War of three Kingdoms/ECW 12 shiny cavalry

 The first unit of the rebased and recently acquired 17th century troops have arrived. It seems to have taken a long time but I am pushing them all along, the cavalry will be first and these are the first of the cavalry. 

There is a mix of basing going on ,the original on plaster on card and Blax's rather more sophisticated finish (when I was able to get it off dry with a hammer and chisel(!)  and my mix of flock.

I also washed the figures with a little paint brush with some water and a bit of washing up liquid as they were a bit ingrained with dust,they came up rather well. 

The last picture shows them in front of some of my existing troops, I think they work rather well in spite of the disparate painting, the basing ties them together I think?

September has been very busy with real life rather than wargaming content, busy at work, only daughter starting university  and her bedroom getting entirely redecorated, don't worry I will let her back home,I'm not like my sister, still there is quite a queue of figures almost done and a bit of terrain ,plus I've started painting in the evening again so at some point you will see some figures I've painted but don't hold your breath!

All the best 

Iain 

War of three Kingdoms/ECW 11,painted reinforcements

 Years ago I was reading a post on the Fantorical blog, a fellow traveller in  the  Analogue Hobbies painting challenge some time ago and he mentioned star trek miniatures and I said I had some citadel 25mm figures from a film tie in from about 1980 in the loft and that he was welcome to them, eventually, some years later I retrieved them from the loft and proposed to send them to him and he had some 28mm painted figures for the ECW from a project that had fallen by the wayside if I wanted them , I  posted the star treck figures but Blax dropped the figures over as they were too heavy to post, I dug out some bloodbowl and other figures, he felt he had the better part of the deal,as did I,nice result!

So four troops of horse and with the addition of half a dozen spare Essex figures I can make up six more regiments of foot, two units of dragoons ( in addition to the two I'm working on at the moment?!) A whole load of command ( including a poodle)The only thing I'm not sure of is the Jacobite artillery from the 18th century ,artillery is the one area I'm already short of, so I'll have to sort this out for both armies I guess? I have a cunning plan that will give me siege weapons that can be used for the 17th century and also the 16th. A useful addition that almost doubles the size of my non Covenanter forces, the style is different and is actually quite detailed, I like it so I shan't be changing any of it but I do wonder who the manufacturer is? So at least wargaming figures ( even if I haven't painted any!) You'll see these chaps again once they've been cleaned( they're a bit dusty)and rebased with the handful of Essex figures painted, anybody need some painted 28mm Jacobite artillery? I promise I won't take three years to post them!

All the best 

Iain 

Suffolk medieval buildings

 I've recently been to Suffolk for a week and while there I visited Leiston Abbey, well the remains of it  anyway. It's a pretty impressive ruin and I would recommend it if you are in the area, plus it's free and there is a classical music centre for gifted youths that make it quite pleasant having a wander around!

It's a poor area for stone, so most of it is built of flint faced with stone and the stone and some columns of an earlier Abbey were reused.  I thought the black and white stone patterning was interesting and might be worth applying to a suitable church, I'm a bit dissatisfied with my large mdf church, it might get a makeover! I fancy doing some medieval ecclesiastical buildings so maybe I'll do that instead!

Also in Suffolk but much closer to Essex is Lavenham which in the 15th century was one of the wealthiest towns in England, by the 16th century the wool trade had been undermined by cheap foreign imports ,they got hit by the plague just as they were getting back on  their  feet and the town never really recovered ,sounds surprisingly current, or is that just me?! At least one benefit was that no-one could afford to update their housing which means there is a fantastic collection of medieval timber framed buildings and a nice 15th century church, there's more than 300 listed buildings in this small town and it's been used in films from Witchfinder General, Barry Lyndon to Harry Potter. 

The black and white look isn't really kosher,it's more of a Victorian affectation, the silver finish is  more correct and the panels weren't always white. 

So maybe I should make my church look more like this?! Next up? I've acquired a pile of painted 17th century figures, I might show those before I rebase them? No painting but plenty of prep and a bit of terrain work. 

All the best 

Iain