Sunday, May 23, 2010

English Civil War Clubmen


'Clubmen' was the name given to locally-organised militias during the English Civil Wars who were usually motivated by the desire to defend their lands against depredations by the armies of either side. For a good summary of the Clubmen uprisings of 1644-6, see: http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/glossary/clubmen.htm

The banner is based on the only known flag carried by Clubmen, which was captured by Cromwell's troops on 4 August 1644 in a skirmish at Hambleton Hill, near Shrawton in Dorset. There is no surviving image of the flag, but the motto was recorded. I have guessed at a possible design.

The Clubmen figures are mainly conversions from the Imex set of Pilgrims, with one man wielding a quarterstaff converted from the ACTA Royalist Artillery set. The Imex Pilgrims set has all sorts of interesting conversion possibilities, as Andrew has already pointed out over on his 'Ferrous Lands' blog (http://www.ferrouslands.com/2010/02/painted-imex-pilgrims.html). The only reference I know of to any sort of uniform worn by Clubmen is a reference to a group near Salisbury in 1645 wearing white 'ribbands in their hats' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clubmen). However, this was likely just a local distinction, so I have given my figures a mix of hat bands.

Here they are!



Saturday, May 22, 2010

More Landsknecht Pikemen


Here's the latest batch of Landsknecht pikemen from the 1/72 scale set by Dark Dream Studios.


The flags are from Stuart Mulligan's Landsknecht painting guide, which you can find here:

http://www.stuartmulligan.com/landsknechts.htm

A huge thank you to Mr Mulligan. The painting guide is brilliant, and makes the confusing job of painting Landsknechts much easier.

Good news also for early C16th armies in 1/72 scale, with these new figures on their way from Dark Dream Studios: http://www.bennosfigures.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4571

Monday, May 17, 2010

Renaissance Cavalry



The next stage of my Maximilian Imperial army for DBA-RRR is complete - the cavalry. These figures are a box of Renaissance Knights from Dark Dream Studios. Great figures - some of the horse poses leave a little to be desired, but the riders are beautifully detailed, with very fine detail on their armour. They take some putting together, with separate swords, scabbards, crests etc, but I think the results are worth it.

I just made one small conversion, giving the commander a head from a Landsknecht rather than an enclosed helmet.




It seems that Dark Dream Studio are making a follow up set to their Landsknechts (http://www.bennosfigures.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4571) , and I for one am a happy man. I just wish they would go the whole hog and bring out Renaissance Swiss, Italians, Spanish, English .... Maybe one day.