Wednesday, March 4, 2026

Little Great War - Theatre Maps and other things

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.

Azurian Theatre



Medifluvia Theatre




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.

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.

The latest addition to my Chubby Marine Merchant 
Navy - an armed freighter
Inspired by a picture in a recent blog or facebook posting, I knocked together the pictured armed merchantman. My merchant marine now comprises 6 vessels, two of them armed. The armed merchants might be used for commerce raiding or simply to carry cargo.

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.

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...


 

9 comments:

  1. A marvellous medley! Magnificent miscellany! A positive gallimaufry of goodness!
    Those Zvezda figures are very good. In the larger boxes they do the WW1 Russians and also Germans in picklehaube as well as WW2 Soviets and Germans.
    Neil

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    Replies
    1. Neil -
      'Gallimaufry' - a word I had never before encountered! I had to look it up, although I gathered the meaning from the context. If readers find it interesting, like a galimafree stew, then I'm well pleased.

      It would be very tempting to create a Grauheim army with picklehaube infantry...
      Cheers,
      Ion

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  2. I take encouragement from your map making - simple, clear, straight forward - they also keeps the dialogue in perspective

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Andrew -
      I think that even with photos, maps are useful in orienting readers around events and places. What can be a real drag is mention of locations that can not be located on the map!
      Thanks for your comment,
      Ion

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  3. I always enjoy seeing your doodles, Ion!

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    Replies
    1. Jonathan -
      I have a few more in the pipeline...
      Cheers,
      Ion

      Delete
  4. Replies
    1. I just have to think up a few captions... There's a few I've done that have yet, from memory, to appear in this blog (or anywhere else!)
      Cheers,
      Ion

      Delete
  5. Great cartoon and inspiring post, looking forward to more…
    Alan Tradgardland

    ReplyDelete