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| A very model of a modern major-general of the Ruberian Army |
Methought to bridge the gap between postings by a kind of 'catch-up' of odd bits and pieces that I have been tinkering with lately. We'll begin with one of my doodles, a general officer of the Ruberian Army, drawn, rather hopefully, in the style of a cartoonist I much admire: Ronald Searle.
Following are the Theatre Maps. The Azurian I made some time ago, the Medifluvian about a week ago, the 'Hyrcanian Karadeniz' the last day or so. It is possible I will have to add 'theatre maps' for naval operations - especially, I think in the Mesogesean Sea, and the Karadeniz.
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| Azurian Theatre |
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| Medifluvia Theatre |
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| Hyrcanian Karadeniz Theatre |
Meanwhile I have been wanting at least one Army to have Maxim machine guns instead of the Nordenfeld/Garners and Gatlings. The North Island vendor having one box in stock I nabbed it: Zvezda WW1 Russians. Very well-thought out box: bally nice figures, 36 infantry, which gave me 9x4-figure stands; a Maksim Machine gun with two of a crew, and a command group of officer and flag bearer. The figures and machine guns require some assembly, but as the result looks good and animated and the poses all look sensible - excellent buy.
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| A Second Army for Izumrud-Zeleniya (GREEN) adding a box of Zvezda WW1 Russians |
Izumrud-Zeleniya 2nd Army comprises
3 Infantry Divisions of 3 regimental stands each
1 Cavalry (Cossack) Division of 4 stands (HaT)
1 Maksim Battalion stand
2 Field Artillery stands (these are Strelets-R)
This Army is a deal smaller than 1st Army, which has 16 regimental stands (4 Divisions), and a third Artillery regiment.
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| The latest addition to my Chubby Marine Merchant Navy - an armed freighter |
La Guerre du Nord - a whole different project.
This is something that has been in the pipeline for a long, long time, as has the War of the Nations.
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| Whole other project - 'Guerre du Nord' Brunswickers and Nassauers forming the Anglo-Continental III (Provisional) Corps |
Not interested in collecting all and every contingent, I'm going with what I have. The First and Second Allied Army Corps will simply be British. One might suppose among the redcoats there are some Hanoverians, say, and there are no Dutch-Belgians, but we are talking a whole alternate universe, here. Nevertheless, the thing is intended to look something like the Hundred days' campaign.
The Brunswicker foot (early Minifigs) and uhlans (not sure of their provenance) I have had for nigh on 50 years. It is a long time since they saw action. The Black hussars are actually Italieri plastics, but they don't look out of place with the other Brunswickers.
The green guys I bought second hand two or three years back - Minifigs. I supposed them to be (painted as) Nassauers. The flags have been added. Having no flag bearers, I just thread the flag staff through the arms of a couple of musketeers. The artillery is a howitzer, crewed by RHA gunners. All my British artillery is crewed by the Royal Horse Artillery. I bought the army second about 20 years ago, and that was what it has. I have added a little to it since: an extra infantry unit, and a 12-figure unit of the Royal Scots Greys. That last was an impulse buy, but ... we-ell....
Commanding this corps will be the good old Duke of Brunswick, the Minifigs mounted figure just visible in the picture behind the uhlans.
Of course, the Prussians will be present...