These figures are from my new project - a French army in 10mm for the War of the League of Augsburg. I've started collecting these mainly because the figures in the new range by Pendraken are simply fantastic (they are sculpted by the amazingly talented Clibinarium who also created their AWI range). The detail is superb - some of the figures even clearly having eyeballs. In 10mm! Its just not fair on us painters !
This was a figure inspired project, so I quickly realised that I didn't actually know anything about the period at all. With help from a certain Mr Essex Boy from the WD3 forum I got into some basic background reading. The most enjoyable being the useful Art of Warfare in the Age of Marlborough (David Chandler). This is a very good introduction to the tactics of the period and well worth a look. There is also a very useful webpage and forum at the League of Augsburg website. Here also you can purchase a set of rules for the war - Beneath The Lily Banners 2nd Edition. They are a bit pricy, but well produced, colourful and very readable. I haven't had a chance to play them yet but they seem like fun.
The Pendraken figures come in packs with a variety of poses. Initially I was going to mix the poses on all my stands - but this made the battalions look very irregular and rag-tag. Conversely I wasn't too keen on completely identical regiments. So I have compromised with having each base having the same figures front rank and different ones in the rear rank. I think it looks ok but i'm not entirely convinced - I may well have to experiment still more.
I have targeted my collection at the large starter army from the rulebook. This requires nine foot battalions and oodles of horse. Luckily the horse figures haven't been released yet so I have some time to get the other seven done. That's of course if I don't get distracted by AWI, 40k, Napoleonics, Space Hulk or ....sigh... Dreadfleet......
