The French in Ireland

Hello again.

Phew!!! I just about managed to get in a post before November is out as, yet again, the out of kilter work/ life balance, the poor light and life in general has slowed progress to a crawl. Never mind.

By a lucky coincidence, a chap named John asked a question on the French regiments in Ireland in and around 1690 on a Facebook group a few days ago and, as it was something I had delved into in some small way, I was able to help. I also informed John that I had finally finished a couple of regiments and said I would post a few pictures, so here we are. I believe the Facebook group was "Pike & Shotte Wargaming", aimed at the Warlord Games rules but far wider in scope and knowledge than a single rules set. So, for John, and hopefully a few others out there, here are some more figures it has taken me about seven years to varnish and base after initially painting them back around 2012.

The figures are again the old plastic Wargames Factory ones, with some conversion work, the flags hand painted onto calico following originals depicted in the excellent Mark Allen series on the French army of the time way back in the early 90's in "Wargames Illustrated" magazine. I believe these works have now also been collected in one of the "Century of the Soldier" works (from Helion, I think) covering the army of Louis XIV.

Will I be painting up more French?

Unlikely, in truth, because I want to concentrate on the Jacobite regiments and William's army to oppose them. Painting more French would, I think, steer me more towards the Marlburian War and thereby diminish any focus on this specific project, which is taking me forever anyway! I do fancy doing the Zurlauben Regiment though, if only to get some bluecoats on the field amid all the grey and red. The flags are pretty distinct too.

If you are in Birmingham, England, tomorrow, I am sure you can get a copy of this book and lose yourself a load more cash at the "Wargamer" show at the King Edward VI Sheldon Heath Academy. Sadly, I cannot make it, despite the best laid plans, so I will have to content myself with walking the dog, sorting stiff out and possibly, just possibly, getting a little painting done...

G

REGIMENT TOURNAISIS

Regimental flag to the fore, Colonel's flag behind.

REGIMENT FOREZ

Regimental flag to the fore, Colonel's to the rear. Lots of puddles on bases - this is Ireland, you know!

Just an overhead shot to show my basing method, with these troops set to feature in games of "Beneath Lily Banners" ultimately. 50mm square bases with five or six infantry figures on them.

More Jacobites Ready For Action!

Hello again.

Hot on the heels of Lord Louth's Regiment of Foot come the first of the regiments and units I first painted back in 2012, but have only just got around to finishing off. This project really has been a triumph of perseverance over planning!

Formed from a variety of converted and "as is" Wargames Factory plastic Marlburians, these were inspired originally by a few things - the "Beneath Lily Banners" rules, Mark Allen's work on the French army at the end of the 17th and into the 18th Century, the Jacobites featuring specifically in Wargames Illustrated issue 54 for March 1992, some very nice looking games at shows, the availability of the aforementioned Wargames Factory figures and various bits of reading matter, such as Michael McNally's "The Battle of Aughrim, 1691". Apart from the plastics, which enabled me to get into the period cheaply and paved the way for relatively easy conversion work, which I was "into" at the time, there were also several ranges of metal figures available to fill out what I expected to be a considerable number of regiments.

Of course, as is always my way, the wind changed and so did my tastes, as other projects came and went to match show games with anniversaries (Bannockburn, Malta, etc) and these figures languished in storage until now. I added more figures to what I started with from the likes of Reiver Castings, Copplestone and Foundry, but they are only now starting to make it to the painting table, as first evidenced by Lord Louth's Regiment.

As usual, the flags are my own hand painted on calico types. So, without further ado, I give you the regiments of the Earl of Antrim, the Lord Grand Prior and a couple of light guns to add a bit of extra bang for the proverbial buck.

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Hinchliffe guns from my spares box with a couple of converted Wargames Factory plastic crew figures and tools again from the spares box.

The Earl of Antrim's Regiment of Foot.

Identifiably Irish given the "In Hoc Signo Vinces" motto on the flag.

The Lord Grand Prior's Regiment. As Mark Allen kindly showed grenadier caps in his artwork back in the March 1992 issue of Wargames Illustrated, this regiment was provided with a couple of grenadier figures for some variety.

I like a few puddles on my Irish bases. If you have ever been to Ireland, you will know why!!!

Lord Louth's Regiment

Hello again.

Way back in the heady days of July, 2012, with the London Olympics around and about and dear, old Blighty feeling good about herself for at least a couple of weeks, I posted what was, then, the last pictures and words for my then vogue "1690" project. The post was about a squadron of the "Montpuillan Horse" I had made from the Wargames Factory Cavalry set, the first of my planned Williamite cavalry to feature and, so far, the only squadron of Williamite cavalry I have built!

