Kingdom of St. Maurice

2011-10-06T16:50:00.000-07:00

Rabble In Arms - Like many i have succumb to the temptation to purchase a couple of boxes of the new Wargames factory War of Spanish Succession infantry. If you'd like I'll try to explain the reasoning, but the truth is I simply couldn't help myself.
That said, I needed to rationslise a unit in my Seven Years War era ImagiNation Dressed as the army would have looked 50 years earlier. After a moment or two however, voila the St. Maurice North Eastern Militia. The need for militia being a foregone conclusion in St. Maurice, His Majesty was perfectly content to allow them to cavort in combat in their quaint civilian garb. The problem arose when it was brought to his attention that none of his general staff would be seen on the field of battle with "peasants and goose herders" per Marshal Neigh. If that be the case, then there was nothing left but to procure the appropriate panopoly, and the Loncheney Hussars were immediately sent off to steal them from the Spanish (who weren't using them anyway).

Organization is much the same as the line regiments except that the militia will fight and shoot at a minus on the die roll.
If you haven't had the opportunity to work with these lovely little figures, please make it a priority at some point to do so. I'm sure that if I weren't so firmly into Stadden and Surens, I'd be incluned to build my entire army around them.

2011-09-18T06:17:00.000-07:00

Urban Renewal - I took a little hiatus from painting figures to add another dwelling to the collection we currently have in Gary's basement. This is The Three Chimneys (or Les Trois Cheminee as they say in St. Maurice). It measures 12" long by 8" wide by 9" high and was made using those wonderful Hirst Arts block molds as well as card stock, foamcore, balsawood, and artboard for the base. All of the vegetation is Woodland Scenics products as well as yarn to represent the actual vines...

Here's the back

Here's the kitchen side

Here's the front

The purist will note no signage. I'm of the experience that, while attractive, those little signs are the first thing to break off, and given that the "little" house is heavy enough, a sign would just compromise movement of the place. Hope you like it.

2011-09-13T10:18:00.000-07:00

Just What Does a Bear Do in the Woods? His lordship Sir Marlin Perkins, Esq. has been put right off his morning tea and scones by a virtual parade of complaining peasants. Seems there is a bear living in the woods on the north-eastern edge of the estate, and he is making a royal nuisance of himself. The lordly head aches with the litany of complaints ranging from the ridiculous to the sublime. Charges of destroyed crops and livestock were to be expected, but these peasants could get a little carried away. Claims of blood on the moon, strange Ardobergers wandering aimlessly in the woods and the unexpected pregnancy of the beekeeper's wife (unexpected only to him) were enough to keep him on weak tea and dry toast for a month.

"Drat," remarks his lordship, "looks as if I'll have to see to this miserable critter myself." And with that he sets off with his faithful gun-bearer Lacky and his intrepid guide Geraldo for a couple of days in the woods. "We will do manly things," he told his wife. "We will smoke and drink and slaughter brainless woodland creatures without mercy." Ah, it's good to be lord of the manor.

Here we see sir Marlin, flanked to the left by his gun-bearer Lacky

and to the left by the daring adventurer Geraldo.

On their first day, the band of intrepid adventurers sauntered into the woods and spent the greater portion of the day observing the local flora and fauna. "Lovely," commented his lordship. "I should make time to peruse the estate like this more often. It is, after all, what manly men do."

Here we see the bear currently doing whatever it is bears do in the woods, and oblivious to our little band.

Suddenly, the peace and tranquility was shattered by an ear-splitting roar. Our heroes spun to their left and were immediately confronted by the giant carnivore bearing (sorry for the pun but that's what he was doin'.) on them. Nonplussed, sir Marlin called," Lacky; my firearm if you please." The terrified servant immediately cocked the musket and handed it to his master, who promptly missed.

His lordship and friends communing with nature.

In true comic relief fashion Lacky turned and high-tailed it for home, shouting something about his feet not failing him now. The bear blew past lord Perkins close enough to dust his waistcoat, and made a beeline for the rapidly retreating servant. "Lacky, return here this instant!" His lordship was furious as he realised that Lacky still carried the only loaded firearm.

The otherwise faithful attendant never had a chance.

