16thC Spanish

Continuing my 16thC project Ive assembled and painted quite a few of the Wargames Atlantic Conquistador figures. These were painted almost exclusively with Citadel Contrast Paints, Army Painter Speed Paint and Strong Tone Wash. only the white/off white and greys were "normal" paints. These were applied over a Khemri Dust (khaki-ish) primer. Flags are from the 80yrs War Facebook page and Flags of War picked up at Kirriemuir. 

Taking a leaf from Matakishi's excellent Renaissance project I have added priests to all my Spanish units. One seems to praying for deliverance rather than victory though. 

Supporting them are some Citadel Pistoliers. 

I've one more unit of pike and shot to do and using a mix of conquistador bits and warlord landsknecht bodies I have a unit of billmen - they'll join the English. Lastly I have Resin demi lancers and gendarmes and warlord mounted arquebusiers to paint. 

Why Spanish?

Well the Gordon's and the Hay's did not end their support for Catholicism with the crowning of James VI. They were implicated in a plot to involve Spain in Scottish affairs and took advantage of the ships of the stricken Spanish Armada to equip themselves with Spanish cannon, if indeed they had not already done so secretly. One of these lies amongst the ruins of the Hay's castle of Old Slains above St Catherine's Dub near Collieston. Here my father took me as a kid for my grandmothers family had a cottage there and I remember the gun sitting on the headland in the shadow of the ruin, blown up by James in revenge for Hay's treachery. Another cannon sits outside Haddo House a few miles west of my home, and a modern home of the Gordon's, while a third is at Peterhead Museum, just up the road. 

Then there was the Spanish ship which stopped off in Tobermory Bay and whose crew were used by the McLeans of Duart to settle some feuds with the MacDonalds and MacIans before the ship was destroyed on the orders of Walsingham, Elizabeth I's "spymaster". 

Who needs to wait to the Jacobite rebellion and Glen Sheil before you have Spanish in the Heather?!

Some Renaissance Figs

Today's paint jobs.

First some Spanish pike, complete with frothing priest which will accompany my Spaniards. A bit of stereotyping but why not. Wargames Atlantic Conquistadors and Foundry/Casting Room “command”. The plastics are ok....some pieces are a bit smooth and lack detail while others give a bit of an ape like look to the finished pose. Based together though they look ok and I've got enough with two boxes to give me two bases of pike, the shot to go with them and to make up some halberdiers/bills and Spanish cavalry using the Perry WOTR Light Horse set.

I will add a flag from the rather excellent 80 Years War Facebook group. It has flags for Spanish units which are rather colourful, correct for the period and a change from the usual red and white. 

We'll see how long the plastic spears last.....

Next some rescued Empire Pistoliers. Tails repaired, armour calmed down, mounts retouched and plumes repainted.  Citadel bases trimmed off and dremelled down in thickness, then the figs fixed in place with a mix of superglue and pva to give a strong flexible bond between the plastic and the mdf. I have some redoubt figures on order...(will see how long they take to turn up!), but I'm hoping they're a good fit size ways as these are nice figures, particularly the firing pose, but I'm two short for a unit and I don't want to pay the daft prices they go for on eBay.

Have to say I’m really enjoying painting renaissance stuff and am working my way through the 2nd and 3rd Tudor Art of Warre books from Helion and their One Faith, One Law, One King book on the armies of the French Wars of Religion which arrived today. I have a core of pike, shot and mounted figures now to which I am adding units to give the army a flavour of one nationality or the other as well as interchangeable flags. I have my eye on some nice resin figures as French. 

We had a game at Oldmeldrum Wargames Club last week using Neil Thomas’s One Hour Wargames with a few mods by yours truely. We will give them another go this week - weather permitting! I'll take some pics this time. 

A bad day for Forbes.....Tillyangus and Corgarff

 Today I had a couple of games today with some friends to test scenarios from my next book, Feud, which covers the Gordon - Forbes feud and the Marian Civil War in the North East of Scotland in the 16th century.

Having played out Corrichie and Craibstane previously, Tillyangus and a fictional scenario involving the burning of Corgarff Castle were on the table today. 

We used Lion Rampant 2nd edition with few of the amendments suggested in the Renaissance Rampant mods which were in Wargames Illustrated, written by Oli of the rather excellent Camisado Blog. I am now quite happy that Lion Rampant and not Pikemans Lament make for a better set of rules for this period - perhaps it's the minor changes to second edition or that these skirmishes between rival families are more suited to a medieval style of warfare despite being set in the latter half. of the 1500's

We opened with Tillyangus - here a band of Gordon's led by Adam Gordon, brother of the Earl of Huntly, and on their way to Edinburgh were attacked by the Forbes's under Black Arthur Forbes of Balfour. 

I have a different view of the battle from the presented in Marren's Grampian Battlefields and wrote the scenario based on the points I set out in the book following a visit to the site and a review of the sources, archaeological findings and some practical considerations too! But to the game...

