Friday 18 September 2015

Book Review - Tangiers 1662-80 The First Battle Honour


As some of you may be aware, I've been banging on about the League of Augsberg's set of skirmish rules, "Donnybrook" for a while now??
As I already own a very under used (ask the Rejects) Reconquista Moor army, I thought I could use them with a few additions for the later Moroccan Moors. I also planned (obviously?) on collecting the English and refighting the battles and skirmishes in and around Tangiers from 1662-1680.
Now, I'm one of those gamers who likes to do a little (ok?? a lot) of research before and during the painting and collected of new armies. The English were easy, as I've already done that when collecting my 15mm BLB2 armies. So onto the Moors........and that's were I came to a rather sudden halt!
I couldn't find anything above the basic information, that was until I found this book.
"Tangier 1662-80 The First Battle Honour" by Various Authors
The book starts with listing the English and Scots regiments that were in 1910 given the battle honour Tangier, then later gives their full regimental history's for each. Also is a History of the British Standing Army, written by Clifford Walton in 1894. These 38 pages, give a detailed account of the Rise of the Standing Army from 1660-65, then move onto the Defence of Tangiers.
But for me the most interesting part of the book is the Diary of Sir James Halkett a Major in Dumbarton's regt of Foot, also known as The Royal regt of Foot, which he wrote in 1680. The diary gives loads of info on skirmishes with unit info, names and numbers for both sides.
Here's a small sample
"the Moores upon all hands drew together about James Fort, advanced with about five or six hundred where they entered into skirmish with Hoges, (Robert Hodges Captain in Dumbarton's Foot) he finding it too hote for him, being no equality of number, was forced to retire somewhat precipitantly to our advanced post again, with the loss of three men of his company and several wounded"
(Spellings as are in the book)

What amazes me is how this little slice of British history seems to have been forgotten by the masses?
So if you're interested in this strangely unknown period of British history, either historically or for gaming, my advise is buy the book, it won't cost you a fortune I paid £15 for it on Amazon, link

Image result for tangiers wars 1662-80

Some examples of Moorish dress


 Mohammed bin Hadou, Mulay Ismail's Moroccan
 ambassador to England in 1682


Ambassador Ben Hadou, riding in Hyde Park, 1682.

Moulay ismail ben ali cherif.jpg

 Ismail ibn Sharif
King of Morocco 1672-1727


Ambassador Admiral Abdelkader Perez was sent by
 Ismail ibn Sharif to England in 1723.


Ismail ibn Sharif receiving ambassador Francois Pidou de Saint Olon from Louis XIV of France. by Pierre-Denis Martin (1693)

44 comments:

  1. Good grief, you spent money and didn't borrow it from someone?

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  2. Good thing you found the book. Not everything is online.
    If you need more Tangiers history, I have a blogger buddy who knows a lot.

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  3. Very nice tip for some different pike and shot gaming.

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  4. An intriguing yet little known of bit of British History as you say; here's looking forward to some of your brief history lessons as this project progresses.

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    1. That's the plan Joe, just gotta paint some damn figures!

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  5. That is very interesting, Ray. I have to confess, I'd never heard of the conflict before, but I can see potential for some cool scenarios, not to mention troops.

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    1. Yeh, its just a little bit different from the normal fighting during the period.

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  6. I am going to have to look into this conflict now

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  7. Great review Ray, thanks for sharing!

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  8. You've definitely made me curious Ray!

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  9. Britain has so much military history (some good some a lot less than good) that it is hard to know it all. I most certainly don't. And as all true learning starts with the phrase (usually in your own head) "I don not know!" It is good to see a little nugget of history like this. I look forward to more book reviews.

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  10. Well I have to confess that tis little slice of history had certainly passed me by, thanks for the review Ray.

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  11. Pffft.... them Brits always invading something..... if they weren't Brits they would be called aggressors and terrorists

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    1. Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!
      Britons never, never, never shall be slaves................

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  12. I saw a game of this at one of the shows, at the time the Copplestone Glory of the Sun figures came out. The biggest issue though, is what does a seventeenth century Moorish soldier look like and where can you get figures?

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    1. Now that is the million dollar question Legatus! I've struggled to find much info on the subject. In the book it does mention turban wearing Moors and I've added a few pics to give you some idea of how they would have worn. As for figures I'll be using a mixture of Gripping Beasts El Cid range, North Star's Moroccans and Turags, Perry minis Islam figures and possibly Unfeasible Miniatures Turags???? I think???

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  13. Try this book, "The Tangier Campaign, the Birth of the British Army " by AJ Smithers, published by National Army Museum in 2003, ISBN 075242582 X
    also see an article in Miniature Wargames No 84 " to Pierce the clouds and echo into the sky" by Bob Black, and i think another article in Military Modelling way back called Teviot's Last Stand,
    cheers Old John

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    1. Thanks for the info John, I'll try and find the book and the mags, I must have them up in the loft!

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    2. my pleasure, Teviot's Last Stand article is in Military Modelling Jan 1986, if you can't find the articles i can do PDFs for you , no prob
      cheers Old John

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    3. That'd save me routing through millions of mags in a hot sweating loft John, thanks!!

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    4. slight problem, where do i find your email address to send PDFs, scanned and ready
      cheers Old John

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    5. Excellent!! my email is rousell68 AT gmail.com
      Thanks John

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    6. Just emailed the 2 PDFs, let me know if came over ok also bought the above book too !!!

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    7. Yep got them, thanks. And they're very interesting indeed. Cheers John.

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  14. this is stuff for evocative games indeed!

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  15. Great bit of history here Ray. This will certainly add some spice to your Donnybrook games.

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    1. That's the plan Curt, if I can get my butt in gear that is?

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