Steinkirk 1692 and Neerwinden 1693

 Continuing our exciting journey of discovery in the Nine Years War, today we visit Steinkirk in 1692 and Neerwinden/Landen in 1693 with Dominion of Marlborough and Peter the Great. For those of you who know as little about these battles as I do, wikipedia has decent summaries here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Steenkerque and here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Landen 

As ever I'll be using my 2mm WSS stuff supplemented with some figures from other periods.

First up. Steinkirk, which was fought on 3rd August 1692. Following the Battle of Fleurus is 1690, there were two years of manouvre and siege warfare. In June 1692 Marshal Luxembourg captured Namur and took up defensive positions near Steinkirk, convinced the Allies would not attack. King William III however led the Grand Alliance in a surprise attack through dense woods. Both armies had around 80,000 men, which is pretty big really for Lace Wars armies.

Battlefield from the south, Steinkirk is in the bottom right along with the French camp. The main French position is along the stream which covers the left and centre and is fronted by dense woods. The right is more open.

The French have three line infantry in the front line, and in reserve are the Maison du Roi etc. A unit of elite infantry and disciplined pistoleer cavalry.

The Allies have two elite infantry in the front, with elite artillery on the more open flank who represent Wurttemburgs advance guard. All the infantry are unreliable(!) due to the dense terrain. In reserve they have another elite infantry, dragoons and sabre cavalry. These are all unreliable as well! I've used various additional stands to indicate the elite/disciplined/unreliable status of the various units.

The obvious Allied attack is on the right, but the action is indecisive. In the centre the French attack hoping the Allies will run away before contact (irl nearly all the Allied infantry was delayed and disrupted by the woods). However the Allies stand and duly defeat the French, the French Guard move up to fill the gap.

The French decided to use their rally and reorganise the the routed line infantry (I'm using the wagon to track rallies). I'm using the optional rule where units which move up from reserve cant fight on the same turn too. 

Next turn the Allied guns roar out once more, and miss! The French response is equally indecisive. The French attack on the left however.

That particular column had obviously got lost and is removed. Unreliable units which fail their reliability test cant be rallied either. Their place is taken by the Dragoons.

More action on the flanks. The Allied guns finally score a hit and the French right routs, only to be replaced from the reserve. On the left the Allied Dragoons run and are replaced by the Heavy Cavalry.

William manages to rally the Dragoons. Good, at least the Allies have a reserve again.

Just in time too. Wurttemburgs artillery has had enough and runs away, so the Dragoons take their place. Over on the left the Sabres stand and charge the French infantry!

Only to be shot down by musketry as they cross the stream.

The Allied centre attacks to try and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, but is shot down in turn and runs. It is all over for William. A fairly historical result, irl the Allied left did well, but the reinforcing columns got hopelessly entangled and either didn't arrive at all or were ineffective when they arrived. As Wurttemburg raged to William, "if only the second and third columns had come up, we would have won!". Well, they didn't and William lost.

As usual I gave it another go.

The action opened with the Allied artillery in the right, which routed the French opposite. The French centre attacked and the Allied centre failed its reliability test and was removed.

The French Guard filled the hole on the right, while Luxembourg rallied his routed troops (indicated by the wagons). 

La Garde recule! The French centre and right are defeated. The rallied infantry occupy the right while the Guard cavalry take the centre.

The Allied artillery blows away the French right (again) and the French try the left hoping the Allies will fail their reliability test. Sadly they don't and the French are defeated here too. With his army down to one unit, Luxembourg concedes. On this occasion, the Allied columns did come up, most of them anyway, and that was enough to break the French.

That was a great scenario, I guess the large number of unreliable units makes it even more luck dependant than usual, but that is actually a good representation of the real battle. It was also a good learning experience for the ins and outs of 'unreliable' units.

Next up and last major battle of the war is Neerwinden (or Landen) in 1693. Following Steinkirk, war weariness was setting in for both sides, principally the costs involved. Louis XIV launched attacks into Flanders, the Rhineland and Catalonia, recognising that peace talks were inevitable.

