Wednesday 27 March 2024

More Scots and a handful of Royalists

It was quite a productive weekend for me on the Marston Moor project. 3 additional units completed. I can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel. First up was the 8th regiment of Scottish foot. Like the last regiment I decided to add a little variation to the blue bonnets. After using different colours for the blankets, I'm running out of ways to differentiate the units with all that grey when on the table at 3 foot away. Once again the flags are from Wargames design.



Next up is the 4th regiment of Scottish horse, the second of which are lancers. These suffer the same issues as the rest of the Epic scale cavalry. You also only get 2 poses which doesn't help. I ended up adding in spare officers to create a little variety.



The last lot of figures are some commanded shot for Prince Rupert's Royalists. These are all from Peter Pig which are a very good match for the Epic scale figures.



I went for a mix of coat colours to create the illusion they are drawn from different regiments. Not too happy with the blue./grey coats. With these done I can concentrate on the rest of the Covenanter contingent and some casualty markers, while Mitch completes Rupert's command


Saturday 23 March 2024

A few more additions for Marston Moor

After finishing Rupert's Blewcoats last week I decided to complete the last of the 5 regiments I was down for, for Rupert's command. So Henry Tilliers' regiment was turned out. Went for quite a dark green coat on these guys. There was a slight delay in getting them finished as I realised I didn't have the correct flag for them and had to wait for an order from Wargames design.



Quite happy with how these have turned out. Shame the rest of the army is at the club, so no group photo. In other news, Dave mentioned he has completed another Royalist regiment of foot. This brings us up to 7 of the 10 for Rupert's command. 

After painting the last 2 Royalist regiments, I returned to the Covenanters. Another grey coated regiment turned out for the game. Just 5 more of these to go. Again the flag is from Wargames design. I also finished off another mounted officer.



So these bring the painted figures to just under 85% of those required. I've got another Coventanter regiment prepped to paint with a unit of Scots cavalry and the Commanded shot for Rupert's command.

What is left to paint? by my reckoning, 3 Royalist regiments of foot, 1 Royalist commanded shot and they are complete. 5 Scots Covenanter regiments of foot and 3 Scots horse regiment, 2 Parlaimentarian horse regiments and 2 commanded shot. Then a few commanders and some casualty markers. Not bad after 8 months work.

Saturday 16 March 2024

Prince Rupert's Blewcoats

Rupert's Blewcoats were a Royalist regiment with a rich campaigning history 1624 to 1645 before their demise at Naseby. They are one of the more recognisable regiments that fought at Marston Moor, so I just had to have them. I finally got the regiment completed today. It would have been done earlier, but after gluing to the bases and adding the sand, I noticed that one of the flags was upside down. So I've had to remove the command figures, remove the flags and then order some replacements which finally arrived today from Wargames design.




As can be seen I decided to pick up a spare sprue and change the individual pikemen for an extra strip. I think it looks better and less chance of snapping pikes in the future. I'll use the other spare strip when I do Tilliers' regiment.

Thursday 7 March 2024

Marston Moor preparation

No game at the club this week as I took the time to review the position for the Marston Moor Project. It was a chance to get the table set up, check we had the right table size and did we have enough roads, buildings and hedges. Ignore the MDF bases as they were used as place markers for those regiments we still needed to paint. 

Parlaiment right wing under Fairfax

Scottish and Parlaimentarian centre

Parlaimentarian left wing under Cromwell

Royalist right wing

Rupert's Royalist infantry

Royalist left under Newcastle

Overhead shot

So pretty happy with the layout. Seems to fit nicely on a 10ft by 5ft table and not too cluttered. I estimate just another 4ft of hedges to be done. A couple of the fields need shaping to remove the squared edges. As for figures, just 12 infantry regiments, 5 horse regiments and 2 units of commanded shot to go. After this just a bit of able decorating to do. I've some casualty markers, villagers and livestock to complete. Well need to get back to the painting table.

Monday 26 February 2024

Hedges and Covenanters

So after getting some decorating done, I spent the weekend full steam ahead on the Marston Moor Project. First up was completing another 8ft of hedges. A mix of my type 3 and 4. I even managed to start another 4ft, so hopefully should have enough soon.



I did use up the last of the fencing I had left. Just wish I knew where I got them from to pick up some more.

Next up was a couple of buildings from Battlescale. This should round out all the buildings that I'll need.


And just to end, 2 more regiments of Covenanter foot. I've earmarked the front regiment as Lord Leven's own. The rear is just another generic regiment.


That brings the Covenanters up to 50% strength for the game. Just 6 infantry, 3 horse and a few commanders to go.

During a current playtest of the rules, casualty markers will be required, so I've put an order in to Peter Pig. I'll base them with a dice holder to cover multiple casualties, keeps the numbers required down.

Thursday 22 February 2024

More dour Scotsmen

The benefits of a little time off, well apart from decorating is that I got a little time to actually get a batch of painting done. This time it is a 3rd cavalry regiment, mainly Warlord plastic with a standard bearer from Alternative armies. These are the first of either 3 or 4 regiments of lancers. There was also an additional brigadier and a 4th Pike and shot regiment. All the flags are from Wargames design.






I've also made a start on the next 2 pike and shot regiments, hopefully I may get them finished over the weekend. I also made some more progress on the hedges as they near completion. I also ordered a 3rd fleece mat for the Marston Moor game. On the gaming front a bit of a disaster as 2 players are down with the lurgy and will not be attending. May just have to abandon the game and set up a set piece encounter with the available players.

Tuesday 20 February 2024

Another Covenanter Regiment

My enthusiasm for this project has picked up recently as I feel I can finally concentrate on getting the last of the required troops done in readiness for September. This is the 3rd regiment of foot for the Covenanters. The flag is from Wargames Designs for an unknown regiment.



This gets me to 3 of the 12 regiments required. I've got another 3 undercoated and ready to paint  up. There is also a 3rd regiment of cavalry just requiring basing. Overall this brings the project to over 75% complete. Quite a feat. I've also ordered a couple of extra sprues as I want to replace the individual pikemen on a couple of units for Rupert's command.

On the scenery front I've also made some progress on another 8 foot of hedges. A mix of my type 3 and 4. Hopefully get these finished this week. After that about the same number again should be sufficient.

Type 3 hedges

Type 4 hedges

This is definitely my last batch of type 4 as using clump foliage is a pain and very messy to use. I've also got a couple of sheets of pan scourer to use up and find these much easier to produce.