From RayR: 15mm Nine Years War French Cavalry - Noailles Horse (50 points)

From Ray: 

For my 11th entry I've gone back to my 15mm Nine Years War French. The regt is another Chevauleger (Horse) regt. Noailles Horse was raised in 1689 and fought at the battles of Fleurs, Namur and Steenkirk and is the only Chevauleger regt dressed in red cuffed red!

I was wondering how long you could keep away from this period (and scale). Seriously, great work Ray. The red you're using for these fellows seems a bit more 'punchy', has something changed or perhaps it's just the photography? The shading on the horses looks very nice as well.

Noailles Horse will give Ray 50 points.  Nice trotters mate!

From RayR: 15mm NYW French Dragoons (94 points)

Today Ray submits a unit of Space Marines from the 'Imperial Hangnail' Chapter followed by a gaggle of unicorn-riding dryads playing harps... 

I know, not a bloody chance. Yep, more 15mm Nine Years War French donkey wollopers. 

From Ray:

I have been a busy boy with the brush and I've finished yet again another NYW unit, once again its a French Dragoon regt, the Royal Grammont Dragoons, who fought at 3 major battles of the Nine Years War, Walcourt,  Namur and Steenkirke. 

You'll all be very surprised to read that the figures are from Essex miniatures and the flags are from Maverick Models. i like this flags its not the colour of the unit, which makes a nice change for cavalry unit in the period.

My next entry won't be a NYW one, but don't panic, there'll be more NYW stuff on the way soon!!

Yeah right. I'll believe it when I see it Rousell.

Okay, so what's with that poor lonely nag in the background? Perhaps one of these poor Shining Sons of France fell off drunk a mile back...

Seriously though, this is beautiful work Ray. The buff facings of this unit are set off quite nicely with the vibrant red of the coat and trousers, very chic.  Question: Are you doing separate horse holder stands for your dismounted dragoons or just going to leave them as is?

This fine regiment of Grammont Dragoons will give Ray 94 points which places him within striking distance of his 600 point target. Nice one Ray!

From RayR: 15mm 9YW French Cavalry (70 points)

Ray staggers us all by submitting something completely new: 15mm Nine Year War French cavalry... in light blue (GASP).

From Ray:

For my next entry of stuck with my French NYW army and I've stuck to the Cavalry but this time a Dragoon regt. They are once again Essex Minis with a great flag from Maverick Models. They're based up for Beneath the Lily Banners, using Warbases MDF bases. 

The unit represented is the Dauphin Dragoons mounted and dismounted. They wore an all blue uniform which again was a nice change from all that boring grey. I used a lighter brighter shade of blue than my previous Anjou regt, just to make a change.

Ray, you are like a dog with a bone when it come to the Nine Years War. Three Challenges and you've hardly ever wavered from The Cause.  I salute you! Seriously, these look great Ray (wonderful job in picking out the cording on the drummers) and that backdrop does a great job in setting the scene. 

The Dauphin Dragoons (with and without horses) will give Ray 70 points. Great job!

From RayR: 15mm Nine Years War French Cavalry (49 points)

From Ray:

I've been busy with the brush here's another unit for the Challenge. 

My next entry is another French Chevauleger (Horse) regt for the Nine Years War, but this time we have a little colour, not much I must admit but at least its not that boring grey again. 

This is the regt Anjou which I only chose because I had the flag for it and it wasn't a grey regiment!! They're Essex minis once again and the flag, like my previous unit was free from the old and defunct Venexia site.

Great work Ray. I'm sure it's nice to get away from the grey paint for a bit. I quite like that figure with his arm slung over his drum - very jaunty!

These 12 lads will give Ray 49 points. Lovely stuff Mr. Rousell.

From RayR: Challenge Desperado, NYW French Cavalry & Two Wizards (105 points)

Here is my entry fee, a Foundry Cowboy, to join the Wild Bunch. I had a few to chose from, this one seemed to fit in better with the stills I found of the film online.

My next entry's a bit of a mixed bag, as some of you may be aware I bought a part painted French NYW army from Reject Richard. To save time and money, Richard only included 1 command stand per 2 squadrons of Cavalry. I decided to add the 2nd command stand, so they matched in with my English, Dutch and Jacobites. So the next entry is a group of newly painted Horse and Dragoon command stands.

Lastly 2 figures dug out from the deepest depths of my lead pile, infact I don't even remember buying them??? I came out in a bit of a rash painting these non-historical figures....shudderrrr!!!! They're from the evil empire that is, Games Workshop and represent the 2 famous Wizards in the first Lord of the Rings film. Gandalf the Grey and Sauramon the White.