The project took a back seat for seven, long years, whilst I busied myself with Medieval English and Scots, 16th Century Mediterranean figures, Dark Ages, Swiss, Burgundians and French and Indian Wars stuff for various show games. I kept buying a few figures here and there with the intention of returning to the period, but nothing happened. Until now, that is!

Way back in 2012, I used the Wargames Factory infantry as the basis for an element of pikes, simply adding brass wire to the plastic bodies, and that element was painted as Lord Louth's Regiment, with mostly grey coats and feuille morte/ filamot ("dead leaf") facings. I had every intention of adding the rest of the battalion, but that did not happen, until now that is!

Lord Louth's Regiment of Foot in all its glory.

 After seven years, I finally got around to painting the rest of the battalion. Unlike the pikemen, theses are almost all Copplestone Castings, the exception being the Reiver Castings Officer front and centre. The are several problems with having such a gap in progress on a project and, more specifically, a single regiment.

1. Exactly what colours did you use for the figures painted all those years ago?
2. What style or techniques were you using to paint figures back then?
3. Do the exact colours still exist?
4. If you based the figures, as in texturing those bases, what materials and colours did you use? Can you match the new ones to the old ones?
5. Has research material moved on to show regiments and/or their flags differently to what we used to think?

As is the norm with my regiments of supposedly identical figures, I like to vary things a bit. Hair colour is the main difference, but, with something like a Jacobite force in the field, with fresh recruits mingling with older hands and inadequate supplies, some further variety can come in with breeches, stockings, hats, weaponry and pose if desired. Look closely at the photo above and you will see some variations in coat colour but more in breeches and stockings.

The colours, taken from Michael McNally's book "The Battle Of Aughrim, 1691". The motto is what I would call a typical Irishism - "Festina Lente" translates as "Hasten Slowly"...They are my usual rectangles of calico attached to brass wire and hand painted.

 As I mentioned above, research can and does move on. The flags are taken form McNally's book, mentioned in the above caption, but Mark Allen's work back in "Wargames Illustrated" issue 54 (March 1992) draws on other sources and shows them differently. There is also a query around exactly what feuille morte/ filamot looks like. It simply means "dead leaf" and Allen (see above source) quotes it as "yellowish brown". Out with my dog at this time of year, I am seeing all sorts of dead leaves in all sorts of vaguely brown colours! Mine may be a little too tawny, but I am happy with it. As Lord Bellew's regiment may feature soon, I need to be happy with it as he used the colour of his flags and cuffs too!

Captain and unshaven drummer.

The regiment laid out as it will eventually feature on the table top under the "Beneath the Lily Banners" rules.

So, it remains to be seen whether I get distracted again, especially for seven years, but this project at least has nudged along a smidgen. With so many other desires and potential distractions, it might in truth be a while before it nudges along some more, but, the good news is that I have started texturing the bases for the other 10 regiments I painted back in 2012, along with a couple of light artillery pieces, and have spray undercoated a regiment I believe will become Bellew's in the not too distant future, so I am at least optimistic of some progress very soon!

G

Show Report - WMMS, 2017

Hello again.

Well, the West Midlands Military Show, known to all and sundry as "Alumwell" after the host club and former venue, has now been and gone.

Sunday, 12th March saw a plethora of gamers, traders and visitors, along with a few staff, spend several hopefully happy hours at the Aldersley Leisure Village near Wolverhampton, engaged in the various pursuits found around the average wargames show - spending money, taking money, chatting, gaming, renewing acquaintances, eating, drinking, arguing about rules and then going home again!

What did I think? Well, this show is always one I like to go to, not least because it is local but also because I get to spend too much on various whims and fancies, lay on a game and speak to like-minded individuals without the usual jibes about "toy soldiers" and references to Peter Pan's refusal to become an adult...

The footfall seemed high this year, perhaps more so than recent years, which can only be a good thing. Trying to get down some of the aisles at different times would certainly back up my view on this, but only the organisers would know for sure. And the aisles are not even narrow compared with some shows I have been to!

There were some notable absences on the trader front from recent years, however, at least how I remember them. No Lancashire Games, no Foundry, no Baccus 6mm, no one seemingly willing to turn up with a job lot of wargames buildings for sale. Booksellers were also few and far between. This must be the first show I have been to where I did not see Dave Lanchester.Yet there were still plenty of opportunities to hand over the hard-earned, opportunities which I duly took with my usual abandon!

