Something New from Something Old

For over a year I have been sitting on a stagnant pile of gorgeously sculpted lead for my United Provinces army. I have come to realise that this is unlikely to alter in the foreseeable future - perhaps even my lifetime - unless something is done.

The limitation is uniform and colour information. This has largely been the case due to a vacuum of research and certainty surrounding uniforms and colours for the Dutch Wars of the 1670s - less so for the French but drastically so for the Dutch. I also realize there's not a lot I can do about that.

I have previously flagged a willingness to co-fund a grant but have not pushed it past this Blog as yet. I have dreamt of learning Dutch, living in the Netherlands for a year and doing it myself but it's not possible - not in this life. So until the void is at least partly filled - what to do?

My options are to speculate that the earliest reference to regimental uniforms (those of 1688 as published by Sapherson) might be consistent with the uniforms of the same regiments 14 years earlier. I say 14 years because I want to concentrate on the battle of Seneffe in 1674 - that's the army I want to recreate. But the evidence is simply against me and I know it.

Even within the much reduced time frame covered by Sapherson's work for William's army in the Nine Years War, individual regiments change their uniform colours with alarming regularity. The chances of a previous period being more consistent seems unlikely in the extreme and to suggest it could also stretch over a 14 year period is not just improbable, it's fanciful.

So I have come to a curious option and one inspired by the following image.



Actually, it didn't have to be this image in particular. I'm talking about the time honoured portrayal of warfare in this period by the artists' engraving. Replacing the woodcut, the artist's engraving recorded visual impressions of the characters and events of the age for a rapidly increasing number of increasingly literate people thanks to the exponential proliferation of the printing press. Unlike the periods which followed, this was predominately in our century of interest a form without colour and it is this lack of colour which has caught my imagination.

If I can't discern the uniform colours of my army, then why not dispense with colour entirely? I've always sought to push the boundaries of conventional wargaming and try something new. This may be it.

Here I'd like to acknowledge the work of a fellow Blogger and one of the many I follow: Carmen's Fun Painty Time. Some time ago he created a vignette for a 1930's American gangster mob, all in 'black & white' to capture a feel for the period. As he paid homage to the age of B&W film, might I not think about wargaming in the age of the 17th century engraving?

In a world without colour; light, shade and form become more evident. The eye will be drawn to the sculpting and the modelling without distraction from how well or not I have painted them. Have you ever thought how pure and statuesque some of the superior figures available today look at the undercoated stage - when undercoated white that is?

When asked, "What's all this wargaming about?", have many of us not likened wargaming to a more dynamic chess-like game but with toy soldiers? Well, a table-top without colour gets closer still. More of the game and less of the craft or artistic side of the hobby, yet perhaps not entirely.

Whilst the game comes more to the fore in this option (as I see it) I'm not talking about simply spray-painted figures moved across a bed-sheet. I'm talking about bringing those well known sketches to the third dimension. Unlike B&W photography, where all colour is represented by subtle shades, the engravings of this time are predominately detailed white sketches with an emphasis on shade or more precisely, shadow. I envisage at this time white-sprayed undercoated figures, perhaps inked or 'washed' and a dusting or dry brushed finish. I'd want the finish figures to be like marbled masses; subtle, delicate and worth holding up to the eye.

Perhaps subtler shades of coloured hues for the priming or undercoating for different nationalities. Imagine a light or mid-grey blue for the French, more layered dry-brushing with white which should still render the units essentially white to reflect the artists sketch but with a consistent permeation of subtle colour in the creases and folds, telling our eyes and brain that this unit differs from that of it's opponent. Alternatively, heavier shading will allow for one side to be identified from another but only where there is a need or desire to tell the difference between two distinct sides. Otherwise, coloured undercoats might be a faded brown/orange for the United Provinces, a russet for the British, a dark grey/blue for the Prussians and so on. 

The landscape will be sculpted foam, contoured and sanded with roads and rivulets properly represented in actual depth but all coated white with the depths further indicated with shades of grey. In such a landscape the buildings and the natural features of trees, shrubs and hedgerows might well be best modelled from card stock and foam-core, simplified and made to a series of generic templates in imitation of the artists style for repetition.

It's not a simple fix and much careful consideration needs to be entered into before proceeding. Regardless of the care and application I may make, it would nevertheless result in a significantly faster build time for my first wargaming project in this period. Just think, purchasing the figures might seriously be half the time it takes to get my new armies on the table and playing games.

If in time my knowledge gap is filled with new research and publication: if someone out there colours my world, I will revisit this period in technicolour but for now I am finding this idea almost irresistible.

What do you think?

RESEARCH PRIZE

I've been thinking about this for quite some time and wanted to run the idea across you, the Williamite Warfare followers.

