Tuesday, 29 March 2016
Thursday, 24 March 2016
AHPC 6 Bonus Round - The Duke of Monmouth
I had a few ideas for most of the bonus rounds, but the
Gambler-Risk-taker was always going to be The Duke of Monmouth. Now I did
consider this figure to be my Curtgeld as well and be the start of Curt's Nine
Years War collection!!! but he's got enough on his plate at the moment, so
he'll be added to my collection, with the Wild Bill Hickok figure from my previous post for my
Curtgeld.
The figure is from Reiver Castings ,who make an excellent dynamic collection of NYW figures, they're a tad on the large side but still fit in well with Foundry and Warfare, but not with Front Rank!. I gotta admit I do much prefer Warfare minis, but I haven't managed to get any of their figures painted so far??
Monmouth was the illegitimate son of King Charles II and
Lucy Walter, who claimed to be the king’s wife; the two, however, had little
contact after 1649. James was born in the Netherlands, where the couple had met
as both sought refuge during the English Civil War; the conflict ended in 1651
with the defeat of Charles’s forces. Lucy and young James moved frequently, and
in 1656 she took him to London. Within months of their arrival, the two were
arrested and briefly imprisoned in the Tower of London by the republican
government. After their release in 1656, Lucy and James journeyed to Flanders.
In 1658 an agent of Charles kidnapped James and took him to Paris, where he was
looked after by Lord William Crofts. Two years later Charles was restored to
the throne, and in 1662 James was returned to England and installed at court as
a favourite of the king. On February 14, 1663, Charles created him duke of
Monmouth, earl of Doncaster, and Baron Scott of Tindale and made him a Knight
of the Garter. On April 20, Monmouth was married to the wealthy Scottish
heiress Anne Scott, countess of Buccleuch; they were created duke and duchess
of Buccleuch, and he took the surname of Scott. Even at this early date some
Englishmen viewed him as a possible successor to Charles. Since Monmouth was a
Protestant, his political opportunities increased when Charles’s brother and
acknowledged heir, James, duke of York, converted to Roman Catholicism about
1668.
Monmouth was made captain of the king’s guard in 1668 and
admitted to the privy council in 1670. During the Anglo-Dutch War of 1672–74,
he commanded English troops on the European continent. He became captain
general of all the armed forces in England in 1678, and on June 22, 1679, he
triumphed over the Scottish Presbyterian rebels at Bothwell Bridge, Lanark.
Meanwhile, the succession to the throne had become a burning issue in England,
where anti-papal hysteria had been aroused by rumours that the Catholics were
plotting to seize power. Charles blocked all parliamentary attempts to exclude
James from the royal inheritance, and in September 1679 he banished Monmouth
from the kingdom. Nevertheless, the duke quickly returned in defiance of his
father and set about building up a following. In this crisis Monmouth was
championed for the succession by Anthony Ashley Cooper, earl of Shaftesbury,
the leader of the anti-Catholic Whigs in Parliament. In 1682–83 Monmouth became
involved in the Whig conspiracy against Charles and James, known as the Rye
House Plot. Although pardoned for his part in this enterprise, he was banished
from court and took refuge in the Netherlands early in 1684.
Upon the death of Charles II on February 6, 1685, the duke
of York acceded to power as James II. Monmouth landed at Lyme Regis, Dorset,
with 82 followers in June and quickly raised over 4,000 men, but he was unable
to rally the gentry to his rebellion. On July 6 his army of peasantry was
totally defeated on the plain of Sedgemoor, Somerset. He fled but was soon
captured and beheaded.
Sunday, 20 March 2016
AHPC 6 Curtgeld - Wild Bill Hickok
The plan was to start Curt's NYW collection off with the Duke of Monmouth as my Curtgeld, but at Cavalier last month I spied this great figure from Knuckleduster and as Curt collected Cowboys in a previous Challenge, I thought I'd add to the collection.