A further description of what the bear did to poor Lacky will be avoided here to spare the weak-livered in the audience. Suffice it to say that, his appetite for the lower classes now slaked, our ursine combatant turns his attention toward his lordship and the intrepid Geraldo. The guide, armed with a stout boar spear, advanced toward the critter in a valiant attempt to protect his employer (and his purse). The bear charges the be-moustached adventurer, who plants his spear and prepares for the worst.

Here we see Lord Marlin, Geraldo and his newly acquired rug.

When the dust had settled enough for his lordship to see again, he observed Geraldo standing with one foot on the bear's head and striking a heroic pose with what was left of his boar spear. "Geraldo, you've save me man," declared the grateful elite. "For that I owe you more than I can ever repay. Feel free to go through Lacky's things for any valuables and stray cash and sell this miserable critter's pelt. I will require only a third of all of it to help me defray the cost of cleaning the smell out of my lovely new hunting coat.

Gary and I played this little scenario last Saturday using Mammalian Mayhem rules. They were a rousing good time, and come highly recommended for little one off hunting games like this one.

2011-08-06T11:07:00.000-07:00

And Finally... - When I first developed the concept of the army of St. Maurice, there of course was a need to make a determination regarding the balance of forces. I had remembered reading somewhere that the Grants, in the establishment of their WARGAME, created a pair of antagonists numbering some 1000 infantry, 250 cavalry and 10 or 12 artillery pieces with support troops as necessary. I set out to create my army using roughly the same percentages.

What you see here is the final cavalry regiment from the original mid-1970s plan. This is The Royal Musketeers (or The Princess Maria's Own Regiment of Horse). These are yet another amalgamation of manufacturers; the troopers being Front Rank miniatures while the horses remain the ubiquitous Stadden standing horse. I really love those big nags.

2011-08-02T07:44:00.000-07:00

A Battle at Coberg - To this point the hostilities existing between St. Maurice and Ardoberg-Holstein have been confined to the "western front," essentially between the villages of Auber and Latrine, and concentrated around the river crossing at Dettingen. Imagine the surprise then, when the Holsteiner garrison commander at Kurmanz donned his telescope just long enough to observe the advance of no less than 2 infantry regiments (4 line battalions) and 3 cavalry regiments advancing on his town from the bridge from Ravina.

The commander hastily beat a retreat (or as they say in Ardoberg-Holstein, a re-deployment)
back toward the village of Coberg, with the hope of drawing off the advancing francophones as well as to gain the assistance of reinforcements from further to the north. Alas, neither was to be as the St. Mauricians invested Kurmainz and, leaving behind 2nd St. Germain to garrison the town, rushed forward to assault the Grand Duck's (sic) forces.
Observing that a confrontation was not only inevitable but imminent, The Ardoberger commander, whose name has been lost in the interest of good taste, occupied the cluster of dwellings known as Grunt with the Isselbach and Zweibrucken regiments, and placed the regiment Kurmainz in line with flanks resting on the berg as well as a copse of trees.

For their part, the St. Maurician army under the command of colonel-general Bonnechance deploys directly from their route march with Bonnechance commanding the left wing and brigadier Baguette commanding the right.

Here we see the redeployment of the Ardoberger regiment Kurmainz , still in line, now faced to their left toward the trees. Isselbach has marched out of the village and formed line to fill in the gap between Kurmainz and the village. The St. Maurician cavalry regiment Rohan-Soubise and the Loncheney Hussars have moved well to the left of the A-H flank, forcing the re-deployment. In the mean time the St. Maurician battalions 1st. Clare and 1st St. Germain have been ordered to drive on the center. The Isembourg cavalry regiment (bottom left) remains well out of the action because...

...they maneuvered a little too close to the Zweibrucken regiment in the houses and suffered severely for it. They would take no more part in the action of the day.

Seeing the onslaught coming in front of them, the brave, if fool-hardy Isselbach colonel orders his men to fix bayonets and charge. Silly man. Bayonet is a French word; or in this case Irish as 1st Clare forcibly encouraged the novice Holsteiners from the field.

The Kurmainz regiment picks it's way through the trees and manages to drive off the St. Maurician cavalry under the very eyes of their commander. Brigadier Baguette and his staff have ensconced on the Blast-off bridge, seeing it as not only elevation to observe the troops but it's stonework should keep the self-important personage in one piece through the fighting. The 2nd Clare advances behind it's senior battalion to force the center.

It is clear here that the battle is ended as the Isembourg cavalry are beginning their valiant advance once again.

