1794 Battle of Boxtel

A book, published at the beginning of this year about an obscure battle, or maybe better a large skirmish, in the 1794 campaign in the Netherlands.
Nothing spectacular happened at this battle but it only happened to be the first battle in which the future Duke of Wellington performed. But it was only a small role.

I like the book because it is about an obscure battle in this period and there are not many books in English about this period.
It is also written with enthousiasme for the events and the FR period, it gives a good description of the battle with various OOB's of the campaign and gives clues how to wargame the battle ( for Black Powder and Volly and Bayonet).
Also mr Wills has given all the references and an extensive bibliography of works and websites he  consulted so if you disagree with all that is written, you can look it up where it came from.

A lot of photos of 15mm French and British troops (Minifigs) are also incorporated. I just wondered how good it would be if 25mm figures would have been in the photos but alas there aren't that many 25mm British FR figures around.
Recommended.

Histoire & Collections books

When talking about the uniforms of the light cavalry of the French revolutionary army you need to look at the H&C books about the Hussars and Chasseurs a cheval. The first one is the first of a series of three books on the hussar arm of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic armies. The book about the chasseurs is the first one of a new serie and just out.
Both are great in my opninion and give good short description of the light cavalry but the best part are the pictures of the uniforms of these dashing cavalrymen.



Also a new book, but only partly about French Revolutionary troops, is the H&C book about the various Guides and Guards. When you want to paint ADC's to various marshals or generals from 1792 onwards, this little book should be on the wishlist
.

Last but not least, an older book but if you are into flags of the French armies from 1791 to 1815, this is the book. It gives plates of a lot of flags of the foot regiments of the FR and Napoleonic armies. Have not yet totalled all the flags in it and don't know (yet) if they are complete,  but the wealth of information in it, is great.

Sorry and new book

It has been a half year when I posted for the last time, sorry for that, but work and other commitments were very time consuming.
So before the end of 2011, I wanted to let you know that a new book about the Dutch army before and in the early part of the French revolutionary period has been published.

It is not only published in Dutch but also in English and German although the price, afaik, is much higher then. I already saw it advertised in the catalogues of Caliver and Berliner Zinnfiguren so it can be bought abroad.
I can only speak about the Dutch edition but think that the other language books will be the same.

The book is a production of the Netherlands institute of Military History (NIMH) and the Dutch Army Museum and put together by J.van Hoof of the NIMH.
Imho the book is beautifull produced, hardbacked, almost 320 pages, large format and very good prints; it would grace any coffee table.

That's its appearance but what is inside:
Well, in fact for the most part, it's a reproduction of the famous "Jassenboekje" (coats-booklet) in which were detailed drawings of almost all the uniforms (infantry, cavalry, artillery and other services plus some rented troops) worn by the United Provinces' army in the 1750 to 1795 period plus the uniforms of the Batavian Republic up to 1800.
These drawings of which there are 92 for the period up to 1795 and 24 of the later period look like:

Some pages, where the regiment kept the same uniform or was disbanded or raised, there can be only one uniform per page. On some pages there are only drawings without colour and one regiment is totally missing, probably because the "Jassenboekje" was not ready.

Added to these "Jassenboekje" drawings are 52 water-dolour paintings by Duncan Macalester Loup dated around 1772 who look like:

These are also about infantry, cavalry and other services.
Besides the drawings and paintings,  the book starts with some information about the Dutch army (but eg no OOB's) , the history of the drawings and it's makers (in total some 20 pages) and ends with a list of collections and books which were consulted.

My conclusion about the book: it is wonderfull produced and the information is very much sought after by those who are interested in the Ducth army of this period. Recommended  and a big applause to the NIMH and Mr van Hoof for this production.

For the organisation of the Dutch army in this period go to www.aldegarde.nl -> historical information where I am busy to complete the information.