From SidneyR: More Flemish Horse: the Count of Bucquoy's, 1688 (85 points)

My fifth submission for the challenge is the first half of the Flemish regiment of Horse of the Count of Bucquoy. 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 Lords, and later Counts, of Bucquoy were important holders of high office in the Hapsberg dominions of the Spanish Netherlands, including the hereditary title of the Master of the "Hunt of Artois". The third Count, Charles II Albert de Longueval (1607 – 1663), was also a holder of the Order of the Golden Fleece and the Order of Calatrava (both senior orders of Spanish nobility), and was a general of the Spanish Cavalry in the Low Countries in the later stages of the Thirty Years War. The regiment of Horse recruited by the third Count, then passed to his son, the 4th Count (being one of thirteen children of the third Count). So, there's noble pedigree a-plenty in the regiment, and the location of the Bucquoy lordship (now a commune in the Pas-de-Calais, but formerly part of the Hapsberg territories in Flanders), makes the unit a good fit for my fictional free-Flemish city of Laarden in 1688.

The figures in this submission are all 25mm Wargames Foundry from their Marlburian range, including the horses. They’re painted with Vallejo paints and the bases are by Warbases (in 3mm laser cut MDF). The regimental officer, probably not the Count himself, has suffered an arm swap to make him look more inspiring, but that’s the only significant conversion from the original figures, although the feathers are all made from green-stuff.

The figures were fun to paint - with the red cuffs contrasting well with the buff/ off-white of their uniforms. I’ve chosen to equip them with pistols (as I did with the Flemish Horse regiment of de Vichet). From the performance of Flemish horse in the Nine Years War, I don’t anticipate that their tactical doctrine would have been the same as the hard charging French cavalry using a sword as their primary weapon. The Armies of the Spanish Netherlands struggled in recruiting high quality cavalry formations, relying mainly for battlefield cavalry on Lorraine and Burgundian horse regiments recruited from Hapsburg affiliated territories along the French border south of Luxembourg. Equipping the regiment of the Count of Bucquoy with pistols as their primary weapons, and allowing them to perform a caracole maneouvre, makes sense to me, restricting cold steel melee weapons to the French and more aggressive Lorrainer Horse.

I’ve also added another ‘routed base’ into the submission. This is the third base (of 6) I had prepared in advance for the ‘Flight’ round but did not get finished in time for the first themed round. I’m hoping to finish up all 6 by the end of the Challenge. The figure are a mixture of Wargames Foundry, Perry Miniatures and 1st Corps. There's some conversion work on the mounted officer trying desperately to rally his shattered regiment of Horse. I added deep buttoned cuffs to his coat with green-stuff, and feathers and a large cravat.  

There are still three more of these "Flight" bases to come, so hopefully I can get these painted later in the Challenge.

Points wise, there's six 25mm cavalry figures = 60 points for the Flemish Horse.  The Flight base adds 10 points for the mounted officer, and half points for the three prone figures and the prone horse (so, I'm guessing 2.5 points for each for another 10 points).  So all-in-all, 80 points.

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Absolutely superb work, Sid. You are hitting it out of the park with your Laarden project this year and these equestrian chaps are terrific additions to your ever-growing collection. While the cavalry are lovely, I really have to say that my favourites lately have been your 'Flight' bases. I'm a sucker for vignettes, so I appreciate the 'stories in miniature' these little dioramas allow. On top of the excellent painting, I very much enjoy reading the historical background of this lesser-known period (doctrine, recruiting, etc.) as it places the figures within a broader context. 

For this series of figures let's peg it at 85 points to allow a bit for the conversion work. Lovely stuff, Sidney!