As the remainder of his hapless troops scrambles to escape, we see the A-H commander galloping from the field and signaling to his St. Maurician adversaries that age-old hand signal that "we're #1."

This game was a lot of fun (not the least of which because I won). It saw the evolution of a rule we had incorporated in the last battle whereby a commander wishing to withdraw from the field needed to wait at least 6 turns from the beginning of the game before declaring his intention to do so. Once declared, the retreating commander rolls a D-6 die with the results being the number of turns his opponent had left to do whatever damage could be done. The game would then go on normally until the D-6 number was reached, at which point the game ends. This rule was one of Gary's ideas and presents the kind of headaches a commander suffers in attempting to get as many of his troops out of contact and away alive as possible. And speaking of Gary...

... the smile is actually a wince...

...and a parting shot of the valiant Blast-off bridge defenders.

2011-07-14T15:20:00.000-07:00

The Dream Sequence - Whether the pressures of the monarchy or a bad batch of snails, His Majesty experienced the most astounding dream of his lordly life the other day. He dreamed he was overseeing a small village in eastern Europe. A band of futuristic wanderers had made their way into the community which was in the throes of conflict with a new and very evil neighbor, the vampire Vlad Ardo. Our intrepid adventurers managed to decipher enough of the local lingo to determine that since the arrival of the notorious neck-nibbler the town had lost no less than four of it's fairest beauties and every male in the neighborhood was scrambling to tie down his daughters (and wives) from the wiles of this lethal lothario.

This was no ordinary collection of odd-speaking sight-seers. this was in fact none other than those world famous American adventurers, the Nekked twins, Buck and Stark. Todether with their faithful body guard Ernie McBride, their paramour the prim Penelope Primm, and that junk science genius doctor Timothy F. Geithner, PhD. Together thay have been traveling the world in search of justice that needs doing, wrongs that need righting, and evil that needs..... em............... to be fixed.

The team of Buck Nekked and Ernie McBride

The team of Penelope Primm and Timothy FGeithner, PhD

Stark Nekked and his intrepid band of terrified locals

At the outset, Buck and Ernie set out to scout the eastern edge of the village and possibly get the jump on the monster. No sooner had they progressed a hundred years from their conveyance, the Nekkedmobile, than they spotted a terrifying toothy grin rolling out of the mist. "Well shuckie-gee," exclaimed Buck, who nonetheless raised his rifle and fired. The bullet struck the vamp square between the eyes, and immediately placed him (it?) in critical condition. Vlad managed to recover enough to continue even though a second shot on the next turn laid him low yet again. Fortunately for the creature, his newly acquired brides arrived just in time to draw off the gunfire. Vlad immediately took the low road around several buildings and out of the action altogether. The Vladettes stormed into the village and almost immediately overwhelmed Ernie who succumbed to his wounds in short order. Buck attempted to withdraw to their conveyance, currently occupied only by Timothy F. Geithner, PhD who had immediately jumped into the front seat and locked the doors when the gunfire started. Buck managed to get within several yards of the prim Penelope Primm when he was overwealmed by vampettes and died in a hail of teeth.

The prim Penelope Primm, after a brief chorus of "You'll Never Walk Alone," tore into one or two of the brides in one of the most legendary cat fights in wargames history. Timothy F. Geithner, PhD remained content to cheer her on, however the dastardly Vlad Ardo had managed to steal his way up to the vehicle and use his considerable psychic powers to force the junk scientist out of the jitney. Never underestimate the resiliance of a life-long coward however, and the pusillanimous PhD dove out the other side of the truck and high-tailed it for the bridge and the safety of Stark and the constabulary.

The end of Buck and Ernie, the cat fight and the vamp tries to hypnotize the doc.

The doctor never made it across the bridge. Badly wounding a vampire early in a wargame leaves the monster without a sense of humor, and terrible things happened to the scientist before his passing. At the same time, two of the brides leaped the river and made short work of the constabulary, while Stark succumb to a barrage of slashing claws and flying dentures. When the dust had settled, the only one left standing was the prim Penelope Primm (don't it figure!), who straitened her frock, climbed into the truck and drove away.

This was a great little game using the Chaos In Carpathia rules again. A highly recommended rules system that has been very user friendly but with plenty of opportunity for the addition of the bells and whistles that color up the game. I apologize for the whole dream sequence thing, but I simply couldn't rationalize another way to incorporate a 30's era pulp adventure into a 18th century blog site. Will do better next time, I promise.

