Scots Command

-

Regular readers (hello both of you) will know that I am always on the lookout for suitable commanders to augment my armies.  This time my attention turned to Naismith whose figures match nicely heightwise with PP.

Naismith horses are a little 'esoteric' so they were ditched and replacement PP horses sourced. All these figures come from just two packs - the Montrose character pack (EC14 Montrose, Leslie and Dundee), and the EC06 mounted Scots officer pack.

Those tempted to purchase from Naismith should check the status of the company on internet forums, as service can be sporadic at times. As of 03/01/2021 the Naismith-Roundway website has gone, and the domain is available to purchase. I fear that these ranges may now have disappeared.

Update April 2021: sadly, it does indeed look like Naismith have disappeared. However a limited stock of Naismith ECW can be found in stock at KeepWargaming (no limbers I'm afraid, as I've just bought the last packs). They do have the personality packs listed as in stock.

The Army of Montrose

First up Montrose and the Royal standard. Montrose is accompanied by a PP Parliamentarian ensign. Flag as always from Maverick Models.


John Scrymgeour, Earl of Dundee is also from the same pack. A third figure was rejected as the hair looked much later than the 1640s, looking more like a wig. Originally painted with pure black armour the figure just didn't work. So he was prised from his horse, his paint stripped and he became a guinea pig for my new russeted armour paint recipe (foundry bronze barrel 103A with an Agrax Earthshade wash before the whole figure washed again with Nuln Oil). Looks much better, but not totally happy with the figure.

Alasdair MacColla is a straight out of the bag 'mounted Scots officer'. This figure might be rechristened if I can find a suitable replacement - MacColla is usually portrayed as a wild Highland 'giant of a man'. Again painted with pure black armour, which worked a bit better than it did with Dundee - I tweaked it with a gloss varnish on the armour. Better, but I'm still not 100% taken with it. I think it might be that the sculpt doesn't suit my painting style as the detail is quite shallow.




Next up is George Gordon, Marquis of Huntly. He has had his blew bonnet removed from his hand,  and has had a headswap.


Covenanters

Just the one addition to the Covenanters Sergeant Major General of Foot, Sir James Lumsden. Another headswap.



If you enjoyed reading this, or any of the other posts, please consider supporting the blog. 
Thanks.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Kingdom For A Horse (1991)

-
Image
Civil War films are, to say the least, thin on the ground. So, forgive me for scraping the bottom of the barrel. My Kingdom For A Horse was a BBC made for TV play written by John Godber. The protagonist, 31 year old, still living with his parents, history teacher Steve is played by Sean Bean.  Steve and his best friend Pud, are pikemen in the Sealed Knot. Unfortunately for Steve, his head of department is also a member of the Sealed Knot, even more unfortunately he's the 'muster master general'. With the backdrop of the Sealed Knot, Airfix 54mm ECW miniatures, and frequent references to Marston Moor, Cromwell, and the New Model Army, the dour Steve plods through life in a dilapidated Yorkshire secondary school. No spoilers, but everyone who has ever taught in a secondary school will do an internal cheer when Steve has a showdown with the school bully. There's some seriously big hair, floppy fringes, brown suits, a school held up by ACRO props (nothing changed there then...
Read more

Colonel Philip O’Reilly of Ballynacargy’s Troop of Horse

-
Image
Somehow, despite the best efforts of real life trying to hinder my painting of little men, I've managed to make some more progress on my Catholic Confederation army. Here's the second of two units of cavalry. Philip MacHugh O'Reilly was the son of Hugh O'Reilly of Ballynacargy, County Cavan, and Katherine MacMahon. The family were deemed to be one of the ‘deserving’ native Irish families whose land was not taken during the Ulster plantation. Not to be confused with Hugh O'Reilly, the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh. Contemporary sources refer to him as a lawyer, but there's no existing evidence of him having attended Inns of Court in England. He may well have received legal training on the Continent, prior to accepting a command in the French army.  Philip inherited the family estate on his return to Ireland. He would play an active role in local politics, holding a number of important roles, before being elected as MP for County Cavan in the 1640 parliament. As M...
Read more

Royalist Harquebusiers on Foot

-
Image
  Bit of an eye candy post today; where I finally get around to painting the Royalist harquebusiers on foot (they've only been sat in the 'to do' pile for nine months or so). For those of you new to KeepYourPowderDry, or the Civil Wars in general, you might be wondering why anyone would want dismounted cavalry. In a nutshell regiments of horse joined in the besieging of houses, but as horses weren't particularly useful when attacking a house, their riders dismounted to fight. They were often in the first wave of assault troops as their buff coats and armour afforded them considerable protection (in comparison to infantry). Plus it also gave them a share of any spoils if the assault was successful. For more information about the role of harquebusiers in sieges, and a look at my existing assault parties see  here . These are Steel Fist figures from pack ECWF 09, but as I have zero faith in Steel Fist swords (they are much too slender to be practical) I have replaced th...
Read more

General Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill’s Regiment of Foot

-
Image
Who? You might be more familiar if I write Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill as Owen Roe O'Neill. But I won't because he was Irish, not English. Although there is some confusion if he was Eoghan Rua or Eoghan Ruadh. I'll stick with Eoghan Ruadh. Now please bear with me, as there's rather a lot of Ó Néills running around Ireland in the 1640s. Eoghan Ruadh had at least eight brothers and four sisters; and was connected through marriage to many of the leading native Irish families of Ulster. His nephews included Daniel O'Neill  and Hugh Dubh O'Neill both of whom were important figures in 1640s Ireland, as well as Conor, Lord Maguire, one of the original plotters of the 1641 rebellion, and his brother Ruari , who commanded a regiment in the Ulster army during the 1640s. In Spanish service, 1605–41 Eoghan Ruadh was accompanied by three of hisbrothers: Phelim, Art Óg, and Cormac. He secured himself a position as captain in the regiment of Henry O'Neill, son of the Earl of Tyro...
Read more

Comments. Again (!)