I was going to leave the figure unbased, but in a mad 5 minutes, he got added to the must base pile and before I knew it I was painting the base???
Wild Bill is only my 4th entry into the Challenge!
James Butler Hickok (May 27, 1837 – August 2, 1876)—known as "Wild Bill" Hickok—was a folk character of the American Old West. Some of his exploits as reported at the time were fiction, but his skill as a gunfighter and gambler provided the basis for his fame, along with his reputation as a lawman.
Hickok was born and raised on a farm in rural Illinois. He went west at age 18 as a fugitive from justice, first working as a stagecoach driver, then as a lawman in the frontier territories of Kansas and Nebraska. He fought (and spied) for the Union Army during the American Civil War and gained publicity after the war as a scout, marksman, actor and professional gambler. Hickok was involved in several notable shootouts.
He was shot from behind and killed while playing poker in a saloon in Deadwood, Dakota Territory (now South Dakota) by an unsuccessful gambler, Jack McCall. The card hand which he supposedly held at the time of his death (aces and eights) has come to be known as the "Dead Man's Hand".
Friday, 18 March 2016
NYW Flags - Earl of Leven's regt
A request for fellow TMPer OhBugger
He was after some info on the flags carried by the Earl of Leven's regt, during the Nine Years War.
So here's my take on the flags, not quite sure why they were never posted when I made
them a few years ago??
I can't find my original master copy flags so I've used the flag from my file, so I'm
afraid it will blur slightly if you blow it up too big??
The flags in action!
Monday, 14 March 2016
The Battle of Ludford Bridge 1459 - A WotR batrep
.....Or the Battle that never was
The Rejects got together on Sunday for our first War of the Roses game since 2011!!
Richard, BigLee and myself were the Yorkists, on the right, while John, Ian and Surj were the Lancastrians on the left.
Order of Battle
Yorkists
The 3 Dicks
Richard Duke of York (Rich)
1.Dismounted Men at Arms
2.Retinue Billmen
3.Retinue Billmen
4.Shire Billmen
5.Retinue Archers
6.Light gun
Richard Earl of Warwick (BigLee)
7.Dismounted Men at Arms
8.German Pikemen
9.Shire Billmen
10.Retinue Archers
11.Light Gun
Richard Earl of Salisbury (Me)
12.Mounted Men at Arms
13.Retinue Billmen
14.Shire Billmen
15.Shire Archers
16.German Handgunners
17.Light Gun
Lancastrian
HenryVI (John)
1.Dismounted Men at Arms
2.Retinue Billmen
3.Retinue Billmen
4.Shire Billmen
5.Retinue Archers
Duke of Somerset (Ian)
6.Dismounted Men at Arms
7.Retinue Billmen
8.Shire Billmen
9.Retinue Archers
10.Light Gun
Earl of Wiltshire (Surj)
11.Mounted Men at Arms
12.Retinue Billmen
13.Shire Billmen
14.Shire Archers
15.French Crossbowmen
16.Light Gun
Sir Andrew Trollope (Turncoat)
A.Men at Arms
B.Shire Billmen
C.Retinue Archers
Unknowingly (Postie kept it a secret) we were fighting a battle that should have been fought in October 1459, but Richard Duke of York thought better of the situation and buggered off very quickly first to Wales and then to Ireland...........perhaps we should have done the same????
The Yorkist line
Postie placed a river across the centre of the table, which was going to make it hard work for both sides. We decided to take the bull by the horns and try and get across the river, all along our lines.
We weren't to know but Trollope's men on the hill far left had already defected our side and chosen the Red Rose
My Men at Arms
and Shire Bill
Rich changed formation with his Dismounted Men at Arms ready to charge across the bridge.
We all had to throw a D20 at the start of the game.Ian threw a 1. Nobody but Ian knew the result, but in the first turn all his troops moved back a full move!!
After the game we found out it was a Treason Roll, Ian very nearly changed sides at the start of the game!!!!
Richard, Duke of York and Bannerman
Trollope sitting on the hill.....waiting??