The Gordons came down the road from Auchindoun through Clatt and bumped into the Forbes men. Both sides tried to find an open flank but it was the Gordon hackbutters who caused the damaged to the Forbes foot and softened the way for the Gordon's to drive the Forbes out of their position and back towards their castle of Druminor. The melees were sharp and bloody and Black Arthur fell not far from the Forbes position, instead of during the historical rout, but otherwise the outcome was the same and the Gordon's won the day.

After a spot of lunch and a catch up we played my Corgarff scenario. 

After defeating Forbes again at Aberdeen, Gordon now had control of the North East and set about making sure his enemies were completely subdued. To this end he rode to lonely Corgarff castle, high up on Donside where he found Lady Forbes of Towie and her family. As is told in the traditional Ballad Edom o'Gordon, Lady Forbes did not surrender and barred the tower door against Gordon, (or his henchman Kerr). Frustrated by this, a fire was set and the tower burned down, with the unfortunate Forbes family inside. In the scenario I have Forbes of Towie riding to the rescue with horse and local foot, racing to drive of Gordon and Kerr before it is too late. 

In our game the Forbes's arrived and drove Kerr and his men off,  but Adam Gordon proved more difficult and with his horse cut up first one and then a second unit of his foes, ultimately breaking and routing them from the field. There was to be no rescue this day! It was a close game though and the had the dice gone the other way it would have been Adam Gordon routed, so the scenario was balanced. 

Two good games with John and Eric taking the Forbes's and Bill taking the Gordon's.

I have a few minor tweaks to make to the scenario's as I've written them and then the last few paragraphs to write before proofreading and off to the publisher, ready for printing in the new year. 

Feud - 2 more local battles - Tillyangus and Craibstane

Following work to finish off my shared article with Angus Konstam on the Marian Civil War and the Battle of Corrichie I had a chance to review my existing notes and maps for two other encounters between the representatives of the factions fighting to control the throne of Scotland and settling their own scores into the bargain. 

At Tillyangus Black Arthur Forbes tried to stop a band of Gordon's from getting to Edinburgh by blocking  their route south - it didn't go well for them. 

At Craibstane, the Forbes family with professional troops tried to drive Adam Gordon from Aberdeen, which he was holding for the Queen. The fight took place at the edge of  the town and once again it didn't go well for the Forbes family. 

What makes these two battles interesting is that neither is a pitched battle. At the former the Forbes's tried to physically block the road and destroy the Gordon's against their position. At the latter Adam Gordon's men were of variable quality but many were defending their homes, fighting amongst the gardens and plots that made up the towns unfortified boundary. Tillyangus is fought hand to hand whilst Craibstane has lots of firearms and bows. The area around Clatt near which Tilllyangus was fought is still mostly open farmland, however Aberdeen has long since overrun the area over which the Gordon's and Forbes's fought at Craibstane - even the stone itself has been moved. It is possible to trace the line of the original road into town from the medieval Bridge of Dee. 

So earlier this week I drew the maps for each game and had a chance to test one scenario which seemed to go ok.

As a wee taster, here are the maps for the two games.

Feud - Wargaming the Gordon - Forbes Feud and Marian Civil War 1562-1571

I hosted my mates John and Eric from Banchory today and so we decided to game the Battle of Corrichie once more. John and I first discussed fighting this battle many many years ago. John reminded me that it was when Grampian Battles by Peter Marren, was reprinted, which would be around 20years ago!

Having played it before using Pikeman's Lament I set the kitchen table up to represent the Hill o' Fare above Garlogie and Raemoir. The rules can make a battle swing either way with their initiative mechanism and the first game was no exception. 

The battle got off to a start with the Gordon foot charging into Errol's horse and coming off the worse for it, routing back into the rough ground to the rear with Huntly himself becoming separated and hiding in the bog. However Bissets foot now saw them off and and pushed forward towards the raw Aberdeen foot. These too were seen off but the rebels were now in a poor shape. Moray's foot came up and a desperate charge was launched by the Irvines, in an attempt to force their way clear and get home to Drum castle. Moray was wounded but saved by his men and Irvine's unit was broken. 

Game over and a pause for lunch to reflect. 

As this was a refight and not a balanced scenario the odds were stacked against Huntly's men. Even so , they were able to inflict losses and drive back the Aberdeen men. They were just too worn to make an impact on the well drilled Lothian troops. Losing Huntly and his unit so early also reduced the rebels chances of winning.

After lunch we gave Neil Thomas's One Hour Wargames a go. A very simple but well thought out set with limited unit types. We refought Corrichie and then had a larger across table game with randomly diced for units. Corrichie, using only three units a side was really too small but the second game was more interesting and looked and felt like a decent battle. These rules are worth a revisit sometime soon. I have some landsknechts languishing in a box and these would be perfect for a fun afternoon. 

Round two at Corrichie

Third Game

 Corrichie, Tillyangus, Corgarff and Craibstane are battles which will feature in my next book. They're all small encounters perfect for Pikeman's Lament. 

I've sold a few of my books from my last post .- but there are still bargains to be had and of course both Sugar Islands and Against Spain are still available too.