Tuesday 22 March 2016

Easter Project 2016 - The Thirty Years War in 2mm


I’m not much of a philosopher. My “Seventeen Secrets of Happy Wargaming” and the “Book of Wargaming Mindfulness” are never likely to be best-sellers. But in my view, one of the secrets of a great wargame is where there is a really good interaction and blend of figure scale, history and rules. These are games when the ideas behind the rules, or the rule-writer’s purpose, is reinforced by the figure scale chosen.

Keep that rambling thought in mind, dear readers, while I tell you about a project I’ve wanted to work on for some time. I’ve always been very interested in the Thirty Years War between 1618-1648. It’s a turbulent, violent, battle-strewn period of European history with some memorable and dramatic commanders. Some of the key engagements are huge, iconic battles which rattle like a drum roll through the 17th Century – Lützen, Brietenfeld, Rocroi, Lutter am Bamberg, Jankau and Nordlingen. 

 
It’s also a fascinating period of military transition, both tactically and strategically. We have fascinating tactical differences between the opposing forces – the different battle-drills of the Swedish, German and Dutch Schools; caracoling pistol-armed reiters against looser, more aggressive cavalry formations; the decline of deeper ranked Spanish Tercios against smaller, more manoeuvrable French and Swedish battalions. The commanders include some of the Great Captains of history: Tilly, Gustavus Adophus, Turenne, Wallenstein, the Cardinal Infante, Pappenheim, the Great Condé, often with characteristics which are dramatic, colourful, occasionally terrifying and often mercurial. 



And for those interested in how armies were raised and sustained, this is the age of the military enterpriser in all his guises - looter, mercenary, entrepreneur, proto-capitalist, and (infrequently) loyal subject.

It’s a fantastically rich, vivid period. Perfect for wargaming. Which leads back to my question – where to get started?

I’m enjoying 25/28mm wargaming at present – gaming when I can (sadly not often), and painting when possible (a bit more frequently than last year).  As some of you might know, I've been doing quite a bit of 28mm painting since New Year as part of Curt's Sixth Painting Challenge.  This has just finished (thanks again, Curt!) and while I want to keep painting my late seventeenth century armies, I really don’t want to start another period in 28mm.  The time it would take me collect armies for the Thirty Years War would mean that I’d risk losing interest before I finally have enough troops for a game.

I did think seriously about 10mm for a while. There are some amazing 10mm pike & shot armies out there, painted by hands far more skilful and patient than mine. Although I love the Pendraken figures for the period, my brushwork on 10mm figures seems to take me almost as long as painting 15mm figures does. And to have the kind of scale I’m looking for, I would have to do a great deal of painting in 10mm (which, being honest, I would prefer to spend on painting 25mm figures).

That leaves me with 6mm – or with 2mm. I am sure that 6mm would work well for what I have in mind, although there is one problem. I like to see pike-blocks with straight wire pikes. And my experiences with many 6mm pikemen is that their cast-on pikes can bend, sometimes looking a little spaghetti-like. It’s simple enough to drill out a dozen of the pikes and replace with wire, but try doing that with hundreds….? Not very appealing. So, I’m left with 2mm.

And the more I’ve thought about the 2mm-scale for the Thirty Years War, the more I’ve wondered if this actually might be a perfect scale for the period. Here’s some of the thoughts I had when deciding to give this most micro of scales a try for the period:
  • I want to capture the “look” of a Thirty Years War battlefield. My target in this respect is the wonderful “battle paintings” of Sebastian Vrancx and his pupil, Pieter Snayers. In these painting, which were very much in vogue in the 1630s and 1640s, the battlefield is laid out before the viewer. Units are clearly seen, and their formations, but individual details are often sketched in. The impression is of the formations in the field, not of individual soldiers. This is definitely the image I want to create for a tabletop game.




  • I also love the black and white prints of battles in books such as Theatrum Europaenum. These are works of art in themselves, depicting the actions fought, and stylising the combatants on the field.

  • I want to be able to collect armies quickly. I’d like an alternative to spending 30 minutes or more on a single figure, and I would welcome the feel of painting a full unit at a time. The scale and affordability of 2mm armies make this aim a real possibility.
  • I’d also like to see what I can do with the tiny 2mm blocks. Ian Kay and the great team at Irregular Miniatures have been producing these miniatures for decades, but I’ve not often seen them on the table at a wargames club. Is that because they’re too small? Or have they been overshadowed (literally, and metaphorically) by their larger (and equally lovely) 6mm cousins? I’d like to try and give the 2mm fellows a chance on my wargaming table to find out. 
  • For a long time I’ve wanted to create a dedicated winter terrain landscape, complete with frosted snowy fields, frozen rivers, snow-bound towns, and silent winter woods. The painting below by Pieter Snayers is very much the scene I’d like to try and create. I’ve seen a few such tables around the shows, and I want to try and create one myself. 2mm terrain seems as good a place to start and do this on a grand scale. When I painted up a few test figures last year on verdant grassy bases, the details of the 2mm figures were a little lost. With a plain light grey, frosted, snow covered base for 2mm figures, I’m hoping the details of the 2mm figures might “pop” a little more (or at least as far as a 2mm unit can “pop”).

