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!
Comments
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! :-)
-- Allan
(now I'll adjust my mental image of Irwin-Amadeus...)