2011-05-15T15:13:00.000-07:00

Battle of Dettingen Bridge - Following their narrow escape from a numerically superior Ardoberger force, our beleaguered troops withdrew to Dettingen bridge, some moles to the south. Their commander, his excellency the Duke of Palmatiere, reasoned that he might be able to deal with the Ardobergers on a more even footing if he could goad them into attacking him in prepared defences at the bridge. Unfortunately, Ardoberg-Holstein had other ideas...

The Ardobergers managed to harass our troops during the withdrawl, forcing the Duke to turn and form battle line on open ground just north of the bridge. As can be seen, the Ardobergers wasted no time in extending the right flank of their massive army, and the first turn of battle saw their right wing move to flank our troops.

At the same time, the Ardoberg elite heavy cavalry brigade began it's advance on the left, effectively pinning the St. Mauricians in place. Here, we seen Ardoberg's Grand Duck (sic) actually taking the field, although well to the rear and out of the fighting. One provides inspiration as one can I suppose. His counterpart, the Duke of Palmatiere, his next move ("do I stay behind these Scots horsemen or look for the quickest way out of here?") Nearest in the picture, Ardoberger horse and British foot have reached their positions and begin to move on the open left flank of the weakened St. Maurician line. In the distance, Ardoberger cavalry and their elite foot guards and grenadiers assault the hedgerow defences of the St. Maurician infantry and artillery. The Ardoberger Electoral Foot Guards have driven off the Arquebusieres de Bergerac in an effort to force passage through the hedgerow. The Ardobergers, with their British allies, advance gallantly on the undefended section of the hedgerow. The St. Mauricians simply have nothing left to throw at them. The final disposition of the armies at the end of the game. The pathetic Duke must now report to His Majesty that St. Maurice has lost yet another engagement with Ardoberg-Holstein, but has suffered the destruction of three of it's front line units; the Arquebusieres de Bergerac, the 1st. battalion Navarre regiment and "B" battery of the Royal Artillery Regiment. The only bright spot in this day of disasters was the performance of the Gendarmere de St. Maurice. Single-handedly, they destroyed an elite regiment of cuirassiers and drove off a second elite unit of royal dragoons.

All in all not a good showing on the part of the St. Mauricians. His Majesty needs to find a way to reverse this trend or we may all soon become just another germanic colony and forced to drink..., dare I say it,...beer (gad!!).

2011-03-26T13:06:00.000-07:00

Dragoons de Moliere - The latest addition to His Majesty's army is the Moliere Dragoons. Here seen standing review for the lord marshal Neigh, the dragoons will shortly take their place in the battle line where they will be brigaded with the Isembourg regiment. This regiment was raised by a relative new-comer to the royal court of St. Maurice, Armand Viscount de Moliere. There is no evidence to support the claim that his lordship and the famous French playwright who's stage name was Moliere were in any way related. It is possible however that that incredibly talented comedian may certainly have anticipated this later namesake in at least two of his works; "Le Malade Imaginaire" ("The Imaginary Invalid") and "Tartuffe ou Le'Imposteur" ("Tartuffe or The Hypocrite"). Regardless, one would hope the troopers would do their master proud, even if he may never return the favor.

As can be seen the cavalrymen are helmeted per a later period. As I've mentioned earlier in this blog, St. Maurice, in panoply and style, probably has more in common with Gilbert and Sullivan than any true military force of any time period. When looking for a suitable horseman, I spotted this one among the Staddens and ... he just looked too good to leave out. Such is the attraction to Imagi-nations. The unit also has the distinction of being the second to last cavalry regiment scheduled for addition to the Army of St. Maurice (and with a little good time management and some luck, the last may be done before Summer.).

2011-03-25T11:17:00.000-07:00

Here we see La Marne about to empty a number of Ardoberg cavalry mounts as the formerly grand and glorious Diefenbach regiment beats a hasty retreat. Well into the distance, we can observe Kilbasa Lancers trying to find their way back across the river. Swieta krowa!

