Wargaming the English Civil War and a new Direction

Well another long pause in between posts and here I am back again with some new work and a new project.

The Dark Ages armies have been moving along nicely and I should have some updates for the Vikings and even the beginning of the Saxon project soon.

But something new is afoot as the title of this post should suggest.

The English Civil War. 

Picture from : http://iron-mitten.blogspot.com.au/2012_01_01_archive.html

Recently I have started to plan a career change, with a view to return to university and rather than the last time round and spit out with a business degree, (which has done allot for me admittedly) this time im going to follow my passion.  So I've take two steps so far:  Step one is to enroll in a course on the English Civil War that is offered by Oxford university via distance education, and  I have applied to enrol in  the graduate diploma of Military History at the University of NSW - and then all things going well - complete a Masters and then PhD in the field.


WHY?????

From the 1st memory I have that  was of any independent nature, I have had a deep interest in military history.  I don't know why but the stories, the people and as I grew older and gained a deeper understanding, the human tragedy and also epic triumph of humanity in the face of such devastation has enthralled me.   It has not been just one period either,  from Egyptians through to modern conflicts Ive read, watched and thanks to war-gaming played these periods.

Now thanks to the advice of my boss (he is awesome) as well as the flexibility that the work I do allows, I've decided to get off the bench and look to contribute back to this field of study, but thats a way's off and there are many yards to move the ball to end zone before that is reality.

Anyway back to the topic at hand; The English Civil War.  Why that war? why now?  well its one of the conflicts that I have read about in the past and its from a period of  history I want to get to know more about - be it the Thirty Years War, the War of the Grand Alliance or the Glorious revolution, I want to get a better understanding of the 17th century, and so Im going to study it via Oxford and also blog about wargaming the period.

I hope to do a series on the following topics:

• The Period and the War- reasons for, main players and the bits that make it appealing to game
• Model ranges- the bad, the good and the drool worthy
• Resources available- what to read and why
• Rules systems- which book offers the best options for causing damage in a rules dispute
• and of course the painting- otherwise it will get very boring. .

I am going to set my self a goal of one article a month on the period as I delve into warfare in the 17th century.

 Now with most projects of course I have been painting something that will get the ball rolling and with bonus($$$$$) time I was able to secure a few models from the perry miniatures..... well to be honest a few is an understatement but its Perry Miniatures - you just don't buy some.....

So here is the Pike block for  Sergeant Major General Henry Tillier’s regiment of foot. 

The re-enactment society for this regiment is located here:  http://www.tilliers.com/index.html

The next part is to paint the two sleeves of shot and the colonels stand- once that is done Ill get my brother in law to take some pro shots of the whole regiment.   

Till then hope you enjoy and please leave any comments and or feedback!