RP No 91 NYW Commanders Schomburg & Schomberg

Frederick Herman the Duke of Schomberg was born on December 16,1615 in Heidelberg, Palatinate. He died on July 1st 1690 at the Battle of the Boyne.

He was a soldier of fortune, a marshal of France and an English peer. Schomberg's father was the Protestant court marshal of Frederick V. elector Palatine. His Mother was Anne, daughter of the English peer -the 5th Lord Dudley.

He served under Frederick Henry of Orange in 1633 and under Bernard of Saxe-Weimar during the 30 years war from 1634-1637 in the campaigns on the Upper Rhine. He went to Holland again for service in 1639. In 1650 he served for Cardinal Mazarin in the cri sis of the Frond-He served at the battle of Rethel on Dec. 15,1650. Schomberg became marechal de camp on Oct.28,1652 and fought for Turenne against the Spaniards and the Prince de Conde.

 In 1660 he organized a Portuguese army against Spain. He place Dom Pedro in power during a palace revolution and returned to the French army in 1668 having become naturalized as a Frenchman. Schombeg went to England in 1673 to aid Chales II in the forma tion of an army for an invasion of Holland but then returned to the French army to be on hand with Louis XIV at the siege and capture of Maastrict (June 1673). When Turenne died in 1675 he became one of 8 Marshals of France.

 When the Edict of Nantes was revoked in 1685 Shomberg, a protestant , left France.He was taken in by Frederick William of Brandenburn, "the Great Elector". In 1688 he was lent together with a Prussian force to William of Orange. He went to England and was naturalized as English in April 1689 and was made Duke of Schomberg in May (also made the baron of Teyes, Earl of Brentford and Marquess of Harwich). He was the Commander in Chief of the Williamite forces against James' Jacobite forces from August 1689, he was killed at the Battle of the Boyne leading his troops forward into action east of Oldbridge.

 Meinhardt Schomberg  had a very colourful military career pre to the war in Ireland, he joined his father in the service of the Portuguese Army in the 1660’s and served as a lieutenant-colonel and then as a colonel.  He then joined French service and attained the rank of brigadier and, afterwards, Maréchal de Camp.  He fought under Marshal François de Créquy at the Battle of Kochersburg in October 1677, the Battle of Freiburg im Breisgau in 14 November 1677, at the Battle of Rheinfelden in July 1678 and at the Battle of Kinzing later that month, before serving under Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg as a general of cavalry.

He then travelled to England in Spring 1689 and was made colonel of Lord Cavendish's Regiment of Horse on 10 April 1690, and commissioned a general of the horse on 19 April 1690.

 Schomberg commanded the right wing of William's army during the Battle of the Boyne and led the crucial crossing of the River Boyne at Roughgrange near Rosnaree on the Jacobites' flank, the turning point in the confrontation, despite a gallant defence by Sir Neil O'Neill and his men. O’Neill fell during the fighting and his men fled. Schomberg then engaged in a pursuit of the retreating troops towards Duleek,  there were no casualties amongst his regiment's soldiers.  

He was created Duke of Leinster for his part in the Battle on 30 June 1690 and, after taking part in the abortive Siege of Limerick in August 1690, he became a British subject through naturalization by Act of Parliament on 25 April 1691. From May 1691 he was also made Commander-in-Chief of the Forces during the King's travels in Flanders.  In Spring 1693 Schomberg was placed in command of the abortive descent on Saint-Malo and in October 1693 he inherited the title of Duke of Schomberg following the death of his younger brother Charles Schomberg at the Battle of Marsaglia.

RP No 90 NYW/Jacobite Commanders No3 Dorrington, Boissleau, Berwick

In 1688 King James transferred 3 regts of foot to England from Ireland. The Duke of Tyconnell raised three new regt’s to replace them, one being, the Guards. The original commander of the unit was the 2nd Duke of Ormond , but in 1688 he declared his allegiance to William III so the command went over to Englishman William Dorrington. They fought at Derry, The Boyne and at Aughrim, where Dorrington was taken prisoner.

