Hessen-Kassel uniforms 1756

From here

The Western Uniforms of Peter the Great's Army

The introduction of Western costume in Russia was a part of Peter the Great's reforms and, as such, it has been subject to research by many authors. However, research never ends and new evidence keeps surfacing that helps to adjust, refresh and update our view on a typical "Petrine" soldier. Based on first hand sources and the most recent academic research, as well as on illustrations and surviving relics of the period, the author proposes corrections to the contemporary common understanding on how elements of the costume - headgear, dress and footwear - looked like, and what were the authentic ways of wearing it. 
here

Another Passing to Note, and a Reference

By now many of our reader's will have heard that noted wargames author, editor and rules writer Terry Wise passed away on August 17th. Our thoughts go out to Terry's Family. Many of us will remember being influenced either by Terry's writings in Military Modelling's "Observation Post" column, or in "Battle for Wargamer's", or his book "Introduction to Battlegaming", or his many sets of rules published by his own company, Athena. Bon chance Mr. Wise, and may you join that august group of elders already in that Great Gaming Room above for hours of enjoyment!

Now, for a timely "plug": If you haven't already heard of John Curry Events or the "History of Wargaming Project", then you need to follow the link above to check it out. John began a project a few years ago to "resurrect" as many of the seminal books, rules and printed guides for wargaming as possible and reprint them. In some cases, the original authors are still very much with us and have added new introductions or comments; in others he has dealt with the estates of the original authors and gained the rights for the re-prints.

Two of his first efforts were "Charge! Or How to Play Wargames" by Brig. Peter Young and Lt. Col. Lawford, and "The Wargame" by Charles Grant. Both of these books were published and printed by Ken Trotman with John's involvement, and are available through either On Military Matters in the US or through Caliver Books in the UK. John has also published, through his own company, most of the books and rules by such authors as Don Featherstone, Charlie Wesencraft, Paddy Griffith, Tony Bath, Terry Wise, Fred Jane, Fletcher Pratt, Phil Barker and George Gush, which either are available or soon will be directly from John's site.

Two of John's recent coups have been to arrange for a re-print of WRG's 6th Edition Ancients Rules combined with Phil Barker's classic "Purple Primer" (originally published as part of the Airfix "Guides" series) which are available for order now, and a re-print of George Gush's WRG 2nd Edition Renaissance Rules (1420-1700) with lists and amendments (still working with George as of this writing). All well worth checking out if you still enjoy these rules and books, or if you simply want to complete a collection of the "masters" of our hobby.

Bill

An "Oldie" From 1970

Back when any decent form of reference work, in English, was very difficult to find for budding modeler's and wargamer's, René North published this delightful little book. "Military Uniforms 1686 to 1918" was certainly not encyclopedic, nor was it the last word on the subject. But it was a very well-done little "teaser", if you will, on the study of uniforms with some charming illustrations by John Berry (I believe a member artist of the Company of Military Historians). The book was published simultaneously in 1970 in the United States, Canada and the UK; by Grosset & Dunlap in the "colonies" and by Hamlyn Publishing in the UK. I'm not sure what the UK copy sold for, but the US copy originally retailed for $3.95, and I picked my copy up a couple of years later "remaindered" for a single dollar!

Imagine my surprise when this little gem from the past turned up on Scribd.com under their available downloads. For those not familiar, Scridb (with the "i" pronounced hard , as in "subscribe") is an online community, free to join, that allows users to both upload and download virtually any type of material. Educators use it for examples of papers, accountants for examples of balance sheets, and hobbyists for things like Msr. North's book as well as some Ospreys and others. Well worth checking out if you have some time to kill. The site is searchable and this book, along with the site, of course, can be found here. Now, if I could just find Henry Harris' old book on Model Soldiers and of course Garret's masterpiece.

Bill

A Reply To A Reader And An Announcement

As Ralphus stated, just like your favorite local radio station in those bygone days, we do take requests. In a comment following my post on the Evolution of the French Carabins, relatively new visitor Doran Davis posed the following:

“I'd be even more grateful if there are other great websites or blogs that you're aware of? My interest for wargaming and reenacting covers a few diverse time eras. The information for the era of Louis XIV is a bit vague. The many different regiments that were created and then disbanded, encompassed many cycles of these activities. Do you know where I might be able to obtain some of this information?
I really appreciate your blog and the efforts that you and many others do make here and in other places for this era to be understood.
Thanxs,
Doran Davis”

A proper answer to these questions would obviously be too long for a reply comment, and I considered simply sending Doran a private e-mail. However, reviewing our “Followers” and looking at comments that we’ve received from far and wide, it seemed to me that we might have other newer readers like Doran who do not have “all the usual suspects” already bookmarked, may not know which books are available on Google Books (or even which books to look for), may not be aware of the various online sources for artwork (both period and reconstructed), and may not know what Forums exist that specialize in our favorite time period. So, locating this information in one post that can be labeled and referenced easily might be of interest to a wider readership than just Doran.

I will state at the outset that it’s highly unlikely that I am aware of every possible resource out there. Certainly Ralphus is more knowledgeable about historical reenacting, except possibly the Late Fur Trade era through the final period of Westward Expansion in the United States, say 1830 through 1890, which I have participated in as a reenactor and a vendor/supplier. And certainly our own Corporal Trim is much more knowledgeable in certain aspects of 17th and early 18th century warfare than I am, and has some wonderful resources for artwork and figures. And it should go without saying that I am always indebted to regular readers Curt Johnson and Daniel Schorr, both of whom are historians of note who have their own web projects and many wonderful non-English reference sources which they willingly share. Both have, through comments here or private e-mails that we have exchanged, greatly increased my knowledge and the resources that I now have available. And certainly our "foreign" visitor's like our friend Motorway with his "Anna Domini 1672" blog have added greatly to our non-English resources for period artwork and documentation.

I am going to put the actual Resource Guide in my next post, completely separate, with only “Resource Guide” as a label. It is my hope that Ralphus and the other gentlemen I’ve named, as well as any other readers out there with their own sources to share, will send them to me via a comment on this post or an e-mail and I will continue to update the one master post labeled “Resource Guide”. In this way our blog truly becomes a “community”, or “village”, in the best sense of those words. Any of you who frequent web sites like “The Miniatures Page”, or various Yahoo Groups, know that one of the most repeated questions from those new to the era is always a variation on “what one book can I buy or web site can I visit to give me an overview or feel of the period?” While there may not be one single book or site out there, maybe we can provide a “select” bibliography that new visitor’s can utilize, and that even veteran visitor’s can refer to from time to time.

Bill