WSS Photo Shoot II

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WSS Photo Shoot I

Back in July we had to shoot some photos for the WSS article.

It was a bit of a rush - so although it was great to see everything we had on the table, the lighting could have been better as could the use of the cameras bells and whistles.

Thus, the shots in the article didn't really serve the project justice.

Hopefully, we will have it sorted for the next one - terrain should be built by xmas.

In the meantime, heres some of the shots that didn't make it into the magazine - everything is clickable

First Article Published

First article is out - not seen the magazine yet so dont know whats in/out and also how the photos look.

However, knowing Guy, he will have applied some TLC and it should look suitably spiffing!

Last of the Free

Even though the summer has been dominated with lots of adventures I have managed to finish these.

All I have to do now is paint the horses, so even though there are quite a few, for me, Project Auldearn is almost over.

No more hodden grey!

That being said, its been a great journey but I doubt I would be here if it wasn't for the encouragement of all the guys who follow this blog.  Thanks for your support.

All the best

Roy

Stop Press - Literally

We have submitted two articles to WSS at the invite of the editor Guy Bowers.  First one is a generic history of Montrose's campaign with some simple campaign rules.  The second is the refight in detail of Auldearn.

Looks like the first will be published soon as Guy wanted some photos asap.  So with that in mind, and knowing that both of us were heading to the hills for the next month and a bit, we had an impromptu photo shoot yesterday.

Its the first time we have had all the stuff on the table so the collection has grown quite a lot.

So here's a photo to wet everyones appetite….

Covenanter Gun Line

The Covenanter field army was well equipped with artillery.  The army in England had an extensive artillery park which was employed successfully against the Royalist forces in the north.  In Scotland, the mobile nature of the warfare precluded the serious use of heavier pieces, with only the ubiquitous frame-guns probably being deployed, outside of siege operations (i.e. Inverness).

Covenanter gun carriages were painted with pine-tar to help them stand up to the elements.  Though not as colorful as some other guns of the period, this gives a fair contrast to the hidden grey of the infantry.  

To get the effect I painted the carriages foundry ochre shade, then GW desert yellow (my middle shade had dried up), and highlighted with ochre highlight.  The guns and metal fittings were gun metal on black.  I liberally painted the whole thing with Army Painter medium shade which gave them a "creosote" look and the metal a rusty feel.  However, the iron guns looked naff (and turned out to be ahistorical) so I worked up a bronze effect.

The two small guns are Covenanter Falconets, so the crew were fine.  The larger gun was a generic Saker, so some green stuff bunnet's were fashioned.  I couldn't really mix and match the crews as the ramrods etc were right sized to the guns.  The crew were painted a broad mix of grey and drab with the odd flash of color on some tartan.

Bases are standard size 6 x 8cm gun bases from Litko, with Silflour tufts and static grass.

Final couple of shots show them deployed for action with the infantry.

All the best

Roy

The Horrors of War

" …it was a brutal time when brother butchered brother, and men hacked bits off other men…."

" and soldiers with dirty great swords disemboweled soldiers with swords that 

wurnae quit as long…."

"…it was a time when rivers ran wi blood, and oozed entrails stained the heather…."

"… they grabbed his hair and severed it, and then ripped out his tongue, it wriggled like a jellied eel on the grund were it was flung….."

"….they beat his brain tae a throbbing mush and slashed his guts asunder…."

"…and cut his heart out wi a dirk and he died, nae bloody wonder…"

from the traditional highland lament " The Splattered Blood of Oor Slaughtered Sons"  collected by The Curries

Folks songs of countries often serve up an oral history of the effect of historic events on ordinary people.  Scotland has a rich selection, the above giving a feel for the horror of war in such dire times.

Pike and Shotte requires markers to record the effect of combat on a unit and many manufacturers have specific figures to represent these unfortunate peons.  Walter choose to base his on round bases, but stealing shamelessly from the great Barry Hilton & Dave Imrie, I choose to go with hex bases.

These can be scattered or joined nicely together to produce mini-vignettes of the horrors of war.  Hopefully the Rev. I. M. Jolly would not disapprove.