One highlight for me was a company I had not previously encountered, namely "Oakbound Studio" from Bristol, first time attendees and purveyors of a marvellous-looking, Celtic-inspired skirmish/ roleplaying range of books and figures called "THE WOODS". I'll cover my loot in a separate post, but suffice to say that this small company took some of my money and I was most happy to be relieved of it! I am reading through the main sourcebook for the system and enthusiasm is VERY high.

The standard of games ranged from the sort of club night affair run for fun to some truly awesome-looking events, with all things in between. We ran our "Storri's Trek 2: The Rath of Cahan" game, slightly amended from our last outing as is our way (never exactly the same game twice), so when you next see it (at the BARRAGE SHOW in STAFFORD on JULY 9TH), it will be different again. Telford, Wyre Forest, Shrewsbury and others were all in evidence, but best in show went to the excellent-looking (and magazine featured) "Siege of Athlone" game.

The venue is light, airy and BIG ENOUGH for the purpose to which we put it. Most importantly of all, it was the first year in many that we had no fire alarm to disturb the fun!

Overall, I enjoyed the show immensely and hope the growing footfall (IMO) continues. Popular shows means more traders (I think). Why else do such concerns exist if it is not to make money, so the more people, the more intake of cash!

Finally, a massive THANK YOU to the guys at the Chase Wargames Club, from whom I acquired a large number of wargaming and military magazines to plough through for various bits of source material, completely free of charge. They are still in the car, because if there is one thing about my hobby that my wife hates, it is all the magazines and books, that are slowly causing our little pile of bricks to sink into the Staffordshire landscape under their combined weight!!! I will get around to sorting through them and keeping articles I like the look of...

WYRLEY RETINUE: Nephew Paul's command formed of Nephew Nick's Vikings, with a few of mine sneaking into shot bottom left.

WYRLEY RETINUE: Daughter Eleanor had charge of the Norse-Gael contingent of the Irish forces in her on-going battle for most wins with Occasional Wargamer Brother Kev.

WYRLEY RETINUE: the Irish mass for battle under control of Nephew Nick. They lost (AGAIN!!!)

ATHLONE: Danish contingent march to battle

ATHLONE: more Danes

ATHLONE: some Jacobites on the other side of the river to the Danes

ATHLONE: the aforementioned river - Jacobites to the right, Williamites to the left

COBRIDGE?: the Battle of Ramillies done in 10mm. I am not sure about the basing convention though. Surely the two lines of troops in each battalion should be rather closer than this? Couldn't you just argue about aesthetics all day!?!?!?

COBRIDGE?: the full Ramillies table, complete with zorbing event in the foreground

A Peninsular War skirmish game by an unknown (to me) group

WYRE FOREST: a Tiger tank trundling down a lane near you (if you live in Normandy at any rate)

WYRE FOREST: more bits of Normandy

My 10 year old son wants a Willy's Jeep when he grows up, so I took this shot for him. He also wants a Bugatti Veyron...

Rorke's Drift by an unknown group

SHREWSBURY: another good looker from the Borderers of the Welsh Marches in what seems to be their favourite period, the 18th Century

SHREWSBURY: and they also seem to like boats a lot over in Shropshire

SHREWSBURY: my favourite scene of any game on the day - simple but very well done

A Fokker DVII's view of his next kill.

So that concludes a brief round-up of some of my favourite bits of the show, together with a shameless plug for the Wyrley Retinue!!!

G

The Leinster Light Horse

Hello again.

Rather a grandiose and potentially misleading title for this post perhaps, but "Dark Age Irish Cavalry" is a bit dull...

When the "Wyrley Retinue" were preparing this year's show game, "Storri's Trek 2: The Rath of Cahan", I decided we needed loads more figures than our SAGA collections would provide.

Sundry cries of "Megalomaniac!" later, not to mention claims that I did not understand what a "small game" was, and I had enough Vikings and Irish to field several SAGA forces. In my defence, I was not just thinking about SAGA, but had the WAB "Shieldwall" and "Age of Arthur" supplements in mind too and now, and soon to be winging its way onto G's doorstep, the SAGA "Aetius Arthur" edition of the game. I might finally get my British and Early Saxons done!!! And, in my defence, units under the "Lion Rampant" rules we are using for the show game are larger than their SAGA counterparts.

Anyway, I wanted some Irish cavalry, so looked around for a few suitable figures. I found a few bits at Colonel Bill's (though the horses were massive), and I could have thrown in a few Picts or similar, but felt they were too early in style for the 10th Century, or thereabouts. So I settled on some Crusader Miniatures and Gripping Beast figures, with a hint of mail armour and a spangenhelm or two for some melee-orientated types, as depicted here, together with a leader figure, whose provenance I am unsure of (as a figure anyway. I am sure his provenance as a leader is first class!)