Victory! His Majesty's forces delivered a spanking to a marginally superior army of the Grand Duck (sic) of Ardoberg-Holstein, near the town of Auber. Under the able leadership of petite general Bertrand Alouette, the small but fiesty command stood their ground against the invaider. Their green troop status notwithstanding, the first battalion La Marne laid low many an Ardoberger of the Diefenbach regiment, then wheeled in solid parade ground fashion and dealt similarly with the Holstein-Gotha Dragoons. When the smoke had cleared, the Ardobergers were nowhere to be seen and the men of La Marne were having a leisurely lunch of cheese and some fine german sausages "liberated" from the remains of former invaiders.
In a related story, The Kilbasa Lancers, who had moved to flank the Ardobergers, became lost once across the river. When questioned later it was learned that the command's chief guide had been reading the Michelin upside down. This little incident may help to explain just how a Polish cavalry unit ever made it to St. Maurice in the first place.

2011-03-18T09:39:00.000-07:00

Dateline Cezanne - His Majesty's forces suffered serious losses earlier this week while on maneuvers near the town of Dettingen. The second battalion of La Marne regiment was forced, through an inconvenient geographic anomaly (a hill with cavalry on it), to take to the water of a nearby creek. The unorthodox retreat was a flagrant violation of His Majesty's military hygene laws forbidding the bathing of troops in any body of water which could potentially be used for watering the horses. This outrageous breach of etiquette has resulted in the caning of three junior sergeants and an ensign and the censuring of the regimental colonel, l'Hopital, at His Majesty's morning tea.
This reporter has been unable to procure the name or any additional information on the cavalry whose proximity seems to have stimulated the rout, however I have been assured that all reports the horsemen were in fact troops from Ardoberg-Holstein was not only mistaken but absurd in the extreme. When I followed up with a question as to why His Majesty's troops might be holding maneuvers well beyond the Ardoberg border, it was suggested that I might want to try investigating reports of fraud and financial chicanery in the English army. My ship leaves from Calais in two days.
Here we see the initial disposition of His Majesty's forces "on maneuver." 2nd battalion La Marne is in the foreground with 1st Navarre parallel with them across the creek and the Arquebusiers de Bergerac just further along. FitzAndrew's Horse can also be seen moving up the road with 1st Languedoc to their left.

Military observers from Ardoberg-Holstein form up to watch their perennial adversary carry out the drill.

The Ardoberger cavalry brigade advances to get a closer look at the goings-on. Perfectly understandable given the diminutive stature of their mounts. Hard to see much on those dogs.

The advance of the "observers" seems to be the provocation for the subsequent La Marne aqua festival. Pushy chaps those Ardobergers.

Gettin' a better look. The Grand Duck's (sic) forces trundle themselves around to watch this stellar exibition of the matrial art.

The might of St. Maurice, now sans La Marne, in their final disposition of the maneuver. Please ignore the slight traffic jam at the intersection. Artillerymen can be rather contentious when on the road, scrambling to get out of town.

2011-01-23T13:45:00.000-08:00

Boys will be boys - In one of the funniest pranks anyone in this part of Europe has seen in quite a while, the Grand Duck (sic) of Ardoberg-Holstein has flummoxed our good and great king into believing the two nations were at war. The incessant braying and sabre-rattling was this time accompanied by sufficient troop movements along the border to produce consternation in the Winter court at Olivier. The 1st battalion Navarre and the Arquebusiers de Bergerac were immediately dispatched to investigate and discovered a paltry brigade of the rambunctious cabbage-eaters whooping it up with vast quantities of the local spirits, collecting filthy French postcards, playing five-card whist, and other forms of debauchery.
Our valiant men-at-arms escorted the boisterous, if otherwise comical, reprobates back to their own land, hoping to discover their mothers for a good and necessary scolding. "Ah, the joke was on me," exclaimed His Majesty. "for a moment, I really thought we were being invaided."

Here, in pictures from left to right and top to bottom, we see the hilarious mob of Ardobergers pretending to surround the town of Cezanne with His majesty's troops ensconced within. After several hours of artillery noise-making, the colonel of Navarre, Alain d' Anjou
rode out to complain about the noise at which point the tutonic commander, whose name escapes me, begged forgiveness and led his troops back to the border.
In a related story, Col. d'Anjou has formally requested that the raucous pranksters return his sword.

