17th Century Cavalry – Investigations of a Dog

Royalist Cavalry

You know how sometimes something big is going on but you don’t hear about it. I feel a bit like that about Gavin Robinson’s blog Investigations of a Dog. The blog was active 2006-2013 but is, unfortunately, now closed. Luckily the site is still up and is well worth a look. It contains some marvellous analysis of certain aspects of 16th and 17th Warfare, particularly the use of cavalry.

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What is the origin of the term ‘Tercio’?

Early Spanish tercio

What is the origin of the term ‘Tercio’ – the name adopted by the large Spanish pike and shot units of the Renaissance? The word literally means a bundle, or a one-third part of something (Notario Lopez & Notario Lopez, 2012) but he origin of the term for a military unit is not known. There are, however, various theories.

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30 Years’ War Spanish – 600 Point Armies for Field of Glory Renaissance

I’ve got most of the figures necessary for a Spanish army for the 30 Years War and 80 Years War in Field of Glory Renaissance. The Spanish of this period are represented by two army lists in the army list book Wars of Religion: Western Europe 1610-1660: Later Imperial Spanish (1621-59) and Thirty Years’ War Peninsular Spanish (1635-59). Both, of course, have a starter army. The armies are fairly similar but they’re not what I’m looking for. I want an army for the Battle of Rocroi (1643).

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15mm to 18mm Wargames figures for the 30 Years War and English Civil War

30YW-871 - Swedish - Pike and Shot - Yellow Brigade - Banner

Most of my figures for the Thirty Years War are from Essex Miniatures. This was because they had the best at the time I started to collect. But there are some newer, and great, ranges available now in 18mm (e.g. Khurasan Miniatures, Testudo, Totentanz Miniatures, and Blue Moon Manufacturing). So I thought I’d revisit the figures available for the Thirty Years War and English Civil War.

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States of the Holy Roman Empire

Holy Roman Empire - 1984 version - Map with errata - Banner

As I was working on the Timeline for the Thirty Years War I was musing on the major features for a campaign. The Holy Roman Empire comprised a vast multitude of more or less minor states. Representing them all in a campaign is probably unnecessary. I’m thinking about a Mapless Campaign so about 100 territories is about right. The question is, which 100. My initial thoughts are to represent only the most significant; this might be because the state/area was:

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Holy Roman Empire (HRE) Board Game

Holy Roman Empire - 1984 version - Map with errata - Banner

Mark McLaughlin designed a game of the Thirty Years War called “Holy Roman Empire” or HRE for short. I’ve never played it but I do have a copy. It looks a good basis for a miniatures campaign so I’ve summarised some of the features which I think make it interesting. I found the material on Board Game Geek: Holy Roman Empire useful when looking at the game.

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