Tercios and ironclads

[dukealien]

In my younger days, I played war games (board games) with my ex-brother-in-law.  He always trounced me until I discovered a Thirty Years War game.  I forget which battle, but I finally defeated him in a game, playing the Imperialists to his Swedish side.  So I've always had a soft spot for the tercio system, but had never read about its structure and development. 

I almost used 
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entry_of_t...ix_012.jpg

for my ekphrastic poem.  An earlier tragedy in Constantinople's long downfall.

I collected a lot of games that I played solo, including a Crimean War set.  But the two that were always my favorites were Thirty Years War and Seige of Constantinople.

There were many naval games, but somehow those never attracted me so much.

Anyway, I've probably seen Surrender at Breda though it seemed new to me, because I've viewed many a painting of that time period, but thanks for sending it along.

I switched to boardgames from miniatures when I "joined the colors" in '72.  Back then, wargaming was discouraged in my specialty:  it was practiced at higher levels, but if any of the actual users had played in civilian circles, how we did it could have been revealing.  Once back on a hobby basis, miniatures again, though I still have a large stack of S&T games... including Musket & Pike (g).