For King and Parliament.

 Its been a bit of a struggle to paint lately. Family visits, a few minor health problems and the relatively good weather all gave me reasons to not pick up a brush. Anyway I think I'm back on the straight and narrow again and managed to finish these two Parliamentarian units.

 As I explained my forces will not be historical in the sense that I wont concentrate on say the Oxford army and ignore what I see as attractive units from other theatres of war.

 And so we have Brooks regiment which is a given for most ECW wargamers. Whats not to like, with purple coats etc. John reliably informed me that they weren't the best trained unit, but so they will run away, whats new there.

 The second is my Hollywood version of Essex's Lifeguard which I have elevated from a troop to a full regiment. Again like a magpie the colour attracted me to paint them. Probably not my best painted unit but it will pas muster in my eyes simply because they are orange.

 Although I am in my third age[ ridiculous term] don't think I'm not open to new ideas. Well not where wargaming is concerned. I am lucky that John has always been fascinated by wargames rules and is always looking for the 'perfect' set for each of our chosen periods. Me well I would still be using George Gush's WRG renaissance rules if it hadn't been for John prodding me towards more innovative rules.His latest 'find' is Simon Miller's FOR KING AND PARLIAMENT.

We have now had two battles with these rules. Both were largish affairs with 12 regiments or so of cavalry and a similar number of infantry. How did they play? Well I am very very impressed once I got my head around how important it is to choose the right unit to command and move first. Pick the wrong unit and then fail the command throw and you are in deep, deep, do do. I love the mechanism used to show how cavalry become blown. Similarly with artillery, don't expect to be able to bombard all game. It cant happen and is frankly pretty ineffective, and rightly so. Simon should be applauded for the work that has been put into these rules. They capture the period for me, have a good representation of friction and provide a really enjoyable game. Will I be buying a set? Probably if just for the eye candy and inspirational photographs. A very very good set of ECW wargames rules.

Where have all the bloggers gone?

About a year or so ago I posted that there seemed to be less activity in the world of wargames blogs and after taking some advice I linked my blog to Facebook in an effort to generate more interest Whilst I can understand why Facebook is a handy tool to expand readership and followers it is also a double edged sword. To be honest I really don't like the medium and find it increasingly unnerving as I invariably read the views of some people who frankly may have serious mental issues. Unfortunately I don't help because if I have a view I seem to have to express it. This would be fine if one was dealing with sensible people but nowadays they seem to be in the minority. It is many years since I was called a warmonger for playing with toy soldiers and I honestly found myself glowing with nostalgia when one woman became very irate at my love of all things military and a lover of war to boot.

 Anyway I have noticed that less and less wargamers are continuing with their blogs or are posting very intermittently. Now I appreciate that real life, families, jobs etc interferes with hobbies but I think that somehow blogs are losing their appeal.  

 I can understand to a certain extent why people decide to stop posting to what appears to be a silent audience if there is even an audience at all.But I find it really sad that some of my favourite wargaming blogs have fallen silent because they have always been a source of inspiration for me and in a lot of cases a source of information and military knowledge. This is not an announcement that I am chucking in the blogging towel because I'm not. Its just an observation.
  Mind I may free myself of Facebook simply because some of the ire I have received recently is a tad close to home and I  also seem to have pissed off a wargames magazine editor when they took issue with my alternative political view regarding certain UK policies. I must have pressed his buttons quite a bit because he sent me a few messages off line.
  It used to be never discuss football and politics when in a pub, now it seems never offer a different viewpoint in politics and wargaming when on the internet. So it looks like I'll never get another article printed in one of the wargames magazines. Shame that.

Anyway onto brighter things. I have finally based up my first Parliamentarian foot regiment after it has been sat forlornly for a couple of weeks. I purposefully reverted to gloss varnishing as I sought to replicate the wonderful armies John possessed in the 1980's. Gloss varnish does make certain figures and colours sing and I really like how Hampden's Greencoats have turned out. They'll never win any painting competitions but they do look, well, bright.

I also finished two Royalist cavalry regiments, one is a repaint job from figures I bought on E Bay and the second is the Queens regiment which contained French mercenaries and the like. Again the gloss varnish has made their colours jump out. So to the hysterical lady who screamed warmonger all I would like to say is 'yah sucks and boo!... If this is warmongering then I want more.

Naturally all the figures are Hinchliffe. Yes some of Gilders horses suffer from wonky legs but for me that is part of the charm. I did say that I was building a Hollywood version of the English Civil War so expect more of the same.

 Finally an image of the three Royalist cavalry regiments I now have. A long way to go me thinks.