News: Royalist North West Offensive Thwarted

5th January 1989: The Republican leadership received welcome news when it was reported that the Royalist offensive to seize Liverpool had faltered.

Although some Royalist forces were able to invest the city they became bogged down in fierce street battles as the Republican leadership of the city issued a call to arms to all citizens to resist the royalist troops.

Liverpool mayor Derek Hatton pledged to turn Liverpool "into a new Stalingrad" as militia units including army cadets and trade union chapters fought alongside Republican army units from the Lancashire Regiment against the Royalists.

News: Cambridge Falls To Royalists

3rd January 1989: TV channel Sky News gave the first reports that Cambridge had fallen to Royalist forces following a concerted offensive over the new year period.

Royalist forces spearheaded by The King's Regiment and the 7th Duke of Edinburgh's Gurkha Rifles forced back the Republican Anglian Regiment in a series of attacks over a three day period. The Republicans swiftly deployed elements of the 3rd Tank Regiment and the Parachute Regiment to Saffron Walden to help prop up the retreating Anglians as the capital came under threat of Royalist attack for the first time in the war.

News: Charles Crowned King

1st January 1989: In a small scale ceremony in Christ Church Cathedral, Ottawa, Prince Charles was crowned King of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis; Head of the Commonwealth, and Supreme Governor of the Church of England.

Upon his coronation, Charles Windsor adopted the regal name of George VII to avoid the association with Stuart kings named Charles, the first having been executed following a civil war, the second living for many years in exile.

Blogs: Un-Tied Kingdom, The War in 2011

If you enjoy this blog and Winter of '79, you'll be pleased to see another modern British civil war blog project, the Un-tied Kingdom, the War in 2011. Right up to date, the divergence point is the recent election and the Labour Party leading a revolt against the minority Tory government. Hopefully you'll follow Brian's efforts as well as Mark's at '79 and mine here.

Miniatures: 1/56th British Army AFV's

As the missus watches Poirot (or Pie-rot as I like to call him!) on ITV this Christmas night I decided to read through the Battlegames PDF bundle I bought a week or so back. I'd only got into the first few when reading about Mike Siggins' visit to an old toy soldier fair and his quest to buy 54mm Coldstream Guards he mentioned a company called Scarlet and Gold who make 30mm toy soldiers and also that they produce vehicles...

Whilst my 28mm plans are FIBUA based and I probably won't want a Chieftain or Challenger in 1/56th, I can find a use for APC's and light tanks like the Scimitar. A useful looking 20 vehicle range, it includes Warriors (one above), Humvees, Land Rovers and a 105mm towed by a Pinzgauer light truck.

Another 1/56th source is Sloppy Jalopy who do a small range of Cold War era vehicles including a very useful FV432, Humber Pig and a wonderful Saxon APC (above). Once the credit card bill is reduced post Christmas I will be investing in some vehicles from both companies for some 2ECW action.

Miniatures: Airfix To Release Modern British

Airfix have today posted their 2011 catalogue online and in it contains some very interesting models for 2ECW gaming. Airfix are planning to release a new range of 1/48th scale vehicles and figures which should be worth keeping any eye out for:

A06301: British Land Rover Twin Set (set includes one Land Rover WMIK and one Land Rover Snatch)
A02750: British Army Troops

Miniatures: Chieftain & Challenger

Mark on his excellent Winter of '79 blog found some useful 1/72 pre-painted models at very reasonable prices. The Altaya range includes two obviously useful models in the form of a Challenger I in the green/black camo pattern (perfect for home service) and a Chieftain V in the Berlin urban camo. Mark points out that it isn't 100% accurate for Berlin, but is more than acceptable for Basingstoke or Bedford...

He picked his Chieftain's up from Model Hobbies of Stoke-on-Trent for a very reasonable £7.19 (given it's ready for gaming) and I may pick up a couple to use with the old 20mm's I have stored away that were the main reason for starting this project!

