The mainstay of my historical wargaming is my collection of 1670s 28mm figures, almost all of them from the Copplestone Castings range "Wars of the Sun King" which is now under the ownership of North Star Military Figures. The artillery pieces, supply wagons, and many of the mounted officers are from the Warfare Miniatures' League of Augsburg range of figures. I was attracted to the period by the lovely figures and by a long-standing interest in Turenne as a military commander. Most of the units I have collected and painted are French and Dutch, but I also have some Austrian and Spanish regiments.
However, as I discovered once I began collecting figures, for anyone interested in the armies of this period there is a significant shortage of details about uniforms, equipment and regimental standards. By the 1670s armies were only just beginning to adopt uniforms on a regular basis, but these all too frequently changed when a unit passed from the colonelcy of one man to another, as did the unit's flags, and these details were often not recorded. Or, as is often the case, the information is out there somewhere in museums and archives, but it has not been unearthed or published for wider use, especially as the military history of this period is very much a minority interest. There is certainly plenty of reading matter on the foreign policy and diplomacy of the wars of the 1660s-1670s, but very little on the armies of the protagonists.
As for rules, I initially had a very detailed homemade set, but these were too slow for multi-player games at my local club; other commercial sets both old and more recent proved little better and, although I have played and quite liked Beneath the Lily Banners, these still had shortcomings in my view. For a while, I used a 'fast play' version of George Gush's WRG Renaissance rules (one of the most well-written sets of rules I have ever come across) which pares the original set down to the basics. However, these were by no means perfect. Now, after browsing through early copies of Battlegames one afternoon recently, I came across in Issue 7, March/April 2007, an article on re-fighting the Battle of Ravenna 1512 by Adrian Hussey. This was accompanied by his set of hex-based rules for re-fighting the early 16th Century Italian Wars. I converted these for the ordinary table-top and the 1670s and they seem to work very well. See my blogpost from January 2020 for more discussion of these new fast play rules.
As for rules, I initially had a very detailed homemade set, but these were too slow for multi-player games at my local club; other commercial sets both old and more recent proved little better and, although I have played and quite liked Beneath the Lily Banners, these still had shortcomings in my view. For a while, I used a 'fast play' version of George Gush's WRG Renaissance rules (one of the most well-written sets of rules I have ever come across) which pares the original set down to the basics. However, these were by no means perfect. Now, after browsing through early copies of Battlegames one afternoon recently, I came across in Issue 7, March/April 2007, an article on re-fighting the Battle of Ravenna 1512 by Adrian Hussey. This was accompanied by his set of hex-based rules for re-fighting the early 16th Century Italian Wars. I converted these for the ordinary table-top and the 1670s and they seem to work very well. See my blogpost from January 2020 for more discussion of these new fast play rules.
I’ve been seduced by beautiful figures too. It’s how I became an ECW collector in 25-28mm, and then in 15mm. It’s a great period for those of us who don’t want some OCD idiot telling me the soldiers aren’t painted correctly! I’ve got a small collection of French, and I’m straddling the uniforms vs non-uniform period so I can enjoy the color. I’m faced with a choice concerning my extra infantry. I’m thinking of doing Dutch colonial. Don’t need any pikes, and I can use about anything carrying a musket for the sailors and colonists. I enjoyed these posts very much!
ReplyDeleteI am glad you enjoyed the posts. Your colonial late 17th century idea sounds rather interesting; it would allow a great deal of freedom in figure choices and dress/uniforms. And although you're right about not having to worry about period "experts", it can be frustrating when you so want to have the right uniform but can't find anything at all about it! This I find is especially true of Spanish troops in the 1670-1680 period.
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