There was no Britain till 1707! also about redcoats

[Didz]

Didz as you're from the UK and I'm only from the colonies perhaps you should feel annoyed you can't conquer the aussie's in ETW, at least that may make up for your forthcoming thrashing at cricket!

Being Australian you no doubt know that Britain never had to conquer Australia we just found it lying about unwanted and decided to claim it before the French did.

"Notwithstand[ing] I have in the Name of His Majesty taken possession of several places upon this coast, I now once more hoist English Colours and in the Name of His Majesty King George the Third took possession of the whole Eastern Coast . . . by the name New South Wales, together with all the Bays, Harbours Rivers and Islands situate upon the said coast, after which we fired three Volleys of small Arms which were Answerd by the like number from the Ship."

Extract from 'The Secret Orders of Lieutenant Cook 30 July 1768
http://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/item.asp?sdID=67

In fact, an estimated 54 people discovered bits of Australia between 1606 and 1770 but nobody really considered it worth bothering with except as a sort of nautical layby where you could pull in and relieve yourself before continuing on your journey.

The Dutch East India Company were the first to start bothering to chart its coast and for a while it was actually called 'New Holland.'

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Cook was the first person to make a serious attempt to chart the coastline and document the nature of the country beyond it. But even then the only value Britain placed on the land was as a place to dump our unwanted criminals. Between 1788 and 1850 the English sent over 162,000 convicts to Australia in 806 ships. The first eleven of these ships are today known by Australians as the First Fleet and contained the convicts and marines that are now acknowledged as the Founders of Australia.

The First Fleet consisted of six convict ships, three store ships, two men-o-war ships with a total of 756 convicts (564 male, 192 female), plus 550 officers/marines/ship crew and their families.

The six convict ships were: Alexander, Charlotte, Lady Penrhyn, Friendship, Prince of Wales and Scarborough. Other ships of the Fleet were: H.M.S. Sirius, H.M.S. Supply, The Fishburn, The Borrowdale, The Golden Grove

Even then the British were not aware that they were actually founding Australia, and it was not finally confirmed that what Cook had claimed was a continent until the navigators Bass and Flinders finished mapping its coastline in 1814.

BTW: I am one of those rare Englishmen that has absolutely no interest in cricket, so I actually had no idea there was another game happening soon, and the outcome is a matter of supreme indifference to me.

As for redcoats I like the description, many novelists(like Sharpe's novels) use the description and would make a more immersive play than the rather dry and boring "line infantry" tag. Just my 2 cents.

Yep! a lot of novelists have abused the term as a sop to the American market. To be honest I don't think he would have been able to publish what the French called us anyway. Personally, I think CA have done enough to screw up the history in ETW without using trivial labels for the unit types too.

Incidently I thought I'd add a clips showing some real 'Redcoats'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTPC...eature=related
Wouldn't want to face those guys on a battlefield, would you?