a four horse team. My 'I could just...' thought didn't like medium and heavy guns having the same limber. It argu...

Stuart Reid's latest offering via Partizan Press is a regimental history of the Covenanting Armies. This hardback is beautifully presented, but appears to have been poorly proof read. There are a number of typos, which is beginning to be a little too familiar with books from the Partizan stable. For £35, I do expect a level of publishing professionalism that appears to be lacking here. Just because this is the output from a small, niche, publishing house, doesn't mean their customers deserve anything less than a polished, finished product. Small print runs inevitably push cover prices up, but that is no excuse for failing to get the basics right. Which takes away the shine from Stuart's work.  Clearly the subject will inevitably be measured against Professor Furgol's out of print Regimental History of the Covenanting Armies.  Furgol's work includes the Bishops' Wars, whereas this volume does not. Reid's work touches upon the Scottish New Model Army of 1647, ...

The latest offering from the FK&P* Celtic Fringe team giving us a scenario book. Firstly, as I've written before, I doff my cap to anyone bringing the Irish component of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms into the spotlight. Peter, Paul and Mary  Bill** please take a bow. They have given us eight fantastic scenarios; an introduction to the fighting on the emerald isle, including short biographies of the main protagonists; an excellent, albeit pricey, reading list; and possibly the first published on paper mention of the reincarnated BCW Project and Wiki (with the new URL). Battles covered are:- * Kilrush * Liscarroll * Benburb * Knocknanuss * Rathmines * Dungan's Hill * Ballinvegga * Glenmaquin Each scenario consists of: a detailed background to the battle; a briefing and deployment notes for each commander; specific rules that come into play for the scenario; army lists with FK&P stats; and, naturally, a map of the battlefield. As I have an allergy to grid based games, thi...

As it will soon be ECWtravelogue season again, those of you heading out on an ECW 'tour', might be facing a raft of entrance fees, that can quickly begin to mount up. Here are some ways of possibly saving yourself some money. Prices are correct for 2026. Please note, none of these links are corporate links. I won't receive any commission if you click through. I have just gathered all this information together to help you save money. We'll start with the obvious ones. National Trust and English Heritage. Moreton Corbet Castle, cared for by English Heritage but free to visit The National Trust (NT) cares for many of the great houses in England. The National Trust for Scotland (NTS) is the equivalent body north of the border (more on that later). Currently, individual membership is £96 for an individual, £160 for 2 adults, £168 for a family. The average cost of entry to a National Trust property seems to be about £16 for an adult, so if you plan to visit 6 properties (in...

Having just had a reorganisation of my storage boxes, and realising that my two Scottish armies now had space... I resorted to going through my spares boxes in order to work out what purchases would be required to fill the newly found vacant space. A Freikorps Covenanter officer Might as well paint them up whilst I await the postie bearing packets of lead and freshly layered MDF. Inspired by my attention becoming very Scottish-centric over the last year or so, I have decided upon some more Covenanters. Command figures found for a new regiment of horse, and company of firelocks. Great, that saves a tenner. But what are these, lurking in the Celtic spares box? Two pack horses (for frame guns) and horse holders and a civilian woman.  Montrose's artillery park gets a 200% expansion, with just a pack of Scots artillery crew and a pair of custom casualty markers from Warbases needing to be purchased. Only problem was that the 'woman' is actually a monk. Something I only realised ...

The final instalment of the ECWtravelogue's summer expedition to Scotland. This time the focus is on the Highlands and Islands. Lochaber axes, West Highland Museum, Fort William Mingary Castle seen from the Oban-Castlebay ferry through a very long lens C13tth/C14th Mingary Castle was garrisoned by the Covenanters. It fell to the Irish Brigade in 1644. The Castle fell into disrepair and had been abandoned for many years before being renovated in 2013-6. The Castle is now a boutique hotel. Inverlochy Memorial The  second  Battle of Inverlochy was fought on the outskirts of modern Fort William. Montrose defeated and almost completely destroyed the forces of Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll, who had been camped near the walls of Old Inverlochy Castle . A memorial is located on North Road, opposite the car park for Aldi/M&S Foodhall. A stile located  near the bus stop (located towards the roundabout) leads to a short, steep path up to the memorial. Old Inverloc...