On 29th July 1693, Luxembourg with 80,00 men managed to catch William III with just 50,00. Rather than retreating, William dug in to a strong position around Neerwinden. 

Battlefield from the south. There are rivers on both flanks and Neerwinden is in the centre just below the stream branch. irl the defences extended across the entire Allied front, but the scenario only has them on the centre and right.

The Allies have almost everything 'in the shop window' - elite infantry on both flanks and elite artillery in the centre. The units in the centre and right are also disciplined, which I've shown with entrenchments. In reserve is an unreliable Sabre Cavalry.

The French have a larger army. L-R, line infantry, discipled pistol cavalry, unreliable artillery. In reserve are two more line infantry and a pistol cavalry unit. I strung the allies out in lines and had the French in columns as they are attacking.

None of the matchups are great for the French, but they have more troops so need to attack and get lucky. They attack on the left which is indecisive, but the Allies attack on the right (obviously) and the unreliable artillery run away. They are replaced by more French infantry.

The French attack on the left again and are routed. The Allied centre attacks and routs the disciplined cavalry! That isn't looking too good for Luxembourg.

To add insult to injury the French fail to rally anyone.

The French attack the left again to no effect but at least survive. The Allied centre however sees off the French reserve cavalry.

There is a brief ray of hope when the French (finally) rout the Allied left, but the reserve cavalry just move up to fill the gap and with just one French unit left, it is an easy Allied win.

Historically this was  hard fought battle but eventually Luxembourg broke through the Allied centre to claim a win, but both sides were too exhausted to follow up. This scenario certainly looks an uphill struggle for the French, but lets try it again and see how we get on.

Off we go again. The French attack on the Allied left is indecisive, but once again on the right the unreliable gunners run off without firing a shot. The gunners are replaced with infantry.

Next round the French attack on the left is routed, and the fleeing troops are replaced with another infantry unit. In a shock development though, the Allied centre opens up and is routed by the French cavalry! (on a 6!). Well, that changes things, as the Allies hardly have any reserves...

The unreliable cavalry reserve gallops forwards to plug the gap.

As Luxembourg rallies his men for one more try.

Unsurprisingly the Allied cavalry runs away in the face of the Maison du Roi, leaving the centre wide open.

The Allied right tries to save the day...

As William fails to rally his routed centre.

But the French cavalry ride down the Allied left.

And it is game over, Luxembourg has his victory!

The odds are really stacked against the French in that one, I'm not surprised Luxemborgs army was exhausted by its real-life victory.

Well, that is the end of the Nine Years War scenarios, and now I know fractionally more about European history than I did before. I really enjoyed those battles, I found these rules to be the most enjoyable of the Dominion games I've played so far, possibly because they are so period specific? They are structured far more like DBA/DBM with specific modifiers for specific trroop types and less like the more generic categories of the Ancients and Pike and Shot sets, and far better for it I think.

There seem to be an astonishing 12 battles listed for the WSS, including  the more neglected theatres like Italy and Spain, as well as the Great Northern War scenarios. I'm really looking forward to playing through some/all of these, but they will have to wait a bit while I try out some of the other Dominion sets. 

 

2mm Scenics

 I bought a few terrain items to go with my original batch of 2mm WSS stuff some years ago.

A small town, three villages, two farms and a chateau complex. All Irregular, tbh these are all a bit on the small side, more like 1/2000th than 1/1000th. I've never been hugely happy with them, not because they are small but because they just blend into a sort of blob with the bases. If you look really carefully, I have painted the houses and roofs different colours etc, they just aren't differentiated enough from any sort of distance.

So, when I was getting my latest 2mm increment, I wanted to get a few more scenic items and also brighten up the the existing ones. I got some more buildings from Irregular as I was ordering from them anyway, and here are the slightly more extensive holdings.

