Delving into the English Civil War

So when Devilry A Foot came out I decided to grab a copy as this would allow me to jump into horror gaming set in the Civil War. I had some minis from Bloody Miniatures which would be perfect for this and a good start at 28mm horror skirmish.

Sheffield Castle

At the start of the English Civil War in 1642, the castle was seized by the Parliamentarian commander Sir John Gell; all spare arms had been collected by Royalist forces, so the castle had weakened defences.

In 1643, the castle changed hands after Royalist forces entered Yorkshire, led by the Earl of Newcastle.

The Parliamentarian defenders fled into Derbyshire allowing the Royalists to take the castle without a fight. Although a national conflict, the English Civil War left a significant mark in Sheffield. The town fluctuated between Parliamentarian and Royalist control, culminating in a 10-day siege of Sheffield Castle by Parliamentarian forces in August 1644

In August 1644, a force of 1200 soldiers, led by Major-General Crawford and Colonel Pickering, besieged the castle. At first their artillery was insufficient to breach the castle wall, but additional cannon was brought to Sheffield. On 11 August 1644, Sheffield Castle surrendered under this increased firepower.

Three years later, a resolution was passed for the castle to be slighted and demolished. This was carried out in 1648. The stones and other items were sold for building material to the people of Sheffield.

Tickhill Castle

Tickhill Castle is near Doncaster, it functioned as a key administrative centre on the Nottingham/Yorkshire border for hundreds of years and witnessed multiple sieges including action during Prince John’s failed attempts to displace his brother, King Richard.

By the time the civil war came around it had lost a lot of its importance, and after the War of the Roses had allowed to fall into a state of neglect. The castle was given a new lease of life due to the Hansby family, who by the early part of the 17^th century had risen in prominence, and in 1614 started rebuilding some of the castle’s structures, and constructed a house over the site of the former hall.

Being Catholics, the Hansby family declared for the king at the start of the civil war. Sir Ralph Hansby re-fortified some of the castles defences and formed a garrison which secured control of the area for the Royalists. When Sir Ralph died in December of 1643, Major Monckton took over the garrison. With the defeat at Marston Moor, the Royalist forces lost control of the north.

Parliamentary forces under the command of Edward Montagu, Earl of Manchester sent Colonel John Lilburn with a troop of 200 Dragoons, to take the castle. Due to the strategic situation that had developed in the aftermath of Marston Moor, the Royalist garrison surrendered Lilburn and his Dragoons on July 28^th, 1644.

On the orders of Parliament in 1647, the castle’s defences were damaged to prevent the castle from being used a strategic location. Parts of the curtain wall were pulled down, and the eleven-sided keep was destroyed. The house remained in house as this didn’t have a defensive capability.

The miniatures in question are 1/72 scale English Civil War Parliament infantry from A Call to Arms (www.acalltoarms.co.uk).

The Civil Wars of the mid seventeenth century were probably the most dramatic encounters in early modern British history. They were a great and bloody affair that left the nation stunned and horrified.

The front of the box has a nice piece of art work featuring the front rank of a pike block, which really put you in the thick of the action. On the rear of the box is an illustration of a musketeer and a introduction to the Civil War period.

Inside are 32 miniatures on sprues, there are four sprues in total with eight figures and four pikes on each of them. The figures are the same on each sprue, 4 pikeman and 4 muskets giving you a total of 16 of each type in four different poses.

The box says Parliament infantry but I suspect you could mix and match this set with the Royalist infantry set, due to there not really being much difference between the two forces of this period.

There is a little flash on some of the figures but overall they’re very clean and won’t need much work before painting them. These are exceptionally good sculpts with a lot of fine detail for this scale. They’re in a hard plastic though the weapons are a little thin which is to be expected at this scale and material.

I would have preferred some of the musketeers to be firing their weapons but we can’t have everything. The pike-men are nicely posed, I especially like the chap drinking from his water bottle. The pikes provided are rather bendy and I will look at replacing these with metal versions.

Overall I’m impressed with the quality of the figures at this scale and material. 1/72 can be a bit of a hit and miss affair when it comes to plastic miniatures, but Call to Arms have done an exceptional job with these. I look forward to getting some paint on them.

I thought I’d write a short article on how I paint 1/72 plastic miniatures – you probably played with this scale as a kid, especially Airfix kits. If you’ve ever painted them, then the main drawback can be the paint chips off them really easily, especially the rubbery plastic ones. I have a technique or two – well, one, in fact – that will prevent that from happening.

For starters, the only additional item you’ll need from your usual painting kit is either a tin of Army Painter Dip or gloss varnish. It doesn’t matter if it’s a tin of dip or varnish, as either will work.

