When I had a Habsburg TYW army these were difficult figures to source.
Wars of Louis Quatorze: Carlo Fantom - a famous Croat in the English Civil War
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| Art from Lützen 1632: Climax of the Thirty Years War, illustrated by Graham Turner |
The Croats, also known as Cravats or Crabats, were 17th-century light cavalry forces in Central Europe, comparable to the hussars. They were initially irregular units loosely organized in bands and the first regular Croat regiment was established in 1625. The most notable engagement of the Croats was their participation on the Habsburg side in the Thirty Years' War, serving in the Imperial Army or within the troops of the Catholic League. At the height of the Thirty Years' War, as many as 20,000 Croatian cavalry were in the service of the Imperial Army, including the majority of Wallenstein's harquebusiers. The name "Croats" became a generic term for light cavalry from the Habsburg Military Frontier rather than an ethnic designation, and included ethnic Croats, Hungarians, Serbs, Wallachians, Poles, Cossacks, Albanians, and Tatars. The Croats were initially recruited by generals of the Habsburg monarchy, and soldiers who joined Croats signed contracts which expired after the military campaign would be over, most often for any booty and sometimes for a fee.

1 comment:
Didn't Minifigs used to do them in 15mm? I seem to remember seeing some figures that looked like the axe wielding figure in the picture.
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