Thursday 28 February 2013

Not a clue? Well, here is another

Apparently, you were a bit confused yesterday. So today, I think the clue will be easy. You'll have to find someone of importance.


What is the link between those three men?

Apparemment, vous avez pas mal gamberge, mais vous n'avez pas trouve l'indice d'hier. L'indice du jour devrait etre facile. Il vous faut trouver quelqu'un d'important.
Quel lien unit ces trois hommes? 


Cnaeus Pompeius Magnus

Caius Julius Caesar
Not the right pic but I like it: Nicias

Wednesday 27 February 2013

3rd clue, something to eat!

Third day, third clue. I have to admit you guys have a pretty good understanding of what I want you to find. So I guess you'll find my project quite soon. Even though it's not the Italian Wars nor the Punic wars, it is located in Italy, well done guys.

troisieme jour, troisieme indice. Je dois reconnaitre que vous vous debrouillez plutot bien a ce petit jeu-la. Effectivemment, meme si ce n'est pas ce a quoi je pensais initialement, cela se passe en Italie, mais helas, ce ne sont pas les guerres d'Italie (meme si j'ai des figs, et ca viendra bientot).

Today's clue is a famous quote. Find it, and I'm sure you'll guess my secret project. Yes it is a very famous quote.

L'indice du jour est une citation celebre. Trouvez-la et croyez-moi, vous trouverez mon projet. Et oui, c'est une citation tres celebre.

My native region

Apparently it's time to eat


Think well and hard and see you tomorrow.
Reflechissez bien et a demain!

Cheers

Tuesday 26 February 2013

The battle of Marshmallow Moor-1644 and 2nd clue!

The messenger finally arrived, breathless, and gave the official dispatch.
Le messager arriva essoufle, et tendit le courrier officiel.

- Well, gentlemen, it seems that after our wonderful humiliation against the Cornish, the Parliament has decided to send us North... Against the Scots. They think if we win two decisive battles, we might be through.
- Hmmm... Though it might be true, is it really wise? They're numerous, hairy and they stink! Were they not red-haired, I would think they're French! And besides, aren't they well commanded?

- Indeed they are my friend. And I'm afraid we'll have first to battle against lord Dave Mc Allen, and his rabble. I've heard he's pretty good.
-Dang.

- Bien, Messieurs, il semblerait qu'apres notre memorable humiliation contre l'armee de Cornouailles, le Parlement nous confie de quoi redorer notre blason.. en nous envoyant dans le Nord, contre les Ecossais. Ils estiment que si nous remportons deux victoires decisives, nous pouvons gagner.
- Hmmm, meme si cela est vrai, est-ce vraiment prudent? Ils sont nombreux, poilus et ils puent!  Heureusement qu'ils sont rouquins, sinon on penserait qu'ils sont Francais... Et de surcroit, ne sont-ils pas bien commandes?
- En effet mon cher. Et je crains d'avoir a vous informer que nous allons d'abord devoir affronter lord DAve Mc Allen et ses pouilleux. J'ai entendu dire qu'il etait plutot competent. 
- M....... 

And so started my third game in our renaissance comp. My Parlementarian army had to face the 1641 Covenanters: lots of rubbish troops, but numerous, and Dave Allen is a pretty good player. I needed a big win to hope going through to the second round.

For once, terrain was on my side, with a lot of enclosed fields right in the middle of the table. That gave me an idea:

Voici donc comment a commence ma troisieme partie du tournoi interne. Mes Parlementaires devaient affronter une armee Covenanter de 1641: plein de troupes pourries, mais nombreuses, et Dave est un bon joueur. Il me fallait une victoire decisive pour esperer entrevoir le 2e round.
Pour une fois, le terrain me fut favorable, avec un ensemble de champs clos en plein milieu de la table. Cela m'a donne une idee: 





I would attack on my left, supporting my center, well protected in the fields. The center included a huge unit of 8 bases of muskets, devastating. My right would ne lighter, with a few units, and some light artillery.


Dave deployed his army to try to block my attack, with lots of average troops on his right wing... And then I wondered... Strange. He only has the same number of units as I do... Right, he's attempting a flank attack, so it'll be a race against time.

And they were off! I moved as quickly as I could to position myself properly for an all-out attack: supported muskets on the center, cavalry on my left against some dragoons... Everything was more or less ready. DAve could only react to my movements. Good.

