A New Dog and ECW Unit

        We decided to get a new dog. While the original plan was no new pets. It was my wife who asked if we could get another dog. My only stipulation was that it had to be a rescue dog. There is a Jack Russell Terrier rescue in our state, so we started the adoption proceeding. While returning from our vacation in Maryland, we swung by the rescue and picked up our newest family member, Jerry. Needless to say, the last couple of weeks have been adjusting to the quirks of a new dog, and him adjusting to us. I have had little time for wargaming.

    However, while on vacation I started thinking of making larger units if I was to continue with an English Civil War game. I decided to raise an experimental regiment to test out some ideas. The trouble was how to base the figures. As most infantry formations had musketeers on the end with pikemen in the middle, basing them side by side wouldn't work out well. So I decided to base the one in front of the other. I also wanted to have a standard bearer. At first the plan was to have a pikeman with the flag. However, I do have quite a few nice command figures and it seemed a shame that I don't use the in my regular gaming. So I made a command stand. If I use the BATTLELORE variants I used in my last game, the command stand wouldn't count except as a marker. Of course if I wanted a longer game, it could be that a unit takes 5 hits instead of the usual 4. Below is a few shots of the regiment. They need their coat of varnish and I still haven't got a flag for them yet.

    

Jerry, our newest member of the family.

A typical jack, Jerry needs plenty of exercise, which tends to cut into my war-game time.

My experimental ECW regiment. If I raise more regiments, they will each get a different color uniform.

This is how I based the figures. I also put each figure on a washer. That way if I ever want to rebase them or use them individually, they will be ready for action.

Peter Laing English Civil War

   My wife and I had discussed that when our dog died, we wouldn't get another dog.  Surprisingly, my wife changed her mind and wants another dog ( I thought it would be me who would beg for another dog). We have been spending  much of our free time contacting different rescue groups looking for a new dog.  This has been distracting me from my gaming.

    When I got home from work, once again I switched gears from the semi-flats back to Peter Laings. I had bought several lots over the last couple of months. However, I just put them aside without looking at them. They consist of Medieval spearmen, crossbowmen and axemen.   I also brought out my Peter Laing ECW figures. I then decided to try to work on getting an ECW game together.  I want to try to use some rule variants for BATTLELORE that I found on line.  Instead of trying to paint the armies, I spray painted the two different armies; grey for the Parliamentarians, white for the Royalists. I do have some painted figures to use, too.  Both armies have 4 infantry and 4 cavalry units.

The Royalist Army.

The Parliamentarian army.

The Royalist infantry closes in on the Parliamentarian Army

The Royalists are pushed back.

The Royalists counterattack.

The Royalist cavalry hits both flanks.

The Parliamentarian foot continue to push the Royalists back.

The Royalist cavalry continue to push forward.

The Royalist cavalry on the right sees a gap in the line and charges through it, heading for the enemies wagon train.

As the cavalry charges the train, they see the Parliamentarian General. They cut him down.

The Parliamentarian cavalry counterattacks. The cavalry at the top left forces the Royalist cavalry to retreat. It then makes the mistake of on it's followup attack attacking the infantry instead.  It's dice roll would have wiped out the Royalist cavalry.

The royalist cavalry on the upper left forces one Parliamentarian cavalry off the field. The Royalist cavalry on the right counterattacks and wipes out the cavalry unit. The Parliamentarians are now down three units (2 cavalry and the General). To lose one more means the battle is lost.

The Parliamentarian cavalry defeats one of the Royalist cavalry.

The Royalist cavalry forces another unit of Parliamentarian cavalry off the field. The Royalists  have won the day.

It was good getting a game in. The rules worked out for this game. I'm not sure they are really a good representation of the period. Perhaps my Peter Laing ECW figures will get more use in the future.

Work on Semi Flats, or is it Semi Rounds?

   I have been trying to get interested in my wargaming projects, with little success. While going through some of my boxes of figures I came across some of the semi-flat cavalry. I decided to pull the semi-flats out and go through them, hoping to get motivated.  I found some figures that I made a mold of. These were put aside to get a coat of paint. I also primed one cavalryman, also to be painted. I must admit that my treatment of these figures is abysmal; they are just thrown into the boxes. My favorite figure, which I only have one of, the rifle was badly bent. A better system of packing them must be found.

A photo of the way I treat my figures.

Here is a picture of some of the better painted figures. Truly a crime!

When I first started collecting semi-flats, I bought two sets from Berliner Zinnfiguren. These came in nice boxes where the figures were sandwiched between foam. I took the one of a kind figures and put them in one of the boxes.