2011-01-16T18:34:00.000-08:00

A Retraction Demanded - His Majesty de St. Maurice has, in the past, been willing to accept the frequent diatribes of that primer of modern literary journalism, The Ardoberg Inquirer. One reading of this incipient rag, with it's articles often written in crayon and paint-by-numbers illustrations, is usually enough to relegate such writings to the bottom of the bird cage as it was designed. The current edition, however, is more than even a benevolent soul such as His Majesty can sustain.
To suggest that a simple cooperative military exercise between two such staunch and lasting friends as the St. Maurician monarchy and the Ducky of Ardoberg and Holstein might in fact be a successful invasion attempt is simply outrageous. An inquiry into the history of such invasions in the past will show just how absurd this declaration might be. No previous military incursion into our happy little kingdom has succeeded past the first outbreak of French cuisine on German digestive tracts, at which point the Ardobergers make tracks for the first tutonic privy.

In an unrelated story; the sale of filthy French postcards in the province of Cezanne over the past week. Store owners are unable to explain the increase in demand.

2011-01-07T06:31:00.000-08:00

Adieu Boys - His Majesty de St. Maurice and entourage review "les Anciens" as they march

off toward the Ardoberg frontier. This is the St. Maurice 1st Brigade and is composed of the regiments Navarre and Languedoc. To date, the brigade remains understrength, being composed of only the first battalion for each of the regiments. Recruitment is underway however, which simply means that drinking to excess anywhere in the kingdom may result in not only a hangover but a ten year enlistment.

His Majesty's expeditionary force for this campaign season include:

1st battalion Navarre

1st battalion Languedoc

1st battalion Clare

2nd battalion Clare

1st battalion St. Germain

2nd battalion St. Germain

light battalion Arquebusiers de Bergerac

"B" battery Royal Artillery Regiment

"A" battery Royal Horse Artillery

Rohan-Soubisse Cavalry

Fitz Andrew's Horse

Kilbasa Lancers

Next - The Campaign Begins

2010-12-31T07:54:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-12-16T13:28:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-12-12T16:56:00.000-08:00

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)

2010-07-11T17:22:00.000-07:00

A New Regiment and a Milestone turned - I have been delinquent from these pages for too much time. Long story short, the needs of the "real world" have superceded those of this imaginary one. While we are on this subject I would like to wish you all well. Our world is changing rapidly, and little for the better. I hope you are all safe and well. Enough!

His majesty announces the muster of the fourth regiment under the new two-battalion organization. This is the regiment La Marne and if the eagle-eyed viewer notices a slight difference in the coat color between the first and second battalion please understand that indigo is a damned difficult color to match in St. Maurice. In truth it is the result of painting the two battalions almost twenty years apart.
The only line regiment currently serving in the blue coat, the

regiment was originally to be a naval combat unit until someone

let it slip to His Majesty that St. Maurice was a land-locked country. Almost immediately the regimental name was changed

from La Marine to La Marne, and the troops were sent on their first 50 mile march.

The regiment serves with the Dauphin regiment, forming the St. Maurice Brigade III "Les Paysans," a title seldom used by the officers and men of the brigade themselves. The completion of

this regiment and brigade is a milestone in the development of the

St. Maurice might of arms as this is essentially the halfway mark for painting and mounting the

troops of the army. I currently have some 5 cavalry regiments (about 145 men all ranks) 4 infantry regiments (524 men all ranks) and 4 artillery batteries. Add to that 2 household battalions, abattalion of light infantry and a half-battalion of engineers, the total number of fighting men is approximately 800. The majority of these remain Suren and Stadden.

(coming soon - Maison du Roi........finally! )

2010-05-02T11:07:00.000-07:00

Boogie Woogie Bugle Boys - One of the really great things about being royalty in a petty monarchy is the opportunities for self-aggrandizement. His Majesty has always been concerned that his subjects, as well as anyone else who might care, should know of his coming well in advance of his arrival. With that in mind, he has seen fit to create a detachment of herald trumpets to announce his movements and location. Clearly this little unit will last only until one of His Majesty's "loyal subjects" takes a pot-shot at him while on parade.

I've had these Suren trumpeters around for a while and couldn't think of anything better to do with them. Observant as you are, you will have noticed no banner attachment to the bugles at this point. Sheer neglegance on my part that will be corrected in the not too distant future.