J'attaquerai sur ma gauche, en supportant, ancre sur les champs. Mon centre incluera une grosse unite de 8 tireurs, a la vollee devastatrice. Ma droite sera plus legere, avec seulement quelques unites et de l'artillerie legere.

Dave se deploya pour me contrer avec beaucoup de troupes sur sa droite. Et pendant son deploiement, je constatai qu'il avait autant de troupes que moi. Bon... Il va tenter une marche de flanc. Chic une course contre la montre.

Et on est parti! Je deplacais ;es troupes aussi vite que possible pour me positionner correctement en vue de delivrer le coup fatal: mes mousquetaires au centre, cavalerie a gauche contre quelques dragons. Tout etait plus ou moins en place. DAve ne pourrait que reagir a mes mouvements Bonnnn. 

An unpainted unit! Heresy! Burn them!

No one before us, ok , let's move.


I'll be honest with you. This battle was so tense I forgot to take as many pictures as I would have liked, but you can imagine what happened... No? Well, let me tell you then. My left wing went into contact, we exchanged a lot of fire, we even ordered a push of pikes. Oh yeah, that was truly beautiful... Erm... Yup, I was happy, because for many turns, Dave's flank attack refused to arrive. Each turn was a respite, during which I could try to inflict as many casualties as possible. or so I thought...

Je serai honnete avec vous, cette bataille fut si tendue que j'en ai oublie de prendre des photos. Bon, j'en ai suffisamment pour vous narrer l'histoire, mais quand meme. Mon aile gauche arriva au contact, et apres un echange de feux, on est meme alle jusqu'a ordonner la charge. Oh, quel plaisir! Pendant de nombreux tours, la marche de flanc de Dave refusa d'arriver. Chaque tour etait donc un repit pour moi, me permettant d'infliger un maximum de pertes...




Indeed his average pike and shot were simply plowing through my veterans, breaking one and seriously mowing another. Fortunately for you, the unpainted unit also disappeared... My goodness, things were looking pretty grimm. But what was happening in the center? Well... See for yourself:

Plus facile a dire qu'a faire, car ses troupes ordinaires etaient en train de massacrer mes veterans, une unite deroutant et la seconde etant dans un sale etat. Mon unite non peinte disparut elle aussi. Ok, la ca commence a chier dans le ventilo. Mais que se passe-t-il au centre?





Poof! Nothing could resist the mighty power of an 8-pack of shooters, supported by light artillery. Everything just disappeared in front of them, without so much as a sweat. So. To be clear, everything depended on the arrival of the flank attack, then? Yup. Did they arrive? NOPE! I had time to use a cavalry unit to charge a fragmented unit, and then, they routed. Even though I was in a bad shape on my left, it was more than enough for me to break Dave's army! Hurray! The curse is lifted!

Pouf! Rien ne pouvait resister a la puissance de mes mousquetaires, supportes par mon artillerie. Tout disparaissait en face d'eux. He he. Donc, pour etre clair, tout dependait de l'arrivee de la marche de flanc... Qui ne vint jamais! J'utilisai le temps gagne pour charger une unite fragmentee avec ma cavalerie, et elle derouta au contact. Meme si mon aile etait dans un sale etat, cela fut suffisant pour faire derouter l'armee de Dave. Hourrah! La malediction est levee.





Thanks to this game, I received a whooping 21-4 victory, meaning I only need now 17 points to go on the second round. But I 'll need to win against Jim first. Another Scottish army.

Grace a cette partie, j'ai gagne 21 points, ce qui signifie que je n'ai plus que 17 points a grapiller pour passer au 2e round. Il me faudra toutefois gagner contre Jim.


Monday 25 February 2013

New project game- 1st clue/ 1er indice

All right everyone. My TYW project is now over, and so now I'm about to embark on a new journey. Painting has already started, but still far from being finished. That's why I've thought about a little game. Each day, during the coming week, I'll give you a clue. But beware, you will have to think carefully, and make some relations/associations.

Bien. Maintenant que mon projet guerre de Trente ans est termine, il est temps de passer a  mon second projet. La peinture a deja commence, mais est loin d'etre terminee. Aussi, pour vous faire patienter, j'ai pense a un petit jeu. Chaque jour pendant une semaine je vous donnerai un indice. Attention cependant, il vous faudra bien reflechir et proceder par associations d'idees.

