Nick in the Thirty Years War - update 06/10/22

[Warboss Nick]

A couple of years ago I amassed enough models for two TYW armies, but never got further than painting half a unit of Dutch pike. I even sold about half my stock of miniatures or traded them for napoleonics.

Then came The Devil’s Playground and the idea to play its mercenary campaign at the FLGS. So for 2020 I dug out my miniatures and (re)startet my TYW project. For starters I finally finished the pike block over Christmas. The goal is still to build a Dutch army but also have a small imperial force in the long run.

With all the ECW/TYW resurrection going in here I thought maybe my journey might be of interest, too. Here is what I started with in January:

[Warboss Nick]

Unfortunately COVID put the campaign plans in hold. While J had no idea what I might need for the campaign, I managed to paint two generals (one Dutch and one Imperial) as well as a unit of cuirassiers over the following months.

[Warboss Nick]

And the Imperial brigadier. Both will get scenic bases with flag bearers in the future but will have to do without for the time beeing.

[Battle Brush Sigur]

Cool, I always wondered what the campaign from Devil's Playground played like. I haven't read it in a while, but it always feld a nudge removed from the P&S scale of things.

[Paul Richardson]

Very nice. I'm struggling to identify the first horseman you've posted (I see that the second is Warlord's Essex - one of my favourite figures). I think it's a Warlord figure but can't get any further. Which one is it please?

[Arthur]

He looks like the Warlord herald/trumpeter (now mysteriously vanished from their catalogue) mounted on Montrose's horse and given a pistol instead of a trumpet.

[Paul Richardson]

Yes, he does. Thanks, Michel.

[Warboss Nick]

He looks like the Warlord herald/trumpeter (now mysteriously vanished from their catalogue) mounted on Montrose's horse and given a pistol instead of a trumpet.

Exactly. He was sold as herald, and I think this is even the horse I got him with. Swapping a plastic pistol arm for the trumpet was easy. You still get him as cornet with the cuirassiers I think.

[Captain Blood]

Looking good 

[Ragnar]

Awesome: following this one.

[Warboss Nick]

Thank you for your kind comments, guys! Next up is a bit more text heavy on the campaign rules and starting armies.

As mentioned before we will be using the campaign rules from the Devil’s Playground. We generally liked them and decided just to make some small adjustments.

The biggest change is that we will not play a fixed number of games and also additional scenarios. The main goal is to build and paint TYW armies, so only a few games would not be enough. So we’ll see if me might add additional reinforcements, especially should one player receive considerably more than others due to lucky dice.

Other changes include the option to re-roll if you get a fanatic captain as this is not for everyone. Reliable captains get one command re-roll per game to give them some flavour.

Changes to army selection: Every army musst include at least one unit of pike. Randomly generated choices can always be exchanged for a block of pike or a unit of shot. And militia may be switched to shot. This should help in generating armies that are also playable in the long run.

We have just started the campaign so we’ll see how it works.

[Warboss Nick]

So what did I get for my starting mercenary company - or rather Kapitein Nikolas van den Baehr, also known as “de bloodige Nik”?

As you might have guessed from the name I rolled bloodthirsty for my captain’s trait. This will be an interesting challenge as I’m not used to pushing my general into melee anymore.

For units I got a pike block with one sleeve of shot, artillery with militia or shot and - regular cavalry. So no use for my cuirassiers yet.

Game 1 - take the village - proved to be a lot of fun. My canon malfunctioned on its first shot - in close range of Imperial cuirassiers non the less. As the game wore on muskets spread “shaken” results around until my army finally broke.

I was probably a bit too hesitant with my units going forward. And we both learned the hard way that starting units in the campaign have very poor stats. This was partly remedied post game, but troops will still be prone to fleeing.

On a positive note the game was the perfect reason to finish painting on my first artillery piece. A Warlord saker gun, but with a different commander.

[WillPhillips]

Super cool project!

So I understand correctly, The Devil's Playground includes campaign rules for Pike and Shotte?

[Warboss Nick]

Yes, a starter campaign. You use different army composition and different unit stats, but of course you could do otherwise. After each game you roll for improvements for each surviving unit and have a chance of getting reinforcements. Quite nice and flexible, but no elaborate campaign system with maps or the like. That could be easily added though.

[Warboss Nick]

Next in line are two units of musketeers which my concludes my first Dutch infantry regiment. As one of the sleeves will have to serve as commanded shot due to campaign rules / dice rolls (see above) I painted an additional officer and an ensign with a generic flag.

As an added bonus this also enables me to play the regiment as something else than Dutch, even though the orange is quite a typical protestant colour for the TYW.