Warlord Games Pike & Shotte (28mm)

Out numbered, underequipped but never outclassed, Charles’s infantry fought against desperate odds even beyond their cataclysmic defeat at Naseby.The names of their regiments live on, Rupert’s Foot, Kings Guard, Newcastle’s heroic White coats and the astonishing Cornish Foot.

The Pike and Shotte Royalist Infantry box gives you enough parts to assemble 40 stout Royalist infantry and eight flags, a painting guide, bases, all you need to rally your forces for Charles, King of England.

Note: models are supplied unassembled and unpainted

The dour psalm singing men of Parliament are captured here in a box containing 40 Parliament Soldiers and eight standards and complete with bases. From the hurriedly raised regiments and tarried bands of 1642, the Rebel army grew to be an awesome fighting force with the Venice red coated New Model Army driving all before them. By the 1650 the NMA was arguably the best trained and effective force in Europe.

The Pike and Shotte Parliament Infantry box gives you enough parts to assemble 40 Parliament infantry.

Note: models are supplied unassembled and unpainted

Check out our comprehensive review of the Parliament Infantry kit in our blog: Pike and Shotte Parliament Infantry review.

The Saker was the mainstay of the artillery park. Large and fearsome enough to pound the enemy in the field and also manageable (just!) so that it could arrive on the battlefield. We forget today that 350 years ago in Britain few had seen the savage effects of gunpowder weapons let alone heard such a terrific noise as a Saker giving fire!

Crewed by a couple of specialists and a team of labourers who had to swab the gun and haul it back into position after each shot, artillery were much valued by generals of both sides. Their material effect on the enemy was often negligible, but the morale effect profound.

The Warlord Games gun team can be painted to represent any gunners in the 17th Century. Don’t forget that cannon seem sometimes also to have been painted in surprisingly bright colours, though we recommend Black for the barrel and ironwork.

The Saker is beautifully sculpted in fine detail and for this reason Warlord have produced it in fine resin so that all wood grain and rivets are represented.

Note: models are supplied unassembled and unpainted

Scotland might not have been one of the richest lands in Europe, but when its well organised army marched to war, it went well equipped with artillery in quantity and in many forms.

The Frame gun was a Scots favourite. Small and compact and easy to manoeuvre, frame guns come in all shapes and sizes. They could be simple barrelled, double-barrelled or even quadruple barrelled as is the Warlord Games gun!

They could be towed by mules, packed in carts or dismantled and carried by pack animals, making them very versatile, as artillery was frequently lost on campaigns or reaching the battlefield too late to make a difference.

Frame guns could fire round shot or hail shot and would be able to keep up a quick rate of fire. Scots armies seemed to field many of these useful machines of destruction, indeed some people called small guns such as these ‘murderers’.

We imagine that Montrose may well have picked up some of these on a campaigns though he did not record so doing, in his many victories against the Government forces.

Note: models are supplied unassembled and unpainted

Master Gunner Hertz Van Rental

The Warlord Games master gunner, a Dutch mercenary, is laying a target with his gunner’s sight. Gunnery in the 17th Century was part science and part craft, but there was no substitute for experience in the field.

‘Old Tom’ - Marksman

Warlord Games are proud to release a superb new marksman model. ‘Old Tom’ as his subordinates call him has been the squire’s gamekeeper for as long as most can remember.

The Pike and Shotte Specialists pack contains both the Master gunner and Marksman.

Note: models are supplied unassembled and unpainted

England in 1642 was a land of peace and sea of tranquillity compared to the horrors of the Continent’s terrible 30 Years War. So when the King and Parliament fell out and fisticuffs spread throughout the land it was like a bolt out of the blue…

No doubt most thought it would all be over by Christmas, but the war dragged on and on and, as usual, it was the common folk who suffered the most. Raiding parties from both sides waged a small war as a fight for supplies and personal plunder took hold of the soldiery who were, it is fair to say, often poorly provided for. This became too much for the good yeoman people of the midlands, and firstly in Worcestershire, then the West Country, the locals organised…

Led most often by their social betters, the villagers and small townsfolk formed associations, or ‘Clubs’, sworn to defend their livestock, beer and persons from any marauding soldiery whomever they were. They armed themselves from whatever were available, largely agricultural tools, and with whatever other weapons the local squirearchy could avail himself of. Some Clubmen groups even fielded cavalry!

