'Resistance' by JohnB: Colonel Du Bois Regiment of Covenanter Foot

My third entry in this years AHPC16 is for the theme bonus round of the REBELS (It's actually 'Resistance', John - Editor :) ). Back in the 17th century radical beliefs led to all kinds of activity in the Americas while in the British Isles the three Kingdoms of Ireland, Scotland and England the matters of religion, tax and the extent of power of those who ruled were to the fore. (Plus ca change!).

The Scots had a bit of a ding dong when it came to Charles I so that in 1639 they were rebelling in parts during the Bishops War before eventually siding with Parliament when the civil war proper started in 1642 and by 1644 were alongside Fairfax and Cromwell at Marston Moor near York. Of course it did not end well as by 1650 the Scots were being smashed by Cromwell at Dunbar.

And then of course we have Montrose. The Marquis of Montrose was a favourite of King Charles I on whose behalf he raised his standard in Scotland at the moment the war decisively turned against the King in England. After spectacular successes Montrose was eventually defeated and executed.

The Osprey book has proven quite useful to me. However if you want a romantic and royalist version of Montroses war then you could take this book - readily available on ABE books or World of Books online or in a charity bookshop near you if your lucky. C V Wedgewood has had a bad press as a pro royalist yet her writing makes a great read. Her Thirty Years War book is a classic.

For balance? you could try Restless Republic which explores the diversity of civil war - I particularly liked the "diggers" (proto communists) story.

All in all the Scots come over "all rebellious" at this time even when they were on the winning side!

Back to Scotland and Montrose himself was in Aberdeen back in 1639 raising a flag against the monarchy. And just down the road in Montrose (the place) one of my forebears was no doubt trying to decide which way to jump when they were not simply scraping a living - literally off the ground.

My grandfather David Wood walked and thumbed lifts from his home in Montrose to London to find his sister. From a poverty stricken family of eight there was no work in Montrose just after world war one so David Wood had made his way south. He got a job as a domestic servant. He never went back and lost all contact with his family. The good news for me is he married and had children.

As it happens I have had a longstanding queue of ECW forces waiting for a chance at the painting table. and one is a convenanter army. So I offer the rebel theme the rebellious(some of the time) Covenanter Scots of Colonel de Bois Regiment of Foot. The Colonel has adapted a common scottish standard of a white saltaire on red background and added his own moniker in the centre - a wood. Tumbling Dice mould flags to the figure and on this occasion I decided not to replace it. This was a straightforward paint job.

The figures are from Tumbling Dice cast in Pewter offering some fine casting and at the one and true scale of 1/72 ;) My figures are based on 40mm square bases, four bases to a unit and my favoured ruleset being Field of Battle - Anchor of Faith like quite a few used this approach.

Painting wise the figures are in standard acrylics with vallejo matt varnish finish and my standard base treatment - raw sienna painted budgie grit with dry brush ochre then yellow white highlights. This time I am using JAVIS of STOCKPORT ENGLAND flock to add some grass - note this is the traditional flock(fine dyed sawdust) rather than the more popular static grass or plastic grass granules/grains. I resisted adding tussocky grasses but might be tempted if they make it to the gaming table.

Points wise I am thinking its 1/72 at 4 points each and 20 foot figures so I get 80 points plus the REBELS theme bonus of 50 points = 130 points.

That concludes my three theme entries - the theme has been fun and less distracting than previous years so I hope to get back to some Tuesday terror submissions before the challenge concludes.