The Eighty Years War
Recommendations: 1291
About the Project
For the past two years I wanted to get into historical wargaming and I finally did! I bought my first historical miniatures for the Eighty Years War. Never heard of this war? The extremely short description: a war between the Netherlands and Spain from 1568 till 1648. I want to paint two forces, one for each side. While this is more a painting and collecting project than a gaming project, I will follow the rules Pikeman’s Lament (Osprey Games) for unit size, shape and size of the bases,… The goal is to paint them as historically accurate as possible. I’ve been reading a lot about this war and other wars in this period over the past two years. My miniatures will represent soldiers from around 1600. This will be reflected in their look and armament as well as the composition of both forces.
Related Game: Pikeman's Lament
Related Company: Warlord Games
Related Genre: Historical
Related Contest: Spring Clean Hobby Challenge (Old)
This Project is Completed
Dutch armoured pikemen
And I have painted all my 16th century miniatures! Now I’ve got to wait until my new miniatures reach my mailbox. ?
Review - Knights Hospitaller
Finally! New miniatures begin to reach my mailbox! I had nothing to paint for weeks. ☹
This is a set of four miniatures Warlord Games released last year named “Knights Hospitaller” (also know als the Knights of Malta and the Knights of Saint John). They were designed to replay the Siege of Malta. I will add them to my Spanish and Dutch forces.
Out of the blister.
Assembled.Each miniature is armoured and armed differently:
- Pike
- Harquebus
- Twohanded sword
- Sword and shield.
The last one wears a tabard with a cross on the front and back. Not sure what to do with this one yet. It’s the wrong cross for the Spaniards (the Burgundy cross has diagonal lines). The Dutch didn’t use crosses as their symbol.
This blister comes without bases.
Charge!
Spanish cavalry
Painted miniatures! Al last! The first cavalry unit in this project and the first cavalry I’ve painted in… ten years? Must be about that long ago when I was painting my Bretonians.
This is another release from Warlord Games from last year. Warlord Games calls them “Gendarmes”. The flag is from Flags of War.
Dutch infantry
New infantry for the Dutch. The arquebusier with a feather on his helmet and the armoured soldier with twohanded sword are from the Hospitaler set I reviewed earlier.
The flag is from Flags of War. They have a large range of Dutch flags for the Eighty Years War. These flags are bigger and a little to big for these miniatures, but I’ve put one on anyway.
More Dutch pikeman
More pikemen. Together with those I painted earlier, they are another complete unit. The one with the blue and white stripes looked draws so much attention, I made him another ensign. The flag is once again from Flags of War. I’ve got a lot of Dutch flags from them. ?
Two pikemen are from Warlord Games Armoured Pikemen box. They are 17th century pikemen, but fit in well with the late 16th century ones, I think. I will mix in more of these among my Spanish pikemen.
I’ve got to miss my ussual camera for the moment, so the photo doesn’t look great.
Walloon mercenaries
It’s been a month since my last update: I must have been working on a cavalry unit.
Walloon mercenaries are often mentioned in the literature as part of the Spanish army in the Eighty Years War. They are always described and depicted in paintings as dressed in red. Some of the Walloon mercenaries were light cavalry. I gave them black helmets to look a little different from the Spanish troops.
The cavalry miniatures have a large 40mm round base, which gives more space to decorate the bases. I added tree stumps from Kromlech, some lichen and off course the flowers I’ve already used on my other Spanish miniatures.
The miniatures are mounted arquebusiers from Warlord Games. One of their releases from last year. The flag is once again from Flags of War.
