"War of Spanish Succession vs SYW Uniforms" Topic

Right so, I've planned to make armies for many nations of Europe of the 18th century, however I do not want to choose one specific time period in that century, I want for the armies to be able to fight in different times during different wars like Spanish War of Succession, Polish War of Succession, 7 years war etc but I fear that it would look too out of place.
I do not want to needlessly spend more money to have multiple armies of the same nation just because the uniforms are a tad different.
For 18th century I'll mainly be using Front Rank, and I'd like people's input on if SYW uniforms would look too odd or out of place during the earlier years of the 1700s.

The primary difference between the uniforms (and flags) is that the WSS uniforms are fuller, and don't have turnbacks on the coat front and back. Conversely, the 7YW Infantry uniforms tended to be closer fitted (esp Prussian ones) and almost invariably have front and back turnbacks.

WSS:

7YW:

I would happily use the same figures, both infantry and cavalry, for the War of Polish Succession, WAS and the SYW and many early SYW French regiments did not yet have turnbacks, so WSS French can be used into the SYW.

As noted the big difference was that SYW uniforms- especially Prussian – were tighter and had turnbacks

That being said I have a bunch of the old Wargames Factory WSS infantry painted up in mid blue uniforms as generic infantry for WSS or SYW – I also have some units done up in off-white that I use to add bulk to my French and Austrian armies as needed

From a painting perspective, SYW for me have proved far more complex in 28mm depending on what level of detail you want to go for.

Few people would care.

Back in the heyday of 18th C wargaming many people used plastic Swedish Great Northern War figures for everything. If it had a white coat it could be used for any country with a white coat. Flags were left interchangeable rather than glued in position.

The Swedes are a useful army as their uniform in 1710 was "modern" looking with turnbacks and in the SYW they still looked generally similar although they looked a little old fashioned by then. They can look the part in both eras. The French army didn't change too much either..

Funnily enough in 28mm one major distinction would be the soldiers hair styles.

If you are wanting to do multi-periods like this you may be better going smaller scale where the differences are less marked.

But ultimately its what you feel is acceptable- not what some internet know it all's think. :)

If it doesn't bother you, that's all that matters.

I believe they had smaller cuffs in the SYW as well. I wouldn't have a problem using WSS Brits as SYW Brits. It is really a matter of personal taste.

I think you can get away with in 6mm or even in 10mm ( I think Irregular do a generic 18th century range in 10mm). At 15 mm and above, I think there are too many differences, especially in British, Dutch, Prussian etc. Others have mentioned turnbacks, cut of uniform and cuff size. I would add equipment, lace, collars etc, all of which would be very obvious on good 15/18mm sculpts (such as the Eurekas range) and, especially, on 28mm sculpts.