The Nine Years War was the first European war that involved the British since the time of Henry VIII. It was largely the result of Louis XIV's foreign policy, which can loosely be described as 'La Gloire'. It is sometimes known as any one of the following:

• War of the League of Ausburg (the League didn't include Britain)
• War of the Grand Alliance (which blames everybody but the French)
• King William's War (American, blaming William rather than Louis)
• War for the English Succession (ho hum, blaming William again)

The fairest name has to be the chronological one i.e. The Nine Years War (1688 - 1697). The combatants consisted on the one hand of a broad coalition of catholic and Protestant states (including Britain, Holland, Denmark, Austria, and the many German States) and on the other, France.

The fighting took place largely in Flanders in the area between the rivers Meuse and Sambre. It included such well known names as Charleroi, Namur, Mons and Cambrai. the War itself was one primarily of manoeuvre and siege with few pitched battles, which may explain why it has never been that popular among wargames; the exceptions of course being Steenkirk and Landen. William III's strategy was to wear down Louis vast armies, in which he largely succeeded, whereas Louis' was to expand Frances borders and influence in which he was only partially successful. The early victories went to the Allies, until the Duc de Luxembourg became Commander in Chief of the French Army. From there it was all downhill for the Allies except the recapture Namur in 1695 (having been lost in 1692) until William agreed a treaty with Louis at Rijswijk.

A good guide to the war in Flanders, in my view is John Childs 'The Nine Years War and the British Army 1688-97'. It doesn't contain a bibliography as such but references to other works on the War and related subjects can be found in the notes at the end of each chapter.

The Wargame presented by the Tring club, is a 'what if' type game, intended to give a flavour of the period rather than re-fight a particular battle or siege, which would require significantly greater numbers of figures than available to us. It is an attack/defence game largely because of the greater number of Allied units than French (the hope was always that others might contribute French units to counter the ever growing numbers of Allied troops).

The figures are predominately Dixon Miniatures and Essex Miniatures, with a handful of old Bakerloo Miniatures (I'm not sure if they're still available). All figure were painted by Russall Prior, using the reference guides by Alan Sapherson, the inevitable Men-at-Arms and C S Grant's From Pike to Shot (with caution). Valuable help was received from the Pike & Shot Society in the form of Uniform plates for the Wurttemburgers.

The Fort and buildings are from the collection of Russall Prior and painted by Robert Young. The Fort is an original 'Village Green' set of castings, again I don't know if they're still available as Village Green has changed hands at least once since I purchased them about ten years ago. The buildings are of course the original mediaeval castings from Hovels

The rules used are 'Captain General' by Tom Smith & Iain Stanford, published by The Pike and Shot Society.