30 Years War French army 1636-1643

This topic has 8 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 4 years, 4 months ago by invisible officer.

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July 3, 2020 at 7:46 pm #179645

Tatertron
Participant

Good afternoon all.

I am new to Historical war gaming. I’m loving the setting of the 30 Years Wars, and I have just purchased The Devils Playground supplement and the Imperial Army Deal box set.

For my next purchase I’m looking to build a French army. I want my commanders to be the the 3 musketeers (not historical, but fun as hell). I’m having a hard time finding models to accurately represent the troops. The core book on page 190, 191 and 195 under War of The Sun King has pictures of french troops, but I cant seem to find those models in the Web Store. Also, as that’s 60 years after the time peroid i want to build my army for, I skeptical they would be accurate for the period.

If anyone has any advice on how to build this army I’d sure appreciate it.

July 4, 2020 at 8:17 am #179650

invisible officer
Participant

Hmm, there are very good French soldiers available for early Louis XIV time. Including the Musketeers. Google for 1672 . Infantry still with pikes and no bayonets like in TYW. I did a larger French force (and 1672 Dutch, Spanish, Austrian and English) and like them a lot.

A certain Nottingham company did some French TYW foot long ago, I have no idea if a blister is available today.

July 5, 2020 at 2:08 pm #179716

Charge The Guns
Participant

Hi Tatertron – welcome to the Pike and Shotte period! A very colourful and interesting place to wargame. The Thirty Years War is one of my favourite conflicts for games. The Sun King armies shown in the rule book are really a slightly later part of the period and typically people don’t mix TYW and the later half of the 17th century armies together. You would be ok using the Warlord TYW range for French in the period up to 1648 or so. There may have been some distinguishing things that made troops look ‘French’ but I suspect mostly wouldn’t show up in 28mm. If you want to do later 17th century French then it may be worth looking at some other ranges as IO suggests.

Let us know what you decide to do and come back and show us some of your troops 🙂

July 5, 2020 at 6:35 pm #179720

Tatertron
Participant

Thanks so much for the help!

Id love to see pictures of your French Force Invisible Officer.

To Charge the Gun, I was afraid that Sun King era wouldn’t match.

“You would be ok using the Warlord TYW range for French in the period up to 1648 or so. There may have been some distinguishing things that made troops look ‘French’ but I suspect mostly wouldn’t show up in 28mm.”

I don’t see a Warlord TYW range for French in this period. Did you mean Swiss? If so then that answers my next question perfectly, which was going to be what other ranges could I substitute to pass off as french.

I’ll definitely be posting pictures of my Imperial army and eventually my French army. My absolute favorite part of this hobby is the modeling. I had been into 40K for a few years and built a few armies, my biggest accomplishment being a large fully painted Guard army. But with all the errata and rule changes, and now a completely new edition after only 3 years, its a bit to much for me to keep up with.

So I’m really excited to get into Pike and Shotte and can already tell that this a going to be a great community. Thanks!

July 5, 2020 at 9:15 pm #179722

Rough Rider
Participant

The French of the period would not be all that different from the other European powers; as Charge The Guns said, in the main, western Europeans would generally have dressed the same whether they were French, English or German with differences being subtle and not that apparent in 28mm. This means that any of the Pike and Shotte box sets and blisters would be usable for French forces, probably even those labelled as ‘Swedish’.

July 6, 2020 at 8:54 am #179725
invisible officer
Participant
The true national TYW French looked a bit different, more finges….. -) But the mercenary armies fighting in Germany had few of them. Most looked like typical late TYW Germans. Unfortunately the Warlord miniatures re designed for ECW, often not 100 % identical.

As asked for I add some 1672 French pics.
- This reply was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by invisible officer.
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July 6, 2020 at 8:57 am #179730
invisible officer
Participant
And some more.

The battle pic shows a selection of my forces.
- This reply was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by invisible officer.
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July 7, 2020 at 11:41 pm #179770

Tatertron
Participant

Hell yeah IO! Those are beautiful!

Are they all Warlord Games?

You should be very proud of your work

July 8, 2020 at 7:53 am #179771

invisible officer
Participant

Unfortunately not one. No naming of othe companies here. I send you a PM
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