Yet more Catholic League Reinforcements

Despite my 6mm Scanian War diversion, I continue to grind away on my 10mm Thirty Years War armies. As previously mentioned, my armies are based on those present at the battle of Fleurus so all of my Catholic infantry are in large tercio field squares. 

To allow my armies to fight other battles of the Bohemian campaigns, I needed some Catholic League infantry in smaller units. My plan was to add 5 regiments from for the Catholics and paint them up as Bavarians and other German cities. I opted for dark red and cornflower blue as dominant colors. With three of the five complete, I like the look this far. Once the Catholic League units are done, I will paint up some more cavalry, artillery and baggage and add one all-shot Protestant unit then call the project done! 

Here is a blue regiment with a flag indicating they are either from Bavaria or Cologne. I suspect Catholic League armies used blue sashes but for my armies all Catholics wear red and all Protestants wear blue. 

The next unit is in dark red and their front rank of shot are getting ready to deliver a volley of lead. The flag is a yellow cross on a dark red field. 

 

Catholic League reinforcements...

After the recent (and incredibly fun) games of Liber Militum Tercios, I've been spurred on to add to my Thirty Years War collection. As previously mentioned, the armies were assembled based on those present at the battle of Fleurus. To game other early war actions, I need to paint some more units. First up are some classic infantry squadrons of the Catholic League. 

 

I resumed the Thirty Years War project while I was still painting up 10mm Ottoman infantry for the Crimean War project. I find often find myself painting a few different projects at once. 

It's been a few years since I've tackled figures for this project so I was curious if I would remember the process I previously used to painted them. Happily, I quickly got back into the rhythm of things. Here is the result, a relatively generic battalion from one of those Catholic German cities. The design painted on the cast-on flag was found from an online image search. 

Here is the rear of the unit. I went with a Bavarian blue and claret red color palette. To make them a bit less than uniform, I incorporated other colors: greys, browns and greens. I think it came out well. I should mention that this unit is comprised exclusively of Old Glory 10mm. Their 10mm English Civil War range is probably one of their nicest of their offerings in that scale. They are incredibly easy to paint up. 

As I prepare more Catholic League units for painting, I'm currently working on some 10mm WW1 Belgians that have been languishing on painting table for a few years. Hopefully I can snap some pictures of the aforementioned Ottomans and the Belgians and post them to the blog. Speaking of those Belgians, I really need to find a 10mm Minerva armored car somewhere...

Fleurus 1622: Tercios

This evening, Alex and I got together for a game of Liber Militum Tercios using my 10mm armies. We'd refight Fleurus between the Protestant League and the Spanish. It was a pretty decent sized battle for Tercios but I think it handled it well. 

In the scenario, General Mansfeld (yours truly) is trying to navigate his tired army back to Dutch lands but is intercepted in Spanish Flanders by General Cordoba (Alex). The Protestants need to get over half their units past the Spanish or defeat Cordoba and his army. The Spanish must prevent this. The Protestant army is bigger but they are near mutinous (to reflect this, I rated most of their cavalry as mercenary) and the Cordoba can count on some veteran units. 

View of the battle array from the Spanish side. I chose fairly historical deployments for both sides.

The Spanish left commanded by Da Silva, three units of cavalry and the baggage train which is impassable.

The mighty Spanish tercios of the center. Two of them are "viejo" which gives them veteran status. Also some artillery.

And the Spanish right under Gaucher comprising of three cavalry units...

...and a company of shot deployed in the fortified farm.

The Protestant right commanded by Christian of Brunswick. It looks like a lot (eight cavalry units) but most are mounted harqbusiers and also mercenaries. This means less hitting power and a bit more brittle than you'd think.

Another angle of Christian's cavalry flank.

The Protestant center comprising of 6 units and some artillery.

The Protestant right flank of Johan Streiff. Three cavalry units.

Turn one (from the Protestant point of view), the Protestants surge forward with "Ready" cards and Alex gets exotic with his plan. The Tercios move to the flanks and the cavalry swings toward the center. Interesting...

The beginning of Turn Two. The Protestant center manages to fire off some salvoes of musketry and cannon fire causing some wear. The Protestant right flank moves toward contact.

The Protestant right flank and the Spanish left flank surged into a large cavalry action. My poor decision-making and even worse die rolls made this a bloodbath. Here, Lintzow's mounted harqbusiers are driven off by Losada's mounted harqbusiers.

The punching power of veteran cuirassiers smashed Fleckenstein's mounted harqbusier unit.

The Protestants even managed to lose combats they should have won. Here Streiff's personal unit of cuirassiers is defeated by Benenguer's mounted harqbusiers.

Streiff's right flank dissolved with two units smashed and one disordered and in shameful retreat. "Mercenary" units are automatically removed from the table once they hit break point, whereas regular units have a chance to stay on the table.

