The League of Augsburg
Sink the Dreadnought, June 1667
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| Captain Bogaert's 4th Rate Delft with 40 guns sails south into the Medway |
Inspired by discussions with fellow enthusiast Peter A of this parish, my general love of the period and of naval warfare, I took the plunge at Partizan buying two starter fleets in 1/2400 from Tumbling Dice. So far have completed 24 vessels large and small for my Dutch/English/French fleets 1660 - 1700.
Thanks to wonderful...
The War Wagon
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| The finished War wagon in profile |
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| The original wagon from which the war wagon is constructed. All that was used was the flat bed and wheels. |
I had this idea in my head to build a centre piece for the Ottoman wagonburg. I wanted a something practical but distinctive and I gained a lot of valuable experience arsing around with the twelve defensive pieces built for the wagonburg circumference.
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| The... |
New Ottoman special packs
Here are some pictures of future releases for our Ottoman Turkish range.
The first piece is a lovely vignette of a Janissary Cauldron party. For those unfamiliar with this tradition the 'cooking pot' was more precious to Janissary units than any flag. Many of their senior officers had titles relating to posts from the kitchen such as the Soup Maker, the Scullion, the Chef and the Baker. The hearth...
Let's make a wagon fort
Well, it was a thought that had been floating around my head for a while. I had some vague ideas about how I might scratch build a defend-able 'wagon barrier' but had never gone practical with it.
No time like the present - about a month or so till Partizan so nothing like a little pressure to focus the mind.
How many? (it was a question to self).. four? six?... how about twelve? OK. That's settled,...
Another amazing diorama from TACTICA 2018
These pictures actually look like photographs of real life. The are from one of two dioramas on display at Tactica 2018 by a German team who create sensational work.
The scene is an Italian town in the later war period with a German Panzer unit moving up to the front. I will let the pictures do the talking.
Jumping the queue!
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| Cossack infantry advancing |
Invigorated by the excellent progress being made on the GNW Supplement for BLB, I treated myself to some painting which was not actually on the very backlogged schedule.
In addition to the painting I did some more reading on Cossacks and found that over the years I had fallen into swallowing a few cliches about them. Perhaps it was too much exposure to the Battleground hex...
Focusing on Sedgemoor Part 3: The Rebel Army
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| A few militia style clothes may have been the most uniformed anyone got in Monmouth's Army |
To describe the rebel forces as an army is probably being somewhat overgenerous. Several of the officer cadre including the Duke himself were soldiers, brave, proven and with battle experience gained in formal, continental wars. There were undoubtedly ex soldiers, deserters from the army, militiamen and...
One to one wargaming: expanding the idea
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| Three 48 man companies of musketeers from the garrison of Derry. A company of Mountjoy's Regt at the centre. |
I was very pleased that the first post on this subject was popular and that visitors were stimulated to consider the implications of frontages, deployment, fire methodologies and movement around the battlefield and its table top imitation.
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| A battalion of Jacobite Foot based for Beneath the... |
One to one wargaming: A visual study in British company deployment 1685-1698
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| Company six deep |
I have been planning this particular post for about three years. Why has it taken so long? I needed to get a run at it. I am fascinated by the compromises necessary in wargaming particularly in relation to scales. Vertical scale distortion, ground scale distortion and finally the challenges in representing the depth of formations relative to their width. This last one has always...
Donnybrook and the Ottomans - Part 1: Who are these guys?
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| A scene from the massive panorama at the Army Museum in Istanbul. Photo copyright Barry Hilton |
The history of the Ottoman Empire from birth in the 13th century till death in the 20th century is an epic chapter in the story of the human race. Since Warfare Miniatures decided to create a range of Ottomans I have read much more deeply than ever before about their culture, inventions, wars, politics...
Focusing on Sedgemoor Part 1
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| Royal cavalry approach a hostile Somerset hamlet - the villagers are assembling on the Green |
The Battle of Sedgemoor, July 6 1685 stimulates a variety of responses when discussed amongst wargamers. I almost added - and the wider population but realized how unlikely such an occurrence might be! Who actually knows much about it? (or cares!)
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| Those infamous 'Lambs' Kirke's Tangier veterans used for... |
Janissary Ortas 1530 - 1720
Janissary dress and equipment changed little from the mid 16th to the mid 18th century. The units featured here could easily be from The First Battle of Mohacs in 1526, part of the all conquering armies of the 1500s or, from the forces who fought at the Relief of Vienna 1683, Second Battle of Mohacs 1687, Battle of Zenta 1697 and Pruth River Campaign 1710-1711 .
Most of the work was done as a...