Right, first clue: Premier indice

Carl Orff, 1895-1982

Enjoy ;)


Friday 22 February 2013

At last! French generals

At last, one project is now over. Those of you who follow Curt's painting challenge know I have now finished painting my Thirty Years War French army. I only needed to paint the generals, and now the circle is complete.

What you have here today is 4 generals, 3 of them from Old Glory, the fourth one from Testudo. Why Testudo? Well, I wanted a Prince of Conde to lead the troups to victory, that's why ;) Those who know about the period will surely point at the flags. I know, they're wrong. They're indeed infantry flags, not battle standards. But the truth is I wanted them to be easily distinguished  from the regular cavalry, that's it. Now, what to do... Start my new project, or finish my Cold war French first? Hmmmm. Decisions...


The Testudos are on the right
Enfin! Voila un projet termine! Ceux qui suivent mes peripeties sur le blog de Curt savent que je viens de terminer mon armee francaise guerre de Trente ans. Il ne me manquait que les generaux a peindre et c'est desormais chose faite. 3 d'entre eux proviennent de chez Old Glory, le dernier est un Testudo. Pourquoi Testudo? J'avais simplement besoin d'avoir Conde dans mes rangs, donc, hop.

Les puristes me reprocheront les drapeaux, qui ne correspondent pas. En effet, ce sont des drapeaux d'infanterie, et non des etendards de generaux. Le truc est que je voulais etre sur de pouvoir les identifier rapidement parmi les cavaliers. Donc, j'ai triche. Maintenant, une question se pose, que faire? Terminer mes Francais guerre froide, ou bien commencer mon projet antique....

Wednesday 20 February 2013

New bits on the block

Foreword: First I've put a translation thingy on the right for those who don't read English nor French very well.
En francais: j'ai mis un traducteur sur la droite, et j'ai mis a jour mon rapport de bataille d'hier, avec la VF (veinards). Vous n'avez qu'a cliquer.

Now. The painting challenge is still underway, and I admit I won't be able to be in the top 10. I'll try to stay in the top 15 though. But to acheive this, I have to continue painting. So first of, I finished the Chinese general for my friend Chris, minis are from Museum.

Revenons au challenge de peinture. Je n'ai plus aucun espoir de terminer dans le top 10, tout au mieux esperer rester dans le top 15. Mais pour cela il me faut vraiment continuer a peindre. Donc, voici aujourd'hui le general chinois qui rejoindra ses petits copains dans la nouvelle armee de Chris. Les figs sont des Museum.






And then, I finished the wagon that will be part of the TYW camp. Once again, it's from Museum, but I added a Donnington one to make this scene a bit more lively. Next, the generals.
Puis, j'ai termine ce qui sera partie integrante de mon camp pour mon armee TYW: un chariot rempli de tonneaux, toujours de chez Museum. J'y ai ajoute une Donnington pour rendre la scene un chouia plus vivante. A suivre, les generaux.


 

Tuesday 19 February 2013

The curse?

The dawn was fast approaching... Soon there would be enough light to compromise everything.
-Where is that damned son of turd!
- Erm...My lord van Traitor?
- Oh, sorry my dear Mister Crook. I was lost in thought, thinking about the battle about to begin in a few hours...
- Indeed... Do you have the money?
- Yes I have my dear fellow. Do you have the powder? Good. Long live the King!
- Long live the business, my lord, long live the business...

L'aube approchait. Il y aurait bientot suffisamment de lumiere pour tout compromettre...
-Que fait donc ce foutu fils d'etron!
-Hum... Messire van Traitre?
- Oh, desole mon bon Mr S. Crot. J'etais perdu dans mes pensees, songeant a la bataille a venir...
- Certes... Vous avez l'argent?
- Tout a fait mon cher. Avez-vous la poudre? Bon. Vive le roi!
- Vivent les affaires, messire, vivent les affaires.



On this fateful day, my Parlementarian army faced a Royalist Cornish army, inder the dreaded Richard. Even more dreadful were his units, full of veteran soldiers, who, though ill-equipped, could chop through anyone's army...

I knew I would outshoot him, so I devised a simple yet effective plan: a shooting death trap, using the famous Carthaginian deployment at Cannae. He wouldn't stand a chance. We deployed facing one another, having some enclosed fields on the wings.

En ce jour fatidique, mes Parlementaires faisaient face a l'armee royaliste de Cornouailles, sous les ordres du redoutable Richard. Ses unites etaient encore plus formidables, composees pratiquement entierement de veterans. Je savais que mes hommes tiraient mieux, et par consequent j'ai mis au point un plan simple: une souriciere, me fondant sur les plans du celebre Hannibal a Cannes. Il n'aurait aucune chance. On se deploya donc face a face, ayant des champs clos sur les ailes.



