The Rebel Lands Campaign, episode 4: A Taste of Blood

Herbert von Plischke dared not wait any longer for his subordinate von Spülge's marching column. Thus he arrived at the front earlier with the troops under his direct command, hoping he would be not too late. News of the defeat of the Rebel army reached him while on the march, and at first there was conflicting evidence of his allied command disintegrating. As he neared the scene, he met troops rested and more or less well organised, and by then he knew the situation was not so dire as previously pictured. 

Prince Hegyeshváry Szabolcs's army was falling back in good order on interior lines, and he could even commit a large part of his force to halt the advance of the other Medvetland column, for which von Spülge was grateful - it would have been a very uneven fight without any support from the locals. 

After some milling about, the Allied army met the Medvetland regulars at the Battle of Bodros Hill. Von Plischke could deploy his superior artillery on the commanding height, and direct the battle from there.

The Rebel Lands Campaign, episode 3: Making a Stand

The Rebel Lands army, now thinking themselves sufficient to give battle after major concentrations, chose their ground well and stood against an invading Medvetland column.

New House, New Rules

I was thinking of an even easier option to play 18th century battles than Maurice, and came up with a diceless game which uses playing cards and unit values to determine the outcome of a set piece battle.

I'm going to upload it soon to the Rules page of my main blog, and will be using it to conduct battles in the Rebel Lands campaign.

The Rebel Lands Campaign, episode 2: The Opponents

The additional participant comes first: this is the two brigades of the Schultzdorf Expeditionary Force, four regiments of foot, two of horse and one Hussars, and a single artillery battery.

This is the Rebel army, three hussar regiments, three Border Guards, three regular foot, three militia and a single artillery unit.

And lastly the invaders: the Medvetland Corps of Observation consists of eight cavalry units, three artillery bases, seven regular infantry and six Observation Corps battalions (which is a separate thing and only they know why).

The 'figures' are prints from the Junior General website, colored to my liking and pasted on a bright green background, then cut out and glued on cardstock. These three armies were virtually free to create as I've had every material available and I printed just three A4 sheets for them at my workplace colour printer.

 

The Rebel Lands Campaign, episode 1: Mobilization

On March 20 1551 OC, the garrison of the Turulhát Pass on the Rebel Lands - Medvetland border spotted a large dust cloud approaching. Soon the sun glittered on thousands of bayonets and drawn swords: the Medvetland Corps of Observation was moving on them with full force.

Now Medvetland has coveted the eastern fringes of the Rebel Lands since ages, as they claimed the predecessors of the people now living there stole that land from their Arch-Tsar Svatopluk IX. But it was a mere pretense: the Medved was hungry for conquest, and the greater foe, Tekirdag, had been sitting idle for the past ten years or so, being occupied with the Alanians coming from the east, and the various anti-piracy actions in the Levant; so this seemed as good an opportunity as any to come to increase the Tsar's sphere of influence.

Now On To the Technical Part

So for the next Schultze-Böhnstadt project, which I expect will take quite a long time, I'm going to use 1/72 WAS/WSS/SYW figures, mainly Strelets and HäT ones, as those seem to be available within the EU at a reasonable price.

All figures (except command vignettes) will be placed on 80mm wide and 60mm deep bases, which is quite large if you think about it, and my table size is not so big, but I wanted big battalions instead of the traditional 'six guys taking the regimental standard for a walk' impression.

Infantry will be arranged in the following manner:

• Regular infantry: 8 figures in two ranks plus one or two officers / sergeants / standard bearers per base, so a four-base unit should be about 36 figures
• Irregular infantry and militia: just as the same, with six figures in two ranks, so about 28-30 figures per four base unit
• Cavalry: three figures per base, twelve per unit
• Artillery: a single gun and crew per base, reversed (60mm wide, 80mm deep)

The four-base unit is standard for Maurice, but with such base sizes I can reduce or increase the number of bases within a unit just fine. Maurice calls for deep rectangular or square bases, but worse had happened.

I will soon try this out with the figures I have in my possession.

Re-Organizing the Böhnstadt Army

Princeps Erhard Berthold von Jazygen, in his great wisdom, has issued an edict to increase the number of new recruits to the Land Army of Schultze-Böhnstadt, in preparation for the encroachment by Medvetland to the Rebel Territories.

As the Principality has many allies to the East, constantly threatened by the Tekirdagac border vassals and the Northern foe, intervention on the side of the Rebels is looming...

The edict calls for renaming and reorganizing multiple regiments of foot and raising three more (along with their respecitve reserve battalions). The Varangian border garrison force is also to be integrated to this structure. 

This way the Army total is the following:

• Eleven rgts.of foot (eight musketeer, three fusilier) and two detached Grenadier battalions under IR1 and IR2
• One rgt. of foot Jäger
• One large rgt.of Grenzer
• Two rgts. of Dragoons, Küirassiers and Hussars each
• One rgt. of mounted Jäger
• Four rgts. of Artillery (each of ten field pieces) plus siege train
• Additional elements like lifeguard cavalry, pioneers etc.

Recruitment begins for the new units, while the older ones fill their ranks from the reserve, to replenish the losses suffered during the Störkburg Valley campaign.

There have also been some promotions, many former lieutenant-colonels rising to full colonelcy, while others gained the honorary Brigadier title, which is a middle rank in the SB army between lieutenant-general and colonel.

Back to the Colonies

Having sold most of my collection, what mostly remains is SYW/AWI stuff. I'm going to repaint some, and make up small forces for skirmish gaming. There is little to no space for me to set up a table now, and all the clubs are closed - no matter, I'm not a club going person anyway. But fighting small skirmishes on the New Continent has a beneficial effect to table size. For grand battles on the mainland, I have something in mind that's already in the making, and is mysteriously called 'Micro Maurice'... Stay tuned!

Continent of Rot Gaming aide for Hex Conquest

Letters from Fortress Diken, Ep. 1