Battle Flags of the Flossian Union

Continuing with the theme of the previous post, I reviewed and updated the Flossian flag repertoire.

Cavalry guidon

Kriegsfahne of the Union

Electoral flag

Regimental flag #1

Regimental flag #2

Regimental flag #3

These images are produced to scale, but I probably will reduce their size when printing. I made the central brown part where the flag staff is placed a bit thicker for my 6mm figures.

A few updated flags

I'm building a 6mm force again to fight battles in Schultze-Böhnstadt, so I reviewed my unit flags and made a few more.

Karrotenbad Kreis

1st Rgt of Foot and other Leib units

Cavalry guidon

Grenadier battalions

Royal flag of the House of Jazygen

Standard infantry battalion flag

 

Map of the Free Republic of Leuwenthaal

 

Leuwenthaal is one of the most densely populated areas of the Schultze-Böhnstadt universe, with many large cities dotting the otherwise flat and featureless landscape. It is a rich country, with revenues coming in from oceanic ports and the trade on the western branch of the Flosse.

It is also one of the smallest sovereign states (if you do not count the Sjelle Islands, in personal union with the King of Gluteborg-Varangia), so it has to secure its borders with a large and professional standing army, mostly dispersed in large modern fortifications.

Map of the Flossian Union

 

Continuing with the series, I drew up and detailed the lands of the Union an der Flosse.

Although some border territories were pretty much detailed in the previous map, the central parts were kind of lackluster.

Of course the empty zones could hold underdeveloped villages, lots of herders, inns to stop by when the voyage would take more than a day between two settlements etc.

Map of Gluteborg-Varangia

 

Continued detailing the map, going northward. This is the habitable part of the Varangian peninsula, and its overseas territory adjacent to Medvetland. 

Of course I won't detail the entirety of Medvetland and the Empire of Tekirdag, as those would take up too much space and the combined map is already quite large in resolution. Perhaps I will include lots of "blank" "unknown" and "here be dragons" parts and only detail zones where Westerners had travelled.

I forgot to include the scale measurement before cropping the map, but it is in the same scale as the previous ones.

Revised Map of Schultze-Böhnstadt

(Open the picture in a new window for full scale resolution)

I have continued with expanding the Störkburg Valley map from the previous post, and now I'm done detailing the lands of Schultze-Böhnstadt (and the Sjelle Islands, which are a small part and would just hang on there otherwise). The rest of the map is outlined but not filled, except the sole Flossian fortress facing the western entrance of the Störkburg Valley.

The former hex map in all honesty looked kind of ugly and I lost the large resolution version, so this will help me tremendously when planning campaigns, especially because the map is now to scale (see the red streak at the top of the map), measured in the simplest way, in days of walking.

The Union on the Flosse has introduced the Flossian mile to the peoples of the world. They marched an army up and down roads, measured the averge total distance taken, and divided it by ten. That is one Flossian mile. 

This is useful because it's easy to calculate days of march from different points of the empire, for example a traveller on foot would take a week to walk from Karrotenbad to Böhnstadt, with day marches only and rests calculated in. Of course couriers make the distance much faster.

(Keep in mind that the Napoleonic way of forced marching over incredible distances was totally unknown to 18th century generals, and their main task above all was to preserve their army by sparing the soldiers' feet and giving them ample provisions anywhere they might be. So these are very conservative estimates, let's say 1 Flossian mile equals two kilometers or 1.24 imperial miles.)

Map of the Störkburg Valley

I'm working on a universal map that would eventually encompass all of the imaginary continent (and beyond) in my Schultze-Böhnstadt world.

I started small, with drawing up the Störkburg Valley area, setting up the style, map icons and ground scale.

I have a badly compressed hex map and the material from the 1st Störkburg Campaign to draw from. I also have a hand-drawn map somewhere that I seem to have misplaced.

If any inconsistency arises, I can blame it on villages receiving new names by the ever wise Princeps Erhard Berthold von Jazygen, and the new map should be the one which is up to date.

Primer Day in Schultze-Böhnstadt

Sometimes I find it easier to batch prime a lot of figures, stash them away and paint them in smaller groups. This is especially effective for 6mm figures.

During COVID I had to liquidate most of my collection and only recently did I get back to buying new stuff: this included a 900+ figure order from Commission Figurines (top service, by the way). This is the first lot, all of the Schultze-Böhnstadt funny hat figures sans two units of foot I already completed.

These are lasercut MDF figs, so first I glue them on popsicle sticks and prime them with PVA, this seals the wood for the following layers. Then I hit them with a VMC Flat Brown undercoat and a bright brown drybrush. All I have to do then is pick out some details with a pointy brush, and from a distance they look just all right.

I'll base these figures for Maurice, a single unit of 24 foot or nine horse on a 75x25mm round cornered base (or 30x25mm for artillery). Later on I'll combine two bases to form a unit. Maurice sort of requires an interplay between a unit's bases for example when changing formation, but that can be easily overlooked. 

The Miraculous Escape of the Leuwenthaal East Asia Convoy

This was a test game for Galleys and Galleons, a Ganesha Games product. I was familiar with the basic procedures of the system, so opted for a clash between six ships per side:

Leuwenthaal

1x Flagship (Man'o'war with Flagship trait)

2x 3rd rates (Man'o'war with better boarders but no shooting bonus)

3x Indiaman (per the standard list)

Albion

1x Flagship (Man'o'war with Flagship trait)

3x 3rd rates (Man'o'war without the boarding bonus but increased gunnery)

2x Frigates (standard)

The Leuwenthaal convoy has to reach the extrication point on the opposite edge, while the Albionic squadron has to do as much damage as possible.

The ships I used were colour printed images of my own design. They are currently mostly under revision, but I will make them available on Random&Creative on a separate page. 

I pasted the printed and mirrored images on 3mm balsa plates undercoated white. This produces an acceptable 2.5 dimension effect with little work. Then I glued the ships to 2mm balsa bases painted blue, and add the name plates.

Anyway, on to the action, which was quite random!

The Rebel Lands Campaign: End Notes

1.

In war, nothing is certain. The Bear was haughty after the forcing of the Carpathian passes and reducing the border garrisons. However, the Rebels put up a fierce resistance with their untried troops, and once the disciplined allied battalions reached the frontline, things began to change.

At the Peace of Soltvadkert, Medvetland agreed to retrieve all their troops from the Rebel provinces, and acknowledge them as a sovereign state once and for all. Land grabs based on (presumed) ancient rights are no longer possible past the frontier between the two nations.

What awaits the abashed Fyodor Bukolevich is uncertain: perhaps he will be demoted and lead a company of Cossacks in the coming Tekirdag-Medvetland war...

2.

While there were only four battles fought in about three months' time of campaigning, the Simple Card Game system worked well, producing varied results, being just nuisanced enough to provide a short narrative for each battle. It's easy to set up and calculate, requires very little paperwork, and a sequence of battles can be fought to a result in very little time.

3.

The overall consequences in the larger picture are the following: 

• Tekirdag is emboldened by the Medvet's failure and would initiate a border conflict (allowing me to field some Ottomans)
• Flosse, when considering their new plans of invading the Störkburg Valley, depended heavily on the S-B battalions tied down in the East; now they have to re-calculate.
• The Tsar Pavel V, although his armies were bloodied, is even more eager for challenging the current status quo, and this time he might avert his eyes to the North instead of the the West.