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.
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.
ReplyDeletePhase 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
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!!
ReplyDeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteNo 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!
ReplyDeleteRalphus and Fraxinus;
ReplyDeleteAs 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
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!
ReplyDeleteconversion possiblities definitly!
Bill,
ReplyDeleteYou 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