British Army of William III

1680-1702 (Booklet)

Reviewed by Mike Huskey

For all those among the wargaming public who have been waiting for more research material before diving into the British Army circa 1680-1702, often called the Marlburian period, this is the booklet you need. With that stated, I must also say that I doub tthere is much of a market for this study, but it is an excellent reference work.

It runs 63 pages and is researched and written by Alan Sapherson. It is published by RaiderGames Publications in Leeds, United Kingdom. Those interested can get it from G.F. Nafziger, 8801 Tammy Drive, West Chester, Ohio 45069. The copy reviewed.gave no indication of price in either nation's currency.

While very sparsely illustrated with a sprinkling of hand drawings of typical soldiers of the time, the printed information is first rate on almost everything you could want to know about the army of old Willie. Among the info covered includes English, Dutch, even Huguenot regimental uniforms, flags, and equipment, names of commanders, salaries of officers and soldiers, and (I am not kidding!) even such details as how many pairs of shoes and grenadier bags were purchased by the appropriate regiment.T he flags are drawn with color information included. The many appendixes cover such topics as the succession of colonels in the army by year, regimental roster strengths, and army strengths of the royal army at various times during William's reign. Even included is an interesting copy of a royal warrant which ranked precedence of the regiments.

A wargamer could use this booklet as his only source and have all he needed to create, paint, and organize regiments or any army of the period Being a wargamer of the War of Spanish Succession, I can only hope Mr. Sapherson may someday do something of this sort concerning the many armies of that fascinating war.

More Reviews

Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. VIII No. 4
To Courier List of Issues
To MagWeb Master Magazine List
© Copyright 1988 by The Courier Publishing Company.
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com