I have just finished painting a more skirmish-orientated unit of cavalry too, who will make their debut at WMMS in March (12th to be precise, at the Aldersley Leisure Centre near Wolverhampton in the UK), together with some more Vikings, some more Norse-Gael and perhaps a few other bits and bobs - we do like to slightly alter our games between outings so you see something just a little different each time. However, I will post pictures of those later on.

So, for now, here is the Leinster Light Horse in all its finery.

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Fergus mac Cormac, in all his finery, ready to take the fight to the Norsemen. He will certainly be taking the fight to the Norsemen if Occasional Wargamer Brother Kev gets to command his unit again. I think my dear brother believes all cavalry are British Heavies from Napoleonic times and uses them accordingly...I think I will try him out with something like Huns in future to test the notion further.

Fergus is clearly a Christian and likes blue.

And the view my Vikings prefer of him.

Fergus' hearthguard or comitatus or whatever. Fianna, that's it.

Raging Ruaridh likes one to one.

Santa's been!!!

Hello again.

As 2016 wends its way towards conclusion, I thought it time to recap on what this month of gifts and goodies has brought me, starting with my purchases at "Wargamer" back on 4th and working my way through to the destruction of various sheets of coloured paper as I eagerly unveiled my presents on 25th!

For a small show, I managed to spend WAAAAAYYYY too much at "Wargamer". I bought myself a copy of "Escape from Colditz", now published by Osprey, and backed that up on the gaming front with a Fantasy Flight Games offering called "Age of War", which is a dice game and a sort of cross between Yahtzee, Risk and Happy Families. It is set in the classic age of the samurai and the object is to win control of various cards, representing castles, by rolling appropriate combinations of dice, each of which has various icons which may or may not be of use. The castles can form a set, which grants more points to their holder and the person with the most points wins. That person has so far mainly been daughter Eleanor...

I bought some stuff from Ainsty, who are carrying the SAGA ranges from Gripping Beast nowadays, so my fledgling Anglo-Saxons/ Anglo-Danes acquired Harold, Gyrth and Leofwine Godwinson, some huscarls, Hereward the Wake, some "Sons of Death" to add to my Irish excursion and William the (insert your epithet of choice) to add to my Normans, who are eagerly awaiting their turn on the painting table, along with Saracen and Military Orders forces for "The Crescent and The Cross". I also bought some Highlander reinforcements and a starter set of Compagnies Franches de la Marine for my "Sharp Practice 2/ Muskets & Tomahawks" foray into the French and Indian Wars.

Dave Lanchester furnished me with a copy of Neil Thomas' "Wargaming 19th Century Europe, 1815 to 1878", which I have read with gusto, and, last but not least, Tiger Miniatures very kindly sold me some of their Renaissance figures, including artillery, some arquebusiers and some cavalry, who have joined the ranks of my proposed French Wars of Religion project. Daughter Eleanor conned me into buying her her own set of dice (soft touch that I am) and I think that is about it.

Just before Christmas, I took delivery of some basing sheets from the ever-helpful Coritani/ Magnetic Displays (fantastic service as usual and highly recommended to all who would buy from them - Trevor even sent me a nice Christmas good wishes message, which only goes to show how good their service is!). To that I added a package from Pendraken consisting of some reinforcements/ alternatives for both my proposed 10mm American Civil War project and my "Warband" fantasy project that I spent most of last spring working on. They too deserve a lot of credit for their service quality, as I missed the posting deadline for Christmas quoted on the website but still got my order well before Christmas. Many thanks!

Christmas itself saw the opening of a parcel from Caliver Books containing a copy of "The Italian Campaign of 1859", edited by Dr. Stephen Summerfield, which I have again eagerly devoured. I also got a turntable, so I can play my old, vinyl records, many of which I do not have on CD, which has nothing to do with wargaming or the blog as a whole but just shows how much my lady wife loves me!!! I still wait with anticipation for the latest "Wargaming in History" offering on Koniggraetz, but Dave Ryan has my order and warned me it was unlikely to arrive pre-Christmas as it has not been published yet!

After all that, it is again time to decide on where my focus lies for 2017.