They fought a few actions, seeing off small raiding parties, and even sometimes allied with an army for temporary advantage, though no general could count on the goodwill of these bands for long.

So Warlord Games present a savage looking bunch of villagers, led by their handsome squire (directly above), mustering on the village green before marching off to ‘beat the bounds’ of their parish and see off any intruders.

The Pike and Shotte Clubman Militia blister pack contains: 8 models 1 Gentleman and 7 villager and 2 weapon frames in metal.

Note: models are supplied unassembled and unpainted

Firelock companies were raised throughout the Civil Wars for a variety of purposes. Formed originally to fight in the wild bogs of Ireland where a flintlock was more easily handled than the clumsy matchlock, firelock-armed musketeers grew more common as the Civil Wars progressed, all armies sometimes fielding large units so armed.

The firelock had numerous advantages over the older matchlock. It was ready to fire at a moment's notice, was more weatherproof and did not betray a night advance with glowing match cord. It was also much cheaper in the long run as they did not consume vast quantities of match cord.

They were regularly used for baggage and artillery guards, as the flintlock mechanism was seen as infinitely more desirable in a gunpowder depot than spluttering, lit, match cord!

By mid to late war, whole companies were fielded. For the Royalists, Legge's who fought at Edgehill, Rupert’s and Maurice’s redcoats and Sandford's from Ireland. Parliament issued them liberally and many of the New Model Army had whole companies so armed and later, whole regiments. The Scots Covenanter forces also used the firelock to good effect.

Warlord Games’ Firelocks are shown storming a bridge led by their dashing Captain, just the sort of action that Firelock Companies were used for!

The Pike and Shotte Firelock Storming Party box set contains 16 plastic Firelock Musketeers, 1 Officer & 1 Drummer.

Note: models are supplied unassembled and unpainted

Check out our comprehensive review of the Firelock Storming Party kit in our blog: Pike and Shotte Firelock Storming Party review.

These Warlord Games Amoured Pikemen are great for adding variety to your exsisting pike units and increasing their size, or building a new one entirely from scratch.

These are great characterful models with a great amount of detail for you painters out there.

The Pike and Shotte Armoured Pikemen pack contains 8 random armoured pikemen with pikes.

Note: models are supplied unassembled and unpainted

Robert Devereux, eldest son of the 2nd Earl of Essex who was famously executed by Elizabeth I, was born in 1591. Although one of the wealthiest men in England at the time of the English Civil War, he was never a favourite at the court of Charles I.

He gained his early military experience fighting in the Thirty Years War for the protestant cause in Germany and the Low Countries. Essex firmly tied himself to the cause of Parliament by warning the five MP's about to be arrested on the Kings orders. He was in fact the highest ranking noble to support Parliament and was made Lord General of all Parliament forces in 1642.

Essex was a naturally cautious general, although undeniably brave. In fact, at Edgehill he was seen in the thick of the action with pike in hand. Beloved by his men, he was nicknamed 'Old Robin' by them as a term of endearment, his regiment becoming known as 'Olde Robin's Foote'.

This fantastic sculpt shows Essex mounted and his hat off taking a salute.

Note: models are supplied unassembled and unpainted

Born in Prague in 1619 the son of Frederick V, Elector of Palatinate, Prince Rupert was the nephew of King Charles I.

Rupert first campaigned in the Thirty Years War at the age of 14, and was held hostage in Austria for 3 years until released with Charles' aid. He came to England with his brother, Maurice, in 1642.

Very gifted in langauges, the arts and mathematics, Rupert was a firm favourite and charismatic leader in the Royalist cause. He went on to become a feared and renowned cavalry commander, sweeping all before him in ferocious charges. Nicknamed 'Robert the Devil' by Parliament, it is clear the fear he instilled in them. Even his pet dog Boye was accused of being demonically possessed!

Headstrong and impetuous, the success of these charges was sometimes diminished by an inability to rein in after initial contact, and this cost the Royalist cause key victories.

This fantastic sculpt of Prince Rupert shows him leading his cavalrymen into the charge along with his fearsome dog Boye.

Note: models are supplied unassembled and unpainted