The League of Augsburg
Easter Parade Day 1
The enforced home stay has been fantastic news for my projects and here is day 1 of a four day run of Ottoman cavalry in their full tabletop glory.
I knew I was going to be pleased with these even before arranging...
His wonders to perform... God and the Medway Estuary
I actually wrote this piece last year and made a conscious decision to give up flying about two weeks later. I have am pleased to say I have only been in a plane eight times since. Of course, the current situation makes flying almost impossible anyway. Good, we're saving the planet.
I do a lot of flying....
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| The terrain as it stands |
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| Upper middle of shot - Isle of Sheppey and beyond - The Medway Estuary. |
I do a lot of flying....
Chinese take- out? VOC v Pirates 1666
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| South China Seas action |
In my continuing Covid-induced privateer laboratory I decided to blood some ships I had painted a few months back just because I had them. A few packs of Chinese pirate junks which I had intended to use specifically to run out against European vessels exploiting the riches of the South China Sea.
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| VOC Trading station somewhere in modern day Indonesia |
By now you know the form -...
The perfection of military discipline by Mark Shearwood
I was delighted to open a package from Helion delivered by our trusty postal service this lunchtime because, I knew what it would be:
The perfection of military discipline: The plug bayonet and the English Army 1660-1705
The book is written by Mark Shearwood, friend of this blog, good friend of mine, wargamer and modeller extraordinaire and most significantly of all, an authority on 17th century...
Marlborough's amphibious campaign 1690 - pdf release
It is with delight and some pride that we release our latest pdf detailing the campaigns in Ireland between 1688 and 1691.
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| Charles Fort, Kinsale - scene of a bloody siege, sallies and assaults |
This one deals with the ambitious and extremely successful amphibious campaign undertaken by the Earl of Marlborough against Cork and Kinsale in the autumn of 1690. Involving thousands of troops fresh from...
Ottoman cavalry update
I have been slowly but surely painting Ottoman cavalry in between other projects and am just about to base the first units.
I had to get at least one of each figure done in the six packs for the shop and seeing them all together demonstrates how nice this range has turned out.
Recent reading and referenceto source material has reassured me that these figures will be usable for the north African...
Campaign report: Run for home, Mull October 8th 1689
The third report from round two of the campaign.. Jan Baert kidnaps a very important person dear to King William and burns some Scottish assets in the process. Taking on no less than twelve enemy ships he runs for home!
Turns 1-4
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| Baert's ships approach the island chain. |
The fresh westerly winds created heavy seas and made sailing extremely challenging for Baert’s four ships as they nosed northward.
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| Th... |
Continuing the privateer scenario play tests: Portuguese man o'war
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| Rainha Santa Isabel - 52 guns Portuguese man o'war |
Lots in this post for those interested in more involved ship to ship combats and small actions involving boarding and character play.....
The three iterations of the three on one ship scenario produced thought provoking results. The single privateer vessel won all encounters although the final run against the Martinique based French was a very close...
10 Reasons why this is my favourite wargaming period
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| Neerwinden/Landen 1693 |
I have been gaming the period 1666-1720 for thirty years this year. Despite forays into other periods of which I am fond, I always return to my favourite. Recently, I have agreed to write a title for Helion about wargaming the period 1666-1697 specifically and that has made me reflect on why I maintain an enduring fascination for this 60 year span of history.
So, here are my...
Saved the best to last.. Caribbean test 3
It's a funny old game (to paraphrase Greavsie). Having experienced two wins from two for the single 'blinged up' privateer Sea WolfI thought I'd give the European power trio's third leg a chance to prevail over the pirates. It turned out to be the best game of all with so many little twists that I played on for 15 turns to get the final result. It took about 90 minutes altogether but of course I...
Second run of the privateer play test
I considered the first run of this game not a fluke but perhaps a little fortunate for the privateer ship.
So, giving it another go with pretty much everything the same except, the opponents this time were the Dutch West India Company Geoctroyeerde Westindische Compagnie or GWC. The ship profiles were exactly the same with Jupiter replacing Elizabeth, Schiedam substituting for Swan and Egmondfor...
Launching a privateer - Small ship action using my naval rules
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| The game setting... tropical paradise or, mosquito infested hell hole? Europeans in the Caribbean. |
I took an inevitable diversion into the world of piracy by painting a 4th rate up and flagging it as a late 17th century privateer of indeterminate nationality.
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| The frgiate Elizabeth set sail to meet the privateer threat |
Having further developed the points system for my rule set I thought it would be...