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| The first unit of Dutch Marines - uniform colours from colonial naval infantry of the same period. |
Having co written Donnybrook and produced an as yet unpublished extension for Beneath the Lily Banners dealing with small unit actions it was always the plan to deal with some of the 1667 Medway fighting in 28mm.
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| Other units will have different flags |
There appears to be no concensus regarding the long sleeve/elbow length cuff debate nor, the apostles/bullet bag debate. As an example consult the following works covering the period 1660 - 1691 and you will see long sleeves and bullet bags as early as 1667 with short sleeves and almost elbow length cuffs as late as 1691! - Wars and soldiers in the early reign of Louis XIV (Mugnai - Helion), Charles XI's War (van Essen: Helion), Battle of Aughrim 1691(McNally:Helion).
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| A mob of sturdy English Yeomanry - probably called peasants anywhere else! |
By way of explaining my choice to use Warfare's earlier period ie 1680+ Military Civilians for the combatants this goes part way. There is also a deal of conjecture over just what various units might be wearing. I have gone for the Dutch looking more militarily formal and the English looking (mostly) like an armed mob. Even the militia I have painted in civvies.
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| Will either use this a a single unit between 1:3 and 1:10 model to man ratio or, two separate units. |
I will get round to doing some cavalry which will be a mix of late ECW types and some of the earlier 1680s period horsemen. Generals and personalities will be less of an issue in dress terms. Many of the troops being painted will double for Sedgemoor, Ireland, European militias, Caribbean and colonial types and that was always the plan. For now I have featured the first of the small 12-13 model units of Dutch Marines, a local 'Rising Out' of good Kentish men and a more formal assembly of county militiamen - perhaps from Essex, Sussex or Kent.
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| Country Militia - deliberately un uniformed. In an era when the navy couldn't crew its ships........ |
Some groups of musketeers I am classing as estate workers from some local landed gentry properties who are likley to be better shots than the militia!
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| Poachers turned Gamekeepers - the Estate Workers from somewhere in the Garden of England. |
So just where was the fighting? At Sheerness, on the Isle of Grain, around Queenborough, possibly around the batteries and defences on the Medway, on the Essex side of the Thames estuary.
The games will be small battles simulating a few hundred men per side and including Dutch sailors. It should all be pretty good fun and somewhat chaotic.
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| The Dutch captured Sheerness and the fort from non other than Douglas's Regiment (later the Royal Scots!) |
More as the project and forces develop...