Book Bargains

 

We took the lad back to university in Plymouth yesterday and, on the way, stopped off in Tavistock for a look around the market and charity shops, of which there are quite a few. The result is a very nice selection of second hand but good condition hardback books on subjects which are of interest either as potential projects or just for reading, all for less than fifteen quid. Bargain!

One Hour Wargames on a Budget

One of the Facebook groups that I've joined is for Neil Thomas' One Hour Wargames rules, which I've always thought would make a great solo wargaming on a budget project. The rules themselves don't look like much, being only a couple of pages long, but they are deliberately simplified for fast play and minimal complication. The secret of the rules is in the extensive range of scenarios, which can be used with all of the rules variants in one shape or form, and also in the small size of the armies and space required. 

The author also encourages the use of cheap plastic and paper armies, which is a nice change from the usual highly commercialised sets of rules these days. I have a tentative plan to try out the ECW rules variant with the Billy Bones paper armies that are available on Wargames Vault. I have had this set for years, originally downloaded for use as a teaching aid but otherwise not usefully employed, so I could print off two whole armies at minimal cost for this project. 

The other option would be the ACW variant, again using the Billy Bones paper counters, which I've experimented with before for Longstreet but didn't get beyond gluing together one regiment. I particularly like the look of the ACW units as they are very much in the style of contemporary glass plate sepia photographs and look very atmospheric. It's another project for a rainy weekend but it should be well worth the cost of a printer cartridge or two!

(as this is a print and play project, I'll post any updates on the other blog: Tea and a Wad Wargaming)

Cheriton Battlefield Winter Walk

Parliamentarian Lines on East Down

View toward Royalist Right Flank

Hinton Lane looking South

Hinton Lane looking North

Broad Lane looking South

Broad Lane looking North

Cheriton Wood

Alresford Lane looking South

View toward Parliamentarian Lines

The Battlefield

Monument on Royalist Left

Monument Inscription

The Battlefield Layout

The Royalist Lines from the Parliamentarian position on East Down

Alresford Lane looking North

We took a circular walk around the battlefield at Cheriton today, which is about fifteen minutes down the road from where we live, in what turned out to be terrible weather complete with rain, sleet and snow. It was a very enjoyable walk nonetheless, even though we got soaked and the dog cut his ear on brambles then electrocuted himself on a fence (he's called Jeff but now goes by the name Sparky). Anyway, here's some photos of the battlefield taken in the half light between sleet and rain showers. It would have been great to finish up by the fire in the local pub, which is owned by a friend of ours, but it's shut due to the pandemic, so we made do with a drive home in a singed wet dog smelling car.

Plymouth in the Civil War

I found a hardback copy of Plymouth's Forgotten War on a second hand book stall in Tavistock today. It's a detailed account of the siege of Plymouth but also includes a lot of associated events throughout the course of the war in the South West, so useful reference material for my dust laden 28mm Cornish Civil War project that's been on the 'to do' list for a couple of years now. I'll get round to it at some point but who knows when that will be?

Pike and Shotte Game

I took part in an excellent ECW game of Pike and Shot at the club this evening as one half of the Royalist command. The game was really good fun and looked great, thanks to the umpire who explained everything really well and kept things moving along at a good pace. I was really impressed by the 28mm figures that he painted up using the Army Painter approach. It made me think again about the 28mm Cornish Royalist army that I have long planned to put together, also using the 28mm Warlord Plastic figures, perhaps as a project for the Summer holidays in a few months time?

Pike and Shotte in the Post

My copy of Pike and Shotte arrived today in the post but, as I only got in at eight o'clock this evening, I haven't had a chance to have a good flick through let alone a decent immersive read of the contents. I'm not a big fan of fluff and eye candy but the book is a bit of a page turner, given the lavish production values and splendid photos of ludicrously unattainable 28mm armies,but they do look pretty impressive nonetheless.

Pike and Shotte

I had the County Inspector for History in on Friday, so was observed teaching a Year 10 lesson and had to go through the usual Ofsted style grilling on GCSE results, residuals, gender gaps, differentiation, curriculum development and so on.

Anyway, it all went very well and the powers that be are, apparently, very happy, so I have rewarded myself with a brand spanking new copy of Pike and Shotte, to use as inspiration for my long planned 28mm early war Cornish solo campaign.

I think I deserve it.

Map of Cornwall 1699

I was rummaging through the bookshelves in the spare room in my parent's house yesterday, in an attempt to find soemthing to read, when I found a boxed set of Joel Gascoyne's Map of Cornwall, which was produced in 1699 for Lord Robartes.

It's at a scale of 1 inch to 1 mile so has lots of detail and covers the whole county on half a dozen large sheets. I've borrowed the maps for that cover the Eastern half of the county as a potential basis for a campaign map, which would be perfect for my 1644 solo campaign.

Northstar Bargain Bucket

I picked up a few bargains in the Northstar sale this morning including King Charles I, who will probably end up as a conversion into one of the Cornish Royalist commanders, a petard assault team to add to the one I already have, again good for conversions, and some unarmed noxii prisoner types for the gladiatorial games, when I eventually get round to it.

All for half price or less!

Civil War Battles in Cornwall

I found this in a second hand bookshop in Tavistock on Saturday. It's one of those books that you never seem to be able to find but which pops up when you least expect it. I've been after a copy for a couple of years and now have one.

Huzzah!

It's an early Richard Holmes work, so the writing is in his usual informative and readable style, with a good foundation of solid reaearch. I've already identified two Parliametarian regiments in the 1643 campaign that I wasn't aware of, as well as a troop of Royalist dragoons attached to the Cornish Foot in 1643 that I'd previously missed.

An excellent addition to the bookshelf.

