Command Base

 

I stumbled across this little game Matchlocks & Witchcraft by Samuel S. Drucker purely by chance on a Facebook post. It immediately caught my attention as I'm always on the look out for small games that I can put together quickly while I'm painting up a bigger project. It's available as a PDF from Wargames Vault for the princely sum of $5. This little project gives me another use for my French and Indian Wars terrain, and some of the figures I purchased from the Flint and Feather Contact Kickstarter by Crucible Crush. These are also available from Northstar Miniatures.

In order to play the game I needed to source suitable witches, rabbits (yes, rabbits, they represent the witches familiars), and a goat to represent the Devil. I wanted these figures to reflect my view of the Seventeenth Century Colonial American mindset.

Following an internet search one illustration in particular leapt out at me, this shows a witch in a pointy hat and the image of the Devil as a black horned creature. The images in the rule set already show a black goat representing the Devil, so that was an easy choice. The next step was to find suitable figures of the rest of the game. 

 

I'm quite a fan of Helion books and the latest title to join my shelves is from their Century of the Soldier (1618-1721) series and is titled New Worlds, Old Wars, The Anglo-American Indian Wars 1607-1678 by David Childs. The book covers the wars that blighted the early relationships between settlers and Amerindians.

One thing that struck me when reading this book is that this subject matter is one which is very close to the heart of the author. If you have an interest in the early Anglo settlements in America and their clashes with the indigenous peoples, termed Amerindians by the author then I would suggest that this book is essential reading. 

I found the book insightful into the relationships between the English settlers and the native Amerindians. The contents providing plenty of inspiration for wargames scenarios, ranging from native ambuscades to settler treachery, something I kept in mind while reading as I'm due to receive the Kickstarter rulebook Flint and Feather Contact this year. If you have an interest in colonial warfare and history you can clearly see the attitudes of the early English settlers towards indigenous people, attitudes which were carried forward into future generations as the British Empire was established. There are some particularly unpleasant individuals on the settler side, and it is worth mentioning that settler brutality was not isolated to the indigenous people alone, but was meted out to their own, this is after all within the timeframe of the Salem witch trials. 

Colonel John Lamplugh's Regiment of Foot, a Royalist regiment  part of the command of the Marquis of Newcastle in 1644.

The figures are Warlord Games, with Perry Miniatures command, the flags are from Wargames Designs.

I decided to use a move that tray for the pike block to protect the plastic pikes, the added casualty figure is from Warlord  Games.

Some Royalist regiments of horse. The figures are a mix of 28mm Dixon Miniatures, Wargames Foundry, Front Rank and Bicorne (I think?).

My Royalist ECW forces are the core of a much older collection, being added to over a number of years, and being my first 28mm army.

The flags are Bodies Banners from Redoubt Enterprises. The units are -

Nicholas Crisp - white flag.

Sir Nicholas Byron - red flag with tree.

Thomas Bojulie - the other red flag.

These have been hanging around part done with very little needed to finish them off, so I set to and below are the results. I have lots of pieces I'm working on, as I've previously touched upon I tend to aim to paint a little every day and do whatever takes my fancy. I've found for me at least it to be the most productive approach. In reality what it means is I never get bored.

So onto the miniatures, all are 28mm.
First up is a limber and artillery piece from Wargames Foundry's ECW range, followed by a tumbril and powder cart from Perry Miniatures AWI range, and finally two ammunition wagons from Front Rank Figurines 18th Century Equipment. The Front Rank miniatures also have options of a wicker or wooden cover for the wagons.

All nice pieces to work on and easy to assemble. I have some old Reboubt Enterprise carts that I need to rebase, once done I'll post up pictures. Together these will provide supply columns in various scenarios, and add a little  interest to the table top for large battles.

Civilians will be painted up and based separately.