Sunday, September 6, 2015

Imperialists from the Thirty Years's War


I was somehow drafted into a playtesting project by a friend of mine, Michael(Dalauppror).  You can read more about this upcoming gamed called Pikeman's Lament on his blog. In this project he cooperates with the author of Lion Rampant, Daniel Mersey. In short it is a big skirmish game, much as in the same manner as Daniel Mersey's previous game Lion Rampant.  If you find the basing a bit odd then blame it on Michael, he made me do it. ;)



The Officer with the flag is from Warlord minatures. I am usually not a fan of casted flags, but somehow this one worked out fine. 

In any case I was supposed to paint up an Imperialist force from the Thirty Year's War. So I bought some straight out of the Box Warlord minitures and added some odd bits and pieces. That would do for the infantry, but I needed cavalry. Why then settle for ordinary cavalry when there are Curassiers- the very last fully armoured warriors in history. Sören another friend at the club informed me about a fairly new brand that was turning out miniatures - Bohemian Minatures. The brand is Czech, but the sculpts have been made by Paul Hicks. In short they are among the best you can find for this period. I can recommend them. The delivery was swift and efficient. I got then miniatures within a week of ordering.

The Pikemen - a must in this conflict. 

Unfortunatly Bohemian miniatures do not make any horses. Thus one have to buy these beasts seperatly . Front Rank horses are supposed to be the best match, but I found some Old Glory horses that was gathering dust in my drawers, and they fitted perfectly.

The unit I painted got a rather uniformed look. Maybe I was a bit influenced by the cover if the Warlord Box. During the Thirty Year's War the concentrated of uniforms were not really invented as such. However one numerous paintings regimenets from the time could have some kind of uniform semblance. This probably had to do with the fact that cloth for the soldiers' clothing were often issued in bulk when the unit was raised. If so then a unit would have a certain uniform look at the start of a campaign. Certain armies, notably the Swedish army as well as the Imperial army of Wallenstein had at times centralized systems of cloth production. When issued cloth I doubt the soldiers would have recieve an ample selection of colours to chose from.


Alt Piccolomini Curassiers 

The flag from the other side


The flags in this force( I could hardly call it an army) are more or less copied from historical sources. The Infantry have been given the colours of a unit that lost it colours at the very last staged of the war, captured at Prague in 1648. The name of the unit remains unknown. The flag is currently a  part of the Swedish State Trophy Collection. So is also the flag of the Curassiers. It was lost at Jankow in 1645. The name of this unit is Alt Piccolomini, named after the Imperial General Octavio Piccolomini (1599-1656).  Most of details I got from the book " In Hoc Signo Vinces - A presentation of The Swedish State Trophy Collection". It a very useful source when it comes to flags. You can find all kinds of flags taken from the enemies of the Swedes( Danes, Russians, Imperials and a few more). It also writen in English, which would make it bit easier for those that doesn't speak Swedish( I can Imagine there are a few out there). I picked up the book at fleamarket, so I have no idea what to pay for it in full price.

The book I used as main source for my flags



18 comments:

  1. I really love these and look forward to seeing them in action. I'm picking up some 10mm English Civil War figures next weekend for some proper playtesting of the rules. I hope mine turn out as nicely as yours:)

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    1. Thank you Steve! :) 10mm would be kind of cool in a big skirmish. I think that would work.

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  2. Wow you have painted up all those figures already!! You are fast! Now I have a question are you keeping the individual basing that you have or are you going to use what is reccomended in the current draft of the rules? I think the individual is good as well as what Michael has come up with too. What are your thoughts?

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    1. Actually I do think that individual basing would work just as well. We have played Lion Rampant with roughly the same number miniatures, and that worked just fine. This was a bit of an experiment. I need to run a few more games before I have a definite opinion.

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  3. Stunning work Jesper! Now you have really got me stressed, got to get started to paint My TYW minis...

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    1. Thank you Micke! Well it's time to get started.....

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  4. Damn fine painting Sir, love that red flag!!

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    1. Thank you Sir! I will do my best to defend the flag......not loose like the orginal owners..

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  5. Excellent, fine work on the flag and I like your vibrant red tone. BTW the sculptors first name is Paul not David :-)

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  6. I stand corrected! ;) I the right name is of course Paul Hicks and nothing else. A very talented sculptor in any case.

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  7. Great work.
    Good use of color
    It is always a pleasure when you make a visit to your site
    Do you know, who crushed Tercios superiority on the battlefield

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    1. Thank you Maximex! That is warming Woods indeed! :) Crushed Tercios?....must be the Hakkapeliitas ;)

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  8. Oh, very nice indeed - great work on those flags! I'll very much like to see that book at some point, when I'm painting the Danish force!

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    1. Thank you Sören! I will bring the book along......there were some danish flags there as well if I am not mistaken.

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  9. Great minis and superb painting! Very striking colour scheme. The flags are excellent.

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    1. Thank you Jonas! BTW these minis needs opponents. Have you considered that Jonas? ;)

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    2. Yes! Considered, scrapped the idea, considered again, scrapped again ... and on it goes. ;)

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    3. Stop scrapping and keep considering!

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