Thanks so much for the great cowboy Ray - he's quite spiffing! The French cavalry look superb (the colours on these fellows really seem to pop), though with all those banners flying who actually fought in these units? Also, I know that fantasy and sci-fi are not your cuppa but I must say you do such a nice job on these sword & sorcery fellows (your Sauron for the Villains round was fabulous).

This wide assortment of miniatures will give Ray 105 points, nudging him further up the points ladder.

From RayR: 15mm Nine Years War French Cavalry (50 points)

Just in case some of you were beginning to wonder, Ray finally emerges from his sandbagged-entrenched paint-shack to enter the fray.

From Ray:

This is in fact my 2nd entry as the first was for the first bonus round, but I suppose this is my first proper entry.

So for my first entry is a unit of French Chevauleger , no, they are not Light Horse though. They are the same class of unit as an English or Dutch Horse regiment, it's just what the French called them at the time??

They are my usual Essex miniatures affair and are painted up to represent the St Germain - Beaupre regiment, who fought at 3 major battles during the Nine Years War, Namur, Steenkirk and Neerwinden. The flags are from Venexia's old website, before the company was sold, unfortunately you can;t access the site anymore!!

The French Chevauleger are a pretty boring bunch as around 95% of the 135 regiments wore a grey coat with red cuffs, there were some who wore other colours, and you'll be seeing them later......I hope?

Long Live the Badger!!

Badger... Badger? Wait, I thought it was Budgie? What am I missing here? Actually I think you need a coat of arms made up with a Budgie astride a rampant paintbrush with crossed Sandbags... :)

Great work Ray! Even though the grey and red was a popular colour scheme for the French at least it looks sharp. 

This fine group of horsemen will give Ray 50 points. Well done Mr. Rousell!

From RayR: 15mm Scots Cavalry and British Grenadiers (33 points)

From Ray:

For my 10th entry, we're crossing the Irish sea back to Scotland, here we have two units that fought on either side at the Battle of Killicrankie.

Firstly we have the very small troop of Scots Cavalry, there were only 40 men in the troop, hence only 5 figures in the unit, really it should have been 3 or 4 figures, but that would have looked a little daft! 

Again they're Essex figures and have a mixed uniform. 

The second entry are Lauders Grenadiers, they were made up from the three regts of the Scots Brigade, Balfour's, Ramsay's and Mackay's. I think I may have to repaint some of their faces as the ink has set a little heavy on them, but hey ho!!

Great work Ray. I remember when I started blogging a little over two years ago I came across Ray's blog and enjoyed following his new foray into the Nine Years War. Flags, art, history, all excellent stuff and here he is, still faithfully bashing away at it!  I applaud your single-minded focus on this period Ray, it's quite inspiring! Nonetheless, I have to ask: When will we see a game featuring all these lovely miniatures?

These two units will give Ray 33 points. Well done Mr. Rousell!

From RayR: 15mm Williamite Cavalry (46 points)

From Ray:

Back to Killiecrankie for my 7th entry. These 2 units are the Williamite Cavalry regts Bellhaven and Annadale. They didn't do very well in the battle, in fact as soon as they saw and heard the Highlanders charging they both promptly ran off, straight through the Williamite lines, which didn't help one bit!!

The figures are my left over bits and bobs from the NYW Essex range, which worked out quite well as I wanted them to have a random look. And no I didn't run out of figures for the Annadale regt, they were a very small unit of only 40 men, so they'll start any battle a little short and well as having the worst morale rating possible!!!!

They may not be the lions of the battlefield but they do cut quite the dash - well done Ray!

These two cavalry units will give Ray 46 points.

From RayR: 15mm Earl of Bath's Regiment of Foot

Ray is not going taking Tim's bid for 2nd idly and so sends in this unit of Nine Years War foot representing the Earl of Bath's Regiment (later to be the 10th Foot).

These are 15mm Essex castings and I assume the flags were created by Ray himself, though  he can confirm (he's a clever lad).

This unit will give Ray 63 points - not enough to catch Tim but he's edging closer...

From RayR: 15mm Huguenot Infantry (200 points)

Ray sends in these three regiments of late 17th century Huguenot foot that are for his Nine Years War collection.

The regiment with the blue flag is le Caillemotte, the black is de Meloniere and the green is the Regiment du Cambon. 

These are 15mm Essex castings. The flags are custom made by Ray himself and you can download them free of charge from his excellent website 'Don't Roll a 1'.

Ray tells me that he was driving himself bananas trying to photograph these units as none of the zillion shots he took seemed to turn out properly. Apparently, a heavy dose of McDonalds from his friend The Angry Lurker (Fran) rallied him and he managed get these three images 'in the can' (though, according to Fran, the callow cad never said a 'thank you' for the Mickey D's - the philistine). 

The sixty-three figures making up these three units will give Ray a base of 189 points but I'm going to make it an even 200 for the work he did on the flags. Very nice, Ray!