Wargaming the English Civil War in 15mm, home of the English Civil War travelogue.
Showcasing dreadful painting and mediocre prose.
Amsterdam
Get link
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps
-
Amsterdam? English Civil War? Surely a questionable/tenuous link... or an excuse for a 'jolly'.
Amsterdam, party capital of the low countries, is not too synonymous with the Civil Wars, standing in the shadows of Breda and The Hague.
Detail from 'Militia Company...Bicker'
Breda's claim is strong, where many adventuring young gentlemen learned soldiering before the outbreak of the Wars; The Hague, where so many Royalists exiled themselves during the Interregnum/Protectorate.
Amsterdam wasn't too popular with exiled Royalists; however, it did become home for many exiled republicans once the Restoration had returned the monarch to the throne. These exiled republicans would help build Amsterdam's wealth.
What Amsterdam does have is a city landscape that very much entered its golden age during the mid seventeenth century. Amongst the pungent aroma of cafes, stroopwafels, extortionate chocolate shops, frites and ladies whose virtue can be easily bought, are a whole plethora of seventeenth century churches, bell towers and an unrivalled collection of artefacts at the Rijksmuseum.
Plaque commemorating The Pilgrim Fathers, English Reformed Church Amsterdam
We'll start off with the English Reformed Church Amsterdam, located in a quiet backwater in the middle of the city, the English Reformed Church is actually part of the Church of Scotland.
the English Reformed Church
During the Reformation the church was closed when the city fathers disallowed all but Reformed worship.
The church lay unused for 20 years until it was given to the English-speaking worshippers in Amsterdam in 1607. Please note that the Begijnhof is a private residential square, the bouncers at the entrance will remind you that you have to be quiet.
Amsterdam's oldest wooden house, in the Begijnhof
The Rijksmuseum is clearly the big ticket item for the seventeenth century aficionado. Please note that you can not purchase tickets at the museum, they can only be bought online.
ECWtravelogue top tip: arrive early and head to the second floor and the Gallery of Honour to avoid the crowds.
The Gallery of Honour is currently home to the recently cleaned, and restored 'Night Watch' by Rembrandt (it will soon be moving to its own gallery at the end of the Gallery of Honour). Or to give the painting its correct title, 'Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq'. Supposedly called 'The Night Watch' due to the accumulated dirt that obscured much of the detail and dulled the colours.
It was fashionable for officers in Amsterdam's Militia to have rather grand portraits of themselves surrounded by a number of their soldiers and fellow officers (as you'll see as you scroll down through this post).
'The Night Watch'
In the next bay along is Rembrandt's 'The Standard Bearer', dated 1636.
'The Standard Bearer'
However, despite the obvious appeal of 'The Night Watch', the other side of the gallery is chockful of Vermeers (be still my beating heart). So forgive me whilst I indulge myself and post 'The Little Street'. The Vermeers are incredibly useful for selecting colours for your civilians.
'The Little Street'
ECWtravelogue top tip: once you have visited the Grand Gallery I suggest you return to the basement and start the museum route in the 1100-1600 Gallery. This allows you to access all parts of the museum without having to continually go up and downstairs and revisit galleries that you have already viewed.
When you have made your way back up to the second floor, there are some interesting coins and medals in a side gallery overlooking the museum's rather spectacular looking library.
Medal commemorating the Anglo-Dutch Fishery Treaty, 1636
The route will take you to some more militia portraits. The Militia were effectively Amsterdam's Trained Bands, such a shame that the fashion of grand portraits didn't exist in England (it would have made life so much easier).
'Militia Company of District VIII in Amsterdam under the Command of Captain Roelof Bicker' by van der Helst, 1643
'Banquet at the Crossbowmen’s Guild in Celebration of the Treaty of Münster' by van der Helst, 1648
Amongst the portraits of Amsterdam's military great and good, are some military artefacts. Including a buff coat and hat worn by Ernst Casimir van Nassau-Dietz at the Siege of Roermund. The hat having a hole created by a Spanish musket ball, which killed Ernst.
'Frederik Henry, Prince of Orange' by van Mierevely, 1632
Bandolier, with powder chargers 1640s
Musket and rest
Admiral Jacob van Heemskerck's armour and sword. Missing the left cuisse as it was shattered by a Spanish cannonball which ended the Admiral's life
A rather splendid rat catcher statuette, which surely was the inspiration for Matchlock Miniature's rat catcher figure.
