More new stuff.

Not done too badly this week, 1 unit of commanded muskets, 1 unit of pike & shot, 2 more artillery stands and 3 command stands for Parliament. I also managed another building hex of 2 small cottages. I have another base of horse undercoated for painting today hopefully. This will give me 10 units of horse so far. Just waiting more my new supply of static grass to arrive now, caught up in the xmas post rush no doubt.

As time for battle gets closer I've been giving some thought to what scale I want to fight my battles in. One thing I like about Commands & Colours is how the troop blocks can represent anything from a single battalion to a full brigade according to scenario for Napoleonics. I have decided that for for my intended games using the C&C/ECW adaptions I'll be working on the basis of a base of foot representing a typical mid war 'local' regiment of between 200 to 300 men, possibly smaller, while my horse bases will each represent a troop of roughly 50 - 60 riders. I have little or no interest in fighting the big set piece battles of the war, I have always enjoyed reading those lively accounts of small actions that took place up and down the country throughout the war.

I'll be adding more buildings, 2 units of mounted dragoons to match the 2 dismounted bases already painted, and more foot over the Christmas period.

I have been thinking about our use of the 'stand of pikes' rule for this period. Tony has understandably proposed that we lift the 'square' rule from C&C as it works so elegantly well for Napoleonics. Over the years I have played many ponderous representations of units forming square during battle, but C&CN handles it extremely well. However, it is obvious that Napoleonic soldiers were far better drilled and trained than civil war recruits and would practice the square formation regularly as part of training. I'm not sure that a 200 man unit of civil war recruits would have been able to react in quite the same way, the stand of pikes being more a huddle of men (and often more of a 'circle' indeed) with muskets crouching under the outstretched pikes for protection. If anybody has any thoughts or evidence relating to the practical use of the stand of pikes formation I'd love to hear from you please. I will just add  in my Sealed Knot days we often used to form stand of pikes against horse and I could never help thinking that determined troopers could have simply ridden right through us rather than conveniently halting to hack at the pike points! This was not a formation to be compared with the rigid square formation presenting ranks of bristling bayonets of the Napoleonic period. Test games will show us how well the rule translates to the civil war period.