The first battle of Newbury took place on the 20th of September 1643. During the English civil war, the Parliamentarian army of the Earl of Essex met King Charles the 1st's Royalist army in the fields of this market town, a town historical known for its quality woollen cloth production. Henry the Eighth visited on occasion and in modern days royalty have still been known to visit. Until her death Queen Elizabeth the second was a regular visitor to Newbury racecourse to watch the horses. This same venue is the site of the annual wargame show "Colours", the largest wargame show outside of London in the south of England.
Details of the battle aren't exactly accurate. The English Civil War doesn't really lend itself to the kind of research your average wargamer wants to do. There was some efforts at the time to wear uniforms to identify yourself to your fellow soldiers so they don't hit you with friendly fire. Individual regiments would just pick a random colour for themselves though and records of what that colour was are far and few between. Some regiments didn't bother at all and men just turned up in whatever they had on.
Back in 1643 at the battle, King Charles stood on top of a hill and surveyed the battle. 381 years later on that exact same spot (okay maybe not that exact same spot, he may not have been there but the battle was) I now sit and paint toy soldiers for a hobby. I have for a while now thought maybe I should know a bit more about this history and maybe even include it in my hobby.
So I have painted up a Lifeguard regiment in 6mm from Warlord games. The pikemen are in red and the musketeers are in whatever they turned up in.
The points:
60 x 6mm infantry at 0.5 points = 30 points
Location bonus = 20 points
Total = 50 points
Sylvain: It seems that Challengers living in England just have to look in their backyard to find an ancient battlefield 😁 worth mentioning for local history. You really did a great job painting these tiny figures. As you said, their colors might not be accurate but they are colorful and I like them. Excellent brush work!
I've driven past Newbury many times on visits to the UK. Nice work on these figures, I had them down as 15s.
ReplyDeleteThanks Peter, that is very kind of you to say.
DeleteVery fine looking body of soldiers
ReplyDeleteThanks Adam.
DeleteNewbury is on my list of battles to game; wonderful looking regiment.
ReplyDeleteThank you. It's on my list too, although I have a long way to go before I have painted enough regiments!
DeleteA great entry for 'Local History'! Well done Peter - they do rank up very nicely. I like the look of those Warlord figures and your brushwork does them proud. I see by visiting their site that the range has filled out more since the last time I looked, which is great as it initially seemed a little thin on the ground.
ReplyDeleteThanks Curt. Yep the range is rapidly growing. I have a box full already of freebie frames from all over their 6mm range. If I started the armies for them all I would definitely end up bankrupt.
DeleteGreat work Peter. As others have mentioned o had these down as much larger than 6mm. Very nice
ReplyDeleteThanks Simon, that's very kind.
DeleteNicely done Peter!
ReplyDeleteThanks Greg.
DeleteGood job withese little guys - they're tricky to paint. Particularly like the musketeers
ReplyDeleteThank you. It's all about multiple reading glasses and batch painting colours for me. If I do the whole battle though I might go crazy.
DeleteThanks for the history lesson and nice units!
ReplyDeleteThanks Teemu.
DeleteGreat looking entry, I to thought they were bigger figures, so you've done a stella job on them
ReplyDeleteThank you. I'm going to say the camera lense adds height rather than my painting ability. 😉
DeleteI think it's fascinating to have a historical battle site nearby.
ReplyDeleteIt definitely is, although I'm not quite digging up cannon balls in the back garden though.
DeleteNice local work Peter and fun neighborhood history. Well done on the force.
ReplyDeleteGreat Post, we are so lucky to have so much History on our doorstep 👍
ReplyDelete