-
Image
Sorry regular readers, once again comments and the contact form have temporarily been turned off. Why? Someone on Twitter has got their knickers in a twist about an information panel at Newark Castle.  Why has she done that? Because the information board features an image of a man of African descent.  The man pictured is an actor, portraying a man called John Americanus, who fought for the King at Newark. John's role in the defence of Newark is well documented. And yes, John was of African descent. The National Civil War Centre created a Civil War Trail around the town, information panels are located at points of interest. These panels feature QR codes which accessed features on a now defunct smartphone app. Each location also featured an eye witness account - stories from real people who witnessed the events in Newark. Each information panel has a photographic representation of the person whose story was told in the app. The Castle's eyewitness account was John Americanus. Un...
Read more

Novelty and Change

-
Image
The weather is rubbish: it doesn't feel right painting in the summer, but it is much too cold and wet to go on a big ECWtravelogue day out... so expect rather a lot of book related posts of the coming weeks. Helion curate a number of regular conferences linked to their extensive book series. I was lucky to attend the most recent Century of the Soldier conference as a guest of series editor Charles Singleton. The lectures given by the speakers are collated and published  by Helion with the subtitle of "Proceedings of the... Helion and Company 'Century of the Soldier' Conference". I must be clear and point out that Helion sent me this copy for review. So, what is this? A nice souvenir for everyone who attended? Or the 'handouts' for everyone who couldn't be bothered taking notes? If you didn't attend, is it worth splashing the cash? Clearly, at a very facetious level it is both a nice souvenir, and the 'handouts' from the lectures, for those ...
Read more

Houses of Interest: West Yorkshire

-
Image
For more Yorkshire 'related stuff' you can find North Yorkshire here ,  South Yorkshire here ,   East Riding here . See also the Rupert Travelogue  entry for Yorkshire, and the entry for Adwalton Moor Oakwell Hall    was the inspiration for Charlotte Brontë's Fieldhead in "Shirley". More recently it has been used a number of times as a film set, including "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell". Located close to the M62 and the Leeds branch of purgatory on Earth (aka Ikea), this Tudor manor house is beautifully maintained by Kirklees Borough Council. The hall is presented as a seventeenth century home. I really like this approach, as so often historic houses have different rooms decorated for different eras, so it is really nice to see a house presented from one era in it's entirety. Oakwell was in the ownership of the Batt family, who supported the King; John Batt was a captain and most probably fought at Adwalton Moor. The retreating Parli...
Read more

Coat Colours Part 2: Royalist Regiments of Foot

-
Image
Continuing my therapeutic blogging (write rather than rant) antidote to incorrect English Civil War coat colour tables for wargamers, I give you the Royalist Regiments of Foot. For all of my coat colour articles see: Introduction   Part 1  Parliamentarian coat colours Part 3  Scots coat colours Part 3B  Montrose and the Irish Brigade Part 4  Dragoons, Horse and the New Model Army coat colours The Trained Bands London Trained Bands Auxiliary regiments Scarves   Same rules apply here, as they did with the Parliamentarian coat colours: Regiments often got renamed when command passed to a new colonel - these regiments are listed under their first name e.g. Jacob Astley's Regiment was originally Richard Fielding's Regiment. Coat colour notes refer to contemporaneous references and some of the deductions made by Reid, Spring,  Peachey and Prince. You will also notice that some regiments have several coat colours listed. Where there is some question aro...
Read more

So You Want To Know About The Army of the Earl of Essex?

-
Image
The start of a new 'series' of posts helping those who want to build a specific army that fought during the Wars of The Three Kingdoms. Consider them recommended reading... The Earl of Essex commanded Parliament's main field army - Parliament also had regional armies (the Associations) who were responsible for protecting their 'area', they could also be called upon to support Essex when on campaign near their area. Thanks to scrupulous records being kept and more importantly, surviving (!); not to mention some diligent researchers, who have spent many hours in archive rooms and libraries, we have the most complete record of any of the armies that took to the fields. A good place to start would be with a commentary of Essex's campaigns. You'll be needing "Hey For Old Robin" by Scott and Turton (Helion Books). Now that your interest is growing, you will want to know all about the Regiments of Foot that made up Essex's army. That'll be the re...
Read more

Coat Colours Part 1: Parliamentarian Regiments of Foot

-
Image
When I first started my Civil War gaming project I relied upon the many ECW coat colour tables on wargaming websites. As my project has progressed, my library has got bigger, my research has gone back to primary sources rather than relying upon second and third hand sources; and I have noticed quite a few errors in these lists for wargamers. I have also noticed the same errors appearing in multiple lists.     As a result of continually seeing 'the London Trained Bands and their Auxiliaries wore red coats' (there is no evidence supporting this at all, the evidence, whilst not explicit suggests that the London Trained Bands wore civilian clothes - some of the Auxiliaries might have been issued with blue winter coats) I decided to write my own list.  So here it is. If your allegiance lies elsewhere you might want to look at  Introduction   Part 2  Royalist coat colours Part 3  Scots coat colours Part 3B ...
Read more