Journal 1709

As you know I'm a fan of the pike - when used properly - so when I saw this photo on Boris' Live Journal for the Great Northern War
I thought I'd have to link to it.

Horse Dung in Lace wars

While Great Northern War reenactor and wargamer Boris was researching sieges in the Great Northern War he came across this excellent segment on the siege of Riga from
An impartial history of the life and actions of Peter Alexowitz, the present Czar of Muscovy: ... his attempts and successes in the northern and eastern parts of the world: in which is intermix'd the history of Muscovy. Written by a British officer in the service of the Czar. London, 1723

I think you will find it interesting...

Frederikstad's 1700 festival

In the Old Town, Fredrikstad, Norway. May 28th-30th 2010. After yesterday when someone missed the GNW event in their home town I am now going to try and post about events before they happen so if you live nearby you can go. This event now has a Facebook page with lots of images and tips to get involved.

Winter warfare Great Northern War style

Photograph of the month without doubt. It is from a recent public event commemorating the raid on the Swedish town of Sortavala in 1705 (on the northern bank of Lake Ladoga) when a Russian army of 2000 men under command of P. M. Apraksin started out from Olonets. More here including a write up.
Our stalwart Russian reenactors are living up to their ancestor's hardy reputation by getting into historical skiing too - not for them the comfort of hearth and home - check out the images to see how they got on.
They of course are the Peter the Great reenactors - website here.

Akira Kurosawa

It's the great Japanese director's 100th birthday today so at the risk of someone telling me in caps I'm out of my area I thought I'd post this very short clip of an action scene in his last historical epic 'Ran'. If you don't know Kurosawa try and track down one of his Samurai movies. Great is too small a word for them.

First Review of Zvezda Swedish Artillery

Well, our friend Will over at Will's Wargames Blog has beaten PSR again, this time with an excellent review of the new Zvezda Swedish Artillery for the GNW (or WAS, WSS, etc.). You can check out Will's review and a great photo here. I know that PSR is probably swamped with sample sets and I'm sure their review will be excellent when completed, but score another one for Will, Good Show my Friend!

Bill

Jamestown massacre 1622

Today is the date mostly associated with this massacre of English settlers - wiki here.

Malplaquet Redux

This is an interesting article on the battle redone for wargames purposes. Down at the bottom is an animated gif which I think is a pretty good feature - maybe something more could do?

Let Joy Reign Supreme/ Que le fête commence

I haven't seen this 1975 film from Tavernier but it looks good. Set during the Pontcallec Conspiracy. Imdb facts here

Execution of Charles I - To Kill A King (2002)

Another depiction of this moment in history. Originally entitled 'Cromwell and Fairfax' this was a blighted movie from the start. Wiki here. As far as I know Tim Roth (who played Cromwell) financed the end result after the original backers pulled out. Even die-hard Civil War fans don't like this movie.

Foot drill from the 1670s

Anno domnini 1672 blog has unearthed a gem - infantry exercise from the 1670s translated from the French. In two parts - reenactors should find this fascinating.

Cromwell in Ireland

Pure coincidence that I am posting this on St Patrick's day - this is an RTE programme that examines the Irish episode during the post Civil War era.

Leuthen 1757

Slideshow of images of the 250th anniversary of this SYW battle. Some really good pictures. Funny thing - there are a few brief images of a diorama - it contains some of my figures - a school there contacted me many years ago about the idea and I gave them some help and sent them a load of Revell 1/72 Prussians that I had painted up around the house to get them started.

Victory 'V' piece on ECW armour in Canterbury

I am a fan of armour on the walls in places so I was glad to read Fraxinus' piece about the ECW collection in Canterbury.

Coordinamento Rievocazioni Storiche 1600-1700

This Association of mainly Italian groups seem to be about furthering the period through reenactment - lots of different languages up so you can find out for yourself.

The Lowlands of Holland

This song, that is supposed to originate from the 1620s, popped into my head while I was in the Netherlands last weekend - well it is a flat country compared to the hills we're used to...this version although a bit rough on the ears is the best one I found on youtube - just my taste...there's others up.

Rampjaar blog

I was going to post something about Holland as we did a gig there last weekend but the thing is - the Anno Domini 1672 blog has that so well covered I dare not go there. Up at the moment is a French order of battle for Seneffe and much more - check it out...it's probably my favourite blog in the history medium.

Alte Zeit Figures

Another great blog is this one dedicated to the sculpting of 30mm Seven Years War figures inspired by Stadden. Good luck with the project - it looks well worth visiting to see how he's getting along.

Duchy of Strackenz

This blog is excellent and is a worthy project - basically recreating de Saxe's ideas for an 18th century legion and putting his concept together as models for wargames as an imaginary nation. Brilliant.

Edgehill in 25mm

Refight of the ECW action.

BLÁZNOVA KRONIKA (The Jester's Tale, 1964) - Battle

This is pretty damn good - different and interesting. Presumably from Czech tv?
According to the blurb - An historical adventure of Karel Zeman set to Moravia in 1625, at the beginning of the Thirty Years' War. Young peasant Petr is captured by a press-gang of duke Mansfeld, and forced to serve in his protestant army against the Austrian Emperor.