  • Like so many of you, part of the joy of the hobby comes from recreating historical tactics in miniature. Creating 2mm armies gives me the chance to test out Spanish tercios against Swedish brigades, allows me to add commanded musketeers into the line, and lets me deploy multiple lines of infantry and horse on each side (as at Lützen, Rocroi and many other battles). I’d like to focus on tactical contrasts, and far less on company formations. If I was to try building armies on this scale in 28mm, I’d never finish all the troop types, and even if I did the table would need to be huge and the game would last days. In 2mm, I can create a couple of armies, and test out the tactics on a table of manageable size.
  • Finally, “always stand in the shoes of Giants”. It’s a great motto, and it works for wargaming as well as any other activity. In 2mm, there are already two great pioneers of the scale for all kinds of super-campaigns. If you don’t already know Kieran (from “Do You Have a Flag”) and Ed (from “Colonel Scipio’s Paladian Guard”), you should do. Ed and Kieran have staged many wonderful Super-Campaigns, one of which was set in the English Civil War. Ed has also been incredibly generous in providing me with a host of great information on 2mm campaigning, showing the way forward and inspiring me.

So, with these thoughts in mind, I’ve invested in some Irregular Miniature armies, some 2mm MDF bases and I’ve already started on basing and painting the Imperialists. Here’s the first results, with hopefully more to following over the Easter break. 

I’m hoping you’ll join me for a short series of blog posts about how I get on, from painting to terrain making, from rules development to the actual games themselves. 



And, if anyone has walked the dusty, or ice-bound, 2mm roads of Thirty Years War Germany themselves, be sure to let me know in the comments or by email. I’d love to hear your stories.

30 comments:

  1. This looks like an exciting project Sidney. The winter basing idea is inspired. I look forward to it coming together.

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    1. I'm excited. Heaven only knows if it'll work!

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  2. Exellent blog post Sidney !!! I Will closet follow your progress in this project especialy regarding the swedes :)

    Best regards Michael

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    1. Don't worry Michael, there will be lots and lots of tiny Swedes on the table!

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  3. Inspiring stuff Sidney, I've always fancied the 30 years war myself, but thought it would be too hard to replicate the giant terchio's, but It should work really well in 2mm. I shall follow this project with envy and a lot of interest!

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    1. Thanks Ray! The chance to re-create the Spanish tercios on the tabletop was one of the main drivers for this project. They shall certainly be making an appearance.

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  4. Awesome. Basically the same rationale that got me into 6mm French Rev. I cant wait to see how this project unfolds for you.

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    1. Thanks A.P. I have a sneaking suspicion that quite a few people have had the same thoughts in arriving at 2mm and 6mm armies. Either that, or its a sneaking suspicion we are all equally deranged ...

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  5. Exciting...and so little!

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    1. Thanks Phil. They are indeed small. But then there's a lot of army to collect if one wants to recreate Lützen!

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  6. I didn't even know there 2mm scale figures!
    Exciting project that I'll follow closely

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    1. Thanks so much Benito. There will be lot of Hapsburgs, if that helps!

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  7. Now that's truly micro scale gaming! Looks interesting though and I'll make sure to see what you'll come up with for this project.

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    1. Micro indeed. A bit of a contrast to my usual 25/28mm giants!

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  8. Very cool project! You can definitely get the scale of a battle that way

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    1. Thanks Brian. It's all about scale - micro-figures, huge battles. You're the Captain-General, King or Emperor, not a Colonel. Well, that's the plan :)

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  9. Absolutely brilliant, this is looking superb already! Particularly like your approach of wanting to recreate the look of the contemporary art, and I think that's the beauty of the scale, you can really do that relatively easily with the minimum of space. So although you might lose some of the "eye candy" of 28mm, the overall big picture effect on the table is equally impressive. Many thanks for the shout out too, very kind of you (there's a couple more projects in the pipeline as we speak).

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  10. Kieran!!! Thanks so much for dropping by. Take a bow, please, Sir, as a lot of the credit for my 2mm project goes to you and Ed. I just hope that you'll enjoy what's coming over the Easter weekend and the following week.

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    1. Well it's always nice to know that what we do is actually of interest to anyone else, many thanks! Your work is always impressive so I'm sure it'll be enjoyed by all. Looking forward to seeing what's next

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  11. Echoing Kieran's comments there, in particular capturing the feel of those 17th Century manuals which you can do perfectly in 2mm. Thanks for the shout out, I'm looking forward to seeing how you approach it - and as ever shout if I can send any more stuff your way!

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    1. Thanks so much, Ed! Your wonderful project (and book) is still providing so much inspiration. Just looking at your ECW game made me realise what we could try and do in this period!

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  12. Your views and reasoning are spot on Sidney, a period and scale I would never have considered before. I can also see the attraction of masses of troops on snow covered rolling countryside, as depicted in the 'Battle Paintings' of Vrancx and Snayers, which with your magic touch, will look superb on the games table.

    Looking forward to seeing more.

    Happy Easter to you Sidney,

    Pat.

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    1. Thanks so much, Pat! They're small, but I'm hoping that (with a massed battle effect) the 2mm blocks can look good as well as giving a decent game. Well, that's the plan, anyway!

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  13. Looking rather good, and 2mm your a brave chap.

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    1. Brave... deranged .... insane ... pretty similar (and all equally applicable to me!!). Just have my straight-jacket waiting at the other end, Phil!

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    2. Brave... deranged .... insane ... pretty similar (and all equally applicable to me!!). Just have my straight-jacket waiting at the other end, Phil!

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  14. This should be a rather interesting project to follow Sidney :)

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    1. Thanks Tamsin! Your 6mm Rebels were another of the great projects which persuaded me to have a look at the smaller scales!

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  15. I'm late to the party as always, but I am very much looking forward to more posts on your experiences as I am considering the 30YW as well - just not in 2mm (my lovely wife and CFO would be aghast at the thought).

    Any thoughts on rules?

    Greg

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    1. Hi Greg,
      I'm sorry it's taken ages to answer your comment! Welcome to the 2mm world! I've more posts coming on this topic very shortly. As for rules, we have really struggled finding suitable rulesets - and have reverted to producing our own! Stay tuned for more on that front shortly.

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