Armies and Enemies of Louis the XIV and the The French-Dutch War of 1672-1678

French Siege Artillery & Dutch Garrison Guns.

There were a number of sieges during the French-Dutch war of 1672-78. As part of a mini campaign I'm preparing to play in the future using 'The Perfect Captains' Tinker Fox rules available for free at http://perfectcaptain.50megs.com/captain.html  

I managed to acquire some artillery produced by 'Warfare miniatures' through the 'League of Augsburg' at http://www.leagueofaugsburg.com/shop/products-cat-16-15.html  comprising of a French positional gun in traditional colours of red gun carriage and bronze gun barrel.

French Positional Gun on wooden planking

 Wooden planking using 2mm scored plasticard mounted on matchsticks. I thought about adding some foliage to the base later though this would be trampled down pretty quickly with bushes removed and ground levelled off by the army engineers.

French Siege Artillery, gunners match made out of wire rod with fuse wire wrapped around and painted. 

The Crew are North Star's 1672 range

These positional Guns are lead and available from the League of Augsburg

A Dutch positional gun in traditional colours of red gun carriage and black painted gun barrel.

A French heavy mortar in traditional colours of red gun carriage and bronze gun barrel.

siege mortar from Warfare miniatures 17th century range available form the League of Augsburg

A Dutch garrison mortar in traditional colours of red gun carriage and black painted gun barrel.

I think the mortar crew are away at Tiffin.

Also from NorthStar a supply wagon to create a supply dump vignette. barrels from Hinds figures ltd. 

Supply wagon with Amsterdam munition mark funded by that city.

Of course I need to acquire and paint the gun crew next.

Also a French supply wagon vignette to follow...

And at least one remaining Dutch Infantry Regiment to paint.

And some command bases.

And some gun emplacements with Gabions etc.

Oh and of course a walled town....not sure how I'm going to tackle that one!?!

And then the campaign is ready to play :)

I hope.....

Cheers for Now.

4mm Grass Tufts (made to order).

4mm high SUMMER Mix random shape Grass tufts - self adhesive.

One of the aspects of collecting and painting miniatures is trying to find a way to create scenery for bases. I used to buy grass tufts, and found it was better to make them myself as I can get through a huge amount sometimes.

The tufts add an extra dimension to the miniatures and can be used in a variety of colours, a good mix I have found is 4mm Summer mix which can be used to depict grass & scrub from the highlands of Scotland to the Mediterranean.

approximately 80 clumps per box.

4mm high Summer mix Random tufts, ideally represents Grass & scrub.

4mm high static grass seems to be the ideal height for 28mm figures, 2mm high tufts look like fuzz whereas 6mm tufts are too tall for my use.

French late 17th century Officer, grass/scrub and white flowers.

French late 17th century Officer, grass/scrub

I've started to market these grass tufts through pjwalke@live.com



Each box contains at least 80 random sized tufts which maybe torn in two as required. They are Self-Adhesive, just peel them off the backing and firmly push onto your miniatures base.

Nobody seems to make these random clumps of grass tufts at the moment, I will also make them in neat ordered tufts in the near future just see my listings.

'How to' instructions:

1. Take the tufts out of their box.

2. Use tweezers or your fingers to pull the tufts off their silicone backing paper.

3. Place the tufts on the miniatures base, they are self adhesive, just push down with your finger.
That's all there is to it.

Specs:

Colour: SUMMER, Greens & Brown mix good for the highlands of Scotland to the Mediterranean scenics. 

Quantity: 1 box 160mm x 130mm x21mm containing approximately 80 grass clumps of varying sizes. Good for 28mm cavalry bases, artillery bases etc. They can be torn in two to make smaller clumps.

Description: Grass tufts/clumps using 4mm static fibres in a green & brown summer mix on self adhesive backing. just peel off and apply to your scenery to create interesting basing effects.

I also produce: 

4mm SUMMER mix Regular sized tufts. 

4mm Summer mix Regular sized tufts 120 in each box, representing grass/scrub.

£5.50 each box, U.K. postage free, worldwide £3.69 (for 1 to 4 boxes)
PayPal payment accepted through pjwalke@live.com

Specs:

Colour: summer, greens & brown mix good for the highlands of Scotland to the Mediterranean scenics. 

Quantity: 1 box 160mm x 130mm x21mm containing approximately 120 grass clumps of regular size. Good for 28mm figures etc.

Description: Grass tufts/clumps using 4mm static fibres in a green & brown summer mix on self adhesive backing. just peel off and apply to your scenery to create interesting basing effects.


4mm high SPRING GREEN Mix random shape Grass tufts - self adhesive.

approximately 80 clumps per box.

4mm high SPRING GREEN mix Random tufts, ideally represents Grass & scrub.

