This is my attempt to bring useful characters of all types for use with the excellent Pike & Shotte rules from Warlord Games. My rationale being that not only does this add to the flavour of the game and period but it also serves to find a use for some of the splendid vignettes and character figures available from all sorts of manufacturers other than being purely aesthetic. I will over the course of the next few weeks or months be adding many characters as I write rules for them and also paint up my own versions of each for use within my own ECW games. Most characters would be of beneficial use for the army but I also have some ideas for characters that the opponent plays on you in order to cause mischief and mayhem in your army. If anyone has similar ideas for new characters please let me know and I will put them on here and obviously credit you for them. Okay with further ado here is my first offering. The Preacher/Agitator This Character figure is based as a single foot or mounted figure and obviously if he is on foot he will be with a unit of foot or if mounted he will be with a mounted unit. He must be placed next to a unit at the start of a game which he remains with until the end of the game, unless he is killed. He can only affect one unit this being the unit he is attached to and he will affect them in the following manner: At the start of each turn during the unit's command phase roll 1 d6 and if the score is a 6 the Preacher/Agitator has made a stirring speech that rouses the troops in the unit he is with, roll another d6 for the effect in the table below. d6 Effect 1 The unit gains the Eager trait for the rest of the battle 2 The unit gains the Steady trait for the rest of the battle 3 The unit gains the Brave trait for the rest of the battle 4 The unit gains the Valiant trait for the rest of the battle 5 The unit gains the Stubborn trait for the rest of the battle 6 The unit gains the Fanatic trait for the rest of the battle If the unit already has the trait that it has just received on the above table, then the roll is wasted as you cannot have the same trait twice. The Barber Surgeon This Character figure is based as a single vignette with the tools of his trade, an assistant and probably also an unwilling patient. He must be placed next to the baggage, camp or similar defensive position at the rear of the army that would be suitable for him to ply his trade. Once in this position he may never move unless the baggage train is fleeing the table in which case he may move off the table too. If a commander figure has fallen casualty place the commanders base next to the base of the Barber Surgeon and in the next orders phase for the commanders battalia roll 1 d6 for the effect in the table below: d6 Effect 1 The commander dies from his wounds, remove him completely 2 The commander his too badly wounded to recover for this battle, remove him completely 3-4 The commander is being treated, roll again in the next command phase 5-6 The commander has had his wounds treated, he may make his way back to his battalia Whilst the commander is being treated a substitute commander will obviously be leading his troops, once he is back the substitute will be removed from play. It may take the commander several turns to be treated and several more turns to get back to his battalia afterwards, but this is simply the price of being incapacitated. The Barber Surgeon only ever treats command figures and no other characters or figures, this is because only commanders were of a high enough importance to receive any sort of medical assistance. The Sniper This character is based as a single vignette with a suitable long barrelled musket. He must be placed in a suitable vantage point (a church tower is always good) before the game begins and stays there until he is needed. His weapon has a range of 24 inches and he always hits on a score of 4+ with one d6 for shooting purposes each turn. He can target any unit as well as command figures and other character models. If foot, mounted or artillery are hit the Snipers shot they must attempt to save as per normal for being shot at, if they fail their morale save the unit becomes disordered rather than actually taking a casualty. This simulates the confusion caused by him shooting at officers etc. within the unit. If command figures are hit by the Snipers shot they receive a -1 to their command rolls for the next turn, this simulates the confusion and panic caused by the musket balls whizzing past the commanders ears. If the command figure is hit on a score of 6 he has fallen casualty and removed from the battlefield or taken to the Barber Surgeon if you have one. If any other character is hit by the Snipers shot then they take cover and are not allowed to use their special abilities in their next turn, again this simulates the confusion and panic caused by the musket balls whizzing past the characters ears. If the character is hit on a score of 6 he has fallen casualty and removed from the battlefield. A Sniper cannot be targeted by any unit or other Sniper until he has revealed his position to the enemy by firing a shot or his position is contacted by an enemy foot or mounted unit. To hit a Sniper with shooting from any foot, mounted or artillery a 6 is required to hit them and once done they are assumed to run off or be killed, so remove them from the battlefield. If the Sniper is contacted by a unit as per hand to hand combat, he is assumed to run off, be captured or killed, so remove the figure from the battlefield. If the Sniper is shot at by another Sniper then he follows the rules as per any other character being shot at by a Sniper. Below is a PDF link so that you can download them as fancy dandy character sheets for your Pike & Shotte Games.
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Sir Marmaduke Rawdon was famous for his defence of Basing House and later Faringdon House, both being Royalist strongholds during the English Civil War. This is my attempt to model his Regiment of Foot and is inspired by the Sealed Knot's re-enactment regiment. The figures are mostly Old Glory with a few figures from Front Rank and Foundry added to the mix, the flag is of course from my own range of ECW flags.
