1 February 2024: English Civil War: New Model Army

Giggles

Read this in the latest bulletin from the global Naval Wargaming tabletop gaming group. Made me chortle so much so I had to wake the wife and tell her. She enjoyed the laugh too.

"...I believe this is true...In WWII the Admiralty sent a signal which ended, “the Fleet will act as a hole in a bayonet”. A correction was [quickly] issued, “the Fleet will act as a whole in obeying it”..." 😁

New Model Army
Been doing some intense research on the background plus what it takes to assemble a tabletop New Model Army (Parliamentarian as they are now known as when originally I knew them as Roundheads) in time for the event. I have over nine months to get something together which should be a real challenge as I am starting completely from scratch. It means importing the miniatures completely from overseas (UK mainly but also USA) which will be pricey for sure. But I have sussed out the necessary retailers already which will provide everything required - musketeers, pikemen, dragoons, harquebusiers, cuirassiers, artillery, commanders/personalities.  

After some dithering on what list to create I have settled (for now) on a historical partial list derived from the Battle of Naseby 1645 which was the first major engagement for the newly-formed New Model Army.

Commander-in-Chief : Sir Thomas Fairfax

Left Wing : Henry Ireton

    John Okey's Regiment of Dragoons

    John Butler's Regiment of Horse

    Cornelius Vermuyden's Regiment of Horse

    Henry Ireton's Regiment of Horse

Centre : Sir Philip Skippon

    Artillery (4 batteries)

    Sir Philip Skippon's Regiment of Foot

    Sir Hardress Waller's Regiment of Foot

    John Pickering's Regiment of Foot

    Edward Montagu's Regiment of Foot

    Sir Thomas Fairfax's Regiment of Foot

    Forlorn Hope of commanded musketeers

Right Wing : Oliver Cromwell

    Edward Whalley's Regiment of Horse

    Robert Pye's Regiment of Horse (one division)

    Sir Thomas Fairfax's Regiment of Horse

    Edward Rossiter's Regiment of Horse (one division)

NOTE: This list is basically the historical 1st Line of the Parliamentarian line at Naseby, according to the OOM shown in wikipedia. 

This will be the proposed long-term target goal. It will no doubt change over time.

Since starting to research, I have been mainly interested in and concentrating on gathering as much information on the units flags for the infantry and cavalry simply because such information tends to be scanty and subject to much variation. I have managed to obtain most on my proposed Army list but still lack a remaining few. 

I do have old copies of Osprey Men-at-Arms series that I can access in storage. Despite the variations in devices and flag colour, I find the whole subject of vexillology fascinating (before Sheldon by the way). It does involve a fair bit of educated (and uneducated) guessing and imagining but it's definitely fun and much much better than no information at all. Any final decision should disputes arise will be settled by what looks visually good on the tabletop.

There are numerous online ECW-centric blogsites that provide clues and expand one's knowledge regarding historical flag information. And, at times, useful tidbits on other matters pertinent to my ongoing research, much of which is all-new to me. Such as the uniform colour for tne NMA was supposedly Venice Red which at the time of purchase was abundant and cheap. And that the lining were colour of choice by the proprietors of the unit. 

With flags mostly sorted out, my next task will be to create the Army list card deck as the rules used are card-driven. This is familiar ground for me as I've created my own card decks for other games before - Admiral of the Fleet by Seekrieg being the last and latest. I will be using playing card size which I've since learned is B8 size (62mm by 88mm). Or 3.5" by 2.45" Imperial. Should whet the creative side of me. I calculated (badly of course) that I'm going to need 69 cards in total. 

But the creativity aspect of this new project won't end there.  No, for while I assemble my list in stages because it's a very big expense buying everything in one hit I will also begin reproducing the various unit flags according to my preference. As I now have my own laser printer print quality won't ever be an issue. Product quality however is another matter altogether. And I really want this new project to be top notch quality from start to finish.

Cheers.

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