Under the terms of the Treaty of Limerick, in 1691, which ended the war in Ireland, a force of 20,000 Jacobite’s arrived to France, in an event known as the "Flight of the Wild Geese". These men were kept separate from other Irish regts, and were formed into King James’ own army in exile, albeit in the pay of France. Lord Dorrington’s foot, Later Roth’s or Rooth’s, were formed from what remanded of the 1st and 2nd battalions of King James’ Royal Irish Footguards

Alexandre de Rainier de Droué (c.1650–1698), Marquis of Boisseleau, was one of the French officers who came over to Ireland, by an agreement between Louis XIV and James II. He was a French Major-General and Governor of Limerick,  he was appointed to command the besieged Jacobite forces in Limerick, but had spent most of his life in the French army, counting among his campaigns the battle of Saint-Denys and the sieges of Tournai, Douai, Lille, Maastricht, Artois, Valenciennes, Cambrai, and Luxembourg.

Henry FitzJames  the eldest son of James II was born at Moulins in France before his father's accession to the throne. He went into Imperialist service under Charles, Duke of Lorraine and was present at the siege of Buda in 1686. FitzJames was created Duke of Berwick, Earl of Tinmouth and Baron Bosworth by his father in 1687. He then returned to Hungary and participated at the Battle of Mohács.

Berwick returned to England and was made Governor of Portsmouth. King James made him a Knight of the Garter, but due to the invasion of the Prince of Orange and the subsequent Glorious Revolution, the installation never took place. In the following year, James was overthrown and Berwick went into exile with him, taking an active part in the Irish campaign, including the Battle of the Boyne, where he was in effective command of both troops of  James’ Lifeguards. After his father's final exile, Berwick served in the French army. He fought at the battles of Steenkerque and Landen. At the latter, Berwick was taken prisoner, but was exchanged for the Duke of Ormonde. Because of his support for his father and service in the French army against England, he was attainted in 1695, and his British peerages forfeit.

Skirmish @ Sidcup Sept 2012

As mentioned in my last post, 4 Rejects made it to Skirmish in Sidcup on Sunday, its only a small show but seems to have gotten bigger grow every time I go. We were supposed to have a game with Clint from Anything but a One blog, who was playing a Sci-Fi game using 7TV figures, but everytime we went back the poor lad was busy with others, so unfortunately we never got around to it, maybe next time Clint!!
Also bumped into Alan from A Little From Leofwine, who runs the Broadside Wargames Show in Sittingbourne, had a good chat with him, most of it consisted of Spurs smacktalk, he's a Gooner, so I suppose its allowed!!!

 My favourite game of the show was Viva Mexico! September 1916, from Skirmish Wargames, the figures were 54mm plastics, a very impressive looking game!! Lots going on everywhere you looked. I loved the film crew on top of the building.

A WWII game, not sure who from and what the game was??

A very smart looking WWI game from the lads from Old Guard, using a usual card system, the chaps did explain it but, I've forgotten what set they were, my brains going!!!

 I'm not 100% sure what this game was either, it was either WWI or WWII and was very unusually being run by a couple of kids in army uniform!! Nice one kids!!!

Lastly was The Battle of San Juan Hill, run by SELWG, once again in 54mm plastics.

The Bring and Buy, I bought some Sci-Fi Games Workshop, yes? you did read it right, some GW Dark Angel Tactical Marine and Terminators also included were a Company Master and Librarian, now I haven't a bloody clue what I've just typed, Fran had to tell me, then he went off explaining that there is a dark side to some of the Dark Angels what they did in the past upset loads of people, its all in this black book or something or another. I dunno what the hell he's going on about??? He's boring me to tears, but I don't have the heart to tell him as its his birthday today, the old git! He's finally caught up with me! For a couple of months at least.

Birthday Boy Fran and BigLee both looking very happy for themselves

Skirmish @ Sidcup, 2 questions and a funny!

This Sunday, The Rejects, (well some of them) are off on their travels up the A2 for a fleeting visit to Sidcup for the Wargames and Military Modelling show "Skirmish". I've not been for a while due to work commitments so I'm quite looking forward to it as a warm-up for SELWG in October!
So my first question is, are you going????

For some time now I've been thinking about starting a Painting and Modelling Service, there are stacks of small and large companies out there already to choose from and I know most of you reading this already paint figures for yourself, so I'd just like to gauge the interest and would appreciate some feedback from your good selves.
If you could afford it, would you be happy to commission me to paint figures for you?

