There has been a fair bit of recent discussion on the Auckland Wargaming Club group about doing a Basic Baroque 15mm ECW (English Civil War) tournament or mini-campaign. Basic Baroque is a variant to Basic Impetus & Impetus. Now I’m not much taken by 15mm armies (I’ve sworn off these completely), however the Basic Baroque rules interest me as a possible simple set for doing some 28mm ECW in the short term – especially as I long since lost interest in DBR (De Bellis Renationis) as lacking flavour for the later renaissance period and most especially the mid to late Seventeenth Century ECW & TYW (Thirty Years War) and after.
However what the possibility of Basic Baroque did do is prompt me to do pre-Christmas is to order a reasonable order of Warlord Games (mostly) plastic ECW packs to kick start my neglected ECW interest (unfortunately just a couple of weeks too soon to miss out on their January free pack deal). I previously had a large 15mm Essex Miniatures & Freikorps army, but after disillusionment with DBR and POW (Principles of War) Renaissance – another set which failed to capture the ‘flavour’ of the ECW era – and a loss of interest in 15mm I liquidated these troops on EBay a few years ago. Also unfortunatley, while highly popular at my club, FoG just does not grab me at all so I haven’t looked into FoGR (FoG Renaissance) in great detail (and as a result not played a game as yet).
I had previously played Forlorn Hope – and I still maintain these have the best flavour of the period – quite a bit in the early/mid-nineties, and have the latest edition – but the figure casualty thing is a dog, especially in 28mm when you will have large foot units of 28-40 figures on table. 1644 has also had a fair play back then, while simple and easy it was a bit flavourless and once again suffers from figure casualty-itis! And Warhammer English Civil War – well I’ve dabbled – but really, what were they thinking? It just ‘isn’t right’, and again it’s the usual obsesion with figure casualties (damn nice rule-book though and I have it solely as a reference/pictorial inspiration). Anyway I suspect Basic Baroque will likely be a little generic too as it covers the whole renaissance period, but it may suffice short term, and with the impending release (I hope) of the Black Powder ECW supplement I’m hanging my hat on the latter long-term as the ultimate solution for reasonable sized 28mm games of 6-12 units or so a side. Otherwise Father Tilly (by The Assault Group) is about next on the every decreasing list!
Anyway, back to the figures – I must say in person they do look damn good – I’m slowly being won over by 28mm plastics (having a few Perry’s Plastics amongst my ACW stuff, and more being used for 1815 Waterloo British Napoleonics). Anyway to get the bulk of an (obviously) Parliamentarian – or Roundhead – army (after all they were the good guys) I ordered the following: 1 x Pike & Shotte Field Army with Earl Of Essex (which contains a Pike & Shotte Starter Battalia; Dragoons box; Cuirassiers box; Firelocks box; and a Saker Cannon & crew), an additional Pike & Shotte Starter Battalia (these each contain 32 Pike & Command figs; 48 Musketeers; 24 Cavalry; & 10 Firelocks), and a few extra packs such as Oliver Cromwell, extra Command figures, and various characters & accessories. This means I should have:
2 Generals (Old Robin the Earl of Essex & Oliver Cromwell)
72 Pike & Command Figs/96 Musketeers (say 4-5 units of 36-40 figs)
48 Cavalry (say 4-6 troops of 8-12 figs – in 2-3 units of 16 or 24)
12 Cuirassiers (1 troop/unit of 12)
12 Mounted Dragoons & 12 Dismounted Dragoons (1 unit in both states)
38 Firelocks (okay there might be a few too many of these)
1 Saker Cannon & 5 Crew (incl. Master Gunner)
Half-a-Dozen Characters (Preachers, Ranter, Sgt Martindale, etc)
So should get a fairly decent army out of that lot! Oh, and I picked up their nice ready-made Warlord Games Windmill while I was at it! Of course it may be 2012 or so by the time these all get on the table!
Basic Baroque should give a really good feel for the ECW – this was the main focus (along with the 30YW) when putting the rules together. Of course I may be a little biased (check out the credits..)
I will be putting together both 15mm and 28mm Baroque armies. For 28mm I will be using 60mm squares – two for the shot and one for the pike. This will give something that looks like a regiment, is perfect for Baroque and also the right basing for FoGR.
I have four boxes of foot – this will provide eight regiments when I add four more command groups.
I will wait for the next freepost offer to pick up the horse – or get Renegade’s offerings – those are seriously cheap for metal!
Basic Baroque should give a really good feel for the ECW – this was the main focus (along with the 30YW) when putting the rules together. Of course I may be a little biased (check out the credits..). I will be putting together both 15mm and 28mm Baroque armies.
For 28mm I will be using 60mm squares – two for the shot and one for the pike. This will give something that looks like a regiment, is perfect for Baroque and also the right basing for FoGR. I have four boxes of foot – this will provide eight regiments when I add four more command groups.
I will wait for the next freepost offer to pick up the horse – or get Renegade’s offerings – those are seriously cheap for metal!
Yes – I look forward to having a read and possibly a try of Baroque, although as mentioned above am very keen to see what Black Powder comes out with for the ECW! 🙂