It is inevitable that the Dutch navy is well represented in the museum, including the Royal Coat of Arms that was removed from HMS Royal Charles at the Battle of The Medway. Don't forget that prior to being Charles II's flagship, the ship was the pride of the Commonwealth's Navy, originally called Naseby.
Leaving aside the rather spectacular paintings, there is a collection of seventeenth century whaler's hats which came to light as they literally fell out of a receding glacier at Spitsbergen.
There's more seventeenth century clothing in the other side of the museum's basement in the 'special collections' galleries.
Linen shirt 1640-49, believed to have belonged to Willem Frederik
Not to mention a small, but beautifully formed arms and armour gallery.
Greenwich made cuirassier armour
An 'interesting' powder flask
Did I mention Delftware? It's everywhere.
Military camp 1660
Many Amsterdam guidebooks, and Google maps show a free gallery of the Amsterdam Museum, which is solely dedicated to Amsterdam's City watch. Depending upon your source it is either located close to the Begijnhof, or next to the H'ART Museum. Save your shoe leather. It is in neither location. Nor is it located inside the H'ART Museum. (The H'ART Museum is part of Moscow's Hermitage Museum).
And if you would like to see the Night Watch 'come to life'...
Postcodes for SatNavs English Reformed Church, Begijnhof 48
Rijksmuseum, Museumstraat 1
If you enjoyed reading this, or any of the other posts, please consider supporting the blog.
Way back in the mists of time I painted some Freikorps 15 'camp followers'; as I decided I had far too few civilians I turned my attention back to this pack. Partly inspired by a recent trip to Amsterdam, and swooning at the sight of the Vermeers in The Rijksmuseum, here's my latest batch of civilians. The colour palette for the clothing has been lifted straight from Vermeer's works. Mostly from the aforementioned Freikorps 15 pack, there's also a few figures from the Minifigs Hussite Wars camp followers pack 214X. Freikorps camp followers a single casting women with buckets women looking stern women with babies Minifigs Hussite camp followers I particularly like the woman with the firewood bundle If you enjoyed reading this, or any of the other posts, please consider supporting the blog. Thanks .
Realising that my finished* Irish Confederate Catholics were lacking in the command stakes, I decided to utilise the Peter Pig characters that were sat in my spares box. The character packs are heroically sized in comparison to the rest of the PP ECW range, I had thought long and hard as to whether I would actually use these figures, the ensigns quickly made their way onto fleabay, the personalities have sat in my spares box for a very long time awaiting their fate. Each figure has a much thicker base than the normal PP figures, which accentuates the size difference. Figures also have their name in raised detail on the bases. Thinner bases would help blend the personalities into the rest of my armies. The base trimmings from just three figures Next I had to decide who they were going to become... So here are my latest Irish Catholic command figures. Sir Ruaidhrà Ó Mórdha ( This is the Essex figure from the character range.) Sir Ruaidhrà Ó Mórdha, sometimes Sir Rory O'Moore, or eve...
It all began in a car park in Macclesfield about 40 years ago. A Saturday shopping trip to Treacle Town started a fascination with events 350 years (or so) ago that has lasted a lifetime. So it's all the Sealed Knot's fault. Or the ECWS. One of the two. Under my dad's Vauxhall Viva windscreen wiper was a flyer for a battle reenactment at Lyme Park. Much to my father's chagrin (he hated anyone fiddling with his car, and believe me putting anything under his wiper blade was very much in the 'fiddling' category) a 9 year old me was fixated with the imagery used, which led to "mum, dad, can we go please?" Needless to say we did go to the reenactment, and I loved every minute of it. The imagery used was the Battle of Naseby engraving (Streeter's Plan), the representation of the troops was right up a 9 year old's street, and has stayed with me ever since. A brief dalliance with 1/300th Heroics and Ros ECW figures (very badly painted) in the ...
Continuing my therapeutic blogging (write rather than rant) antidote to incorrect English Civil War coat colour tables for wargamers, I give you the Royalist Regiments of Foot. For all of my coat colour articles see: Introduction Part 1 Parliamentarian coat colours Part 3 Scots coat colours Part 3B Montrose and the Irish Brigade Part 4 Dragoons, Horse and the New Model Army coat colours The Trained Bands London Trained Bands Auxiliary regiments Scarves Same rules apply here, as they did with the Parliamentarian coat colours: Regiments often got renamed when command passed to a new colonel - these regiments are listed under their first name e.g. Jacob Astley's Regiment was originally Richard Fielding's Regiment. Coat colour notes refer to contemporaneous references and some of the deductions made by Reid, Spring, Peachey and Prince. You will also notice that some regiments have several coat colours listed. Where there is some question aro...
