“A Relation of the Recent Warres in Spanish Flanders”; auth. Don Alonso de Moncada, Marquis of San Lúcar de Barrameda; pub. Antwerp, 1690; 1st Edn., 2 folios, 364 pp, bound in old leather, foxing on the pages, but otherwise tight and surprisingly well conditioned for old volumes.
"… And, after an uneasy night, the ground in front of both armyes was soaked in mist and dew, the half-light of dawn barely yet breaking through the last shadowes of night. Along the battalia of French and Italian armies the sounds of drums, fifes, trompets and cries of awakening could be plainly heard, the noise carrying far over the field. It was at that time that Don Hugo de Velasco advanced with many divers grenadiers, drawn by volunteers from the Spanish regiments in the service of the City of Laarden. He chose soldiers from the Tercios of Sevilla (los Morados viejos), Granada (del Casco de la Ciudad de Granada) and the German battalion of the Baron de Gorcy to accompany him, declaring that his assault over the covered ground would be nothing less than plucking the feathers of the King of France’s cockerel…..".
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Here’s my submission for the last of the Themed Rounds.
You can find Don Alonso’s book in a dusty bookshop, close to the Rue de Rennes in Lille, on a high shelf in the back room of the shop, just along from the "History of The City of Laarden” (in Flemish) and the full five volume history of the Spanish expedition to Laarden in 1688 (in Old Spanish). You may have to brush the dust from each of these volumes - none of them seem to have been read for some time, if ever. I would expect that you might be surprised by the bookseller’s asking price - but, don’t worry, you can haggle the price down if you try hard. Extracting the story of Don Hugo’s assault on the Franco-Papal lines in one of the battles of the summer of 1689 has been time-consuming, but I thought his dashing assault would make a perfect vignette for the "Characters from a Book” themed round.
The figures are Dixon Miniatures and Foundry, with a couple of small conversions. The collapsed gabon is from Frontline Wargaming, years back. And yes, I could not resist recreating Don Hugo’s assault in a wintry 2mm base to complete the submission.
Wow, stunning as usual!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Barks!
DeleteAlways amazing to see your brushwork Sidney!
ReplyDeleteThanks Greg!
DeleteFantastic job!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Phil!
DeleteVery good stuff, the colours are just perfect, now I had to put in a vote since, well I am biased with a son called Hugo right?! ;-)
ReplyDeleteFantastic, Sander - I knew there was a reason I liked that name! Thanks so much for dropping by!
DeleteWhat a wonderfully imaginative read, great work Sir.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Michael!
DeleteHaha! This is a wonderful bit of 'creation' Mr. Roundwood. Beautiful brushwork, as usual, and I very much like the 2mm rendition of his assault. Excellent interpretation of the theme, sir!
ReplyDeleteHi Curt - yes, I was a little nervous about creating my own book. I rushed the 2mm forlorn hope (or the Spanish equivalent expression - Spanish-speakers, please let me know!).
DeleteI should have featured the 2mm forlorn hope on the same fields of Flanders as Don Hugo is marching over - I'll make sure I correct that!
Now, my dear Mr. Roundwood, this is a little bit of a cheat, inventing a book as the basis of your scene, but you do with such aplomb, even with a Borgesian touch of magic realism, that I will forgive it. It's a lovely thing you've done, so much detail (like the wood grain in that ... fascine? that chap is carrying). Bravo. And to do it in two scales is surely a touch of the master.
ReplyDeleteHi Michael - I'm so pleased you like it. It was a cheat, I confess (and I apologise to everyone). Creating the imaginary world, and thinking how it interacts with the real one, has been a really enjoyable part of my (embarrassingly) infrequent contributions to the Challenge this year. But thank you, all the same!
DeleteSpiffing work Sidney, and you carried off the fictional work of history with such great cheek and aplomb that you deserve to get away with it! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Tamsin! It was cheeky, but without making up a book, I was totally stumped!
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