Here are the original three villages and two farms. I left the roofs alone but brightened up the walls with white, cream, light grey and a useful pale grey I picked at Partisan. Think whitewash, sandstone and limestone rather than glowering granite! I also highlighted the walls in much lighter colours which makes them stand out a bit more.

Much the same treatment on the town. I re-did some of the roofs in lighter colours too which helps a lot. The larger church is in a lighter grey which contrasts well with its slate grey roof.

The chateau/large house got a complete makeover with white walls, which makes it really pop. I also went over the various trees and shrubs in a lighter green highlight.

Two of the new farms, done in pale colours from the outset. Perhaps a bit of a La Haye Sainte vibe going on? The big difference between these and the older ones is that I didn't flock the inside of the enclosures, instead I did them a mid mud tone and the difference in textures contrasts much better with the flock outside the farm walls.

I was very impressed with the 6mm Irregular tents so I got some of their 2mm tent strips. These are great for military encampments of any era, and these particular ones come cast in strips of four. As the bases are quite thin I based them up on the same sized bases as my troops.

My last indulgence was this 'eighteenth century fort'. I'd completely forgotten I'd ordered it and was hunting for one of the Brigade models star forts at Partisan, so I'm glad they weren't in attendance.

I think poor old Vauban would be turning in his grave at this monstrosity, about 30% of the walls are not covered by flanking fire from artillery bastions and it apparently has the need of no less than three doorways! Despite that, it clearly looks like a fort and will do as a scenic item in a corner of the table for sieges or whatever.

I did the walls in a pale cream, similar in colour to the beautifully preserved Vauban forts around St Martin de Re on the Ile de Re off the southern coast of Brittany where we spent many happy summers camping when the kids were little.

Otherwise it was briskly military, white walled internal buildings with (fire resistant) slate roofs and a mud coloured courtyard. I flocked the scarps (correct term? external walls anyway) and I think it has come out OK. A bit of a learning curve with this very small scale stuff, like the figures you need to exaggerate the details and go with lighter colours than normal.

These are all useful additions to my range of ultra small scale scenics and expect some to appear in a battle reports soon! They aren't quite finished yet as I need to edge the bases and add some doors and windows with a lining pen, but I was keen to get them photographed.

Walcourt 1689 and Fleurus 1690

 Well, you learn something new every day. The Duc de Gobin on his excellent blog https://warfareintheageofcynicsandamateurs.blogspot.com/2025/12/neerwindenlanden-1693-with-battle.html recently fought the battle of Neerwinden, in the Nine Years War. I'd never heard of either before! Now, when I studied Renaissance history it all sort of petered out after the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, while the European and Military history I studied at University was far more interested in the transition from the the Renaissance to the Enlightenment (and the various Wars of Spanish, Austrian etc Succession) along with the Revolution in Military Affairs so we rather skimmed over the late 1600s.

Anyway Louis XIV, decided to declare war on the whole of Europe by attacking the Rhineland in late 1688, and contrived to end up at war with Britain, the Netherlands, Spain and the Holy Roman Empire in what is apparently called The Nine Years War.

The campaign in 1689 ended up here at the Battle of Walcourt, which is in the vicinity of Charleroi, a popular place for battles. More details here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Walcourt

Battlefield from the north, Walcourt is the fortified town bottom right at the confluence of the rivers. The Allies are closest to the camera having formed up for battle after their foragers encountered the French near the mill (top right). They are under the command of Prince Waldeck.

Fairly obviously this is yet another Dominion game. I bought this a while back to cover the Great Northern War and War of Spanish Succession, but it also includes no less than four battles from the Nine Years War.

This is an interesting period as armies are transitioning into proper 'lace wars' armies, but still have anachronisms like pikes hanging around. The rules themselves are very tailored to the period with very specific troop types and matchups, far more focussed than some of the much broader sets, and much better for it. It does mean you have to read them quite carefully to get your head around the differences from other sets, pistoleer cavalry in particular have some special rules.

Anyway, I'm using the battle scenarios from this, with the terrain modelled on the wikipedia articles and using my 2mm stuff. 

