Finished hedges and first Parlaimentarians

So I finally completed the first 4ft of hedges of the multitude I'll need.  It was not though without its issues. After sticking strips of coir mat onto modelling sticks, I used PVA glue to give them a good covering of flock. I had left these to dry over night as I sourced a spray adhesive to seal the flock. This was when disaster struck as I unknowingly bought the wrong adhesive. I gave all 4ft a good spraying, the first concern was that it was white and not clear, hoping it would dry clear. Let's just say it didn't. It also seemed to cover the pieces in what could only be described as a spider web. Lets say I turned the air blue at this point as I quickly tried to remove as much of the 'web' as I could.

So on to day 2, I decided to give them all a spray of a chocolate brown to hide the glue, this seemed to work.

The flock added

Now sprayed chocolate brown

Day 3 - I picked up a tub of artist mid-green acylic paint, this I then wet brushed across each of the hedges, then added a little German yellow and gave them a second lighter coat. This seems to have done the trick. I then added sand to the bases before sealing with varnish, then highlighting with Iraqi sand and adding areas of static grass. Drying time today was much reduced as I had the benefit of some glorious sunshine in the garden.

Sand added and sealed

Finished hedges

Finished hedges

Quite happy with the final result. They are quite large for 15mm, but will be ideal for lining the ditch at Marston Moor. Tomorrow I'll get the last 2 pieces and broken ground done.

After the hedges were done I completed a regiment of Dragoons for the Parlaimentarians. They are just the plastic figures from the cavalry sprue. I will need a second regiment, for which I have the mounted troopers as I will mix in 3 from Alternative armies for variety Unfortunately their dismounted troopers tower over the Warlord figures, so I've sent off for some alternatives from Peter Pig.

I should also be able to getthe last of the Royalist cavalry for Newcastle done over the next couple of weeks as I pick up approx 60 of the Warlord plastic cavalry and another 24 troopers from Peter Pig and Alternative Armies. Will keep me busy for a while.

More Northern Horse

With the Infantry completed, I need to push on and get the cavalry completed for Newcastle's army. So with the last of my available cavalry figures, 3 more regiments of the Northern Horse completed, there is also an extra brigadier done from Peter Pig. All the figures are a mix of Peter Pig, Warlord, Alternative Armies and Steelfist. They mix well together.

Mix of Alternative armies and Steelfist

Alternative armies and Warlord

Warlord and Peter Pig

With these done just another 6 regiments to complete the Northern Horse. Mitch has approximately 60 of the Warlord plastic figures that he doesn't want, so I plan to take them off his hands. I only need 48 for the Royalists and 120 for the Parlaimentarians, so will make a decent dent in my requirements. I'll also pick up a few packs from Peter Pig, Alternative armies and Steelfist to mix in.

So the Northern Horse so far at 10 regiments.

Looking over the battlefield for Marston Moor, it is apparent that the scenery is a little sparse, both villages are on the edges of the battlefield. There are some fields and roads edged by hedges. I have most of what I need, Mitch is going to print off a few buildings for the villages. The one thing we lack is hedges, now I could purchase some commercially available ones, but I'll need quite a bit. Alternatively I could make my own. So after watching a few videos on Youtube I came up with an idea using items I already had to hand. Using a coir mat, modelling sticks and a flock mix I've had for who knows how many years I set to work. They are still a work in progress. I will need to seal the flock before starting on the bases.

Hopefully I can make some more progress on these tomorrow, I do have 4 more started. After this I'll see how they look, I may still just purchase some commercial ones.

Sir John Gerlington's regiment of foote

The final regiment for the Marquis of Newcastle's Royalist army of the North. This time I chose the regiment of Sir John Gerlington to represent one of the 7 divisions which Newcastle's foot formed for Marston Moor. There are no uniform or flag details for this regiment so this gave me a free hand on how they looked. 

I went for red coats as a bit of a change from white and grey. The red was done with a simple red primer followed by a sepia ink wash and a little highlight. It wasn't till the unit was finished that I was happy with them, just not used to a red primer for historical figures. For added contrast I went for a blue flag.

What this does mean though is that the infantry component for Newcastle is now complete, with all 7 divisions ready to take the field. L to R, Rear rank - Kirkbride and Gerlington, Middle rank - Langsdale, Lamplugh and Byron, Front rank - Newcastle and Widdrington.

