Thursday, 12 March 2009

Battle of the Dunes 1658


I try to avoid the ECW and SYW as there's plenty of blogs out there for that but occasionally I succumb and as Fraxinus' excellent Victory V blog has got all Civil War on us with the Call to Arms 1/32 and the Warlord Games ECW 28mms I thought I'd throw in my five eggs and suggest that a good battle to recreate might be this one, also known as Dunkirk fought between all manner of troops, English Roundhead and Cavalier, Spanish, French, Frondeurs...ideal for a variety of troops and not too Anglocentric (I am guilty of this by keeping on about the Monmouth Rebellion). And of course it features Condé and Turenne...
Chris Scott did a very good piece on the battle in a recent Miniature Wargames (#310 FEB 2009). This image of the Duke of York's troop in 1661 is the sort of thing I would expect the Royalist horse to look like but what do I know? My favourite ECW reenactment group is the Fairfax Battalia (ECWS). They have a nice photo feature on the army of 1660...worth checking out.
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7 comments:

  1. Sir William the Aged12 March 2009 at 11:42

    Good post! This is exactly the period that the first phase of my new 15mm French are for. I'm doing the French from post-Rocroi through the Dutch Wars. Finding the standards and information for some of the more obscure units has been a challenge, but I've come up with a pretty good mix so far.

    Phase Two will extend the army into the 1670's and 1680's, with all new long-coated infantry. Some of the cavalry will do "double duty" as the scale allows many details to be obscured or suggested.

    Bill

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  2. Fraxinus13 March 2009 at 04:28

    Its a great period to wargame as the models available can be adapted to many different conflicts & this post has opened my eyes to another!! But my parkfields are ordered for Sedgemoor & awaiting some 15mm's as well...focus...focus!!

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  3. Ralphus13 March 2009 at 05:06

    I hope you didn't think it was a criticism - I myself want to do everything and end up doing nothing - as this blog will testify. But, maybe in my defence variety is the spice of life, or so I've been led to believe.

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  4. Fraxinus13 March 2009 at 05:26

    No I Don't & yes good defence!! The Blog is a good motivational instrument but the internet provides so much info & distraction a 2 edged sword! I just remember now to enjoy the hobby & have fun I even played D&D last night!

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  5. Sir William the Aged13 March 2009 at 07:36

    Ralphus and Fraxinus;

    As you have each done some nice work on larger scaled figures for the period, have you considered the Airfix re-released ECW kits? They re-released the 54mm scale Pikeman, Musketeer and added two cavalrymen to do both the Roundhead and the Royalist variations. You get all four kits in a set called "The English Civil War Collection", on sale for about 14 pounds. I built these eons ago and have two sets coming. Don't know how well I can paint them, it has been light years since I last painted large scale figures. Still, very nice kits with tremendous conversion possibilities. You can see them here:

    http://www.emodels.co.uk/plastic-kits/airfix-54mm-english-civil-collection-06501-p-11836.html

    Also, if you just want a display model, how about the MiniArts 1:16 kits of the King's Musketeers, the Cardinal's Musketeers and a Dutch Musketeer, all 17th century? A bit more daunting, scale-wise, but still excellent figures and conversion possibilities as well.

    http://www.dragonusaonline.com/item_detail.aspx?ItemCode=MIN16009

    Keep up the good work, both of you!

    Bill

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  6. Fraxinus13 March 2009 at 10:43

    Bill yes I have both a 'new set' and the foot in original 1970's blister packaging and the cavalryman boxed like their napoleonic cavalry figures were. I built them 'badly' when they were released originally...will flick through the old catalogues & 'blanket chest' of Airfix/frog treasures and do a post!

    conversion possiblities definitly!

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  7. Anonymous15 March 2009 at 03:03

    Bill,

    You wrote, "I'm doing the French from post-Rocroi through the Dutch Wars. Finding the standards and information for some of the more obscure units has been a challenge, but I've come up with a pretty good mix so far."

    Would you mind sharing? I'm putting together information on uniforms and colours and standards for the period 1672-79. Any help would be appreciated.

    Regards,

    Dan Schorr

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