Waldecks army, a right mish mash. The front line (L to R) we have Dutch/British charging cavalry including the Blues and Royals, rated as disciplined. In the centre are British infantry (elite, disciplined and commanded by John Churchill himself), and on the right are Dutch infantry (disciplined) while in reserve we have normal German/Imperial infantry.

Infantry units mainly fought with firepower in a linear fashion in this period, but many still had a contingent of pikes, so I did the infantry units with a front rank of musket elements and a single pike and shot element in the rear rank. These are all from my 2mm WSS collection, the Dutch and Imperial units haven't been out of the box for years. (You can just make out the orange and yellow rear bases of some of the Dutch and Imperial units).

The French under the Duc de Humieres, although Villars is also in attendance. Front rank L-R is three line infantry. Line infantry which start in the line get a bonus against cavalry, units which move up from reserve lose it. The reserves are pistoleer cavalry (fire first but at a disadvantage in melee, curiously they get a +1 on rallying, which makes them quite handy). Elite infantry (the Garde Francais) and then unreliable artillery. I mark elite units with attached light artillery and disciplined units with a small leader group. I haven't quite figured out how to represent unreliable units, I'll have to remember!

Both sides have an army HQ, camp with tent lines and a wagon element which I'll use to remind if they have used their rally attempt.

The French are rather up against it here as although they have a larger army none of the matchups are very favourable. Their infantry engage the Anglo/Dutch cavalry, their combat bonus vs cavalry negates the 'disciplined' characteristic.

Sadly they miss and are promptly ridden down by the Allied cavalry! They are replaced by the Garde Francais. I've pulled the bases apart a bit to remind me that they don't get the deployed bonus vs cavalry, having moved up from reserve.

Churchill and the British roll into the French centre now, routing them as well! The French didn't stand much chance against the elite, disciplined British.

The French cavalry reserve moves into the gap. These are pistol cavalry, who get a bonus against line infantry, as well as being easier to rally. I figure the French may as well use them.

Faced with their army collapsing, Humiers rallies one of the routed infantry units and puts it in reserve.

The French cavalry attack the British in the centre. This isn't actually a bad matchup given their bonus against line infantry, if only the British weren't disciplined as well... 

Sadly they are, and the French horse go down in a hail of musket fire. The recently rallied French infantry take their place.

The Garde Francais try their luck against the Allied cavalry.

And are routed for their pains. Oh dear!

The French are forced to commit their final reserve, the unreliable artillery. I'm marking the unreliable status with some skirmisher figures (stragglers). If they pass their reliability test I'll take the skirmishers off.

The gunners open and fire and stand and fight! The Allied cavalry counter charges through the barrage.

The gunners miss and are ridden down. The French flank is turned now.

The French take their best shot and engage the Dutch on the Allied right.

Which results in mutual annihilation!

The Allies have reserves though, and the Imperial infantry fill the gap. The French are down to one unit now.

And on the Allied turn the cavalry rout them (with outflanking bonuses etc) and that is the end for the French.

That was pretty much a historical result, the French launched numerous futile attacks and were eventually driven off with the loss of 2000 men to the Allies 300. I really liked those rules, they had a very, very different feel to the Pike and Shot set. It was a bit slow as I was looking things up but it very much felt like a WSS type battle, all rather cumbersome.

Having done it once, I gave it another shot, much quicker this time. The French attacked the Allied left and both sides bounced, while the British routed the French centre, who were replaced by the Garde Francais.

On this run the French managed to rout the Allied cavalry.

Then there was an inconclusive infantry pounding match for a few turns which felt very period correct!

Eventually it was the French right which cracked first. This matchup was 50:50 as both sides were evenly matched,

The French had already rallied one infantry unit and put it into the gap, but the Dutch routed the French left and they were forced to commit their artillery. Once more the French gunners stood and fought and both sides blazed away at each other. 

The gunners didn't hang around for long though, and soon headed for the rear, their place taken by the French cavalry who would have to hold off the Dutch. The Imperial and French infantry on the other flank were meanwhile engaged in an inconclusive firefight.