Cornish Commanders

Over the last couple of days my attention has been wandering back to the 28mm English Civil War project that I started to stockpile stuff for last year. Ho hum.

http://jimswargamesworkbench.blogspot.com/search/label/28mm%20English%20Civil%20War

This is an attempt to build a Royalist and a Parliamentarian army in 28mm for the early campaigns in Cornwall, including the battles of Launceston, Sourton Down, Braddock Down and Stratton, although it might also stretch to Lostwithiel in 1644. I have plenty of infantry, artillery and cavalry for this ambitious effort but, as yet, no command figures for the likes of Grenville, Slanning, Trevanion, Robartes, Ruthven and Hopton, to name a few of the key players.

However, I spotted a couple of the old Foundry ECW command packs on Dave Thomas's ebay shop today that would fit the bill very well. The first contains mounted figures for Hopton, Grenville and Waller, whilst the second is a generic command pack that could be used for some of the other key regimental commanders of the campaign. I'm hoping they'll fit alongside the Warlord figures that I already have.

Billy Bones Workshop Paper ECW Army

I'm doing the English Civil Wars with my Year 8 class at the moment including a case study of the Battle of Cheriton, which took place in March 1644 just a few miles up the road from the school. To make things interesting for the kids, I thought I'd download the paper ECW army from Billy Bones Workshop so that the class can create a paper cut out version of the battle.

http://billybonesworkshop.co.uk/3.html

I've thought about using these paper units before to try out WECW or 1644 but, somehow, never quite got round to it. I think they look great, especially in the original buff, so to speak. On the site, the units and scenery are laid out on a decorators cloth to create a full scale battlefield in beige. What a neat idea and one which I'm definately going to copy.

The whole shebang including pike, shot, cavalry, dragoons, guns, generals, scenery and special effects cost me less than seven quid, so well worth a bit of cutting and pasting to put the whole thing together.

Warlord Games Firelock Storming Party

These were on special offer at roughly half price over at Northstar so I ordered a pack to add to the plastic mountain that's stacked at the back of the workbench. I already have a few of these figures but thought it would be worthwhile acquiring some more, especially as the two metal command figures that come witht the set are rather good. The felt hats that are supplied on the plastic sprues will also be useful for kitting out my early war Royalist regiments.

Colonel William Ruthven's Regiment

I've been reading up on the 1642 - 1643 campaign in Cornwall and have been thinking about the options for the Parliamentarians. There are a number of specific units that should be included in any force including, for example, Lord Robartes redcoat regiment and the greycoat regiment of Sir John Merrick.

However, the unit that caught my attention was the Scots mercenary force of Colonel William Ruthven, the Parliamentarian commander of Plymouth by default:

''In early December 1642, Hopton secured the Cornish side of Plymouth Sound by occupying Mount Edgecumbe and Millbrook, but his attempts to blockade Plymouth itself were thwarted by the spirited defence conducted by Colonel William Ruthven, the Parliamentarian military governor. Ruthven commanded a regiment of Scottish mercenaries, which had been raiding rebel-held territory in Ireland. When the mercenaries put into Plymouth early in October, they were hired to defend the city pending the arrival of Lord Robartes with three newly-raised regiments. Ruthven mounted two amphibious raids across Plymouth Sound against the Royalist outpost at Millbrook.''

Now, it just so happens that my grandparents lived in Millbrook for over fifty years and my mother, uncle and aunt grew up there as a result. So, in the interests of family history, I think it would be only fitting to raise a regiment of Ruthven's Scots to battle it out for what is otherwise a completely insignificant village in the middle of nowhere.

I'm thinking of using the Warlord Scots Covenanter boxed set as a starting point for Ruthven's regiment, given that they have a distinct 'north of the border' appearance and would be an interesting unit to field alongside the conventional pike and shot regiments that I have planned. I doubt they looked very different from any other regiment at the time but, in the interests of period flavour and unit identity, I think a little imagination is allowed?

The Battle of Braddock Down, January 1643

I've been thinking of the units I'm going to build for my Cornish Royalist army and have been doing some reading around the subject, both in print and on the net. As part of this research I stumbled across this online article and scenario on the Renegade Miniatures site for the battle of Braddock Down, which just happens to have taken place 368 years ago yesterday:

http://www.renegademiniatures.com/article8.htm

I quite like the option of building the five core foot regiments of the early Cornish army plus a regiment of cavalry or two. This would give me a good force to start with that I could add extra bits to as and when I wanted to. The regiments were those of Sir Bevil Grenvile, Sir Nicholas Slanning, Colonel John Trevanion, Colonel William Godolphin and Lord Mohun.

Anyway, we're off to Cornwall at half term for a few days so I'm going to have a first hand look at the battlefield for myself, as well as a trip to Pendennis Castle which I haven't been to for years.

Pike and Shotte Pressies

It was birthday yesterday, although overshadowed by the far more important celebrations for Nbuto Independence Day, so I was fortunate to receive a couple of presents from the kids (with Mum's help) to tie in with my latest English Civil War related pursuits.

The youngest bought me a Petard Assault Team set, which should make things interesting for the unfortunate besieged and for the gullible bumpkins carrying the infernal device, no doubt. A spot on present! The middle sprog bought me a scary looking mortar and crew, which fits in nicely with the petard wielding loonies. Again, a very acceptable gift.

Finally, the eldest bought me a boxed set of TYW Swedish Infantry, a choice which reflects my wife's grasp of history in general and my son's general lack of interest in anything that you can't plug in and play. I'm a history teacher too....the shame!

However, it's actually an inspired choice, as the sprues are identical to the normal ECW infantry sets and the box includes forty or so morions that can fit out my pike blocks very well indeed. A very useful box of goodies that will be put to good effect.

There's another present that has yet to turn up but the wife assures me that I'll like it, so that's something else to look forward to.