Thursday 4 July 2019

Tournaisis


Here is the first finished battalion for my Late c.17th project, in fact the very minis that attracted me to the period. David Imrie very kindly sold me these miniatures some five years back. They represent a battalion of around 1690 from the French Regiment Tournaisis, which served in Ireland and elsewhere. The picture is clickable. David's painting is superb- I can't get anywhere near this standard.

All of the miniatures are from the superb Front Rank Late c.17th range, and the flags are Flags of War. Having bought the 40-odd minis from David, I find that I have bought some four hundred and fifty more painted minis from various sources. Eventually there will be a set of rules and a display game, but don't hold your breath. :-)


It took me years to decide how to base them, and I settled on two wings of 12 shotte, 8 pike and a command stand of 5. My friend Ian Notter and I designed a series of wobbly-edged bases to carry them. There are four bases which means I can swap out the command stand for one with different flags, from a different nation, perhaps, or swap out the pike for an extra stand of shotte so that I can use the minis for the early c18th. The new bases can be found in the BigRedBatShop, here.


Finally, here's a closeup of the command stand. What I love most about this period is the cut of the uniforms, but I'm also mad for the floppy hats with ribbons around the edges.

20 comments:

Steve J. said...

That is one lovely looking unit!

BigRedBat said...

Thanks- I'm so pleased to have them on bases, at last.

Von Bob said...

Really superb Simon, but I think the name is Tournaisis!

BigRedBat said...

Quite right; French chums have just told me that, too, and I've corrected.

BigRedBat said...

Thanks! :-)

Michal DwarfCrypt said...

Fantastic work!

Bluewillow said...

Fabulous work on those, a period I must try to resist every time I see someone building a army!


Cheers
Matt
French Wargame Holidays at L'Hotel de Hercé
Mayenne, Pays de Loire
France

BigLee said...

Beautify minis. Your basing really does them justice. Bravo Sir!

BigRedBat said...

Thanks chaps!

caveadsum1471 said...

Really lovely looking unit! Nice basing too!
Best Iain

Andrew Brentna said...

Hi Simon,

Sorry to be pernickety, but shouldn’t the Colonel’s. Colour be on the other side?

Jose Maria Cagiga said...

Superb!

BigRedBat said...

Thanks all!

Andrew- possibly... at this time there might have been a load of colours, per the ECW, which I've represented with just two. But I suppose that even if there were 10 colours there would almost certainly be an order of precedence. I'll bear that in mind for future units.

Daniel Moreno said...

Maravilloso!

Phil said...

Truly superb, paintjob and flags!!!

Duc de Gobin said...

Absolutely superb work here.
Yes, this is the forgotten period of history, yet so influential on subsequent events.
Very keen to see these rules designed for this period - but I can be patient :)

Secundus said...

Love these, I looked into starting a force but was stopped by funds. Time to finish off the ECW first I think.

Andrew Brentna said...

As I look again at this beautiful regiment while listening to the World Cup semi final against Australia, I wondered whether the Colonel of Tounaisis was an MCC member? Anyone?

Andrew Brentna said...

Hi Simon,

I am currently beginning to reproduce this unit in 10m and 6mm using Pendraken and Baccus figures. I noticed that officers/NCOs have yellow rather than gold hat lace. Is this based on a specific source?

BigRedBat said...

Hi Andrew,

I don't know; that's how they came, ready painted, from David. I'd imagine that they could have whatever lace they could afford! David has done other officers with yellow lace, it might be that he was doing non-metallic metallic.

Best, Simon