Those wargamers in this period who are interested in the Nine Years War are comparatively well catered for in terms of uniform guides and researched publications. Anyone wishing to wargame the battle of the Boyne for instance is particularly well provided for, compared to my preferred campaigns of the Franco-Dutch Wars from 1672. One particularly good work is C.A. Sapherson's Dutch Army of William III which brings me to my question and suggestion. 

Is anyone interested in jointly funding a research prize for uniforms and armies of the Dutch Wars from 1672? Has anyone had experience with funding research in the past? It seems to me that there is the strangest gap between figure ranges being released for this period and no corresponding guides either in development or being released. Osprey Publishing, that mainstay of uniform references is noticeably mute in this period.

Living as I do in the southern hemisphere and otherwise committed to my career and family, I am unable to take the year off and take up residence in Europe to do this myself. My serious lack of French or Dutch also has me at a distinct disadvantage.

I am personally prepared to contribute GBP1,000.00 toward any sponsorship for the archives of the Netherlands to be 'mined' and an equivalent work to Sapherson's to be developed. My hope is that with enough contributors, a project could be undertaken to produce an exhaustive reference from the as yet publicly available records in France and the Netherlands.

Does anyone have any ideas about how we might take such an initiative forward?

FEEDBACK WANTED

It has been a very long time since my last posting on this, one of my four blogs. I believe it will remain in a state of semi-slumber for some time due to my personal circumstances. I am now seven months into a two year posting to the Kingdom of Tonga - a country of very poor internet capability. My ability to research is severely restricted as is my development of any miniature army for this period. I have collected half of the troops I intend to wargame with in a grand manner - already several hundred. I hope to begin painting them before much longer but for the want of any certainty of uniforms for my chosen period (1674).

It's also been a while since even visiting this blog for me and I notice that I have gradually gathered more followers. This is both gratifying and surprising given that I believed this to be a very niche period - which brings me to my feedback query.

Has anyone used my rules variations or army lists yet? If so, I'd really like to know what you think and if you'd like to share, please comment here and I will post them. I have not myself. Thanks in advance to anyone who does so. Please stay tuned for my next post which is a research appeal.

Happy wargaming.

Dutch Army at Seneffe: Cavalry Regiment Langerak

It's been a long while since adding to this Blog, so I have embarked on a programme of accumulating as much information as I can glean on each Dutch regiment and their commanders present at Seneffe. I will post in an effort that collectively, we might muddle toward unearthing the clues to how this army and its opponents may have looked - particularly pertaining to colours and uniforms.

Commander

Son of Gideon van den Boetzelaer, Lord of Langerak and Aloysia de Clermont-Gall Rande, Frederik Hendrik van den Boetzelaer van Langerak was born about 1626, making him about 45 when he commanded the later numbered 4th regiment of horse at the battle of Seneffe (sometimes Senef). He took his captaincy in 1661 but four years later in 1665 he was suspended from serive as a result of a duel he fought with a Rhenish Count (not the Palatine) whom he killed. He was nevertheless restored to active service by 1671 in which year he was promoted to colonel and as suggested by Sapherson, raised his regiment of horse. In that capacity Frederik was despatched by William of Orange in 1672 as governor of the fortress town of Hertogenbosch to organise its defences.

Sometime later he must have mustered with William’s army as it was whilst serving under Godard van Reede Ginckel (Commanding the first brigade of horse) and presumably in command of the 4th regiment when he was killed

Coat of Arms

The coat of arms of the family Van(s) Boetzelaer is recorded: three golden wolf irons on a red field, an 'aanziende' helmet, a crown of five leaves; tarpaulins: red, lined with gold crest: a golden dragon's head and neck, right converted unions; shield holders: two golden lions.
Uniform

It is necessary for me to speculate the colours for the regimental uniform, presuming even that they had one for Seneffe. I note according to Safferson that by the nine years war the regiment wore grey coats with red lining (cuffs) which coincides nicely with the red field of the Boetzelaer coat of arms. The 4th regiment later went on to lose the red lining by the war of the Spanish Succession; however, which does not assist in suggesting the regiment maintained a particular colour longer than a particular colonel, a single war or even campaign season. I am certainly satisfied from the evidence of paintings of the period that by Seneffe, uniform regiments were the norm for field armies – if not militias. Determining what that uniform was is less certain.

Armoured Pikemen

One of the difficulties of entering into wargaming for this specific period and particularly the Dutch Wars period is the lack of readily available publications. I feel it really is a period on the cusp at this time of being 'unlocked' by researchers in order that the specific details of uniforms and equipment become available to the wider sub-culture - the wargamer. Certainly this is a problem area in the meantime looking for details about the Dutch and it seems probable that most if not all of our answers remain locked in the mass of emerging archival material.

