After a very long interval, my fairly regular opponent Steve (of Tunnies Terrain) finally managed to come round to mine for a game. I put on a Sun King 1670s battle. However, it was based on Zaragoza 1710, fought between the Spanish Bourbons supporting Philip V and the Coalition who were supporting the Archduke Charles. This may puzzle you, but so many battles from c.1630 to c.1750 have a familiar form - cavalry on the wings and infantry in the centre - that it is fairly easy to adapt them to the 1670s and have the French (as the Spanish Bourbons) fighting the Allies (as the Coalition) and pretend it is "somewhere in Flanders" or "somewhere on the Rhine". Anyway, Zaragoza is a good battle to refight as both sides are roughly equivalent in strength and types of troops and the objectives were straightforward as well: the Allies have to beat the French to clear the road and get through to the important city beyond (meaning Zaragoza), the French have to stop them. The game played out for 15 turns before time was called and was a close draw, with see-sawing cavalry actions on both flanks, although the French were having the better of the infantry fighting in the centre. Figures are almost all North Star 1672 28mm metal range. Here are some photographs of the action.

The battlefield with both sides, French to the left, Allies to the right.

French right wing.

French left wing.

French centre.

Another view of the French centre.

Allied left wing.

Allied centre.

Allied right wing.

Dutch foot - the Gardes te Voet,

Images from here on are various scenes from the battle, with several of individual units.

The die are a simple way of showing "Fatigue Points", basically the wear and tear of battle, blue for the French, red for the Allies, quicker than recording on paper, but rather less attractive. I hope to go over to casualty figures with numbers fixed to their bases or some other more aesthetically pleasing alternative.

The Allied medium gun battery.

French Chevaux-Legers de la Garde.

Dutch foot - Nassau-Friesland Regiment.

French Villeroi Cavalry Regiment - two squadrons.

French foot - Royal Regiment.

Gardes te Voet Regiment.

The French medium gun battery.

The Allied light gun battery moving in draught.

French foot - Gardes françaises Regiment.

Dutch foot - Aylva Regiment.

The French light gun battery.

French foot - Douglas' Regiment (the future 1st Foot, Royal Scots).

French foot - Anjou Regiment.