We got to the river first, both sides lost many casualties to missile fire.
We took a chance with the troops on the hill, hoping they were on our side, but we just had that horrible feeling they weren't?
Concentrated fire destroyed Lee's archer unit that were on the left of the Pikemen.
Things weren't looking too bad....
Richard and me entered troops in to the river, it was a little confusing??
It would take us 2 turns to cross the river, the first move would leave us in the centre, the next move just the other side. But we were not allowed to charge out of the river....but John moved right up to the river edge, which meant we could no longer advance??
Postie reminded John of his orders and force-moved the Lancastrians to charge us in the river.
Hmmm? there's a nice gap there??
Come on Dickie!!
Richard moved his other Billmen unit in to the river as he was not allowed to charge into the river.
Rich makes contact with John's Men at Arms waiting on the other side of the bridge.
I had already taken a few potshot at Ian's troops with my gun when........
BOOM!!!!
The gun misfired and blew up killing all the crew!!
They were close but we lost all melee's, and were pushed back across the river.
Meanwhile to the left of the bridge, we had a disastrous turn, the Lancastrians slaughtered 2 units with missile fire, including archer fire from the now reveled enemy Trollope, leaving us in a hopeless situation, with our left flank in tatters, we left the field.
Well done chaps!
cough!
Conclusion
This was a difficult game, they knew that Trollopes troops were their's from the start, we didn't. If we'd known we probably wouldn't have attacked, but that was the nature of the game. That's why York never fought the battle!!
Only 1 gripe about the rules, Postie needs to sort the crossing river rules out, (and it'd help if he would tell me I can't fire with an archer unit while crossing the river, before I do it!!)
Friday, 11 March 2016
AHPC 6 Donnybrook - The crew of HMS Ruby
Can't believe this is only my 3rd entry into the Challenge proper??
And NO, they're not the same figures I entered into the last bonus round!
The figures are all Foundry figures, apart from the leader which is a Casting Room
figure, they were painted the same time as the chaps
figure, they were painted the same time as the chaps
from HMS Badger Dragon and are the other half of the Foundry packs.
I did wonder why some of the figures in the packs I bought from ebay had what looked
like tight curly hair??
like tight curly hair??
Now I know why...Doh!
And there was me, as I was painting the buggers up, thinking, perhaps I should
paint one of these as a coloured chap??
Oh well?
These rogues earned me 45 points and pushed me into 47th place, .And have a few things up my sleeve to hopefully get me up to my 500 point mark.....fingers crossed!!!
Sunday, 6 March 2016
Rejects on Tour - Cavalier 2016
Me & Postie drove down to Tonbridge last Sunday for the Rejects first show of the year.
There we met fellow Rejects BigLee and Ian.I an then treated us all to a MackieD's breakie, which set us all up for the day!
Hailsham Wargames Club - Malplaquet 1709
My personal favourite game of the show. I belive they were all old school Les Higgins figures, well they may have been old but they still looked pretty cool!
We met up with loads of blogger, as soon as we walked into the main hall we bumped into
Dave Crook,centre in the pic above,with Postie and BigLee.
Then not long after we were joined by Henry Hyde and Bob Cordery.
I was pleasantry surprised to be given £5 from Henry as payment for one of my photos he
had used in Miniature Wargames!
(Pic pinched from BigLee's blog!)
North London Wargames Group- Battle of Moncontour 1569
The Bring & Buy
Tonbridge Wargames Club - Chickamauga Day 2
Maidstone Wargames - Road to Homs 1982
Gravesend Gamers Guild - Warmachine
Not too sure who and what this game was?
Southend Wargames Club - Helmund Rescue
Society of Ancients - Trebia
The small hall
The League of Gentlemen Anti-Alchemists - Rommel: Our part in his downfall
Friday Night Firefight - Zulu! 1879
Deal Wargames Society - Prison Break 1945
Crawley War Games Club - Trench Raid