My newly painted army

Some despicable proxies

When the sun finally rose, the guns started singing... And the Cornish started to move forward. At first, everything went smoothingly: he was walking straight ahead, and my wings were confidently moving forward, ready to position themselves. The first shots were exchanged, and the casualties started to grow... on the Cornish sides... Good was I thinking. Now everything lies in the hands of my leader in the center, general van Traitor. He would have the responsability of holding up while delivering a hail of musket and cannon balls...

Le soleil s'etant enfin leve, les canons entonnerent leur chant... et Les Royalistes se mirent en branle. Tout debuta parfaitement de mon cote: il foncait droit devant, et mes ailes avancaient confiantes, commencant a se positionner. Je commencais meme a lui occasionner des pertes. Tout allait dependre des unites au centre, sous les ordres de van Traitre. C'est lui qui aurait la responsabilite de porter le coup fatal.








And then, suddenly, through the smoke, we saw the ennemy... still moving forward, almost unscathed... What was van Traitor doing? We saw his troops shooting like madmen, but that was ineffective, and the Cornish devils were still advancing... Should they touch us, we would die horribly from corruption and decay.

Indeed, even if my shooting dice were average, even good, his saving throws were just magnificient. I couldn't do anything, and Richard was still moving forward, starting to mulch me like a ripped pear. 

Yes indeed, I fared well, but I couldn't do anything. The dreaded curse of the newly painted army had struck, and I got trounced, giving Richard a total victory, and a pass to the next round of the tournament. 

Perhaps I 'll do better against Dave Allen, though he's a very experienced player, and the first time I played against him, I lost badly...

Et soudain, a travers la fumee provoquee par les innombrables tirs, nous vimes l'ennemi... continuer a avancer, pratiquement intact. Que faisait donc ce foutu Traitre? Ses hommes tiraient comme des diables, mqis en vain, et les diables de Cornouailles se rapprochaient. Si ils parvenaient au corps-a-corps la messe serait dite. 
De fait, si mes des de tirs etaient plus qu'honorables, les jets de moral et de sauvegarde de Richard furent impressionnamts, et il put parvenir au contact, me reduisant progressivement en une douce puree de betteraves picardes. 
Las! je fus victime de cette terrible malediction qu'est la premiere bataille d'une armee nouvellemment peinte, et je me suis fait marcher dessus... 
Si je veux pouvoir esperer passer au second round du tournoi interne, il va me falloir gagner deux victoire brillantes, dont une contre Dave Allen, un joueur experimente... La derniere partie faite contre lui fut memorable... une branlee subie comme pas permise... Esperons que la malediction sera levee.. 

On the right, my only victory


my futile attempt to flank him on the right to capture the guns (useless)


Saturday 16 February 2013

Swiss poking sticks

After what, almost a week without posting, it's time to get back on the saddle and ride the wargaming nag. Today, before you, gentle readers, are parading the most dreaded people of all Middle-Ages! Theeeeeee... No, not the plague ridden Scottish/Irish peasants, but the Swiss. Indeed I have a small lead pile, intended to represent Swiss mercenaries. So, to keep me motivated, I painted a pike block of 8 bases. The minis are from Mirliton, and, though very fragile, are a painter's delicacy. Trust me. They're very easy to paint. I replaced their pike with North Star wire spears, much more resilient. I then placed them on a Warbases mouvement tray. As you can see, there is a bit of spare room left behind ;)





Après quoi, pratiquement une semaine sans poster, il me fallait me remettre en selle et repartir du bon pinceau. Donc, devant vos yeux ébahis ( ou chafouins selon l'heure), je vous présente le peuple le plus redouté de tout le Moyen-Âge,... non il ne s'agit pas de ces bouseux pestilentiels de Picardie, ce sont... les Suisses. J'ai en effet une petite pile de plomb qui leur est dédiée, pour me faire des mercenaires suisses. ce sont des Mirliton, et si on fait abstraction de leur fragilité, c'est un pur bonheur à peindre. J'ai donc peint un bloc de 8 bases, le tout placé sur une base de mouvement Warbases. Comme vous pouvez le voir, il reste encore de la place. Petite remarque, j'ai remplacé les piques originelles, trop fragiles, par des Noth Star. 


