Saturday 6 January 2018

From SidneyR: Flemish Horse, 1688 and Count de Vichet (84 points)




The second submission for the challenge is the remaining troopers from the Flemish regiment of Horse of Pfilips de Vichet, accompanied by Count de Vichet himself. They will be joining my Flemish, Spanish and german army from 1688, focused around the fictional town of Laarden in the Spanish Netherlands, but leaning on history for the uniform and flags of the units concerned.





The figures are a mix of 25mm Wargames Foundry troopers, Dixon Miniatures officers from their Grand Alliance range, and some English Civil War horses from Wargames Foundry drafted in to make a little variety. Bases by Warbases (in 3mm laser cut MDF), and the lovely (admittedly mid-17th Century) flag is from “Flags of War”. Count de Vichet has suffered an arm swap to make him look significantly more heroic, but that’s the only conversion from the original figures, although the feathers are almost all green-stuffed.



Many thanks for the various Challengers helping me on the spelling and the pronunciation of the elusive Flemish name of Pfilips de Vichet. One of the fascinating things about the army of the Spanish Netherlands from the late seventeenth century is that there are many tantalising hints regarding the very significant forces raised in the period, but the hard and fast details remain often lost or out of reach (at least to an English speaking audience). I need to head back to my research notes to dig out whether I’ve mis-spelled de Vichet’s name incorrectly (in which case, many apologies to Flemish speakers across the globe, and the modern-day scions of the de Vichet family in particular), or whether this is a mis-translation into English from a Flemish text.

Whatever the answer, I’ll probably go into more detail in my accompanying blog post on the unit (to follow). The figures were fun to paint, having a simple colour scene, and lots of plain cloth to shade - and all without too much gold lace. For those enjoying these figures, rest assured there are some more to come in other Flemish and German regiments of Horse. And apologies to anyone who doesn’t like the late seventeenth century!
And here’s the full formation, with Count de Vichet acting as the commander of a brigade of Flemish Horse.





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What an absolutely glorious unit of cavalry! Beautiful work Sidney. I really admire your mixing and matching of ranges to get a completely unique squadron of horses and mounts.  Your subtle arm swap for de Vichet and the plumage amongst the wide-brimmed hats provides a perfect flourish. Bravo!

I look forward to the expanding order of battle from the environs of Laarden!

84 points for you sir, including a few added for your 'green-stuffing', 'arm-extending' and 'flag waving'.  :)


20 comments:

  1. Wow these chaps look amazing absolutely fabulous wook

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  2. A stunning looking unit Sydney! These make me want to start a fouray into this period as well!

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  3. Stunning job, they look awesome!

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  4. Lovely! The paint job is excellent and I admire your research as much as your painting.

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  5. Absolutely spiffing work Sidney :)

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  6. Gorgeous work, your storming ahead in the renaissance challenge and with such quality too!
    Best Iain

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  7. Excellent work Sidney! I love the Laarden project, it really makes me want to game the Wars of the Sun King.

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  8. Once again that’s some superb brushmanship Sidney! The rather murted tones of the uniforms help to draw the eye to your wonderful take on these horses.

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  9. Wow! Gorgeously well painted units!

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  10. Amazing work as always Sid. I really live the colour palette you've used for these, to my eye it's very reminiscent of an oil painting by one of the Dutch masters. Brilliant stuff mate, can't wait to see what you have next

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  11. Great looking stuff here Sidney, but then I always love your use of colour and the high contrast nature of your work.

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  12. Sidney, your brushwork continues with its well-established mind-blowing standards. I’m always chuffed when I see entries from you and Nick on the roster! Great work, just amazing.

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    1. 100% agree Greg. I am always jealous of Sidney's painting, both quality and colour choice (which is where I really suffer as I have no sense of colour). I have tried to emulate his style and cant do anything close.

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  13. Superb work and some excellent cavalry Sidney!! Love the colors you used!

    Christopher

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  14. Sidney,

    Amazing painting as always. You are a true inspiration!

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  15. I think they are glorious, Sidney! Although I'm more keen on the WSS, I am a fan of anything Lace War and 3 musketeers-ish. ;)
    The buff coats are wonderfully shaded and the mixing of ranges really gives them some nice movement and animation.( why I like the Perry Napoleonic line they have actually casted soldiers that seem to be talking in the ranks!)
    The count is wonderful too and delightfully foppish looking with his massive wig scarlet jacket and all the aristocratic bling!

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