Napoleonic Wargame Club (NWC)

Leipzig done in 2mm miniatures for a convention game:

http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=487837

Battalion scale too! Amazing.

I noted the hedges he used for the fields. Wondering where that is on the battlefield. I always thought that the Leipzig terrain (for the most part) was rather open.....

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Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Prinz Peters von Dennewitz

3. Husaren-Regiment, Reserve-Kavallerie, Preußischen Armee-Korps

Honarary CO of Garde-Ulanen Regiment, Garde-Grenadier Kavallerie

NWC Founding Member

For Club Games: I prefer the Single Phase mode of play. I prefer to play with the following options OFF:

MDF, VP4LC, NRO, MTD, CMR, PR, MIM, NDM, OMR (ver 4.07)

The figures are good and are made using a 3d printer but a plexiglass board, kind of understand the reasoning behind it especially if the model battlefield is quite big.

https://www.teesdalemercury.co.uk/featu ... -miniature

This was built in 1/800 scale and has over 3,500 figures in various formations, took 10 weeks to build and 4 weeks to paint and base the figures. It has over a 1000 model trees. It covers an area 1km x 2km and is an actual battle fought on the 1st of December 1642 during the first Great Civil War between King and Parliament.

Nice, Mark! I grew to enjoy the ECW battles from both reading about them, playing REN ere miniatures myself (15mm Fr. Prot. army) and of course who hasn't seen "Cromwell" with Richard Harris?

Great display. Are there any other pics of this setup or am I just too old to notice more links?

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Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Prinz Peters von Dennewitz

3. Husaren-Regiment, Reserve-Kavallerie, Preußischen Armee-Korps

Honarary CO of Garde-Ulanen Regiment, Garde-Grenadier Kavallerie

NWC Founding Member

For Club Games: I prefer the Single Phase mode of play. I prefer to play with the following options OFF:

MDF, VP4LC, NRO, MTD, CMR, PR, MIM, NDM, OMR (ver 4.07)

There are more, with a set of just the the model without the figures and a set with the figures showing my take on the battle. I will get them posted up.

There are approximately another 14,000 figures to still do but as these really didn't take part in the battle so there is no rush. I am about to embark on another model of the Battle of the Standard 1138, just waiting on the historians to get back with information and for them to okay my topographical detail and building can start.

There is also a model of the Battle of Waterloo but that is a big undertaking but I really should get started as I have been asked to display part of it in Liverpool, December 2019.

Bill here are the pics I mentioned hope you like.

The Parliamentarian force under Captain John Hotham after travelling to Darlington, a loyal Parliamentarian town, hears of a convoy heading south from Newcastle under the command of Sir William Cavandish the Earl of Newcastle. The convoy taking the road to Durham city across to Bishop Auckland and down the old Roman Road to York to relieve the Royalist garrison there has to cross the River Tees at the village of Piercebridge. This is the place Captain Hotham moves his force too to try and prevent the Royalists reaching the besieged defenders at York. Here the Parliamentarians are travelling along the road to the village of Piercebridge from Darlington passing the high hill at Carlbury, through High Carlbury and down into the Village of Piercebridge.

The Parliamentarian force under Captain Hotham take up positions in and around the village of Piercebridge as the Royalist advance guard under the command of Colonel Thomas Howard appears travelling south down the old Roman road of Dere Street from Bishop Auckland. The Royalists seeing the Parliamentarian force sends its dragoons to act as flank guards into the fields while the main advance force travels along the road.

The Parliamentarian troops await the Royalists in the village of Piercebridge. Cavalry troops of Captain's Wray and Hatcher screen the foot companies of Captain Boynton.

Captain John Hotham with his 4 companies of foot (approx. 400 men), 3 troops of horse (approx. 180 men) and 2 light cannon take up positions on the south side of the River Tees in the hamlet of Cliffe. On the north bank of the River Tees, in and around the village of Piercebridge, the Royalist advance guard under Colonel Thomas Howard comprising of 8 companies of foot (approx. 800 men), 3 troops of horse (approx. 180 men), 5 companies of dragoons (approx. 500 men) take up their positions while on Carlbury Hill 8 medium cannon take up position to bombard the Parliamentarian positions at Cliffe while the Royalist dragoons get ready to storm the bridge.

Colonel Thomas Howard leads a company of his dragoons over the bridge in the face of the Parliamentarian light guns and musketeers. Unfortunately he dies leading an attack and is the most senior Royalist Officer to die that day. The attack succeeds due to large numbers of Royalist troops and the bridge is crossed and the fight continues on the south side of the River Tees into the hamlet of Cliffe. Here we see the dead piling up on the south side of the bridge and Colonel Thomas Howard advancing across the bridge with his ensign, both on horseback with a company of dragoons both to the front and rear on foot.

As the Royalist Dragoons of Colonel Thomas Howard who now lies dead or dying on the bridge push across and fan out, the battle is now carried to the south side of the River Tees into the hamlet of Cliffe with its coaching Inn. Captain Hotham managed to get his light cannon to safety before they could be overrun by the Royalist dragoons. Parliamentarian Cavalry, 3 troops strong under the Captain's Wray, Hotham and Hatcher cover the withdrawal of the Parliamentarian supply and support wagons which start to head south up the hill on the old Roman Road of Dere Street.