Lastly, my daughters found this clip on You tube, it made us all laugh, its bugger all to do with wargaming but give it a quick look, I think you'll find it funny!!

RP No 89 NYW/Jacobite Commanders 2 Shelden, Hamilton & Sarsfield

Three more Jacobite Commanders for The Battle of the Boyne, these are all Essex figures, 

painted and based by yours truly.

Lieut.-Colonel  Dominick Sheldon an Englishman by birth and of the Catholic religion appears in the "Establishment" of 1687-8 as a Capt to the Duke of Ormond.  He was bought over to Ireland by Tyrconnell who made a Lieutenant with the command of Tyrconnell’s Horse in his own absence.  Early in the campaign, he was actively opposed to the revolutionary party in Down and Antrim; and was afterwards joined in an unsuccessful negotiation for the surrender of Derry. At the battle of the Boyne he commanded the cavalry,  having two horses shot from under him and in a gallant charge nearly retrieved the day for the Jacobites but for prompt heroism of Levison and Albert Conyngham’s Dragoons.

Richard Hamilton was sent as an envoy to Tyrconnell to try and persuade him to come to terms with the new regime in England. He wasted no time and in pursuing the complete opposite course, helping to persuade Tyrconnell to maintain his allegiance to James II. For this action he was rewarded with a Lieutenant Generals commission.
At the Boyne, Hamilton commanded the brigade of foot at the Oldbridge, following the Jacobite collapse he led a delaying action which allowed a large number of troops to escape but this act eventually led to him being captured.

It was not until after the Battle of the Boyne, and during the Siege of Limerick (1690), that Sarsfield became prominent as a leader. He captured a convoy of military stores and artillery at Ballyneety, near Pallasgreen between Limerick and Tipperary, in a raid apparently guided by a rapparee known as 'Galloping Hogan'. This delayed the siege of the town until the winter rains forced the English to retire.

This achievement was said by the Duke of Berwick to have turned Sarsfield head and made him the popular hero of the war with the Irish. His generosity, his courage and his commanding height, had already commended him to the affection of the Irish. When the cause of King James was ruined in Ireland, Sarsfield arranged the Treaty of Limerick and sailed to France on 22 December 1691, with many of his countrymen who entered the French service in what is known as the Flight of the Wild Geese. During that year he was created Earl of Lucan by King James.

He received a commission as lieutenant-general from King Louis XIV and fought with distinction in Flanders until he was mortally wounded at the battle of Landen or Neerwinden, on 19 August 1693. He died two or three days after the battle, at Huy, Belgium, where he is buried in the grounds of St Martin's Church. 

How to base figures the Reject way!

Not trying to make you suck eggs at all and I'm sure some of you gamers out there already base this way or do something very similar, so this post is mainly directed at the newbie gamers and painters.

I've been complimented a number of times on the basing of my figures, so here's a simple "How to base, Reject style".

It was actually Postie who came up with this idea several years ago, after he bought some painted figures, liked the basing and tried to work out how it was done, so after several failed attempts he came up with this way. 

Take your base and if its like this MDF one from Warbases, score with a sharpe knife, to help bond.

Kinda obvious, but glue the figure to the base. I always use Superglue.

Pick out a few small stones, I found these at work and picked up a handful, but you can buy 
these from Model shops, or use the ones I'll tell you about later in the post.

Then randomly glue a few stones down again using Superglue.

Then with a 50/50 water to PVA glue paint the base, being careful not to paint over the stones.

Then a quick dip in the special mixture, which is sieved Sharpe sand, give the base a quick 
tap to knock off any loose sand, and with your fingers wipe the side of the base to
 clean off any remaining sand or glue.

Just for ease sake I put a handful of stones back in this small container I keep at work

And wait to dry, roughly 2 hours or more.

Paint the whole base with Earth Brown from Miniature paints, I usually water
the paint down slightly. But  paint it on neat for the edging.

Then paint the larger stones any shade of grey.

After that has dried, drybrush white over the base, I usually vary the weight of the
stroke to create a little randomness.

Lastly, paint on some dots of PVA glue and sprinkle on some static grass.
All finished!