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Tuesday 18 September 2018

The English Civil War - Old School Style

As promised, then, time to go back to the first week of August and a meeting with Stuart to give his new ECW armies a run out. The usual visual treat was in place when I arrived, with a fine selection of colourful units laid out on Stuart's 6' x 3' dining room wargames table. The figures were all 30mm Edward Suren sculpts, still available from Tradition of London.

Royalists to the right, Parliament to the left.
In the foreground, Prince Rupert's Regiment of Foot leads out the Cirencester Trained Bands.

Stuart had a selected a suitably old school set of rules to play with - the English Civil War rules by Bayonet Publications (author Mike Wall) from the early 1970s:


We did have some issues during play - for example, the rules used infantry units of around 40 figures, whilst Stuart had created units of 12 figures plus 2 officers and a standard bearer. But as usual, a few changes invented 'on the hoof' between wargamers of good will can quickly improve things. 

I don't think there's any need to trouble the reader with a blow by blow account - we set to with the armies as deployed by Stuart and played through some moves seeing how the rules worked and admiring the figures in action. Therefore I will leave the reader with some photos, the quality of which does not do the figures justice, I'm afraid.

Parliamentary cavalry in the foreground (4 figure regiments). Right to left, The Lord General's regt., Sir James Ramsey's regt., and I believe Lord Fielding's regt. The blue coated figures of Prince Rupert's regt. lead the Royalist counter-charge.
Overview of the action
Close up of Prince Rupert's Regiment of Foot.
The Queen's Lifeguard of Foot in red, supported by Sir Thomas Tyldesley's Regiment to their right.
Royalists to a man.
Parliamentary infantry - John Hampden's Regiment of Foot.
The infantry from the two previous photos get to grips.
The home team - Cirencester Trained Bands.

Colonel John Talbot's Regiment of foot, on the Royalist right flank.
Talbot's Regiment are outnumbered and have taken serious casualties.

This was a distinctly non-competitive game, with the emphasis very much on enjoying the classic figures which Stuart had brought so successfully to life, and adapting the rules as needed. So no need for any discussion of winners and losers. I think, in fact, we were both winners, having enjoyed a peaceful and contemplative afternoon away from the pressures of everyday life. 

I look forward to seeing these fellows on the table again, and getting the rules sorted to our satisfaction.

See you again soon!

19 comments:

Steve J. said...

Stuart should be congratulated on producing such colourful figures and regiments that are a pleasure to behold.

Peter said...

A great looking tabletop and wonderful figures.

Jonathan Freitag said...

Those figures have a certain charm. Nice collection.

Pierre le Poilu said...

Good looking game - great figures, good layout - looks like it was fun. Thanks for sharing.

johnpreece said...

Once more, thank you for sharing the game with us. It looks extremely enjoyable though I am unsure whether the rules are perhaps as classic as they might be. I remember the great sense of relief when we started to use WRG for this period. Of course there is always Charge! I am sure Stuart could knock out a few minor conversions (1/2 the firing casualties and include the second rank of pikes in melees.)

With the very greatest respect I have to agree with you that your photographs do not do the figures justice. I don't think it's just you though, Willie figures just don't seem to photograph in a way that shows the beautiful detail and craftsmanship of the sculpting.

Prufrock said...

Very nice!

Prince Lupus said...

Ooh shiny, beautiful. Thanks

Natholeon said...

Another beautiful looking Old School style battle. The figures are inspiring.

David Cooke said...

It so pleasing to look at photos of these figures. I hope we see more of them.

Independentwargamesgroup said...

Well done Keith, a lovely set up. I forgot how good the Stadden range was and will have to buy some. Its great to see a set up like yours.

lewisgunner said...

Love the basing,really old school!
Roy

Purple said...

Brilliant Keith, thanks for sharing!
I really love the figures. The link describes Tradition figures in 25 and 30mm? Do you know of the 25mm figures? Are they much smaller?

Thanks

Keith Flint said...

Stuart is the real expert but yes, I believe they are significantly smaller and not compatible with the 30mm figures.

Stuart Asquith said...

Hello All,

Thank you for all your nice words regarding the 30mm Tradition/Suren figures which form my war games armies. Keith is quite right, they are in no way compatible with the Tradition 25mm ranges. To me the 30mm soldier, first introduced to me in 'Charge!' back in 1967, has always been the way to go. It can be frustrating though, there are many gaps in the ranges and some of the moulds are showing their age. As well as ECW types, I also have 7YW, Napoleonic (British, French, Russian, American [War of 1812] armies, plus some WW1. Even as I write, a selection of figures for Hastings 1066 is en route from Tradition in Stockholm, whose mail order is very good.
Regards to all, Stuart Asquith

Keith Flint said...

Hastings? Why wasn't I kept informed about this!

I feel a set of impromptu simple medieval rules coming on.

MGB said...

Classic figures being used in a fun war-game. Add to the calculation Stuart Asquith's name. Pure magic. I still make and paint my own flags from an article that appeared in Military Modelling in the early 1980s, I think it was Stuart that wrote the article. Anyhow, thanks for the upload.
Michael

tjm said...

I love the look of these figures, maybe because I'm 60!!

Wiegraf said...

Very old school! Impressive old collection.

Michael "Reggie" Davis said...

Excellent! This is how wargaming should be done. Beautiful toy soldiers, a great setting and workable rules. The overall effect is stunning. Retro rules!