Captain Hotham's Parliamentarian force retreats to a better position up the hill closely followed by the Royalist advance guard, of foot, horse and dragoons, while the light cannon along with the supply and support wagons of the Parliamentarian force slip away south to Knaresborough along the Roman Road of Dere Street.
Captain Hotham's Parliamentarian force retreats to a better position up the hill closely followed by the Royalist advance guard, of foot, horse and dragoons, while the light cannon along with the supply and support wagons of the Parliamentarian force slip away south to Knaresborough along the Roman Road of Dere Street.
Captain Hotham's Parliamentarian force retreats to a better position up the hill closely followed by the Royalist advance guard, of foot, horse and dragoons, while the light cannon along with the supply and support wagons of the Parliamentarian force slip away south to Knaresborough along the Roman Road of Dere Street.

Captain Hotham prepares to withdraw to Knaresborough after suffering defeat at the hands of the Royalist force under the overall command of the Earl of Newcastle, Sir William Cavandish.

The model battlefield of the Battle of Piercebridge looking north along the old Roman Road of Dere Street. The River Tees runs from left to right in the middle and the village of Piercebridge is on the north bank of the River Tees on the left. The model took 10 weeks to build and is made in 1/800 scale (2mm) and all the figures are from Irregular Miniatures and are 2mm (1/800 scale) The model has over 1000 model trees and all the buildings are made of balsa wood. The whole project has been somewhat a bit of an investigation with very little information on the battle, in fact no more than a paragraph. So with maps dating from 1760s, 1812 supplied by the North Yorkshire Records Office as well as a fantastic map dated 1727 from the archives of Lord Barnard of Raby Castle and modern ordnance survey maps I have managed to create something fairly similar to the terrain at the time of the battle. The information on the troop composition was supplied by the historian Phil Philo who was the leading man behind the project and from his talk and research on the battle, the model was conceived.





Why I have shown these is because I have started creating models which is very helpful for me. I make many models now from model battlefields which I have to admit are my favourite through to monuments and historic buildings. I am currently in the middle of a number of models commissions which I make for cost of materials and any major research costs. The model you have seen above will when it has its full Royalist Force added will have cost £850.00 and that includes approximately 17,000 figures all painted and based and the model battlefield as well as its table.

The model has been in the Head of Steam Museum in Darlington for 3 weeks and had amazing reviews, it took part in the Battle of Piercebridge day at St Mary's Church in the village of Piercebridge where it stayed for 5 weeks and was available to be viewed by visitors every Sunday, and finally made a trip to Durham City to the Battlefields Trust Annual Conference where it took centre stage and I did a 20 minute talk on the making of the model. It has many a journey yet and will be appearing around the North east of England at schools and various other events.

That is really cool. Looks like a professional military sand table for such an obscure ECW battle. I suppose you wargamed those captions with tweezers and a tape measure? If so, what rules do you use?

Good to see you back again Mark, and especial in such a busy way.
Impressive model without a doubt.

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Thank you but I can certainly assure you that the model is certainly no sand table. There are 3 layers of plaster and one of plaster impregnated bandage. The contours are carved out of 3mm Styrofoam sheet. The whole model is coated in pva and sprinkled with sand and a further 50/50 mix of emulsion paint and pva glue is then painted over top. This whole process makes the model really strong and durable.

The model is an educational piece and the captions are from information researched by both myself and a historian of which many hours were taken up sat looking up information on the Internet and there is an battlefield archaeological survey happening in the next few weeks to tie up any loose ends so we can get the whole story. Obviously I'm not against using the model to maybe refight the battle as a war game but that will need to wait till the full royalist force is finished.

Thanks Christian or should I call you sir as my new commanding officer. An honour to serve under you and may I congratulate you on your command and one well deserved.

I seem to have found a new lease of life and I'm pushing forward like Napoleon in the campaign of 1805.

Ahh, I randomly did a wiki search on Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Bershire. Who didn't die in this battle so I assumed these were hypothetical wargame results. A different man or the wiki article is wrong.

Your right with two Thomas Howard's and the one who you refer to is not the one. Colonel Thomas Howard is from Cumbria. Suggest the BCW project site and you may find the right one.

Also can I mention that Colonel Thomas Howard is buried in a grave yard in the village of High Coniscliffe about a mile from the village of Piercebridge in an unmarked grave but his name is on the church records and when and how he died.

Hah, that's noblesse oblige for you. The royalists take back power and they don't even commemorate a loyal regimental commander that died for them.

Enjoyed the pictures, Mark! Thanks for sharing.

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Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Prinz Peters von Dennewitz

3. Husaren-Regiment, Reserve-Kavallerie, Preußischen Armee-Korps

Honarary CO of Garde-Ulanen Regiment, Garde-Grenadier Kavallerie

NWC Founding Member

For Club Games: I prefer the Single Phase mode of play. I prefer to play with the following options OFF:

MDF, VP4LC, NRO, MTD, CMR, PR, MIM, NDM, OMR (ver 4.07)

Great attention to detail.

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Ernie Sands
1ère Brigade of 2ème Division de Grosse Cavalerie, Réserve de Cavalerie
de la Grande Armée
President, Colonial Campaigns Club