1. I still have a passion for anything involving the Austrians, so 1859 and 1866 feature a lot in my thoughts.
2. I want to get some ACW actions going to take advantage of all those readily-available battle reports and orbats, in my chosen 10mm scale.
3. I want to fill out my Dark Ages pretensions and have now built an entire Anglo-Saxon/ Anglo-Danish force for SAGA which I need to paint.
4. I want to add the extras to my 10mm "Warband" fantasy forces.
5. I want to thresh out my FIW stuff and get some games of "Sharp Practice 2" and "Muskets & Tomahawks" in.
6. I eagerly await Nephew Nick's commitment to the Marlburian Wars so I can kick-start my 1690 project and take him on! It will be just the excuse I need to add some more French and Irish units to my existing stock...
7. I am torn between Germans vs Hottentots in what is now Namibia, Maori Wars or Sudan Wars for "The Men Who Would Be Kings", but seriously want to get something up and running soon for that era and rules set.

And then there is the large scale WW2 skirmish figures I bought last year, the Arthurians that have been lying around for ages, a large Macedonian army I have had for upwards of ten years that I still have stowed away, the Peninsular War stuff I bought back in July for "SP2", 15mm WW2 Ostfront c. Kursk, Bolsheviks to take on my WW1 Russians/ "Whites" and, of course, the French Wars of Religion project I want to get off the ground, ideally for 2019 and the 450th anniversary of the likes of Moncontour and Jarnac. I suppose I could stretch out that last option to 2022 and the 450th anniversary of the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre, but I prefer battles to massacres...

The good news is that my interest in this massively absorbing hobby has not waned one iota and I do not have a project to focus on specifically for 2017, as 2018's show game is decided upon already and I have the armies already too! (I could always rustle up an extra unit or two though, or perhaps a terrain piece or feature piece or...)

I love this hobby of ours!

G

Storri's Trek 2: The Rath of Cahan

Hello again.

"Wargamer" saw the "Wyrley Retinue" take to the road with our latest demo game offering, "The Rath of Cahan". The game is an Dark Ages affair set in Ireland, with Viking forces trying to defeat a force of Irish and their Norse-Gael mercenaries, who have the aforementioned rath to assist their defence. The rules are "Lion Rampant", written by Daniel Mersey and published by Osprey, and they give a quick and decisive action, so expect to remove figures quickly! You can also expect a truly frustrating time moving around if you suffer bad command rolls too! This is the only reason I took so long to get into combat on the day and there should be no suggestion that I was letting everyone else kill themselves so I could run away with the loot and keep it all to myself...

Nick built the boards and trees, I did the ship and buildings, Nick painted a third of the Vikings and I did the rest of the Vikings, the Irish, villagers, looters, livestock and the Norse-Gael.

Here are a few photos to hopefully whet the appetite ready for our next outing, which will probably be WMMS in Wolverhampton in March, but could be the new ROBIN show in Nottingham in February. We shall see.

For this outing, Nick and Kev took on Paul, Eleanor and me. As we always try and provide something different for each outing of any game we put on, you can expect more troops, sub-plots, perhaps a bigger table and other things next time we show up somewhere. We hope you enjoyed our little offering and, if you did not make the show, we hope to see you sometime soon at a show near you!

G

Four-fifths of the line up. From left of screen to right we have Nephew Nick, Santa Claus' understudy Occasional Wargamer Brother Kev, Nephew Paul with yet another dodgy homage to his favourite football team and Youngest Daughter Eleanor.

I bought two second-hand longships ready for the game but only had to paint one f them (the other does not fit!) The sail is a roll of paint-dyed calico secured with cotton ropes.

One of the prizes on offer was the Irish village, complete with sundry village types

The rath in all its glory, neatly blended into the board by Nephew Nick after I built it. I am sure that dice tower was not there when I took the photo...

My troops, which uniquely of all the figures on the table, belong to Nephew Nick and were painted by him. I do not know what the Norse for "they who will not move" is, but these are they! I blame Nephew Nick for infecting them with tardiness.

Some of my Viking figures advance through the sparse woodland, commanded by Eleanor. She is truly a reincarnation of Boudicca, Gwenllian, Zenobia or some other famous warrior type given her predilection for combat! She kept going right to the end despite enormous casualties!

A few more of my Viking figures, mainly composed of recent purchases courtesy of North Star.

These Vikings have obviously had some success up river. They are mainly Dixon Miniatures with a few odds from my spares box thrown in for good measure.

Some of Nephew Paul's command, headed by some berserking types.

Nephew Paul faced off against Occasional Wargamer Brother Kev with the mixed Irish/ Norse-Gael command. OWBK's command of his cavalry earned him the nickname "General Gung-ho". Lord Cardigan would have been proud! He did at least temporarily halt the Viking advance on this flank.

Some of Eleanor's Bondi prepare to test their strength against Nephew Nick's Bonnachts.

And I try and get moving off the riverbank...

A view from above and behind the rath.