Household Infantry Completed (after only 20 years) - Finally, after two decades of wars both foreign and domestic, His Majesty can proudly announce the completion of the infantry arm of the Royal Household Legion. This is the one, and only, battalion of the converged grenadiers de St. Maurice. The variety of uniforms is simply because they are, indeed, converged, with six troops from each of the eight line regiments of the army. They carry the colors of the king as well as the drapeau blanche, relegating them to the position of second battalion of the household infantry behind Maison du Roi. Indeed their officers all come from the ranks of the "senior battalion." This has not been without it's problems. In a most recent altercation with a Grand Duck (sic) who shall remain nameless, the grenadiers covered themselves in glory when they drove two enemy battalions from the field and were poised to visit mayhem on yet a third. They were left unsupported by the senior battalion however, and His Majesty's forces were obliged to withdraw due to severe losses elsewhere. Investigations are currently in progress. Meanwhile, the boisterous boys with the funny hats have been venting their collective spleen with a quaint little tactic involving their sycophantic officer corps that Vietnam era American soldiers will refer to as "fragging."

next - War comes to St. Maurice - Who'd have thought...

What's In A Name - For years, His Benevolent Majesty has allowed the villages and towns along the frontier to operate according to their own whims providing of course, that approximately a third of their annual income manage to find it's way into the St. Maurice national treasury (in other words, his royal back pocket). The village of Vichyssoise was one of these. The villagers (largely Germanic, but otherwise good practicing Catholics) would enthusiastically celebrate His Majesty's birthday with a lovely little ceremony they referred to as a "roast," culminating in the burning of a dressed pig in effigy.


Imagine His Highness' severe disappointment when, upon reports that the army of Ardoberg-Holstein had been sighted, the village to a man changed the name to Lesser Horkheimer, donned leiterhossen, and began boiling sauerkraut. Within hours, His Majesty's forces were in full struggle with those of the Grand Duck (sic) and before the sunset what villagers remained who could still consume food were happily eating snails.


This little battle included something around 1400 miniatures, including a massive (by our standards) cavalry battle with 11 cavalry regiments (6 for the good guys and 5 for ...that German person). Enjoy the photos.

Next - The Household Infantry Completed - after only 20 years...

A Return at Last - I realize that I have become delinquent in promptly posting to this site. Sorry. I have no good excuse except rampant complacency. The arrival within these blog pages of my arch nemesis, that black prince of Ardoberg-Holstein has propted me to action however, and I mean to spend more time here correcting the vicious lies, mis-spellings and inaccurate punctuation which passes for truth within the Holstein. More toward this anon.
Firstly, I need to display the most recent unit addition to les hommes de St. Maurice. Presenting (ta da!!) His Majesty's Engineers, Sappers and Miners.

This may not be the best of pictures, but will do until I can take a more formal shot. Of course maybe seeing them from the back would be the best way to display all the St. Maurice units. I've wanted a unit of engineers for some time although currently our rules have no place for them. I'm envisioning a unit that combats as militia, can detach it's companies to operate independently on such projects as sapping, intrenchments and earthworks with tasks agreed-upon before the battle begins. They can augment regular combat units to throw up make-shift defenses over a fixed period of time (3 turns say) as long as the unit doesn't come under fire or melee. More on this as we begin to solidify a rule. The figures are all Surens and the wagon is from Blue Moon Miniatures. By the way, for those of you interested in seeing what passes for an opponent to St. Maurice, please refer to http://ardoberg.blogspot.com (although why you would want to is anyone's guess.

coming soon: The Real Battle of Lesser Horkheimer (or Vichyssoise as it is now called)