News: Prince Charles Agrees To Take Crown

31st December 1988: CBC reported that Prince Charles, at the time in exile in the United States, had, after representations from military and political leaders, agreed to be crowned King. Charles had not taken the decision lightly as he had initially believed that such an act would fan the flames of war in Britain, but the continued violence, break-up of the Union and foreign intervention led him to change his mind. The Republican Government in London condemned the decision as "illegal, inflammatory and of no consequence".

News: Para-Military Campaign Launched In Scotland

28th December 1988: BBC Scotland reported a series of para-military attacks on Scottish National Party (SNP) and Scottish Labour Party offices and officials by extremists operating under the banner Siol nan Gaidheal (Seed of the Gaels).

The Siol nan Gaidheal (SnG) had been an ultra-nationalist wing of the SNP until they were expelled from the party in the early 1980's. Under the leadership of Jackie Stokes and inspired by ultra-nationalist movements across Europe, the SnG began to organise for 'military struggle' when the civil war erupted in England.

Stokes was hugely critical of SNP leader Gordon Wilson's agreement with Cranwell to support the London Government in return for independence, believing that that the weakened state of the English government meant that independence could be declared unilaterally without the need to gain English acquiescence.

News: Mitterrand Calls For French Volunteers

27th December 1988: Following the attacks on shipping in the English Channel by the Royal Air Force and the attack on the French Mirages by the RAF Tornadoes, French President Mitterrand called upon France to form a volunteer legion to help protect "liberty and democracy against the fascist royalist faction in Great Britain". Volunteers were drawn from and equipped by the French armed forces although Mitterrand was clear to state that France itself would remain neutral, albeit sympathetic to the legitimately elected government in London.

News: Dogfight Over The Channel

24th December 1988: ITN reported that Royal Air Force Tornado F3's operating out of RAF Coningsby had engaged French Mirage 2000's over the English Channel. The F3's had been supporting an attack by Tornado GR1B's on merchant vessels moving armaments from France to Republican ports on the south coast when they engaged the French aircraft downing two for the loss of one of their own. The French government expressed outrage at the "unprovoked, cowardly attack" by the Royalist planes.

News: Cranwell Appeals To Mitterrand

22nd December 1988: French broadcaster TF1 reported the signing of an 'Entente Politique' between Prime Minister James Cranwell and President François Mitterrand in Paris.

The Republican Government was becoming increasingly concerned at the reversals it had suffered in the civil war and Cranwell decided to appeal to fellow Socialist leader Mitterand for material assistance. The agreement reached by the two leaders allowed for material assistance from the French (along with a number of military advisors) in return for joint sovereignty over the Channel Islands and a number of other concessions favourable to the French.

News: Royalists Push On London

21st December 1988: Royalist news channel Sky News reported that Royalist combat forces had launched a major offensive to gain control of the capital.

Armoured units led a two prong attack south from the Royalist controlled areas in the north through the Midlands causing chaos in Republican ranks as broke through at Peterborough and Kings Lynn.

The Republican army retreated towards a new defensive line between Cambridge and Milton Keynes and moved units from the West Country and Wales to the area to help stem the Royalist advance.

News: Navy Ordered Into Dock

20th November 1988: The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the Royal Navy had been ordered by First Sea Lord Julian Oswald not to become embroiled in the civil unrest in Britain and to retire to the Her Majesty's Canadian Dockyard at Halifax, Nova Scotia for the duration of the hostilities. Whilst there were a number of naval actions involving small coastal vessels during the war, the involvement of major naval assets during the conflict was negated by Oswald's order.

Normal Service Will Be Resumed

Apologies for the lack of updates since Colours but life and other projects have unfortunately got in the way. However expect normal service to be resumed very soon with updates on the course of the war, foreign involvement, movement by the Royal Family and details of more para-military groups in due course.