Now I just need to crack on with the Horse, just 9 regiments to go. I already have 1 on the painting table with a further 2 being prepped. I'll then need to purchase the remaining 6 regiments. While I am awaiting these I can make a start on the Northern Association under Fairfax. I already have the 4 infantry regiments,1 commanded shotte and 2 Dragoon regiments to work on. There are also a number of artillery pieces I can use for either side.

Sir John Lamplugh's regiment of foote

So back to the infantry and the 6th regiment for Newcastle's army. This time I chose Sir John Lamplugh's regiment, simply because I managed to obtain a flag from Wargames design for the unit. The flag is scaled at 10mm which fits the epic scale figures well. I also managed to complete another mounted brigadier as well. So now I'm 6 down and just 1 more regiment to go then it will be back to more horse regiments.

The 7th regiment is already on the painting table, going for red tunics for a bit of a change as Sir John Gerlington's regiment. Hopefully get these finished over the next couple of days.

I also did a little planning on the table size we'll need. Looks like around a 10ft by 5ft to make sure we have enough space for both armies. Laying out Newcastle's Royalist and they have a frontage of just over 4ft. Ruperts' army is likely to have a slightly longer frontage.

Size comparison

Just a quick post as my test figures arrived from Alternative armies. The idea being to combine them with the 4 spare figures I had left over from Steelfist. Initial thoughts are a good match sizewise. One drawback is the weapons are a lot thicker than the Steelfist figures, also the horse and riders are a single pose. I also picked up 2 command packs, at least the horse is different.

Alternative armies / Warlord / Steelfist

In the background I have even mixed a few riders and horses over and they are a good fit. So this will give me 2 extra regiments. I'll definitely pick up a few more of these figures to mix in to units of Steelfist miniatures. There is also one other rider they produce wielding a pistol for a bit of variety.

Royalist horse and Commanded Shotte

Well I managed to muster out a few more units for Newcastle's Royalist army of the north. First up is 2 more regiments of Northern Horse, the figures for these are all from Steelfist miniatures. I'm awaiting a new order of flags for these. Going for a 10mm scale as the 15mm flags were too large even if I tried to trim them down.

I also completed the only unit of commanded shotte I need for this army. They are a mix of the Warlord Plastics and Steelfist miniatures. For coat colour I went with white as it represents the majority of my completed regiments so far.

Next for the painting table is the 8th regiment of the horse I need, followed by a regiment of Dragoons. There is also another infantry battalia as well as a number of mounted commanders. I am also awaiting a small order from Alternative armies (old Table top range). Historically these are normally in the small size of 15mm so hopefully they will match in with the rest iof the horse that I've done.

Some re-basing and extra horse

So after discussion with Mitch, we've agreed to go to 4 models per base for the horse. This helps with costs and the actual number of models is not really relevant, just the number of bases of cavalry for the rules. This meant that the 3 regiments already done would need some re-basing and an additional 10 cavalrymen were completed to bring me up to 5 regiments. I even mixed a couple of the Peter Pig horse with the plastic warlord figures for one base and they look a good match.

The base on the right is a mix of Warlord and PeterPig

I also took the opportunity to complete another piece of artillery from the plastic Warlord sprue

So now I have 2 more regiments of horse and some commanded shotte on the painting table and then back to the last two regiments of foot for Newcastle,

Richard Kirkbride's Regiment of foote and a 'project too far'

Finally managed to get the 5th Regiment of foote completed that I need for Newcastle's Royalist army of the north. This time I picked out Richard Kirkbride's regiment which was raised in Durham. In all likelihood most of Newcastle's regiments would have been combined into larger formations. In a slight change I went with a darker grey coat, both the coat and flag are pure conjecture. I just went with what I liked, hence the addition of the blue flag.

So just 2 more foote regiments to go. For the horse I have decided to change the number of figures down to 4 instead of 5, the commitment to a new project has forced this to help reduce the required number of horse figures by around 120.