The first thing you’ll need to do is give them a quick wash, then on to undercoating them – once this has dried, you will need to apply a thin coat of varnish or dip, which ever one you’ve decided to use. Note – when using dip I would recommend using a brush on technique, as it is quite gloopy and if you get too much dip on this scale of miniature, you’ll end up losing a lot of the detail. You will also need to give the tin a good shake before using.

I have found it’s better to use the dip which has collected on the lid, rather than dipping the brush straight into the pot, as it is a lot less messy this way.

The next stage once the dip or varnish has dried is to base paint the miniatures, remember to use a thin coat of paint. as detail is easy to lose with a thick coat.

Once this has been completed then I would apply another thin coat of varnish/dip to the figures. This will seal the base-coat – and, for those of you who have applied dip, it will at the same time shade the models. It isn’t really necessary to paint several layers of shade on figures of this scale or smaller.

Now you have a base coated figure, and those who have used dip will also have a shaded figure. This is the reason I use dip on 1/72 scale plastic miniatures, as I get a shade and varnish in one go. It saves time, especially if you’ve got a large army to paint.

Next we will paint in the highlights – you don’t need to go overboard at this stage, in the same way you would with a 28mm figure. Once this is done, you can add a further coat of gloss or dip. I personally go straight to a coat of matt varnish.

And that, folks, is a quick and simple guide to painting 1/72 scale miniatures, and thanks to the multiple layers of dip or varnish you shouldn’t get any paint chips. In addition, the extra coats of dip/varnish give strength to those 1/72 figures which are made from a rubbery plastic, making them less bendy when touched.

 

Introduction

Sir John Gell of Hopton, Derbyshire controlled Parliamentarian forces in Derbyshire. He also assisted in many skirmishes in Staffordshire and other Midland counties during the English Civil War. He was made a baronet in January 1642, and Gell headed the County Committee that controlled Parliamentarian forces in Derbyshire. He was known to be a ruthless commander, and used his position during the war to exact his revenge against those he had grudges and feuds with prior to the war starting.

1642

John Gell received a commission from the Earl of Essex on the 27^th August, to raise a regiment of foot. Gell and his brother went to Hull where they were given a company of grey-coated London volunteers, which would form the nucleus of a Derby regiment.

Gell and his company left Hull on the 17^th October; he managed to raise a further 200 at Chesterfield. When he reached Wirksworth he managed to scatter a Royalist forage party under the command of Sir Francis Whortley.

31 October 1642 – Derby

After the indecisive battle at Edgehill on the 23^rd October, Gell swiftly descended on Derby. He entered unopposed and set about creating a garrison, where he recruited further men locally. He was also reinforced with a troop of horse under the command of George Gressley from Drakelow and on the 5^th of November Charles White arrived with a troop of Dragoons from Nottinghamshire.

On the 10^th November 1642 Sir Francis Whortley appeared in Dale, Gell sent a company of muskets. Whortley promptly fled the field and left the county. At the same time as this incident the following commissions were given out;

Thomas Gell – Lt Colonel

Johannes Molanus – (Dutchman) Major

Cornelius Vermuyden – Captain (later became Sir)

John Mundy – Captain

Thomas Sanders – Captain

George Gressley – Captain of the horse troop.

Charles White – Captain of the Dragoons

Major Molanus returned from Coventry with 2 sakers and a supply of ammunition on the November 30^th 1642, (a possible ambush scenario).

Siege of Bretby House – December 1642

Bretbey House was the seat of Philip Stanhope, 1^st Earl of Chesterfield. The house had been garrisoned in the name of the King with 40 Musketeers, 80 Horse and 7 drakes.

Major Molanus was forced to storm the house with 400 foot after the sakers proved incapable of making a breach; Stanhope fled the field to Litchfield. Molanus captured the 7 drakes and the house was savagely sacked and plundered by the troops. The reason for this sacking and plunder was that Gell and Stanhope had a bitter feud before the war.

Shortly after the siege Captain White left the Derby forces to help raise a regiment and garrison the castle at Nottingham with Colonel Pierrepont. Daniel Watson took his place as Captain of the Dragoons.

Swarkestone Skirmish – 5^Th January 1642

The Swarkestone Bridge over the river Trent provided a valuable line of defence and communication, thus Royalist Commander Henry Hastings garrisoned the house of Sir John Harpur at Swarkestone with a regiment of Royalists (numbering around 700), as well as fortifying the bridge.

Gell speedily organised an attack with the whole regiment and the horse (approximately 700-850), plus 2 sakers on the house and the bridge. Gell’s forces suffered one wounded soldier, whilst killing 8 royalists and wounding several. The barricades on the bridge were dismantled and part of the bridge was demolished. This impeded Gell’s movements into Leicestershire and Staffordshire, but it also hindered the movements of the Royalist approach into Derby and Derbyshire.

