10mm War of Spanish Succession Armies Have Arrived

Having been intrigued by the Maurice rules & cards I'd ordered I needed some 18th C armies to go with them. As usual I wanted armies that were easy to paint. I asked around on various forums and the consensus was to go for the War of Spanish Succession (WSS) 1701–1714. I hadn't heard of this war but further research showed that it was the war where the Duke of Marlborough made his name. I'd heard of Marlborough but didn't know that the war was called the War of Spanish Succession.

The uniforms of the period were fairly simple plus there was a great deal of leeway in the uniforms as regimental colonels sometimes just choose whatever colours appealed to them. The picture below is typical of uniforms of the period with just the basic colours changing eg red coat instead of white for the British. Even I should be able to manage these uniforms in 10mm.

French Infantryman

I looked around for suitable figures and decided on Pendraken. They have a good range at a good price plus they have discounted ready made army packs for £22 that save you £4.25 on the list price of the individual packs. I bought the British and French army packs as it will be easier to find opponents if I have two armies. The packs contain 150 infantry in three different poses plus 15 command figures, 15 cavalry and 2 guns each with four crew and a 2 horse limber. Which should give me enough figures for 7 regiments of foot, and two cavalry units plus the artillery which should be more than enough to start playing Maurice. This is why I favour 10mm. For £44 I have two complete armies. If I'd gone 15mm £44 wouldn't have even bought me the infantry for one army.

The pictures below show the contents of the French army pack.


Two more additions to the lead mountain!

 

The contents of the Malburian French army pack



French Cavalry with tricorn hat



Foot, tricorn, marching



Command figures



Foot, tricorn, advancing



Foot, tricorn, march attack



6pdr gun, limber, horses, crew


Now all I have to do is paint 330 foot, 30 cavalry, 4 guns & limbers and 16 gunners then I'm ready to go. I'll have to arrange a date for a game I think so I have a deadline to work to, I'm more likely to get them painted that way.

Maurice, Rules for Warfare in the 18th Century

The curse of  'Ooh, Shiny!' has struck me again. This time it's 'Maurice', the new rules for 18th century warfare from Sam Mustafa due out in April.
I already have Sam's 'Lasalle' rules for Napoleonic warfare that I'm planning to do in 10mm (for cost reasons). But painting up the figures for two armies so I can get a game is going to take some time. This hasn't stopped me looking at 'Maurice' though.
I've never really been interested in 18th century warfare for some reason even though there are a number of interesting conflicts you could play. But having read up on 'Maurice' I'm hooked on some of the concepts, particularly the use of cards for activation & events (For more details see the review I mention below). It also features

"a limitless campaign system that requires virtually no math or paperwork, and a role-playing game in which the “characters” are officers, units, and armies, whose personalities you create, and whose fates you manage from battle to battle across wars and decades." Sam Mustafa

What really sold it for me though was this excellent review & play thru on Wargaming.info. Incidently one of the best written reviews I've read in a long time.
There is a fly in the ointment though. It's not the cost or finding the time to paint the figures or finding a willing opponent, all of which are problems. It's my lack of ability to paint up the figures. For most periods this wouldn't bother me as most uniforms are doable but 18th century uniforms are all lace edging & fiddly bits. For example the figures shown below are 10mm Pendraken painted by 'clibinarium' as posted on the Pendraken forums.

Just look at the detail he's got on them! And those are 10mm figures, I couldn't even get close to that level of detail in 15mm. Granted he's an expert painter but I don't feel I could do the models justice given my poor eyesight & shaky hands. I'll probably do some research to see if there are any forces with simpler uniforms within the timeframe of the rules. Which is of course one of the other fun aspects of wargaming.
So will I be buying the rules when they come out next month or even downloading the free 'Lite' version already available. The answer sadly is no, but they will be on my list of systems to buy & try. Of course if I can persuade someone at Wessex Wyverns to buy the rules & paint up a ton of figures that will all change :-)
To finish off here's a bit more eye candy from 'clibinarium':