Having spent some time on the Netherlands Army website this date I took the time to read an article by F.G Wilde on De mannen van 1688: een poging tot reconstructie (available in pdf) which I was able to read paragraph by paragraph thanks to the wonders of Internet translation software - what an amazing age we live in.

Wilde certainly has the Dutch pike by the outbreak of war in 1672 as 'largely' armoured - helmet and half-armour to be precise. Whilst no specific analysis is applied to the discontinuation of armour, it might be surmised that discarding of half-armour would have accelerated as a result of William's reforms in the face of French superiority over the following years.

By 1674 we see the musketeers (line regiments presumably) carrying the bandolier or twelve apostles and thus we can presume the matchlock. It seems that there was no reason why flintlock armed men might not continue the use of the bandolier with its measures of powder during the period of transition to the uptake of cartridges. The flintlock should not necessarily mean a move towards cartridges for our period but so far I have seen no examples either illustrated or modelled that allow for bandoliers with flintlocks. If anyone can show me, I'd be beholden. Wilde has the uptake of cartridges 'later' than 1674. Given that by then the marines, Guards and grenadiers were flintlock armed, I'd say there is room in the sculpting world for this inclusion.

Research Tips & Future Intent

Research Tips

Anyone wishing to delve deeper into this period or those who have already done so will soon become familiar with the issues surrounding the identification of individuals and units. Whilst search engines of various types within the World Wide Web are an invaluable tool, their limitations are soon determined around issues of spelling. Now I'm no linguist - I speak and write in only one language and at an average level at best - but when looking into this particular period for continental military details, sources or even references within English sources draw upon Dutch, German and French spelling variants which can confuse the monolingual researcher.

By way of example, I was looking for a Colonel Proprietor (Kolonel) for a Dutch regiment by the name of Sander which, whilst obvious to others did not register in my mind as a continental variant of Alexander until all the other details lined up and I enjoyed that 'Aha' moment. There's also the aristocratic titles which vary across the European nations which, if known, may give a tip to the variance in a particular title holder's name.

Then there's the spelling. Again, I'm not particularly knowledgeable about the evolution of languages other than English but if comparable, within these various languages there will be variations in spelling as no standardisation had been achieved at this time. This all confuses the amateur researcher and you can't be too ready to declare a person or unit as present or not at a particular conflict according to 'the record' until other possibilities are exhausted. Also, whilst admittedly reliant upon the previous work of others, one needs to be ever mindful of the possible adoption and repetition of errors and the conversion of theory or supposition to accepted fact over time. My old university training in historical principles always remind me to seek primary over secondary and tertiary sources always - but even first hand accounts can be in error.

I suppose what I'm saying is that I am bound to have missed stuff as I go along and I can't emphasise enough the need amongst us (the small community of interested wargamers) to share knowledge and ideas whilst we assemble a more detailed picture of this previously ignored period of military history.

Future Intent

I will move onto the French order of battle at Seneffe next but do so fearfully. My principle interest for this period is the Dutch and this will be my first army but I do want to build the opposition simultaneously - a demi-brigade each at a time. I would like to guarantee that I will similarly attack the Spanish and Imperial forces but we shall see. Somehow I doubt it. I say I am fearful about the French order of battle because I have not as yet ventured into research here and I doubt I'll be as fortunate to have a French equivalent of the Dutch Regiments Website. Then again, much has been written in the journals of Wargames Illustrated over time on the French army of this period so I may be pleasantly surprised. If anyone has some good website recommendations for me or other works done which is available, please let me know.

Pending Posting

Sensitive to the fact that I have been deathly quiet on the blogging front I thought I'd advise that a pending detailed Order of Battle (Orbat) is forth coming for the battle of Seneffe (1674). I'm beginning with the Dutch (United Provinces) principally due to the fact that this will be my first army of the period. As soon as this is fully developed I will commence some significant purchases and endeavour to complete at least my first battalion to demonstrate how the units will appear under this system and my preferred troop scale. Following will be the French, then back to allies with the Imperial forces and Spanish.
The nature of the Order of Battle will be in some detail. I'll go as deep as I can, identifying Kolonel Commandants, regimental numbers and a limited time line with former and subsequent unit and Kolonel Proprietor names which should enable easier identification for those afficianadoes who might cross reference important details like uniform and standards/colours. Certainly that's what I will be doing and will be relying on Sapherson as my earliest point of reference on uniforms.

I've chosen Seneffe due to the breadth of options for units fielded by all sides and having been fought in 1674 puts it nicely within my first period (Early Dutch War) for which I have already generated Dutch and French lists.

I'm drawing on several resources and cross checking them for consistency and will cite them accordingly - not expecting or wanting anyone to take my research at face value. As far as research goes, it is more a collation of the work of others for whome I will credit and link when possible to other sites. As always, I encourage anyone to comment and criticise so I can polish the lists if necessary.