Herewith some 10mm English Civil War Miniatures. These are also ideal for Thirty Years War. I am keeping most units generic so that they may be used for either Parliament or Royalist.
See: http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=123920.0
Manufacturers include:
Lancer Miniatures see: https://lancerminiatures.com/product-category/10mm/10mm-ecw/
Pendraken Miniatures see: https://pendraken.co.uk/renaissance/english-civil-war/
Irregular Miniatures see: http://www.irregularminiatures.co.uk/indexes/10mmindex.htm
Still hoping to get some Old Glory see: https://www.oldgloryminiatures.com/products.asp?cat=74
ECW Artillery - Bang and your gonne... Sorry could not resist though evidently the term gonne is normally used to only refer Medieval hand guns.
ECW Artillery closeup. Bases are laser cut mdf.
Concentrated artillery bombard the town.
The "Furie of "Ordinance" - Stephen Bull. "Cannon were most useful in siege work but counted little in battles. Their slow rate of fire, perhaps one round every three minutes if served by an expert crew, meant that there would have to be a great concentration to cause a decisive number of casualties."
ECW a real keep sake...
ECW commanders including Prince Rupert and his Royal Majesty Charles I King of England, Scotland and Ireland. You may well be able to tell which side I prefer playing.
A possible good read here is John Barratt's Cavalier Generals: King Charles I and His Commanders in the English Civil War, as he gives credit to Royalist commanders often ignored. See: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1023183.Cavalier_Generals
Consider:
Lord Astley, Prince Maurice, Lord Hopton, Lord Goring, Sir Richard Grenvile, the Marquis of Newcastle, Lord Wilmot and the Marquis of Montrose.
Dragoons are certainly one of my favourite units. Very flexible and versatile and ideal for taking key objectives and scouting ahead. I am often able to use them to harass and potentially slow the enemy.
ECW heavy cavalry. Ideal shock troops. Though these have still seemingly not moved on much from the Thirty years war tactics of riding up and discharging their pistols and then retreating to reload.
Evidently during the English Civil War both sides rarely deployed heavy cavalry and when they did it was largely ineffective. Prince Rupert was the first to realise this (as evidenced at the battles of Edgehill 1642 and Roundway Down 1643) having recognised that well organised and tightly formed cavalry will have as much impact as those wearing armour. So I tend to use these lobsters above as parliamentarians. Though as ironsides under Oliver Cromwell one can find one self feeling nervous around these sorts...
One is also reminded of heavy cavalry for the Napoleonic period see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuirassier
Taking up positions within the town.
I have tried to maximise the size of my armies whilst minimising expense and therefore mount my Foot or infantry being only 6 miniatures to a base. With 1 miniature being around 40 odd men. I am happy with the overall appearance.
Pike and shot formed in characteristic 1 pike to 2 shot. In theory the strength of an ECW regiment was 1200 men though this is on paper as in reality sickness, desertion, casualties etc. weakened these numbers. It is better to think of 10 companies each of around 120 men. Though the structure of regiments varied greatly. Evidently at the start of the conflict pike outnumbered musket so 2 pike 1 musket but by the end of the conflict this had reversed as reflected in the above picture.
Prince Rupert himself with his hunting poodle named Boye. As dashing and cavalier as always. The real Prince Rupert was a truly remarkable figure (excuse the pun).
One of his contemporaries described him
"brave and courageous even to rashness, but cross-grained and incorrigibly obstinate... he was polite, even to excess, unseasonably; but haughty, and even brutal, when he ought to have been gentle and courteous... his manners were ungracious: he had a dry hard-favoured visage, and a stern look, even when he wished to please; but, when he was out of humour, he was the true picture of reproof".
Village made of paper and card. I was rather pleased with how these came out.
I have also been researching local battles of the English Civil War. My hope is to wargame a skirmish which evidently took place in the small village of Stokenchurch. As the area was a thoroughfare between London and Oxford.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stokenchurch
https://amershammuseum.org/history/research/other-articles/bucks-in-the-civil-war/
It is clear that Buckinghamshire suffered greatly during the ECW (1642-1649). What with it being the home of many parliamentarians including John Hampden. Apparently the local villages came off worst in the conflict especially with Oxford and Aylesbury being Royalist strongholds.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=infRAAAAMAAJ&pg=PP106&lpg=PP106&dq=Stokenchurch+english+civil+war&source=bl&ots=3R9yhskBAu&sig=ACfU3U0mZH2-uxCwmmyJ4EolMis5vgAq8w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi3oIWrvOjoAhVKUcAKHT9-Co0Q6AEwD3oECAwQLA#v=onepage&q=Stokenchurch%20english%20civil%20war&f=false
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Aylesbury
...and much of the countryside and buildings can be a further inspiration to an ECW gamer see also https://www.picturesofengland.com/England/Buckinghamshire/Stokenchurch
On a possible side note for Dark Age games it is interesting to note the following:
"The guide to the parish church, on sale in the
church in the late 1970s (but no publishing information); mentions a battle
fought between the locals and Danes on nearby
Beacon Hill in the year 914AD. It is said that where juniper grows blood has
been spilt - there is certainly lots of juniper on Beacon Hill." -
With regards to Old Glory I have been led to understand that
they come in strips and I am concerned
about the potential base width issue. I do find it annoying how difficult it is
sometimes to find pictures of miniatures in their "raw" state
especially ones in this scale.
