The Orders of Battle. . .

The great Steven Fry and Hugh Laurie as Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster. . . some of the inspiration behind my own Irwin-Amadeus II and his unflappable manservant Hives.

An intrepid and ambitious young trooper from a squadron of Stollen's 4th Dragoons rode carefully forward under the cover of darkness last night and identified the following units that comprise Stagonia's army of vile invaders:

1st (von Kirschstein) Kuirassier -- 3 squadrons
Hockdorf Hussars -- 2 squadrons
9th (von Krinkle) Infantry -- 1 company
4th (du Lepps) Fusiliers -- 2 companies
1st (von Hirschbock) Grenadiers -- 4 companies
Umgraben Sapper Battalion -- 2 companies
Feldpaff Battery of Artillery -- 2 guns and crew

It remains a mystery who the general is in command of this most vile assemblage of men! Opposing them on the eastern side of the Saegewerkdorf battlefield are the following units from gallant Stollen's own army, which is commanded by General von Drosselmaier:

Leib (Grand Duchess Sonja's Own) Grenadiers -- 3 companies
Von Laurenz Musketeers -- 3 companies
Jaeger zu Fuss -- 2 companies
11th Engineer Battallion -- 2 companies
4th (Trakehnen) Dragoons -- 3 squadrons
Princess Charlotte's Loyal Battery of Artillery -- 2 guns and crew

As you can see, Stollen has slightly more infantry, while Stagonia has two more squadrons of cavalry, and both armies field the same number of guns. It seems, therefore, that the armies are fairly evenly matched although it might be claimed that Stollen has the homefield advantage since Stagonia has invaded the Grand Duchy. Whether this will have an appreciable effect on the outcome of the battle remains to be seen of course.

On a related note, reports have leaked from the Stollenian capital Krankenstadt, scarcely a day's march north of Saegewerkdorf, that the Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeuss II was only just dissuaded, by his faithful English manservant "Hives" no less, from donning his lobster costume and racing soutwestward to Saegewerkdorf, to lead his small army into battle. Fortunately for General von Drosselmaier and the other officers already there, this eventuality was narrowly averted by Hives' cool thinking.

Eyewitnesses report that just as the Grand Duke headed off toward his chambers, where the armoire containing the lobster costumes resides, Hives was heard to say, "Hark, M'lord! Is that the ice-cream man's bell I hear?" At which point, Irwin-Amadeus forgot all about his stated mission to inspire the men and began scrounging feverishly around the settee and matching armchair for a enough spare coins to cover the cost of a choc ice!

The 18th century? What's the Fascination?

Hessian musketeers by All the King's Men Toy Soldiers of Snellville, Georgia, U.S.A. Just a quick post post today, but I thought the above question might be interesting food for thought. Obviously, there is an array of possible periods, theaters, and conflicts that might catch our eyes. But what is it about the era 1700-1799 -- either real, or imagined? Is it the commanders and politics? The fairly straightforward tactics? The myriad of uniforms and flags? The variety and scope of the conflicts? The patchwork of various and sundry petty states, (at least in Central Europe)? I'm very interested to learn your thoughts. Don't be a lurker! Please leave a comment -- or even two or three. Have a nice day everyone!

An Early July Hussar Update. . .

Marginally neater in appearance with green bases, girths, and ivory horse markings added, but I need to neaten up some hooves now before moving onto the rest of the tack. W here in the world did June go? While I still ponder the answer to that question, how about a quick painting update on the first batch of 14 Minden Austrian hussars and Nadasdy? Good. I'm glad we are of a like mind. Still on the sloppy side, but I've managed to move things along, painting the green bases, white (ivory) horse markings, and beginning the miles and miles of tack adorning the various horses. I always like to begin with the girths spanning the horses' ribs which helped hold the saddles in place. Even with the figures mounted individually on temporary painting bases, these can be kind of tricky to access, but there we are. I've also used various Army Painter washes (Mid-Brown and Strong Tone) as well as their Speed Paint (Grim Black) to make the manes and tails of the horses a bit m...

Basic Reds Done at Last. . .

S till quite a way to go with the current batch of 20 human figures and a horse (of course), but they're actually starting to look like something after all of the red distinctions. Quite a bit of painting in hour-long sessions the last week as and when time has allowed. Mostly applying the basic dark red to facing areas and turnbacks followed by the inevitable touch-ups to clean up wobbly edges and those misplaced, minute splotches of Citadel Khorne Red. They're looking like so many Austrian infantry regiments of the era at this point, but the eventual flags will turn them magically into the Anhalt-Zerbst Regiment, more or less, of the AWI period. But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. One frustrating point (ahem) of sad discovery. I've started trying to use those Winsor & Newton 'Series Seven' brushes (#1 rounds) purchased last spring, and the blasted things simply will not keep a point. Very frustrating since I have heard over the y...

Fitz-Badger said…

Thanks for the images, both digital and mental!
I agree with the commentse prvious post about the "look" of your setup. Terrain, tabletop, buildings, minis all have a wonderful style that tie everything together into an attractive game. Compliments to the artist! :-)

7:11 PM

Martin said…

So....the sinister Agent Hagen-Daase strikes again!

7:54 PM

SteveI said…

Aswierd as it sounds, as I read this post ther is an episode of J&W on the old T.V., an endearing classic!

1:58 AM

old-tidders said…

Forces finely balanced ? it will be an interesting engagement

-- Allan

6:56 AM

Snickering Corpses said…

I should have known you'd be a Jeeves and Wooster man!