The Protestant center was slightly more successful, driving off some Spanish cavalry and inflicting some wear markers (red or white puffs). The Protestant left was fairly indecisive, despite a numerical superiority, the Protestant mounted harqbusiers attempted ineffective carracole maneuvers and avoided coming into melee with the Spanish tercios and cavalry.

The Protestant Liebgarde infantry unit managed to shatter a foolhardy charge by Roblas mounted harqbusiers. The Spanish cavalry unit was shattered in the process...

However, Mitzlaff's "Blue" regiment of infantry was not so fortunate. They were charged by Tercio Isenberg in a bloody struggle that saw several rounds of combat. In Tercios rules, pike armed infantry combats can be declared "bad wars" by either side which extends melees. Alex invoked "bad war" over and over again until finally Mitzlaff's unit was broken.

At this point, my entire right flank was essentially gone. I had lost two cavalry units and an infantry unit on that side of the battlefield. My left flank was a swirling mess of ineffective caracoling and my center was no closer to pushing thru the Spanish opposition. At this point, Mansfeld conceded a clear defeat. Alex and his Spanish host had wone the battle.

I had a blast even though I was thoroughly thrashed. The battle played out somewhat similar to the historical outcome. Poor cavalry performance doomed the Protestant infantry in both reality and on the tabletop. Alex and I got through four turns of combat in about two hours. It was the first time playing for both of us and we chatted a bit throughout the game. The combat felt right and it was fairly simple mechanics and lots of fun. The cards littered the battlefield which some may find untidy but I didn't mind so much. I will definitely play again.

6/10mm Village and Fleurus

If there's one thing that I neglect regarding the hobby, it's scenery. I own a good amount of it but the majority of it stays in storage...unpainted. 

A few years back, during the pandemic, I painted up 10mm Thirty Years War armies based on the Battle of Fleurus (1622). The armies are painted but I have yet to actually game with them. Initially I had planned to use In Deo Veritas as a ruleset but think that I will try Liber Militum's Tercios rules instead. 

The battlefield of Fleurus has fields, woods, some roads and a small farm/hamlet. The farm was fortified and occupied by a Spanish contingent of shot. The problem is that while I had something suitable, it wasn't painted up. 

That something suitable was a 17th century village from Total Battle Miniatures (TBM). The TBM kits usually consist of a rubber footprint of the village with recesses for the buildings. I finally painted up the village this weekend and I'm pleased with the results.

Here you can see the finished village with a larger building of a few residences and two small barn/farm houses. I primed everything with black matte rattle can primer intended to bond with plastics and rubber. Everything was base painted, some areas drybrushed, then gloss varnished, inked and matte varnished for appearance. 

Same village with a building removed to fit in a base of Spanish shot. I should add that the village is advertised as 6mm (I'd say it's a big 6mm) but I am using it for 10mm. I find that I prefer to go down one scale for most of my scenery, unless I am playing skirmish or close to 1:1 scale. For my Fenian project, I am using 10mm buildings with 10mm figures.

When I placed the order for this village with TBM, I also ordered an Italian village and a Russian village. I figure the Italian village can see the tabletop when I manage to get my 10mm Risorgimento armies finished and the Russian village is for my Crimean War project (also 10mm). The interesting thing about the Italian village is that it is a one-piece resin model with the buildings and base altogether. 

I might tackle that Russian village next since I will have that Crimean War project that needs finishing (still quite a bit of Turks to paint up). Then again, I have some half-painted 10mm Fenians and Spanish Civil War International Brigade on my table....decisions, decisions, decisions...

Protestant Union Army

I started my 10mm TYW project sometime last year in the late spring or early summer. I had purchased the initial figures for it during Cold Wars 2020, the final HMGS convention before the pandemic shut everything down. Over the course of the pandemic, this was my chief project. It is fitting that I finally completed both armies as things begin to open up again. I am proud that I stuck through and finished both armies for Fleurus. The Protestant cavalry was a real grind to get through. 

The full army: 6 infantry brigades, 11 cavalry brigades, 2 artillery batteries and 3 commanders.

Group shot of the 6 infantry brigades. Mansfeld, commander of the Protestant army, supposedly had brigades of infantry named after colors (red, blue, green, yellow). Even though this was a reference to flags, I decided to paint the brigades in corresponding uniform colors.

"Yellow" brigade.

One of three "Blue" brigades, in this instance it is Mansfeld's foot guards bearing one of his known flags.

"Red" brigade in a brick red tone.

"Green" brigade.

All eleven cavalry brigades, these fellas were a real grind to finish. I really got fatigued painting cavalry midway through. The Protestant cavalry didn't really perform well in the battle. There are accounts of them being fine German cuiiassiers and also of being mutinous rabble. I went with a mix of these two.

Some fine German cuirassiers in an orange color, I painted this unit to be Christian the Younger's personal brigade.

Another brigade of cuirassiers, this time Von Streiff's personal unit showing off his livery and the black bird emblem.

