ECW- Battle of Tippermuir 1st September 1644.

 Montrose's battles are a source of fascination for me. Any one of them is small enough to represent on the table with the limited units I have.  Today I looked them over : Tippermuir, Aberdeen, Fyvie, Inverlochy, Auldearn, Alford, Kilsyth and Philiphuagh.

What the hell- start at the beginning.

Tippermuir it is! I dug into my scenario books and allocated my units and refought the battle over a couple of hours- another solo effort in lockdown.

I had to incorporate some special rules in the scenario.
Under our rules, infantry charging cavalry lose their charge bonuses. Nor can Foote countercharge. In this battle the Highlanders and Irish were particularly aggressive- so they were allowed to. And when charging cavalry the Highlanders kept their secondary charge bonus ( ferocious charge).

Additionally, during the battle, Montrose's troops captured the Covenanter guns and turned them on their former owners. So for this scenario, if/when a gun fell it was available to be fired the following turn by its captors. As Montrose had no guns or Horse, these rules were designed to allow Montrose's troops to perform as they did historically!

One of the Irish Regiments of Foote.
(Being used as Lt Gen Alexander McDonnell's Regt- but carrying Col. James MacDonnell's flag)

Thirty Years War and English Civil War- The Horse..my kingdom for the Horse

      The Horse..my kingdom for the Horse...or something like that..
Following on from my musings about my basing for my infantry (see last post), I was struck by the basing conventions of many rules as being rather random. Sure, some tried to be proportioned and approximated some ground scale.  Some rules insist that each figure is based on 25mm frontage, or 20mm , or 15mm. Other rules- those with a "big base= one unit" approach tend to have a standard frontage for the infantry and perhaps the same for the cavalry (or Horse!) (Baroque) . Some have the Horse on smaller bases  (Tercios). 
SO many rules, so many variations, so little time...... I am so confused.....and a little disheartened.
(Not withstanding phone calls and emails from so called friends calling me after the last post - inquiring as to the state of my mental health!)

I got my classifications from all rules that I have: Pike and Shotte, Polemos, Field of Glory (Renaissance), 1644, Warhammer ECW, Baroque, DBR,  George Gush's WRG rules, For King and Parliament, Liber Militum Tercios and Twilight of Divine Right.  I think there is a small fortune in every wargamer's library that consists of rules never used- or intended to be used but 'never got around to it'.
Anyway with the categories, I just unashamedly copied them: Sipahis, Cuirassiers, Trotters, Gallopers, Arqubusiers, Light Cavalry and Mounted Dragoons.
Some people say this is too many categories.
Other say not enough.
I say "Go away". 

THIRTY YEARS WAR AND ENGLISH CIVIL WAR. - Problems with Pike and Shot.

 I'd always wanted to give the Thirty Years War a go- or even the English Civil War and have bits and pieces packed in boxes....Lockdown is a good opportunity to sort the mess out! 

Like most wargamers I've got rule sets galore on my shelves: Warlord Games Pike and Shotte, Polemos, The Warre Game, 1644, Warhammer ECW,  Baroque,  DBR, the old WRG rules,  For King and Parliament (TtS) and Liber Militum Tercios and too many others to remember.

Everyone has their own favourite set. However I find myself getting caught up in some of the details. The big issue for me started to become pike to shot ratio and how to depict this on the table. For some rules it is easy. With Warhammer, individual figures are used so just build up the unit with the figures in the ratio you want. A shot heavy unit with pike to shot 1:2 with thirty figures? No problem- 10 pike in two ranks in the middle with 20 shot, 10 each side of the pikes. It is a period that lends itself to BIG units, but I just wanted to stick to the figures I've got and make a little go a long way!

Greek War of Independence- What? Another new project??? WIP.

 Being 200 years since the beginning of the Greek War of Independence (GWI) I looked around for some suitable figures for a skirmish game. Ross said he was interested- in being the Greeks. So I naturally had to be the Turks - I think I have a few figures lying around somewhere, but clearly I need more!! Not a period many people would select, or even be familiar with but we thought it would interesting - considering both our families came from the region!

    We got online and bought a combination of Steve Barber models (SBM- they have a very large selection!).  Some Wargames Foundry (Crimean War) (WF) and some assorted Warfare Miniatures (WM- it's that bad man Barry Hilton again- my favourite Dealer of Product!). The orders were sent out.

All arrived forthwith. I have to admit, the service and turnaround of all three companies delivering from the UK to Aus is very good! ( and the postal services are great too!) And being in lockdown means we can paint pretty quick. Below are some of our starting units. Still a fair few to go!

Turkish Irregulars.

7th Cavalry: A Troop in trouble- F Troop relieved. A Plains Wars Solo Game

 Being in Lockdown, I dragged out some figures that I've had for years and haven't used! Some very nicely painted Plains Wars in 28mm. 

A Troop did get in Trouble....F Troop was relieved..not as in 'hold until relieved' but relieved in the sense that they didn't have to fight!

Now the following incident is not really about F Troop ( A Troop really gets it) but how could I play a Plains Wars game without a reference to the show? Anyway,  most of the humour is from the show- so I won't take any credit! So with apologies to the writers and cast of the old show...........

A TYPICAL DAY AT FORT COURAGE:

A wagon train was to be escorted by the brave boys of F Troop. 

Inside Fort Courage, the Boys in Blue were told: 

'An easy job, boys,' says Captain Parmenter , ' You'll be back before sundown!'

A TROOP - on the march because F Troop was lost.

The men grumbled under their breath. The Captain might think he's the man who keeps the peace....but all the men know that the local Indians - the Hekawi tribe- call him 'The Great White Pigeon'.