I am almost giddy with glee.
I occasionally check the North Star website to see if they have any new releases in the North Star 1672 range. This afternoon I discovered to my great joy, that they're releasing Swiss for service in l'armée du Roi-Soleil. They look very nice in the picture with their distinctive armor and frilly-bottomed trousers. I can almost smell chocolate and fondue just looking at them.
I'd been planning to paint a few Swiss units, but I figured I'd make do with painting the standard French figures in red coats. These figures are a pleasant surprise. I have some Swiss standards from GMB Designs that are circa Seven Years War. Many French standards didn't change since the Thirty Years War, but I suspect these Swiss standards are anachronistic to the Dutch War period I'm doing. Nevertheless, they look good and the pattern is at least similar to what was used in the 1670s.
Only the pikemen are available now. The musketeers are coming. Do I wait until I can order both together or get the pikemen now? Dilemma.
North Star also released dragoon horse holders for standard dragoons, dragoons in fur caps, and French dragoons. The packs come with one horse holder and three standing horses. I have some standing horses in production now that I got from The Assault Group. I was going to make do with just the horse to mark where the horses are tethered (as specified in my rules), so this is a another nice surprise from North Star.
My Pike & Periwig rules are on hiatus while I work on Row Well and Live!, but I am working on gunners,two battalions of Régiment Picardie, and a dragoon squadron. When those units are done, I'll do Swiss.
Get the pikemen now -they are too beautiful figures to not order !
ReplyDeleteStart them and the wait for the musketeers will be easier...
BTW can you tell me a little more of the rules for the period you are working on?
I like well this advice, sir. I always paint the pikemen first anyway.
ReplyDeleteI've posted earlier on my rules "Pike & Periwig" that are focused on the period 1660-1680 (Basically Louis vs. the Dutch--and almost everybody else. He had a penchant for those odds.) The basic units are battalions of foot (18 figures) and squadrons of horse and dragoons (8 figures) at a figure scale of roughly 1:30.
Even though the rules focus on one period, they would be usable for earlier periods (late TYW and ECW) and good until then end of the Nine Years War.
I'm hoping to have a full draft later this year that I can use for play-testing.
Swiss pikemen ordered, along with some French dragoon whores holders and a couple galloper guns for the horse brigade.
ReplyDelete*horse* holders. Darn auto-correct.
ReplyDeleteBut who knows when it comes to French dragoons? Maybe auto-correct is onto something.
ReplyDelete