On a side but possibly related note I am replacing all of
the pike weapons with brush bristles flattened and cut into sharp points at the
end. As I can't stand weapons that either snap, bend or on the other side of
the spectrum make it seem like you have been a victim of Vlad the Impaler.
In terms of rules, let me first say that I largely started
ECW because I wanted to wargame something in 20mm. Most of my miniature gaming
and painting being in 20mm and 28mm. Indeed, I would like to do something in
15mm, but as yet have not found the right period etc. for me to do in that
scale. My brother wargames 15mm Boer War and I have toiled with possibly Franco
Prussian in that scale.
But back to 10mm I first properly played a set of rules
called:"Victory Without Quarter" (VWQ) by Clarence Harrison,
Quindia Studios which a really enjoy. Many of my first games being with
cardboard counters just to get a feeling for the period before splashing out on
miniatures.
Others I have stepped my toe in include:
Warhammer Historical ECW - great if you ignore any of the
mechanics as just a good read to drool over. Having said that I have heard that
Warmaster can provide a good ECW game. Though I have yet to try it.
The end of a reign - Naseby - a board game which provides
some good fun.
Hats, Horses and Hexes - ECW One Hour Wargame - not played
but have played a Portable wargame using ECW miniatures see:
http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~warden/portable_wargame/ which has worked for my
ACW but not this.
Tilly by Warband Miniatures - I still need to explore this
set further, only read the rules twice and been interrupted in playing it.
Burn Witch Burn! - converted set of rules from Matakishi's
Crom rules - which may sound odd but I would like to play a small skirmish game
in 10mm for this period and one that encapsulates the superstitious elements of
the period. Will need some more miniatures especially peasant/civilian sorts.
Watch the start of this cracking documentary for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7jfpgFdX2E
Pike & Shot, by John Armatys, tried but for the life of
me can't recall. Will need to give them another go...
Some set called simple skirmish english civil war rules, but
I can't find it again online, very simple but fast though lacking flavour like
many simplistic rules sets one lands up just having another boring game of
dice.
Then we get to the offerings by Osprey the first being Field
of Glory (FOG, only ever read their Medieval rule book cover to cover), had one
Thirty Years War game with a chaps stunningly painted armies at a wargame club,
but the rules did not go down very well with me, maybe it is because I lost
lol. No I actually enjoy losing and are by no stretch of the imagination a
tournament type player. Indeed I feel it ruins the entire point of what is for
me wargaming. Second in the Osprey camp would be converting Lion Rampant - fine
for a quick game and not too much to think about and third I hope to explore a
few more games of The Pikeman’s Lament as it caught my imagination as I love
the idea of a forlorn hope group of men fighting it out till the very last.
I then have what I would describe as the sorts of rules you
find for free, these include: For King or For Parliament, Lillibulero fast play
rules, Polemos ECW and finally Charge Pikes etc. These I hope to cover in a
more detailed review on this Blog at some point.
Mostly I am playing To The Strongest For King and Parliament
and also enjoy their ancient rules.
See: https://bigredbatshop.co.uk/products/to-the-strongest-for-king-and-parliament-rules-physical-edition
Added a grave yard.
Goes rather nicely next to the church.
I am enjoying 10mm and can highly recommend this scale. Anyone thinking of getting into smaller scales should also see Little Wars here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD6gPsr1xdvT9F4dntRAJ5g
http://www.littlewarstv.com/
I rather liked their take on Isandlwana using Osprey's Men Who Would Be Kings to play a large engagement - hence my thought above to do similar with Pikeman's Lament.
I am surprised sometimes that the miniatures in this scale are not cheaper. But they are surprisingly easy to paint up to a relatively high standard despite the size.
See: https://bigredbatshop.co.uk/products/to-the-strongest-for-king-and-parliament-rules-physical-edition
Added a grave yard.
Goes rather nicely next to the church.
I am enjoying 10mm and can highly recommend this scale. Anyone thinking of getting into smaller scales should also see Little Wars here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD6gPsr1xdvT9F4dntRAJ5g
http://www.littlewarstv.com/
I rather liked their take on Isandlwana using Osprey's Men Who Would Be Kings to play a large engagement - hence my thought above to do similar with Pikeman's Lament.
I am surprised sometimes that the miniatures in this scale are not cheaper. But they are surprisingly easy to paint up to a relatively high standard despite the size.
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