£5.50 each box, U.K. postage free, worldwide £3.69 (for 1 to 4 boxes) 
PayPal payment to accepted through pjwalke@live.com

Specs:

Colour: SPRING GREEN mix good for Temperate Grassland/Pasture scenics

Quantity: 1 box 160mm x 130mm x21mm containing approximately 80 grass clumps of varying sizes. Good for 28mm cavalry bases, artillery bases etc. They can be torn in two to make smaller clumps.

Description: Grass tufts/clumps using 4mm static fibres in a SPRING GREEN mix on self adhesive backing. just peel off and apply to your scenery to create interesting basing effects.

4mm SPRING mix Regular sized tufts.

4mm Spring mix Regular sized tufts 120 in each box, representing grass/pasture.

£5.50 each box, U.K. postage free, worldwide £3.69 (for 1 to 4 boxes)
PayPal payment to accepted through pjwalke@live.com

Specs:

Colour: SPRING, greens mix good for Temperate Grassland, Pasture scenics. 

Quantity: 1 box 160mm x 130mm x21mm containing approximately 120 grass clumps of regular size. Good for 28mm figures etc.

Description: Grass tufts/clumps using 4mm static fibres in a green SPRING mix on self adhesive backing. just peel off and apply to your scenery to create interesting basing effects.

4mm WILDERNESS Mix Random shape Grass tufts - self adhesive.

£5.50 each box, U.K. postage free, worldwide £3.69 (for 1 to 4 boxes)
PayPal payment accepted through pjwalke@live.com

Specs:

Colour: WILDERNESS, grass/scrub, greens & brown mix as pictured. A Darker colour mix which can be used to depict grassland/scrubland/moorland/heathland from the Highlands of Scotland to the Russian Steppes scenery. Perfect for Ancient to Modern periods.

Quantity: 1 box 160mm x 130mm x21mm containing approximately 80 grass clumps of random size. Good for 28mm figures etc.

Description: Grass tufts/clumps using 4mm static fibres in a green WILDERNESS mix on self adhesive backing. just peel off and apply to your scenery to create interesting basing effects.

4mm WILDERNESS mix Regular sized tufts.

4mm WILDERNESS mix Regular sized tufts 120 in each box, representing wild grass.

£5.50 each box, U.K. postage free, worldwide £3.69 (for 1 to 4 boxes)
PayPal payment to accepted through pjwalke@live.com

Specs:

Colour: WILDERNESS, grass/scrub, greens & brown mix as pictured. A Darker colour mix which can be used to depict grassland/scrubland/moorland/heathland from the Highlands of Scotland to the Russian Steppes scenery. Perfect for Ancient to Modern periods.

Quantity: 1 box 160mm x 130mm x21mm containing approximately 120 grass clumps of regular size. Good for 28mm figures etc.

Description: Grass tufts/clumps using 4mm static fibres in a green WILDERNESS mix on self adhesive backing. just peel off and apply to your scenery to create interesting basing effects.

4mm Leafy BUSHES, three colour mix Regular sized tufts.

4mm Leafy Bushes in tri-colour mix Regular sized tufts 130 in each box.

£5.50 each box, U.K. postage free, worldwide £3.69 (for 1 to 4 boxes)
PayPal payment to accepted through pjwalke@live.com

Specs:

Colour: Leafy BUSHES, in three colour green mix as pictured. The leaves on each bush are Light Green/Olive Green & Dark Green mix which can be used to depict scrubland from the Highlands of Scotland to the Mediterranean scenery. Perfect for Ancient to Modern periods.

Quantity: 1 box 160mm x 130mm x21mm containing approximately 120  bushy clumps of regular size. Good for 28mm figures etc.

Description: Leafy Bushy clumps using 4mm static fibres in a three greens mix on self adhesive backing. just peel off and apply to your scenery to create interesting basing effects.

Cheers for now :)

28mm Late Republican Roman - Civil War.

28mm Late Republican Roman - Civil War.

Julius Caesar's Army.

After finding some time and an empty space to paint, I thought it was a good time for me to start finalizing Julius Caesar's army for a Late Roman campaign I've been planning for some time.

Usually starting from the top down, the plan was to complete Caesar's command base, then his German bodyguard cavalry (apparently he mobilised 300 of them) then 2 veteran Gallic legion cohorts (of which one at least was to be a detachment of the famous Xth Legion ) then two other legionary cohorts, some Gallic mercenary cavalry and mercenary archers (Cretan) and finally a camp vignette.

So here goes, Caesar was bought on ebay as a 'Companion Miniatures' pack together with some Roman cavalry. Only 6 German bodyguard cavalry were required, to make them unique I smuggled in a 'Wargames Foundry' German Romanized officer and converted 3 remaining cavalrymen to Germans by replacing their heads with heads from 'Black Tree Designs' German warrior range. It was just a case of drilling and pinning these together, the result seem to work out fine. A suitable dour uniform was picked for them (as was common for Ancient Germans) but they still retained a mix of Roman equipment and their German style shields.

