What is this game?

[Incongruous]

No they were not. The musket had long made the pike obsolete, where were they in the war of Spanish sucession? Nowhere. thats right at the begining of our period.
They had not been used for quite a while. Exceptions are Sweden and Russia, but by 1700 the pike was basically gone.

@Papa
Nah, I'm living' in NZ too. The Capital, to be exact. So obviuosly we get the best weather.
we've got a holiday home up in the Bay of Plenty, possible the nicest place in NZ. With the exception of Otago during the 500.