Thirty Years' War Musketeers

Mikes Models 15mm Thirty Years' War period musketeers. I really like these guys and seem to have enough to form a few regiments for my French army.

Heath's Armies of the Sixteenth Century (1)

As you can see from the title page, this is volume 2 of Ian Heath's excellent work. This volume deals with the armed forces present in the New World, both European and indigenous. I cannot think of any comparable work and recommend it for anyone interested in the topic. It was published in 1997 and has not been superseded to my knowledge.

The book is divided into five (geographic) sections, not including the Bibliography. This last, incidentally, is quite useful, despite its seeming brevity (It is just four pages long but is set in small type and is quite comprehensive.).

Of course, my interest is with La Florida, and this is covered in the section titled "North America 1497-1608," which provides most of what I'm looking for. Specifically, sub-sections for "Florida" (pp. 123-130) and "Virginia" (pp. 130-134) are useful. "Florida" is a typical treatment. It gives a historical overview of the Spanish and French expeditions (1513-1581) and the Indian cultures of the region. This is followed by a section on warfare, including weapons and forts. Finally, Heath presents his characteristic, detailed line drawings of warriors and soldiers.

Russian Line Infantry, Seven Years' War (3)

Here is some information on the organization of the musketeer regiments:

Regimental Staff
1 colonel
1 lieutenant colonel
1 first major
1 second major

The first three officers were battalion commanders.

Musketeer Company
The authorized strength of the musketeer company was 162 officers and enlisted personnel, as follows:
5 officers
7 NCOs
4 bandsmen
144 musketeers
2 non-combatants

Musketeer Battalion
The authorized strength of musketeer battalions was:
20 officers
628 musketeers
8 non-combatants

Russian Line Infantry, Seven Years' War (2)

There were 46 musketeer regiments -- the number cited will vary, depending on source and year. Each of these consisted of three musketeer battalions and two grenadier companies. The musketeer regiments for the most part had territorial designations, such as the names of cities, towns, and provinces. When musketeer regiments were assigned to field armies, they generally sent two battalions, retaining the third as a depot battalion. The grenadier companies were told off to the grenadier regiments and served separately from their parent regiments. In the field armies, an infantry brigade typically consisted of four battalions, two each drawn from two musketeer regiments.

Russian Line Infantry, Seven Years' War (1)

These figures show the typical uniforms of the Russian line musketeers of the war. They are Minifigs 25mm, painted I suspect sometime in the 1980s. I have quite a large number of them (as befits a Russian army). My group at the time, in metro Washington, D.C., used homegrown SYW rules, and my recollection is that they gave a satisfactory game.

Modern Guerrilla Warfare

Having spent the better part of the last five years or so studying and analyzing the subject, it's a pleasure to catch up with some of the earlier literature which, while appealing, hadn't seemed directly (too) useful to the work at hand. In fact, Osanka's volume is useful as representative of the thinking in the West on guerrilla warfare as it confronted the Communist threat worldwide at the time. It consists of 37 essays and case studies by scholars, experts, and military men with practical experience in all aspects of guerrilla and counterguerrilla warfare, not only in World War II and the postwar world but also in previous history. Of course, as the title indicates, the emphasis is on tactics, techniques, procedures, and policies in Soviet Russia, Communist China, the Philippines, Indochina, Laos, Vietnam, Malaya, and Cuba. The work is supported by an extensive research bibliography.

Sumner's Corps at Antietam

This is a copiously-researched study of Maj. Gen. Edwin V. ("Bull") Sumner's Federal Second Corps in the Antietam (Sharpsburg) campaign of September 1862. In the climactic Battle of Antietam (Sept. 17), the corps' three divisions played a key role in the attack on the Confederate left (West Woods) and left-center (Bloody Lane). Besides the usual chronological narrative, the author has done a very commendable job explaining the organizational structure of the corps and its component units, plus its armament and other war materiel. In addition, the commanders are sketched. The many maps and diagrams complement the text.