The Kingdom is ours -Gun

Managed to finish a artillery piece for the ECW .Warlord metal miniatures all come together with the gun and barrels etc.

Naseby

Visited the Battlefield at Naseby this weekend and it was very worthwhile ,recently added viewing platforms and information points made it most enjoyable and informative .We started at Fairfaxs viewpoint then called in at the obelisk the original monument to the battle.then through Naseby to the Cromwell Monument then onto Sulby Hedge and the possible KIngs Oak location ,this was a good walk from the road across farm fields but the farmer was very nice and pointed us in the quickest direction .Then we managed to get lost on our way to retreat viewpoint ,then we missed the ROC viewpoint and went straight to Prince Ruperts view .We doubled back to the ROC viewpoint before heading into Market Harborough to see Bloodymans ford .

Sulby Edge

Cromwells Monument from SulbyEdge

The Royal Obcerser Corps post on the battlefield 

one of the occupants of the ROC

Roads and Rivers

Thought I would treat myself to some Roads and Rivers ,I wanted enough pieces to use on my 6x4mat especiallyfor use with my French Indian wars and english Civil War projects . so after looking at afew companies and being shocked by prices I found Small Terrain Miniature Scenary on Facebook ,after looking at their web store I took the plunge and ordered some bits .I ordered the 7 piece rural road set with the 4 piece straight set and the 8 piece river set along with a ford .I should have ordered the ford with road so it matched up to the road set better but my mistake .The Rivers are resin and the roads are fibre board and the best bit they come ready painted and flocked .The pictures below were just done quickly as I did a quick layout on my Urban matz 6x4 so I could see if I had ordered enough but you should get an idea of quality from these.The quality is good ,and of course staright out of parcel to the table not sat in my cupboard waiting to be pianted. Service was good turn around for something which I think is made to order it took less than 2 weeks ,packaging could have been a bit better ,some of the flock had been flatterened but the pieces had survived my local sorting office so wasnt that bad .For those that want to paint thier own bits the items also come unpainted ,well worth a look the items pictured cost me around £60 painted ,flocked and delivered .

9/10

all the river pieces just fall short of 6ft

close up of some of the sections

all the road pieces

close look at the bends

T-Junction

the ford I should have ordered the ford with road .

The Kingdom is ours -Base Sizes

Thought I would mention base sizes for the kingdom is ours ,when we were planning our armies we started from scratch so decided we would use the base sizes from the rule book ,however we soon found out that the warlord figures we were using seemed very cramped on the bases and it was difficult to put filler and flock between the figures so we enlarged them slightly for foot and horse .We kept the number of figures the same except for Horse bases where we use 3 instead of 4 figures ,this will not matter as the casualties are marked on a tracker rather than removing figures.The sizes we use are shown below next to the rule reccomended sizes .

                              Reccomended                               ours

foot                        40mm x 40mm                             50mm x50mm

Horse                      40mm x 80mm                           50mm x 80mm (3 figs)

Guns                       60mmx80mm                             60mmx80mm

commander             60mm round                               60mm round

 

The Kingdom is ours -another update

I have read the rules a few times now and really like them ,plays been held up by me not having much time to paint stuff but I have all the bits and pieces needed and have just finished a couple of bits for my Tercio . I chose Prince Rupert of the Rhine as my Tercio commander ,King Charles's Nephew he had seen action in the 80 years war and was appointed General of Horse at the start of the Civil war .He was described as "tall ,handsome and of Sparkish dress" he was at first successful but was defeated at Marston Moor where his beloved dog Boy was killed ,Boy was considered a demon by the parliamentarians with claims he could become invisible and spy on enemy camps and catch bullits aimed at his master ?. After surrendering Bristol and attempting to talk his uncle into seeking peace he was dismissed .After the war he served the French and saw more action until the restoration when he became governor of windsor Castle and taking up Science  as a hobby even converting a room at Windor into a lab .
 He died in 1682. The First Regiment I have finished was by coincidence Prince Ruperts regiment ,they saw much actionespecially in the North but were wiped out at Naesby the survivors becoming part of the Garrison at Bristol with Rupert.