Thursday 7 February 2013

Wargaming blues?

I played my second comp game last Monday (batrep to follow as soon as possible). Though it was a good game and I had enjoyed it, I felt something was wrong. No it's not about the rules nor Richard ( the guy I was playing with). When I came back home, I had time to read my emails, and Richard had already commented about our battle. And then I knew what was wrong. What he had written, though not that important, had been in fact more interesting to my eyes than the game in itself!

J'ai joue ma seconde partie du tournoi interne de FOG-R lundi dernier. Je me suis bien amuse, et mon adversaire egalement. Cependant, je sentais que quelque chose n'allait pas. Rien a voir avec les regles ou mon adversaire, mais lorsque je suis rentre a la maison, j'ai eu le temps de regarder mes mails et Richard avait deja poste 2-3 phrases de resume. Et la, revelation! Ce qu'il avait ecrit m'apparaissait bien plus interessant que la bataille en elle-meme.

Because you need a teaser ;)


Indeed, I think I'm beginning to be a bit fed-up of pick-up games, with pitched battles using only points from a ruleset. I know it's the most convenient way of actually playing a game, because you'll always find people who do the same. And let's be honest, after a full week of hard-work, you just want sometimes to sit at a table, drink a beer and play with your mates. So if you can find someone to play with easily, using a points-designed army, ok then.

Je crois tout simplement que je commence a me lasser des batailles arrangees a coup de listes d'armees. Je reconnais leur aspect pratique, surtout apres une semaine de boulot, quand on a envie de s'amuser avec des potes, quoi de plus facile. Et oui, ca fait du bien de jouer.
 
But I feel it's not that interesting. In fact, when I was in Paris, I had started a 1944 Normandy campaign for the club: they were choosing the places of the attacks, with the troops leading it, and I designed the scenarios, which were always unbalanced! And we had a lot of fun, especially when the outnumbered camp was actually winning. Oh, yes, that was good. But I has to stop it because my daughter was born and I then didn't have time to spare. Shame.

Mais je ne toruve plus cela aussi interessant. En fait, quand j'etais encore a Paris, j'avais commence une campagne Normandie 1944 pour le club: les joueurs decidaient des axes d'attaques et des troupes en pointe, et je creais les scenarios, qui etaient bien evidemment desiquilibres. Et franchement c'etait souvent la grosse poilade, surtout quand le camp en inferiorite etait en train de gagner. Il est regrettable pour moi de l'avoir stoppee, mais la naissance de ma fille dut y mettre un terme car je n'avais plus le temps de m'en occuper.

Then we started a Punic Wars campaign around the Mediterranean Sea, using the Art de la guerre rules, and we had a blast for a couple of turns: we had random events, some political decisions to make, and of course unbalanced battles! The game umpite had also designed a way of "micro-managing" our armies. We had a pool of different units, based on the army lists, and after each battle, if they had routed, they were definitely lost. We then needed to attack regions, hoping to subdue them to get some more auxiliaries for example. I remember seeing the Macedonian player beginning to feel very nervous because he had lost almost all his medium troups, and needed to get some more, and so invaded Thracia... Yes, those campaigns were good. And we also had a way of promoting the generals, and my good, as a Carthaginian player, I was lucky, with lots of promoted generals.

Puis nous avions commence une campagne guerre punique en Mediterranee avec la regle Art de la guerre. ET franchement, la encore, grosse poilade: evenements aleatoires, decisions politiques et surtout batailles inegales! Le maitre de jeu avait egalement creer un systeme de gestion des troupes, base sur les listes, et apres chaque bataille, les unites ayant deroute etaient perdues. Il nous fallait alors attaquer des regions pour esperer recuperer des auxiliaires. Je me souviens du joueur macedonien qui avait perdu pratiquement toutes ses troupes moyennes, et qui, pour se recompleter, avait du s'attaquer a la Thrace. Nous avions egalement un systeme de promotion des generaux, et en tant que joueur carthaginois, j'avais eu un bol phenomenal, tous me generaux etant devenus au minimum competents!

So to sum it up, I'm not against points based battles, because it's always nice to find someone to play with, but I think it's time for me to start thinking about scenarios and/or campaigns to keep me motivated. Maybe another project...

Bref, si je dois resumer, je ne suis pas contre jouer de temps en temps une partie a budget egal, surtout pour passer du bon temps, mais je pense qu'il est temps pour moi de commencer a penser a des scenarios/ campagnes pour me motiver. Peut-etre de nouveaux projets.