Caesar's German bodyguard cavalry black-washed.

Caesar's German bodyguard with their dour uniform and mix of German and Roman equipment.

Having painted Caesar himself numerous times over the years I decided this time I would break with convention of having him with a red cloak and red tunic, this time he'd wear a purple cloak with gold laurel border indicating his imperial ambitions and yellowish tunic with blue decoration. With hair greying at the temples, this gave him the image of a mature, experienced statesman and battle hardened military commander, I had a problem with picking his horse, apparently Romans liked the idea of their generals riding white horses, I'd prefer to paint a grey or black horse. So I propose to do both and pick the best.

Caesar primed and under-painted.

Caesar Almost done, just his horse to paint now.

Legionaries of Caesar's Xth Legion washed in hard-wearing black enamel paint, ready for their undercoat.

The Two veteran legionary cohorts will be somewhat undersized compared to their less experienced colleagues comprising 20 figures each..

legionaries based with  grass tufts I produce, now  just the shields and pilum to add

to be continued....

28mm French Revolutionary Armies & Enemies

28mm French Revolutionary Armies & Enemies.

Continuing with the French Revolutionary project I had a chance to finish a single French 8 pounder gun and crew, these can be used for either the Army of the North or Napoleon Bonaparte's Italian and Egyptian campaigns. The crewmen are from Brigade Games whilst the 8 pounder gun is from Hinchliffe.co.uk available through Hind Figures Ltd. The 8 pounder was supplied with 2 different barrels so I could have made a 6/4 pounder if required.

Brigade Games provided the gun crew, they also supply a crew loading so I'll try and order one in the near future.

Also are a few pictures of Monsieur Bonaparte as Consul I managed to finish this week, the figure is manufactured by Trent miniatures and available unpainted from the 'North Star' website northstarfigures.com

Hopefully I can finish the rest of the French Revolutionary infantry battalion soon.

28mm French Revolutionary Armies & Enemies

28mm French Revolutionary Armies & Enemies.

A project which has interested me for a long time when I stumbled across Brigade Games' 28mm French revolutionary miniatures some months ago and purchased 1 battalion of 24 figures to create a line battalion for either the Army of the North or Napoleon Bonaparte's Italian and Egyptian campaigns.  I'll add some pictures of these revolutionary infantry at a later date as I am halfway through painting the figures.

So I thought I add some pictures of General Brune I managed to finish this week, the figure is manufactured by Trent miniatures and available unpainted from the 'North Star' website http://www.northstarfigures.com/

General Guillaume-Marie-Anne Brune.

Painted in Oils Enamels & Acrylics to get the best colours available.

The French General commande in Italy 1798 and  Holland 1799.

He wears a scarf around his waist in Revolutionary Colours. 

18th Regiment de Ligne Italian campaign 1792-1797.

These 28mm French Revolutionary miniatures are available unpainted from www.brigadegames.com

The 24 figure battalion will form 1 battalion of 3 in a demi-brigade, they all have similar flags for the Italian and Egyptian campaigns. I am currently working on a handpainted flag on metal foil, I will add pictures when they're available.

Also a Trent miniatures Napoleon Bonaparte as Consul on the Italian campaign, Picture to follow.

Cheerio for now. 

Armies and Enemies of Louis the XIV and the The French-Dutch War of 1672-1678

The French Regiments: I've continued to build the French foot Regiments for my French-Dutch war, I think it'll consist of 5 Regiments including; Garde Suisse, Picardie, Normandie, Navarre and du Roi , these regiments were at the battle of Seneffe 1674. This I reckon is a reasonable start, then I'll follow with the siege artillery train for both French and Dutch armies together with a couple of vignettes.

Picardie Regiment 1674.

The Picardie Regimental flag is the red flag, the colonels is the white flag.

The flags are made using tin foil which is flexible and allows the flag to be curled even after the paint has fully dried. The tassels and scarves on the flag poles are from 'Front Rank'.

Picardie Regiment 1672.

Normandie Regiment 1672.

WIP French drummers.

WIP French drummers.

The Drum is of wooden construction so I've left it plain brown. The Drummer wears Royal livery of a  blue coat with white lace with red and blue squares. I'll add a detailed picture of the drummers lace later on.

The command stand sans drummer.

The pikeblock.

French pike block. A sash would be white indicating that it is serving in the French army. Armour seems to be in use in this war, a hat replaced the helmet by the later 17th century.

The figures are 28mm tall and are available unpainted from North Star.

I'm hoping to create a mini campaign based on the French-Dutch war 0f 1672-78 using the 'The Perfect Captains' Battle Finder system, Tinker Fox campaign system and a la Hunguenotte available for free from: http://perfectcaptain.50megs.com/bfinder.html

The a la Huguenotte addon has terrain cards specifically for the Low countries (Holland etc.)