Prince Rupert of the Rhine and Boy

A nice but fragile figure from warlord 

Prince Ruperts Blew Regiment of Foote

Again Warlord mainly plastic but with some metal command flags by Flags of War

The Kingdom is ours -update

orderd some dice and trackers from Bicorne -arrived within 2 days great service .

The Kingdom is Ours

I've been lookingfor a quick play set of rules for the ECW for a while so when I saw these advertised I was interested especially with" the fight a 28mm gam on a 6x4 table in under 3 hours" bit  ,so I bought them .Here is a first impression review of the rules .

THE GOOD BITS
A glossy soft cover set  of rules ,80odd pages in length with lots of colour pics of figures which I presume are all Bicorne .The book consists of the following:

IntroductionBy author
Civil War introduction                      P7
Battles &Skirmishes of the ECW     P9
Troops&weapons of the ECW          P12
Suggested equipment                        P15
Unit Make Up                                   P17
Unit Tracking                                   P19
Fast Play Rules                                P21
Play sheet                                         P59
Examples                                         P64
Battle of Roundway Down              P72
Reading list                                      P77
Bicorne catalogue                            P78

As you can see the rules dont take up all the book theres lots of interesting stuff in there
it all seems at first look very easy to follow and well laid out .
Bicorne sell packs of dice for the rules although any dice will do and they inform me that unit trackers will be available from them soon .
Lots of advanced rules if you want them
A decent price for a rule set these days

THE NITTY GRITTY
The system uses D6's & D10's

orders are issued and turns taken by drawing dice from bag a different colour of die  for each Tercio the bag also contains the Purple dice of doom ,which when drawn ends the turn and may bring other events into action such as units running away

Each sides number of order dice are decided on by the number of units in play at the start of a turn and how many die the commanders gains the bigger the army the harder it is to give orders also the training of the army effects orders ,if aunit is lost the next turn the dice for that unit are no longer included

figures are based on multiple bases the basic unit is aTercio a Standard Tercio consists of
a mounted commander
2 horse regiments
3 foot regiments
1 saker
The above can be changed in the advanced rules or by scenario

a foot regiment consist of 32 figures the pike/shot ratio varies on year played etc

THE NOT SO GOOD BITS ( in my eyes at first glance )

not many gripes really , the play sheet is in the middle part of the book so is virtually impossible to photocopy without damaging your book ,how ever it states you can download from the Helion site however I could not find it I emailed Helion and did not recieve reply so contacted Bicorne who replied almost immediately saying it was not yet available but they were looking at it .
Only 1 scenario but it is a good one
A couple of bits may annoy other players such as having the bicorne catologue in the book and the use of a protracter for fire arcs but I am pretty happy with my first look  and will be making my armies up to suit .
8/10

The Battles of Edgehill and Cropredy Bridge

Took some time away to do abit of walking ,always find it better in the winter there are less people in the way . We visited the battle fields  of Edgehill and Cropredy Bridge two ECW sites fairly close together .Edgehill is partly on MOD land but is visible from the top of Edgehill and as a bonus St Peters Church in Radway has a fantastic but small permanent exhibition to the battle which include the original effigy of Captain Kingsmill ,a local who died in the battle . There is great site about Radway with maps routes for walks and lots of links about the battle its well worth a look
http://www.battleofedgehillexhibitionradway.org.uk

There is very little to see at Cropredy other than the bridge and information panel but I always like to stand where the action took place and pay my respects to the fallen .

Below are some of the pictures I took on the day .

The exhibition inside St Peters

Captain Kingsmill

The inscription from Kingsmill's mother 

on the walk to the top of Edgehill a monumnet to Waterloo

The Castle at Radway now apub ,a folly  built on the site where King Charles raised his Standard 

The view from the Castle 

The information panal at the Castle 

Same view form slightly lower down the hill

The same view when you leave the woods 

Cropredy bridge 

The information panel at the west end of the Bridge