 

Tuesday 5 February 2013

The phoenix, reborn

I suppose it was time for a break in my TYW army. Though I'm painting the last minis to finish this army, I felt I had to paint something else. Back in November, Chris, to whom I had sold my lucky Chinese army, had asked me if I could paint a couple of things more to complete his new army: a general and a battlegroup of heavy chariots. Fortunately, I had everything at hand, and I started priming them... Until I stared helplessly at them, not knowing how to paint them. So I put them back in the painting plan, still primed but otherwise untouched. I knew I had time, especially because I couldn't go to the club, my wife coming home very late, and I consequently had to take care of our little daughter. But then, she managed to complete her missions earlier than expected, and now I'm able to go back to my favourite place ;), meaning I have to paint faster to give them to Chris. So, even though I haven't finished the general (though now started), I've just finished the heavy chariots.

 Il me fallait faire une petite pause dans la peinture de mon armee francaise. Meme si je suis en train de peindre les derniers restes, je sentais qu'il fallait que je fasse autre chose. En Novembre dernier, Chris, a qui j'ai vendu mon armee chinoise, voulait ajouter 2-3 trucs a son armee, a savoir un general et une unite de chariots lourds. Heuresuement, j'avais tout sous la main. Cependant, apres les avoir sous-couches, je tombai en panne d'inspiration. Apres tout, j'avais du temps, car je me croyais "bloque" a la maison pour quelque temps encore. Il n'en fut rien, et je peux desormais retourner au club. Il me faut donc accelerer la peinture, pour pouvoir les donner a Chris. Ni une, ni deux, hop voici les chariots.




 
I've named them the bright phoenixes. I already had painted a unit of chariots called the phoenixes. But the latter ones were the "male" poenixes, whereas this new unit are the "female". Just have a look at the characters and you'll see the difference. The Chinese had then three ways of writing "phoenix": male, female, or a combination of the two. I chose to paint them as "female" for a simple reason: Chinese harmony. And, if I recall, when things are harmonious, they are lucky.
So, what you have here are four 4-horses chariots from Museum, with three crewmen in each. I added the the flagpoles and handpainted the flags. 

 J'ai appele ces derniers les phenix flamboyants. Ma precedente unite de chariots s'appelait deja les phenix, mais ces derniers etaient les "males". ceux-ci sont les "femelles", les caracteres sont differents. En effet, les Chinois avaient trois manieres d'ecrire le mot: "male", "femelle", ou une combinaison des deux. J'ai chois la version "femelle" pour une question d'harmonie. Et qui dit harmonie, dit chance, Esperons qu'ils seront chanceux sur un champ de bataille.
 

Saturday 2 February 2013

Avec panache: Bussy-Rabutin

Almost there, almost there. Indeed I've finished painting my last unit! Hooray! Now, I only need to paint the generals and some bits for the camp, and then my army will be truly finished. Right. This infantry regiment is under the command of the count Roger de Rabutin, born in 1618. As many young nobles from this period, he fought his forst battle at 16 in Lorraine. Then, he fought under Conde at Rocroi, and Turenne in Germany. He also spent some time in prison for some dubious reasons (I think they were political, but sodomy is a better motive, don't you think?). Finally, he entered the prestigious Academie francaise in 1665.

The minis are from? From? Old Glory of course, and the flags from Flags of war.






J'y suis presque, j'y suis presque. Je viens de terminer la derniere unite de mon armee francaise! Il ne me reste plus qu'a peindre les generaux, ainsi que 2-3 trucs pour le camp, et hop, projet termine, bonsoir tout le monde, on passe a autre chose ;)

Ce regiment etait sous les ordres du comte Roger de Rabutin, ne en  1618. Comme beaucoup de jeunes gens de sa condition, il participa a sa premiere bataille a 16 ans, en Lorraine.Par la suite, il combattit sous les ordres de COnde a Rocroi et de Turenne en Allemagne. Bref, un bon CV militaire. Cela ne l'a pas empeche de faire un tour en prison pour sodomie. Mouais, ca pue les raisons politiques, c'est un peu trop facile. Il termina sa carriere en etant elu a la prestigieuse Academie francaise en 1665. Beau parcours moi je dis.

Comme d'habitude, les figs sont des Old Glory, et les drapeaux viennent de chez Flags of war.