"Armies of the Seven Years War by Digby Smith - On Portuguese" Topic

Has anyone bought the Armies of the Seven Years War: Commanders, Equipment, Uniforms and Strategies of the 'First World War' book? I was wondering, does it contain any new information aboutt he portuguese SYW uniforms that is not part of Kronoskaf?

I have the book

There are four pages on the army of the Kingdom of Portugal, and from scanning the Kronoskaf pages the information seems very similar

The names of the infantry regiments are different in some cases – apparently there is some controversy as to how and when the Portugese changed the names of some of their infantry units

I have the book

Do you think it deserves the advanced criticism it received here recently?

yes,,it is mostly crap

Isn't he one of Biggle's chums?

The plates are nice and there is some good information – but to be brutally honest I am not sure how much more there is than you can get from Kronoskaf

yes,,it is mostly crap

Not exactly what I would call constructive, I'll give you $10 USD for yours Hawkwood

regards
dave

Frederick, Is there anything on their Cavalry uniforms (about which information is rare) that is not on Kronoskaf?

give me $36.00 AUD and come by and pickup,considering the wait, comsidering the hype and considering…it is a profoundly sad disenchantment..altfritzI thought that was Ginger Hebblethwaite , didn't I paint you a miniature once..something to do with what Prussian regiment did Redmond Barry finish up serving in?
Nigel Billington's books are far superiot in value but he hasn't done one on Portugal. Mysterious place uniform wise is 18th century Portugal.
the appellation of crap was merely the hypothesis, others may finish the essay.
for those not aware of The Billingtonster's publications
link
though sadly no Portugese..
Biggle's chums include
Algernon Montgomery Lacey
Ginger Hebblethwaite

actually the only person I know who has any information about the Portugese is Great White Zulu and from memory all his stuff dates from the 1780s..we discussed this in some detail with regard to his Golconda range..

You surely don't want your copy? Make it eleven fiddy, firm, who in their right mind would pay thirty six for a

a profoundly sad disenchantment cum mostly crap

Oooer, yes please, I will pick it up in person.

regards
dave

The subject of the Portuguese army during the SYW is a very very difficult subject because very few sources survived the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 and a fire at the archives in the XIXth century.

However a few contemporary illustrations of uniforms (circa 1762) have survived and can be consulted at the Real Archivo da Torre do Tombo. Kronoskaf's articles on the Portuguese army

link

…have been written based partly on these illustrations (only a few regiments are represented) and in collaboration with Manuel Ribeiro Rodrigues, a Portuguese military historian and Joseph O'Neill. Uniforms of regiments are described when we know about them or we simply mention "no information available".

Nice share CyberMonk, thanks. Certainly explains the difficulties in obtaining information.

regards
dave

Digby was Dan Dare's chum.

I have the book.
largely disappointed.
Pretty expensive bathroom reading…

Okay, I'll stick up my head above the parapet…

I'm a newbie to the SYW period and I've bought a copy of the book. I've had a bit of a look at it and read the first few chapters. My initial impression is that it is a good overview of the tactics, armies, battles and uniforms of the period. It seems to me to be a good starting point, although as one should expect it doesn't provide as much detail as Osprey's or similar.

I like the reproduction prints as the few I had seen previously were in black and white.

Dear Adrian
That is an excellent summary. The books that I have written have almost as many pages upon one of the armies and are far more comprehensive than the Osprey's. The book is £24.00 GBP and a men at arms is £10.00 GBP
Stephen

Adrian

Well done, you have provided a perspective that many people tend to ignore including myself, fitness for purpose. Clearly the book is just what you need for your purposes, hope you enjoy it and it encourages you to dig further into the period.

regards
dave

Thanks folks for the positive feedback.

I actually thought the book might fills my needs since I read a few posts here that gave the opinion that there was a broad coverage but little new in the book. I figured that it is more of a review of the period.

To my mind the book fills a gap by providing an introduction to the period. As a newbie to the period I found it difficult to find books that provide a good overview.

Faced with trying to get some reasonable books on the period there seems to be two options: either buy about 20 Ospreys (some are out of print) or try to track down rare and expensive books by C Duffy or similar.

With that said the Osprey Essential History of The Seven Years' War is good reading too and I would recommend it for fellow newbies to the SYW.

The Company of Military Historians has had some excellent articles on the Portuguese. I have several very detailed color plates and archival information that I have aquired over the years in libraries, archives and the used /rare book market.
I would suggest a little research instead of buying the same warmed over information that has been out there for 30 years.

As long as I am on a short rant,
instead of announcing a book as groundbreaking research, etc.. (such as a the latest SYW Austrian books), why not just honestly say that it is an incomplete compilation of easily found secondary sources (still in copyright) for the convenience of the reader, that there is nothing in particular new, footnote your sources and if the published book you took the information from was wrong, the myth is simply perpetuated.
Most gamers don't have the inclination or time for research, so product labelling would be very benefcial.

Dear Tricorne1971, could you please mention the name of the CoMH articles dealing with portuguese uniforms?

BAH! You are all missing the opportunity being presented.

If nobody knows and the information was destroyed by an earth quake or burnt in a fire then you can paint your regiments how ever you like and no smarty can come along and say you are wrong!!!

Hmmmmm….where is that can of medium pink I've never found much use for….

Wasn't there at least one article on WAS in miniature wargames magazine early on? It was Austria vs Spain as I recall. I do remember some Austrian uniforms covered. Perhaps they touched on the Spanish.