In March 1643, he successfully took over command at the siege of Lichfield after the death of Lord Brooke, and then collaborated with Sir William Brereton to defeat the Earl of Northampton at the battle of Hopton Heath. At the battle of Hopton Heath the Earl of Northampton was killed. When the Earl’s son refused to return the artillery captured at Hopton Heath or the money Gell had paid to embalm the body, the corpse was paraded through the streets of Derby before its burial at All Hallows Church. Gell was appointed governor of Derby in 1643

He was involved in the siege and subsequent capture of Lichfield in 1643. He owned lead mines in the High Peak area and served as High Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1635. It is believed under his orders; a troop of Sir John’s men went to arrest Christopher Fulwood at Middleton (Fulwood) Castle. In the process Christopher tried to escape but was shot and fatally wounded.

Whigfield Manor Siege – July 1644

In July 1644, Sir John Gell and his forces were besieging Wingfield Manor, which is close to the village of Wingfield and perched high on a hilltop. It is still surrounded by open fields and for the enthusiast, it is still possible to stand in the position of John Gell’s guns and see the Manor they fired on.

On the 21st July 1664, the Royalist Commander, one Colonel Roger Molyneux of Hasland Hall reported the guns of Gell were ineffective. On the 14th August, from the gates of Wingfield Park they blasted a way through the wall. The forces were allowed to leave the fortress.

The longest and most telling siege of the English Civil War had ended

His troops were notorious for plundering and Gell himself was suspected of planning to join the King just before Naseby. Gell’s loyalty came under suspicion when he failed to obey an order to bring his troops from the Midlands to join Fairfax on the Naseby campaign in 1645. At the siege of Tutbury Castle in 1646, he offered the Royalist defenders his own favorable terms for surrender in opposition to those offered by his fellow commander Brereton.

In 1648, Gell attempted to secure a pardon from Charles I during his imprisonment at Carisbrooke Castle by offering to lend him £900 in gold.In 1650 he was found guilty of plotting against the Commonwealth and imprisoned. He was released in 1652 and took no further part in public life. At the Restoration, Charles II pardoned him for his role in the civil war and granted him a position at court, where he remained until his death in October 1671.

Now that I’ve decided which aspect of the ECW I want the project to be based around I now have to decide scale and rules. I initially contemplated on 28 mm but once I started to investigate miniatures and costs I decided it would be too expensive. So I then considered 15 mm, its a scale I like but I didn’t find any miniatures in this scale I was happy with. So I went up to 20 mm or 1/72, now the problem with this scale was the lack of ECW miniature producers at this scale, but I did discover a company that made plastic 1/72 miniatures called A Call to Arms, they produce Parliamentary and Royalist infantry, artillery and command sets.

I’ve ordered a box of Parliamentary infantry to begin with, which contains 32 figures. I shouldn’t need any more than that, once I’ve painted these I’ll then purchase artillery, cavalry and command boxes. Price wise each box is around £8, so an army should cost around £32 give or take a pound or two.

Rules, is a big one as there’s plenty to choose from out there. Osprey Publishing produce a popular set called The Pikeman’s Lament, designed to cover all wars for this period of military history. Foundry Miniatures also produce a great set of rules called 1644, yet I decided on two set of rules which doesn’t include either of these.

The first set I went for was Field of Glory Renaissance rules, these I plan to use for large battles, and for more skirmish level games I plan to use The Kingdom is Ours by James Daniels published by Helion & Company. The FoG rules are no longer published by Osprey, so you’ll have to look around for a copy on sites like Ebay.

http://www.acalltoarms.co.uk/172_2.html

The English Civil War is full of small campaigns fought at local level right across the country. I’m particularly interested in  the background set in and around Derbyshire and Sheffield, though with some research most counties will throw up a local character who led forces either against or for the King.

Another option would be to follow the exploits of a local regiment – for instance, here in Sheffield a prime example would be Sir John Brighte’s Regiment of Foote. A local campaign would have more small engagements and simple skirmishes; also a localized army/unit may switch sides, and would be lightly armed in regards to artillery.

Now I plan to follow the exploits of Sir John Brighte in Sheffield, and in Derbyshire I’ll following Sir John Gell, both of whom are parliamentary.

There was also a movement of disgruntled country folk across the counties called club-men. They banded together to protect their homes and land from both sides, as armies of both sides tended to forage off the land, taking whatever they saw fit. The club-men were often poorly armed, yet could number in their thousands. This also could form the back bone of a local campaign, with one player controlling an army of club-men.

This project is designed to act as a starting back ground source to a localized campaign. This type of campaign would be ideal for those just dipping their toes in to the world of English Civil War gaming, as well as being an excellent opportunity for a seasoned campaigner to research a local area for ECW war stories.