I painted this figure almost 20 years ago and decided to rebase him recently. I still think that this figure by Essex Miniatures is a lovely caricature of Cromwell and definitely a worthy addition to a Parliamentarian army. Having said that my own army is Royalist so this one will be heading into the ranks of my son's army of traitors.
I actually made this building a couple of years ago and then left it half painted and unbased only to find it recently whilst clearing out some cupboards. First off I made a 6 inch square base out of thin MDF and glued down the cottage adding a small pile of wood to the one side of the building. Next I made a hay shelter from a cast haystack and 15mm scale Celtic round house roof, with some poles added as the support posts. Once that was painted I made a tree from a garden cane and some clump foliage, this was followed by making a small path from my own base texturing mixture. When the path had dried I drybrushed it with some lighter browns and then painted the whole base with brown paint and scattered my own mix of earth brown scatter flock. After leaving this to dry thoroughly overnight I started adding lots of different bushhes made from static grass clumps and spomge clump foliage, some of which I later scatter with different flower mixes of scatter flock. Lastly I painted areas of the dark earth scatter with thinned down PVA glue and scattered with my own grass blend of scatter flock, being careful to brush any excess off the bushes and flowers with a small soft brush.
Well, that was just about it and the pics below are how it looks now complete with a Scottish peasant farmer and his small flock of sheep. For some time now I have been looking for a decent, fun set of skirmish rules for use with my ECW figures that involve very small amounts of figures, anything really from about 10 to 50 figures. I have looked at other sets and found them not really to my taste, either being too complex or for too large an action. Recently I started looking elsewhere and found 'Lion Rampant' which although not ECW they looked worthy of converting as they are a really good fun set of rules. A few days ago however I found 'Smooth & Rifled' which is a set of skirmish rules for use with multiple periods from ECW to Colonial and they are a great little set of rules. They are just perfect for low level actions and you have the freedom to make units as you wish, what's more the army lists are all free to download. I go my copy as a PDF for only £8.00 from Wargames Vault and are great for use on my tablet PC as well as being able to have a back up printed version. On the subject of PDF rules I do wish that many more companies would make their rules in this format as it is very much the way forward for wargames rules in this digital age.
Sir Francis Dove is one of a select few 'Imagined' Generals in my ECW Royalist Army. His contribution to the Royalist cause is a Regiment of Foot, a Regiment of Dragoons, a Lifeguard of Horse and a Light Artillery Gun & Crew. For now here are some pics of Sir Francis and his Regiment of Dragoons. Sir Francis is a converted Trent Miniatures Lord Byron figure with a Redoubt Enterprises head swap and pistol holsters, a Green Stuff saddle cloth and an Essex Miniatures horse. The mounted dragoons are mostly Old Glory with a couple of Foundry mixed in and an Essex Miniatures officer. The Foundry figures have Green Stuff saddle cloths and the flag pole is a plastic Warlords games cavalry flag pole, all of the horses are Old Glory. The dismounted dragoons are all Warlord Games figures and the stone wall is Green Stuff. The flowers I made myself from static grass clumps and my own homemade flower scatter mixes, and the trees, hedges and building are also homemade. Well, that's it for Dove's Dragoons, I will be covering his other units in the near future.
I have been collecting ECW figures for many years now, almost 35 really, I started with 15mm and then after many years I sold them all to be replaced with 28mm, which in turn were sold and replaced with yet more 15mm figures. These were eventually all sold again and I decided to reinvest in 28mm figures a few years ago. This time around I thought about what I really wanted from my ECW games and what I decided was that I wanted a more personal touch to my armies. Thus 'The Very famous English Civil War General Sir Stephen Wylde' was born in my imagination along with a complete narrative about him his Regiments and his exploits. Obviously a much needed and equally famous if not 'Infamous' opponent was born in the shape of my long suffering wargames nemesis and best buddy who has the ECW wargames alter ego of 'The Very Infamous English Civil War General Sir Nicholas Perks'. Obviously Wylde is the good guy being a dashing Royalist and Perks is the bad guy being a villainous Parliamentarian or vice versa depending upon your outlook or political leaning. With this in mind we both modeled our own generals in the best way we saw fit and then went on to produce a regiment of foot and some horse for our respective leaders. I of course researched the family coat of arms of both of us and designed the flags these being: yellow with black stags head devices for Wylde and Blue with yellow roundels for Perks regiments of foot. So, without further ado, here are some pics of Wylde's regiment of Foot.
Welcome to my blog! Here I hope to show all things English Civil War and to get the ball rolling here are some pics of myself as personified in a Warlord Games conversion of their lovely Prince Rupert figure, with a new head from Redoubt Enterprises and a Warlord Games plastic cavalry hand with sword. The little dog is a faithful rendition of my own dog Daisy (cannot remember the make of figure) and the standard bearer Dante is a converted old Games Workshop figure (I think) riding on a Warlord Games horse. The standard I designed myself and is based upon my family coat of arms and is especially large as befits any 'Very Famous English Civil War General'.
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AuthorStephen Wylde BA (hons) Archives
July 2022
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