Some of the less well equipped horse, maybe these are mutinous rabble...

Perhaps more rabble. These are a mix of Old Glory and Pendraken.

Artillery.

The Protestant commanders (L-R): Von Streiff, Mansfeld, Christian the Younger of Brunswick

Last but not least, the Imperial baggage train. During the battle, the baggage played a role slowing down the Protestant cavalry attack. Here they are...

Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba

As I slowly stumble my way through the completion of my 10mm Imperial army for Fleurus, I decided to tackle the army commander himself, Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba. In Deo Veritas rules call for the army commander to be on a 50mm base.

This gave me some additional space to make a vignette and I decided to use Vincenzo Carducci's painting of the battle as some inspiration. You can see the painting below:

In the painting, Cordoba is kitted out in armor with a baton and riding a chestnut horse. A black hat with red feather, red sash and what appears to be blue pants and gold lace trim complete the ensemble. His riding partner has a tan hat, red sash, armor and appears to be riding a grey. 

In the lower left foreground two men are busy mortally wounding each other. One is in yellow and black or brown and the other in red and white.

With the painting as a guide, I went about tackling my army commander and here is the finished product. All of the figures are Old Glory with the exception of the casualty who is from Pendraken. 

Only one of the OG generals was in armor and hat, I decided to use him as Cordoba's escort. For Cordoba himself, I used a sculpt which was carrying a small baton. I painted the clothing and horse kit in a mid blue and opted to forgo the gold trim. 

To help identify the commander as being Hapsburg, and to help fill the base, I trimmed an officer and standard bearer from a command strips and added it to the base. For the officer, I painted him in clothes inspired by one of the two combatants in the Carducci painting. He is decked out in red pants and off white coat. The standard is just a generic ragged burgundian cross in red and yellow. 

The final figure is the Pendraken casualty. I gave him yellow pants and shirt with a dark brown vest and armoured helmet. He was inspired by the other combatant in the foreground of Carducci's painting.

Now that Cordoba has been completed, I only have a few more units to finish: the fourth and final tercio (they seem to paint up well despite comprising of about 60 figures), a unit of mounted arqubusiers and the third and final wing commander base (I believe it is Jean/Johan de Gaucher). After that it is on to the Protestant Union army led by my friend and yours, Ernst von Mansfeld.

More TYW 10mm Progress

Slowly making progress on my 10mm Imperial army for the Battle of Fleurus. Since my last post, I had some reinforcements arrive in the mail (Minifig, Pendraken and Old Glory figures) and I was able to add them into the mix. 

My armies will initially be organized for those present at Fleurus and depicted in the In Deo Veritas scenario. The Imperial army has 4 early tercio units, 6 cavalry brigades, 2 detachments of shot, an artillery battery, 3 wing commanders and an army commander. 

Managed to finish up my 2nd early tercio unit (right), so halfway there. My apologies for the poor exposure and lighting, there was a deceptive amount of light and I took the snaps and uploaded via my phone. I added a MiniFigs musketeer in the front skirmish line. The rest are OG but I will add some Lancer ECW to the next tercio.

Here is an overhead shot to show the formation.

Here is the first unit of cuirassiers. I gave them a dirty red color to horse kit and dark horseflesh (with exception of musician) to give them a semblance of uniformity. Not all of the cuirassiers will be quite so uniform. Mostly OG sculpts with two Pendraken in the second rank. According to what I've read there were about equal numbers of cuirassiers and mounted arqubusiers so I will have 3 brigades of arqubusiers and 3 of cuirassiers.

My first unit of mounted arqubusiers. All OG sculpts with the exception of one Pendraken sculpt in the 2nd rank. I also did a bit of conversion on one of the riders headgear - swapping out the hat for the morion from a pikeman. I lopped the heads off, drilled holes and inserted a pin. Looks good enough for 10mm.

A rear angle shot showing the mounted arqubusiers and cuirassiers. I should mention that I went with a mix of horse colors and a mix of pale reds, yellows and greens for the color palette of the brigade. For future units, I plan to have a brigade of cuirassiers in a violet/purple color which I believe is a livery color for Felipe da Silva - one of the Imperial commanders.

And here we have the one (and only) artillery battery for the Imperial army. Again, mostly OG lead on this base with the exception of the cannon balls and barrel in the rear of the base. 

Same base, different angle.

Last but not least, here are two detachments of shot. In the battle of Fleurus, these guys were from Tercio Verdugo and deployed in a farmstead -  causing significant problems for Christian of Brunswick and the protestant left flank cavalry. Almost all of the figures are OG sculpts, there are a few MiniFigs and a few more headswaps where musketeers in a loading pose ditched their monmouth caps and got morions helmets or brimmed hats as replacements. From what I understand, the monmouth cap was only common with soldiers from northern European areas (which makes sense). 

I have two early tercio units left to paint up, four more cavalry brigades and the commanders. After that, I will tackle the Protestant army.