After a while, the Imperials cracked, but Waldeck managed to rally them (indicated by the wagons) and they reluctantly marched back into the line, albeit disordered now. Shame the French cavalry are committed on the other flank....

After repeated charges, well, caracoles, the French cavalry had enough.

Rapidly followed by the French centre and it was game over.

That was a much more even fight, and I particularly enjoyed the firefights (I skipped over a few turns in the photos) as they were quite nail biting. I'm getting more familiar with the modifiers now too. Despite the armies supposedly being 'balanced' that was a good historical scenario. I can see how the French might win, they need their superior numbers to overcome their unit by unit inferiority.

Having done Walcourt, it was on to Fleurus in 1690 as Louis once more sent his armies into the Spanish Netherlands. Details here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fleurus_(1690)

Battlefield from the north. Fleurus is off the top of the map, the Allied army under von Waldeck (again) is drawn up behind the stream near the chateau of St Amand in the centre. Top left is some place called 'Ligny', I cant imagine why anyone would want to fight a battle here... the villages of St Brice and Hippignies are on the left and right flanks of the Allied line respectively.

The Allies were in a strong position so the French army under the Duc du Luxembourg pinned them frontally and conducted a double envelopment on each flank, which rather took the Allies by surprise. 

The Allied army, this time a mixture of Dutch troops and actual Spanish soldiers, defending the Spanish Netherlands.

L-R we have unreliable Dutch cavalry, disciplined Spanish infantry (getting the defensive benefit of the stream) then disciplined Spanish Cavalry. In reserve are another unit of Spanish infantry and some disciplined Dutch infantry. The cavalry on the left are unreliable as the terrain was much more conducive to Luxembourgs manouvre here and they were surprised by the arrival of the French.

And the French under Luxembourg. L-R disciplined cavalry (Maison du Roi etc?), unreliable artillery and then cavalry. In reserve we have more cavalry and two line infantry units. The French cavalry are all pistoleers.

Both sides have their camps and wagons, I'm using leader figures for the disciplined units and a stand of skirmishers for the unreliable ones.

The action opened on the Allied left as the French cavalry routed the Dutch in short order! The unreliable cavalry did stand and fight but were defeated by the better quality French.

Their place was taken by the Dutch infantry although they would count as unformed against cavalry having moved up from reserve, that was negated by them being disciplined.

The cavalry matchup was more favourable to the Allies on the right so the Spanish took on the French but the action was inconclusive.

The French cavalry went for the Dutch infantry while the Spanish and French fought it out (again) on the right.

The French routed the Dutch infantry too! There is something wrong with our Dutchmen today...

Their place was taken by some Spanish infantry. The cavalry battle on the Allied right puttered on inconclusively, neither side seemed capable of rolling higher than 4.

Now the French cavalry routed the Spanish infantry! A hat trick of victories. Once again the cavalry battle on the other flank was ineffectual - I imagine lots of riding back and forth loosing off pistols with plenty of smoke and fury but no actual result.

The French duly rode down the well defended Allied centre with a flank attack, and the cavalry battle on the right flank was again inconclusive. Reduced to one base, Waldeck withdrew and Marshal Luxembourg was the victor, as in real life.

That was another tense battle, but I didn't feel any great inclination to fight it again as I felt a bit drained by learning the new rules and playing three quite thought provoking games in quick succession. I may well come back to it again in future.

Well, I thought that was great. They were excellent games with a real period flavour and once again taught me something about a conflict I know absolutely nothing about (although Tim claims we have done at least one Nine Years War battle already with Table Battles). I'm looking forward to playing more of these and also the WSS and GNW scenarios. I was also really pleased to finally use the right troop types and nationalities for the various units instead of a load of stand-ins. I thought the three base infantry units looked quite good and the absence of woods on the battlefields (there were none marked on the wikipedia maps) wasn't too jarring as there were other features. The first combat use of my new 2mm fort as well!