A New Year's Resolve

...as opposed to "resolution." In the course of the New Year's celebration I gave a little thought to my little blog, and I decided after-all NOT in the coming weeks and months to intersperse comment about the serious nature of warfare in that tumultuous decade~ish from 1754-1764 with commentary and photos from battles staged with my meager supply of 28mm figures from my small army contingents (or just to post eye-candy!!)...
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I hope this will not disappoint those few hardy souls who gamely follow this blog???  Instead, this blog will focus on the history of the conflicts in that period 1754-1764. It will also discuss technical issues of the armies -- and maybe the navies -- involved in the various conflicts...   Hence, the short post last month for example about British Artillery!!

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For those who fear this is all just a clever ruse to avoid admitting that I don't actually HAVE any 28mm figures, or engage in table top gaming, do NOT abandon hope. I will shortly open a new blog for discussion of all my 28mm gaming interests And never fear, I shall link the two blogs so if you are REALLY that interested you can toggle back and forth and see what games I get up to in what little free time I have when not worrying about history -- and vice versa!

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Happy New Year to you All!!

To post war-games comments or not to post...

...that is the question??  Err... that is the question!!!  I'd toyed back in August with the notion that I should keep this blog "pristine," and only discuss factual, "serious" matters that pertained to the period roughly 1754 to 1763 (or 1764).  But as the light-hearted blog title might suggest, even then I was toying with doing just the opposite!  And, I confess, my irreverent side has finely won the tussle!

In coming weeks and months I will intersperse comment about the serious nature of warfare in that tumultuous decade~ish with commentary and photos from battles staged with 28mm figures from my small contingents (or just eye-candy!!)...  I hope this will not disappoint those few who gamely follow this blog.

Accurate SYW & AmRev artillery; scarce as hen's teeth?

Why is it that in war-gaming, and for that matter at our US National and State Parks, we can not find accurate models of SYW-era artillery pieces, either in the "28mm world," or in "1:1 scale?"  Look close and one sees that we are usually treated to something, a) remotely "European," and b) post-1765 (or even 1776).  For example, these pieces in the next two pictures are found within the American "lines" at the Saratoga battlefield.

  

If my memory has served me -- from the too-hasty stop at Saratoga this last July -- these small guns on red-painted carriages are supposed to be pièces de 4 courte à la Suédoise ("Swedish" 4-pounders) as used in American service, not guns of the système Gribeauval.  France did provide some "Swedish" 4-pounders to the Americans, so that the guns did serve in the American Artillery in the AmRev is not wrong   The question that needs some research is, were any such guns present at Saratoga?  Especially since, as most school children over age 40 know, and sadly most under age 40 do NOT know (given what our schools teach today), the bulk of France's support to the AmRev came only AFTER the Battle of Saratoga.

French guns in American service aside for now, as National Park tourists or as war-gamers were often sluffed off with post-1776 British artillery pieces, as if, "that's good enough for you lot!"  The next three pictures show a British 6-pounder found in the Balcares Redoubt at Saratoga.

This gun, as I found it this last summer in the Balcares Redoubt at Saratoga, is a good example of an oft-found reconstruction at US parks; a "British Light 6-pounder Gun, 1776," as found in John Muller's Treatise of Artillery (London, 1780 edition), or C. W. Rudyerd's Course of Artillery (1793).  Such guns are not out of place on battlefields of the AmRev, but its not clear that such specific gun-types were in fact those used AT any one specific battlefield ON a specific day!!  In fact, it seems quite logical that at least through the first years of the war, some if not all the British guns dragged through New York, New Jersey, and then to Philadelphia, were based on the earlier "prescriptions" for building them found in Muller's Treatise of Artillery (London, 1756; or even the 1768 edition).

When it comes to the Seven Years War, I have to admit, I have only been to a few "battlefields" in the US ostensibly focused on the F&IW (the SYW in America).  Today, most are National or State parks, and to me anyway their staffs seem desperate to find a way to explain why they have post-1776 guns and carriages in their parks (if they even bother to explain).  For the British, "proper" guns would be those based on the system in place from the 1740s, and the then-recently improved "light" guns being introduced, as described in John Muller's Treatise of Artillery (London, 1756).  For the French, such guns should be ones based on le système Vallière.  A good explanation of the British system in the SYW is sadly lacking (and war-games figure manufacturers desperately need access to one, as do Park Serivce Curators!).  A very good and accessible explanation of the Vallière System can be found at Christian Rogge's excellent blog @ http://crogges7ywarmies.blogspot.com.

Most disturbingly for those of us who are not just tourists at National Parks, but are war-gamers, when it comes to the SYW, the average war-games manufacturer pawns off on us the "British Light 6-pounder Gun, 1776," and guns of the French système Gribeauval.

Its time to protest!!!

Going into Winter Quarters?

This blog is off to a slow start indeed!  Well, with the upcoming holidays, maybe I can go into "Winter Quarters" myself, take at least a breather if not a break from 1:1 scale life, and get some work done on my 1:54 scale(?) or 28mm contingents.  We shall see!

Off to a slow start, I guess.  "Life" has a habit of intruding when one wants to be having fun instead!  I have added some links to blogs I find interesting that are related to the SYW or the F&IW.  I will also add some links from time to time to other folks' blogs, or to websites, that provide reviews of figures I like to use for my own war gaming of the SYW & F&IW -- until I get bold enough to post my own thoughts!

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog -- dedicated at least mainly to the first war fought across the globe; 1754/55 to 1763.  I intend this space to be both informational, containing scholarly (or at least thoughtful) posts from time to time, and fun, with notes about my interests in gaming in the period.  Wish me luck!