1672 Test Figure

[Orctrader]

Test figure - appalling photo, but very quick.

Light grey coat with yellow cuffs and white buttons for Dutch regiment.  Yes or no?  (I liked the look of the "van Essen" in the BLB book.)



My plan is for every figure to get the coat and the cuffs with some variation amongst the trousers, stockings and hat band.  Opinions?

[Bugsda]

The yellow and grey looks great, I'd like to see some red in there though, maybe on the drum or hatband.

But I know sod all about the uniforms of the period so take no notice of me Malcolm 

[Galloping Major]

Very lovely paint job 


www.gallopingmajorwargames.com

[Svennn]

I thought this was an interesting direction for you to take and was expecting a much more colourful approach tbh but am not disappointed to see a more realistic choice.  I dont think you will get the full impression of this period until you have some units done but looking fine all the same.  Agree with Chris about perhaps some red but user chooser as they say.

[Arthur]

Van Essen's uniform was indeed recorded as an ash grey coat with yellow facings and white buttons in the 1690's :



However, bear in mind that Dutch drummers  had to stand out among the rank and file and so wore coats of reversed colours - yellow lined white in our case, with or without with white lace in keeping with the button colour. In the case of regiment van Wijnbergen, which wore grey coats with red cuffs, the drummers would have looked like this :

     

[Orctrader]

Thanks chaps.   

Drummer - yellow coat it is then.  Thanks Arthur.

Svennn - You have correctly read my natural propensity for colour.     Thought I'd have a go at a "regimental" look for a change though, just to see if I could do it.  Also, whether or not I can paint a wargaming unit to a standard I find acceptable in as few hours as I find tolerable!  And, as I'm only painting at weekends at the moment I will measure the time expended in actual hours rather than over the weeks or months this may take me.   

Thanks again all for the feedback.

[yar68]

Beautiful work!!

[Melnibonean]

Looks nice. I'll keep an ey out to see the rest of these little chaps.

[carlos marighela]

My understanding was that the Dutch didn't adopt uniforms until the late 1680s. For the 1670s I was thinking along the lines of having maybe a few chaps per battalion in a given coat colour and a complete mix and match in terms of hats and breaches as they were probably outfitted by the company captains. Of course it's all pretty speculative so if you choose complete battalions in a given scheme, that's a personal choice and not one that warrants any criticism.

It's all so much easier when you build a Restoration English Army.

[Orctrader]

My understanding was that the Dutch didn't adopt uniforms until the late 1680s...

Does seem a bit vague regarding Dutch regiments.  Although I intend to put some variety in, not yet decided how much.

[Arthur]

My understanding was that the Dutch didn't adopt uniforms until the late 1680s

It's not quite that clear-cut, I'm afraid. The process of putting European armies into uniforms began in the 1660's and spanned a period of 20 odd years. The Dutch were seemingly slower to adopt uniforms, perhaps because their logistics were nowhere near as efficient as those of the French or the English - though the English army was much smaller than its continental counterparts and therefore easier to clothe and equip.

However, there is period evidence to support the notion that at least a portion of the Dutch army had adopted uniforms by 1672, or was in the process of doing so. The Rampjaar blog quotes the correspondence between colonel Godard Adriaan Van Reede and his son the future Earl of Athlone in which the former repeatedly states that his regiment wore red coats line blue in 1672/1673 (http://rampjaar.blogspot.fr/search/label/Regiment%20%20Godard%20van%20Reede ).

We also know that the Foot Guards were uniformed from at least 1675 and wore their trademark blue coats with orange cuffs during the later stages of the Dutch war. Since evidence is usually spotty, it is hard to tell how extensive the practice of wearing uniforms was during the 1670's : most likely, this was largely down to the whims of the regimental commanders and the efficiency of the Dutch logistical infrastructure.

In the case of Van Essen, there'd be no problem in depicting the unit as uniformed since the regiment did not acquire that name until 1682 - it had previously gone by the names of Ingen Nielant from 1668 until 1676 and van Gent van Meynderswijk from 1676 til 1682.    

[carlos marighela]

Problem being that there is very little information pertaining to any uniform that may have been worn. I'm familiar with the blog you cited and it is a great resource but the trouble is that the source material is fragmentary. One of the frustrations of the period. Even the English army of the period can be frustrating iand sometimes contradictory f you are looking for specifics prior to 1685 and the tiny reformation army is, by comparison, fairly well documented.

Personally, for the Dutch I'm planning for the Medway and beyond I'm going with an un-uniformed look.