Jings and crivens, a bonus post on a not-Monday. Be still my beating heart. Once again the leading British talk radio station dips its toe in the preserve of North Derbyshire's premier Civil War blog. Cromwell's Statue at Parliament BBC Radio 4 has a series on dictators. Four of the latest batch of episodes cover Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell. So just shy of 3 1/2 hours on such issues as the origin of the story of his abduction by a monkey as a baby. I've not ploughed my way through the three episodes currently available, but what I've listened to so far is very good, balanced and accurate. Just ignore the inevitable gaffs such as the description of regiments of foot at Edgehill at the start of episode 2; the description of Boye; Rupert's lobsters; and that old nugget of Cromwell banning Christmas. A reasonably balanced 'take' on a very divisive figures; my only real issue is with the image the series paints of the Army Newly Modelled. Whilst the New Mode...
About the time I was proudly carrying a Cadbury's Fingers tin full of 1/300th ECW figures backwards and forwards to the school wargaming club there was, on BBC 1 on Sunday nights "By The Sword Divided". Adding fuel to my ECW fire, the timing was perfect. Fast forward 40 years and I saw the complete box set on Amazon. Bought it expecting a good trip down memory lane. If you fancy a similar trip, be warned - it hasn't aged well: some wooden acting, a few flimsy sets, and the soft focus, detract from an excellent script and plot. To be honest, the more times you rewatch the series, the less obvious these detractors become. Okay, the production isn't on a par with something like 'Wolf Hall', but this almost certainly paved the way for it. By The Sword is equally ambitious in its plot; a local, personal set of stories that tell a much grander story. Want to include the C17th anti-Irish, anti-Catholic narrative? That'll be two servants brawling in the was...
When I first started my Civil War gaming project I relied upon the many ECW coat colour tables on wargaming websites. As my project has progressed, my library has got bigger, my research has gone back to primary sources rather than relying upon second and third hand sources; and I have noticed quite a few errors in these lists for wargamers. I have also noticed the same errors appearing in multiple lists. As a result of continually seeing 'the London Trained Bands and their Auxiliaries wore red coats' (there is no evidence supporting this at all, the evidence, whilst not explicit suggests that the London Trained Bands wore civilian clothes - some of the Auxiliaries might have been issued with blue winter coats) I decided to write my own list. So here it is. If your allegiance lies elsewhere you might want to look at Introduction Part 2 Royalist coat colours Part 3 Scots coat colours Part 3B ...
I do like a good period film on in the background when painting (painting French line whilst Waterloo is on in the background is the only way to make it pleasurable). This is good fodder to 'set the scene' whilst you stick your tongue out when concentrating on fiddly detail. Richard Harris and Alec Guiness play Oliver and Charles respectively. Sir Alec puts in a wonderful performance, while Mr Harris shouts his way through the script. Just don't use it as painting inspiration, unless you want to perpetuate the myth of ironsides wearing rugby shirts. Yes, it's all wrong. Why should anything like facts get in the way of a film script? If historical inaccuracies really offend you, then this film is not for you. The film makers advertised their film as the result of extensive historical research... whoever the researcher was, I don't think they were researching the right Cromwell. I can understand and forgive poetic licence in order to provide a cinematic exp...
It appears that it is becoming tradition that successful 'medieval' wargaming rules have a follow up pike and shot version. And so it is with the very popular Nevermind the Billhooks, which has spawned numerous variants, and now gives us the pike and shot version Nevermind the Matchlocks. Just as Billhooks was given away with Wargames Illustrated, so it was with Matchlocks, which came 'free' with the November 2024 issue. Currently available to buy from WI as the ruleset (£5.99), or the mag and rules (also £5.99). Running at 32 pages, the rules are in a magazine format; pretty pictures courtesy of Richard from Bloody Miniatures, and just 5 simple tables to consult (6 if you include the quick reference sheet). Units described These are a seemingly easy to pick up ruleset, but I fear a hard set to master. Designed for small battles/big skirmishes of about 150 figures a side, lasting up to two hours. The game utilises six-side dice, and game specific tokens and cards. The r...
Comments
Post a Comment