One of my "long range" projects is to build some English Civil War armies. But being as I am an American now living in Canada I have very little knowledge about that conflict.
Yes, I have a number of rule sets . . . and NO, I haven't picked one yet because I don't know enough about the conflict to choose wisely. So obviously it is time for me to do some reading.Yesterday's post brought a copy of John Barratt's "The Civil War in South-West England 1642-1646" which I hope will provide a good background for that ECW theatre.
It should cover the campaigns pitting Hopton and Waller . . . neither of whom I had ever heard of before starting my inquiries into this period.
Of course I HAD heard of Prince Rupert before . . . it is a community on the northern coast of British Columbia (less than 180 miles from me) . . . but I had not known that it was named for the ECW general:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Rupert,_British_Columbia
"All the King's Armies" by Stuart Reid is another volume that arrived recently. It comes highly praised by various posters on the TMP English Civil War Message Board.It presents a broader picture of the war . . . covering the armies and events in other parts of Britain (at least I think that it gets into the northern war where the Scots had lots of action).
I would love to do the ECW using Sash and Saber's lovely 40mm figures . . . such as those featured on the Lead Gardens and For Ye Kinge blogs.
However I do not think that my pocketbook could handle the burden (particularly with the cavalry for much of the ECW is quite cav heavy). So I suspect that I will eventually have to join the Old Glory army club and use their 25mm figures . . . and fortunately it is supposed to be one of their better lines.
However I am still a LONG way from getting figures . . . and it isn't like I don't have other projects to work on . . . but right now it is simply "research time".
-- Jeff
3 comments:
Jeff, Armati rules work well for ECW, producing a quick game very much in tune with the period.
Prince Rupert has another connection with Canada in that he was one of the initial directors of the Hudson Bay Company.
I'd like to build an ECW Scottish army one of these days but too much else is occupying my attention. The old Athena book is a good study for Scottish armies.
I have Reid's book and find it a tough go. There are a number of places and personalities the author assumes you are familiar with to make it an easy read. If I had some good maps it would be better....
Enjoy your reading on the ECW, the Hopton/Waller contest is easiliy gameable - with the right number of troops !
My favourite ECW read is 'The Engish Civil War' by Peter Young and Richard Holmes.
-- Allan
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