So new project, well a re-fight of Marston Moor. The aim is to get everything done in time for the Border Reiver show in 2024. I managed to persuade myself and Mitch into the mammoth undertaking. We do have 1 other club member who has so far committed to do 5 regiments of foot for Ruperts' army. For myself I need to complete Newcastle's army and the Northern Association. This works out at 11 foot regiments, 31 cavalry regiments and a handful of dragoons and commanded shotte. Mitch has committed to the Eastern Association and the bulk of Rupert's army. This just leaves the Covenanters, not helped by the fact that Warlord is yet to produce any in epic scale. We have found some free STLs that will give us the bulk of the cavalry and musketeers. The main issue is the pikes are too brittle in resin, we may have to either proxy the current warlord pike or source some suitable small 15mm metal pikemen. Below is a full list of what we need.

Horse	66
Dragoons	8
Dis. Dragoons	8
Foot	39
Cmd. Shotte	6
Artillery	6
Comanders	18

For the larger infantry units on each side I have added bases of commanded shotte to represent their higher strength, these are then paired up to form the regiments listed above. This works out at nearly 3,500 foot and 600 mounted figures. At least we don't need much scenery apart from a handful of buildings and some hedges. 

Wish me luck.

The Northern Horse

A catch-all name for the Royalist horse regiments recruited in Northumberland, Durham and Yorkshire as part of the Marquis of Newcastle's army. The Northern horse had a reputation as hard fighters but poor discipline. So I just had to add a couple more troops to the Kings cause. First up is the last of the Warlord Games Plastic cavalry. Seemed to paint up a little better this time.

The next unit is from Steel fist miniatures. They are a good match size wise with the Warlord cavalry, but boy are they superior sculpts. can't wait for the next two regiments to arrive in the post. I'm awaiting some flags that I can subsequently add to the unit. I also like the lack of breastplates and a reliance on buff coats. Obviously supply issues in the Royalist army.

L to R - Warlord, Steel fist

As I have a couple of spare figures left over I've done a small order to Peter Pig to see how they match size wise, including some better looking officers. I'll be able to mix these with Warlord and Steel fist in a 6th regiment.

Sir Marmaduke Langsdale's Regiment of Foote

This is the 3rd regiment of foot I've completed for this project. Much prefer painting these to the cavalry. This time it is Sir Marmaduke Langsdale's regiment. Like most of the Northern army uniform details are very scare so once again I went with predominantly white coats with the odd figure in blue for a little variety. For the flag the only information I found was of black, so that'll do for me.

Sir Marmaduke Langsdale

The Pike

The musketeers

Pretty happy with how the infantry is turning out. 3 down and 1 to go. I've also picked a ready painted unit to add to the collection. It will just need re-basing. It has got me thinking of completing the whole Northern army at some point.

Force so far

Now it is back to the plastic cavalry, as once finished I can begin work on the Steelfist miniatures.

Re-Purposed buildings

Many, many years ago I scratch built a few buildings for use in my WSS collection. They saw some service until I switched to 6mm to represent villages. Compared to modern 15mm buildings they were on the slightly small side so ended up stuck in the bottom of a box gathering dust. With getting into Epic Pike and Shotte my mind as usual switched to gathering suitable scenery for my games. I looked at the Sarissa buildings that come as part of the boxed set. Now they are lovely buildings, but a bit steep in price for the number I will eventually want. It was then I remembered these buildings, so dug them out, arranged them on some bases, bit of sand and static grass and they are ready for action. Perfect for the first few games trying out rules etc. Now the paint work is rather shabby, but nostalgia kicked in and they will stay as they are for now.

Placed on MDF bases from Warbases

A little village green added

A decent size match

In other news I do have the 3rd of my infantry battallia nearly complete, just need their bases completed. Then I can make a start on the 2 cavalry troops I need to get done. The Steelfist miniatures arrived and they are gorgeous models, so much so I promptly ordered 2 more packs of the Royalist horse. I think the thought of painting 1 more regiment from the Warlord plastics makes me feel like I deserve it.

Royalist horse

So the project sees another completed unit. This time a regiment of Royalist horse, they still need to be named. These are all plastic figures from the Warlord epic sprue. The figures are nowhere near as good as the infantry models. The only benefit I see is you also get commanders, artillery and commanded shotte. The horse seem to suffer from being 1 piece castings as some of the detail is lost. They were not a pleasure to paint and thankfully only a few more to do. They will though still look OK from 3 foot on the gaming table.

I also added one of the smaller artillery pieces and a Brigadier, he suffers the same issue as the rest of the horse.

My horse figures from Steel fist miniatures have arrived and they are full of detail and a good match for the epic figures. Looking forward to getting them on the painting table.