40/42mm Figures - Comparison Piccies

Some comparisons between figs received recently ....

Firstly horse; 3 figs on the left are the Sash and Sabre (S&S) command pack without the pistol holders; 2 figs on the right are Irregular Miniatures (IM) guidon bearer and trooper with sword up. S&S horses are slightly smaller but more rounded; riders for both manufactuers are about the same size although IM riders don't fit well on S&S horses. S&S figs need some assembly; stick on pistol holders, heads and alternative hands [I felt that the S&S pistol holders were set too low on the figure, so I put mine on a bit higher up].

Now the foot; 3 figs on left are from the Romanoff Miniatures (RM) command pack; 2 figs in the middle are Irregular Minaitures (IM) officer and drummer; 2 figs on the right are Sash and Sabre (S&S) artillerists (sorry haven't got any command figs to hand). As you can sees all are broadly compatible in size apart form the S&S ones which are slightly smaller.

The RM figs need assembling - stick on arms, heads and swords; I found them a bit tricky to put together - although I expect I would get better with practice. I found the RM drummer from the command pack difficult to assemble; the drum is a separate casting and getting the fig to balance standing up was difficult.

Baggage Wagon

I've scratchbuilt this wagon out of cardboard on some wheels that belonged to a Gypsy caravan I bought at a car boot sale. The horse was 50p - which I found in the bottom of an oddments box at a Toy and Train fair. The man leading the horse is from the Sash and Sabre artillerists pack. I'll post a photo of it when painted.

Pokesay Castle - Part 1

As part of ECW wargaming I would like to have a model of a small castle which could be placed under siege; being defended by about 1 regiment of foot at the most and some artillery.

I've chosen to make a model based on Stokesay Castle (Shropshire), it's really a moated manor house. It was garrisoned in the civil war. A picture of the gatehouse.

More pictures are available on line. A plan of the castle:

I've decided to call my castle Pokesay. The model itself will be quite large (18" x 24") or something like that. I'm planning to scratch build all the structures and the walls. The moat will be a challenge to do as well.

I must be nuts !!

40mm Figure Manufacturers

A breif survey of 40/42mm figure manufactures (plus prices on websites that I have looked at mostly UK):

1. 42MM Irregular Miniatures Renaisiance Range - Good range of infantry, cavalry and cannon.; foot £1.25; horse+rider £2.75

2. 40MM Sash and Sabre ECW Range - Good range of infantry, cavalry and cannon
http://www.oldgloryuk.com/ Example - Example price £35 for pack of 20 infantry - £1.75 each. This this range is also availabe at cheaper bag prices from Caliver Books (Partizan Press + Matchlock Minaitures - http://www.caliverbooks.com/) - £27.50 for pack of 20 infantry [don't know if they have different postage rates though]

3. 40MM ROMANOFF MINIATURES (http://www.oldgloryuk.com/) good range of foot figures. £9 for bag of 5 figs.

4. 40mm Drabant Minaitures (http://www.oldgloryuk.com/); WARS OF MOSCOW STATE range;
DM1125; DM1126 Swedish Musketeers early 17C £4 each
DM1111 12pdr cannon early 17C £9 each
DM1117 13 INCH MORTAR £9 each

5. 1:48 (35mm+) Scale Hecker & Goros (Berliner Zinnfiguren website) - possible useable small range of figures. Consist of 30yrs war artillery and odd figures; e.g 2 foot figures 13 Euros. Also a 2 wheel cart with horse and driver - 18 Euros. They do a cannon and also a limber.

New Horse Regiment Mustered

It's taken some time to get these finished ready for painting; I've been swapping in some Sash & Sabre heads on Irregular Miniatures figs; plus replacing pistols withs swords .

Go Home Spot ...

While the royalists get familiar with using their new culverin, a dog belonging to one of the crew has come to find his master ...

Wrinkleham - A Clash of Armes

1) The Parliamentarian Forces: Commander - Sir Warwick Hunt, 1 regiment of Cuirassier, 1 regiment of Foot and some artillerie

2) The Royalist forces: Commander - Sir William de Walloughby; 1 regiment of Horse and 2 regiments of Foot
3) The Battle ...

Both sides deployed, the parliamentarians seeing the larger number of royalist foot decided to form up with their left flank on the village with the artillery, foot in the centre, and the cuirassiers on the right.

The royalists decided to deploy, advance and attack.

The cavalry melee started first..

and after a charge, counter charge and reform the cuirassier were holding back the royalist horse ..

As the royalist foot came up, musket fire from both sides and the parliamentarian artillery started to thin the ranks down..

After the cuirassiers forced back the royalist horse, the resolve of the parliamentarian foot crumbled and they took to their heels, the rest of the army following behind. The royalists did not pursue as their cavalry was exhausted.

[The rules we used were 'Charge yr Pikes!', downloaded from http://www.angelfire.com/games3/jacksongamer/ecwrules.htm. We had a most enjoyable game, we felt the rules worked very well].