2010-04-18T13:07:00.000-07:00

The Battle of Latoilette; Some afterthoughts - Like most

of battles we've fought over the past few years, Latoilette was a variation of the ever popular DBA, long a favorate of ancients gamers. The beauty of this system is it's speed of resolution. Movement is strait forward, combat is well defined, and it allows to aging wargamers the opportunity to resolve a rather large game (about 1700 figures total) in something just over four hours. That said, I like to think of this mechanism as a work in progress, and we most certainly have a little cleaning up yet to do. Cavalry vs artillery combats should be fairly strait forward following some determination as to whether the guns are able to fire round shot at a distance or cannister at close range (or possibly not fire at all!). The combat in the village actually went quite well. We opted to treat all combats as infantry in line with appropriate positives for assault and negatives for potential artillery targets. There may still be more for the light infantry to do in this situation, but if so, it will take more thought and practice.
At my request, we opted for a variation in command and control in this game also. Normally, we dice at the outset to determine who will go first, with the winner making the determination. After this is done, the moving side rolls a die for each brigade, with the number of pips indicating the number of active units for that turn. Ardoberg-Holstein held to this rule. St. Maurice, however, opted to roll one die for each command; left, center and right. This created a situation where, while as strong as A-H, St. Maurice was hampered with serious control problems which limited the effectiveness of any potential attack (for similar results see the 1870-71 war between France and Prussia). The right wing, for example, with seven units in it's command, was never able to activate all of it's units in a single move. Given the history and character of St. Maurice, I kind of liked it. Well, I really didn't like it, but it did seem to accurately portray my glittering, but inept, general staff.

2010-04-11T08:30:00.000-07:00

The Battle of Latoilette - Nestled at the base of the foothills in northeastern St. Maurice is the peaceful little village of Latoilette. The place has no particular strategic value ...unless you happen to be considering an invasion of His Majesty's realm. That datardly villain, the Duck

(sic) of Ardoberg-Holstein has set his sights on the village as a staging area for his latest foray into blending St. Maurice into the "world community" of Ardoberg. Fortunately, His Majesty became aware of these underhanded dealings,

and immediately ordered the army, under Col. Gen. Bertrand Malaise, to "advance vigorously and chastise the usurper. " The two forces met on the 10th of April, arrayed on either side of the town and with the community as it's centerpiece.

Almost immediately, Malaise ordered his central command under the able direction of Brigadier Julien d' Escargot, to infiltrate the town. "No German boots will sully hearth and home here my lads," declared d' Escargot. With a great "huzzah" the men of 1st Navarre, 1st Languedoc, 1st la Marne and the Arquebusieres de Bergerac surged into the town, occupying all but a few structures at the north end of the village. As they pushed north, the occasional pop of small arms was replaced by the almost continual rumble of musketry and cannon, as the Ardobergers began their valiant, if futile attempt to make all things Ardoberg. Fighting in the village lasted most of the day, but when it was over, the flag of St. Maurice continued to flutter over what was left of the community.

Meanwhile, on the St. Maurice eastern flank, Brigadier Noel Derrier was advancing against the ever-present British support, led by Brigadier Lord Muggles. The St. Maurician right consisted of the heavy cavalry brigade of FitzAndrew's Horse and the Rohan-Soubisse regiment, the light cavalry of the Loncheney Hussars and the Kilbasa Lancers, as well as two artillery batteries and the Household Legion of Maison du Roi and the Converged Grenadiers. The English, supported (marginally) by the A-H light cavalry, made a day of it, smashing the Rohan horseman and forcing the brigadier to re-think a quick flanking victory in favor of slugging it out with his guards battalions. Fighting on the eastern flank was inconclusive but managed to keep four regiments of British regulars out of the assault on the town.

The battle on the western flank was another matter altogether. Brigadier Olivier Andouillette was ordered to "face and destroy" the cream of A-H arms. Both the Electoral Foot Guards as well as the Grand Duck's (sic) Guard Cuirassiers were positioned here and were in no mood to suffer the pompous shenanigans of yet another St. Maurician army. Our brigadier commanded "Les Etrangier," 1st and 2nd Clare and 1st and 2nd St. Germain, as well as a second heavy cavalry brigade composed of Les Gendarmere de St. Maurice and the Isembourg regiment, and reinforced by a battery