Miniatures: British Armour

Went to Colours today and picked up some stuff for 2ECW, namely a GHQ British Combat Command, a pack of Chieftains, some FV432's and some additional infantry.

So why 1:285th you ask, when I had decided to go with Minifigs lovely 10mm? Short answer is whilst looking for some dwarf slayers for my son in the lead mountain, I rediscovered my old GHQ Soviets of which I have rather a lot (enough to paint up for both Afghanistan - the original plan - and West Germany if I use CWC). So lacking a contemporary mechanised OpFor for them I decided my CWC 2ECW battles would be 1:285th so I could also use the British as the BAOR and Berlin Brigade (that'll be fun painting in 6mm!).

Yes they are expensive but as I already had a lot of GHQ Sov's it seemed buying the Brits from H&R was not the right thing to do and they are beautiful models (and the siren of the Wehrmacht '47 stuff is calling - must resist!)

Battle Report: Tank Action On Somerset Levels

I missed this on the original TMP thread from Nik Harwood, but having read the blog and done a quick rummage of his Cold War Commander Brits, Nik drew up two battlegroups here to fight out some battles on the Somerset Levels near Taunton as well as painting up these lovely Minifigs Chieftans in urban camo.

The battle report (with loads of in action photos) can be found here.

Ironically he's included some German forces as allies of the Republic, something that is very much on the cards as other nations start interfering in the war (as you'll see over the next week or so...)

News: Scargill Urges Workers To Fight

19th December 1988: Following the Ollerton Massacre, Industry Secretary Arthur Scargill urged workers across England to arm themselves and form workers union militias to "resist the forces of fascist oppression and protect the workers' democracy being built in England".

The creation of these ad hoc militias was a pivotal point in the civil war as it required the Royalists to maintain higher levels of security in so-called secure areas behind the frontline. The trade union militias were of varying size and impact. Many restricted themselves to being a form of Home Guard for their workplaces and home towns, whilst other more militant ones, such as the "flying picket" squads organised by the National Union of Mineworkers were much more proactive causing widespread chaos in Royalist held areas with their Transit van transported strike cells.

News: Royalist Forces Blamed For Mine Massacre

18th December 1988: BBC News reported that Royalist troops were responsible for the "massacre" of sixty-seven unarmed miners at the Ollerton Colliery in Nottinghamshire.

Following their success in the North East, the rebel forces had begun to move south down the east of the country, bypassing centres of stiff resistance such as Sheffield. Republican resistance became more intense as the rebels moved into the East Midlands and the fluid nature of the warfare led to military and locally formed militia units operating in areas behind the front line.

Numerous incidents occurred as the war spread and whilst the Royalists denied responsibility for the massacre and attempted to blame Republican Security Services, blame clearly lay at the feet of elements who attached themselves to the rebel cause, even if they were not directly under Royalist GHQ command.

News: Irish Meet Soviets For Secret Talks

17th December 1988: Sky News reported on the secret meeting between Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev and Irish Taoiseach Charles Haughey at Shannon in the Republic of Ireland.

The Irish had become increasingly concerned at the increasing violence across Britain and the heightening tensions in Ulster with the possible impact it could have on the Republic. Whilst the agenda was highly secret it soon became apparent that Haughey was looking for Soviet support should the Republic decide to intervene militarily in Northern Ireland should the situation worsen.

News: Government Seizes Control Of Press

16th December 1988: The Cranwell Government seized control of the British media in an attempt to control the flow of information following the heavy defeat of Government forces in Manchester. 

Citing "lies by the Tory press" and "evidence of treasonable collusion designed to undermine the spirit of the English people", the Security Service stormed editorial offices and printing presses of a number of newspapers shutting them down, whilst installing Home Office advisors in those such as the Daily Mirror, Guardian and Morning Star which were allowed to continue operating. Home Office advisors were also installed in BBC and ITN newsrooms to "assist in the free flow of accurate news to the public".