of artillery. True to their history, the Gendarmere managed to last only three battle turns before being driven off the field, only lasting that long because it took the A-H Cuirassiers a little more time to get to them than anyone had thought. In all, the "Iron Men" of the A-H Guard Cuirassiers charged six times throughout the course of the day, routing both cavalry regiments as well as the 2nd battalion Clare. Their attack ceased only with the setting of the sun, as they rode to cover the retreat of their army. His Majesty's forces were yet again victorious and the good General Malaise will finally have something more to talk about at court functions than his gout. Here to the right is insidious enemy and great friend Gary Comardo, the Grand Duck (sic) of Ardoberg-Holstein. Look for his blog coming soon to a computer near you (finally!!). For those interested, the miniatures types used were Staddens for the most part for St. Maurice, supported by Surens, Old Glory and Blue Moon Miniatures. For A-H, the majority are Spencer Smiths, supported by miniatures from Wally Simon, and Hinchliffe. Between the two armies, there were about 1700 figures displayed on the table which measured 6'x20'.

Next: The Battle of Latoilette - A discussion of the rules, and thoughts about command and control.

2010-03-28T10:15:00.000-07:00

For The Ladies - March the 11th is not only His Majesty's birthday but, coincidently, Lady's Day in St. Maurice. Both are celebrated by a lovely little picnic in the park followed

by a band concert where the ladies can be regally entertained,

and "His Regalness" can shop for his new Spring mistress. Here on the left we see His Nibs nestled between three other jackasses (er... according to the pundits from Ardoberg-Holstein), with the ever-present Cardinal Richnlewd in close attendance. If it appears that the ladies seem to be keeping their distance, it may well be due to the close proximity of Custance de Boutonniere, the current paramour and the only woman visably armed. She can be seen dressed in th uniform of hussars, just behind His Majesty.
Music today is capably performed by the band of the household brigade. A talented group one and all. His Majesty, the Cardinal, the band, Lady Boutonniere, and several of the other attendants are Suren figures, while the remainder of the ladies are Blue Moon Manufacturing.

2010-03-21T17:45:00.000-07:00

A Repeat Performance - I've presented the Dauphin regiment on these pages before, so will not go into great detail as to history and origin. These photos are of the new two battalion orgainzation to conform with His Majesty's restructuring of the line infantry last Summer. As can be seen, the regiment is formed in battalion column with the colonel ahead of the first battalion colors and the sub-colonel (a Major, I suppose, in most armies), to the right of the color party of the second battalion. ...............and for Jean-Louis - The vivandiere is in attendance to the rear of the second battalion. The figures here are Staddens with the exception of both colonels, the ensigns and the vivandiere which are Surens.
Next: A Concert For The Ladies...

2010-03-14T07:02:00.000-07:00

More Than A New Suit Of Clothes - These two pictures are of the same regiment. The one on the left was taken about five years ago and represented the Royal Gendarmere, possibly the only heavy lancer regiment in existance in Europe at the time. It had served as you see them here for approximately 31 years, but were disbanded two years ago due to service violations as well as (and possibly more importantly) their sponsor, the Duke de le Bret had fallen out of favor with His Majesty.
Recent altercations with the age-old nemesis Ardoberg-Holstein have made it clear to Louis Philippe that holding a grudge may be no substitute for men in the field when the realm (or the royal person) is threatened. His Majesty has graceously agreed to the reformation of the regiment although under another name (as there currently exists another gendarmere regiment). The photo on the left, therefore, represents the newly recruited line cavalry regiment Les Chevalieres d'Isembourg. Their punishment remains obvious as they have now gone from royal regiment to simple line cavalry ("Oh what will father say!"), and their uniform has been reduced to a poor quality infantryman's coat ("How can I show my face..."). They do, however, and to the chagrin of many at the royal court, continue to carry their original colors.....................at least until thir next discipline.
Truth is I never quite liked the regiment in it's original form, but really liked the look of the Suren cavalry trooper on the Stadden horse. So I pried off the lance, loaded up the paint brushes and voila as we say here in the more civilized regions of Europe.

Next: The Boys In The Band...

2010-03-07T07:25:00.000-08:00

"What do the simple folk do..." - Well it's almost Spring in St. Maurice. Time for........shooting some scallliwag in the face (or any other body part) over a matter of honor. In this case the Count d' Aramis seeks satisfaction from the youngest son of the Planchet family (banking folk don't-ya'-know) over a rude remark regarding the knotting of his cravat. Most may already recognize most of these figures as the work of Blue Moon Manufacturing with a sprinkling of Stadden and Suren thrown in. I'm a big fan of Blue Moon to fill out small vignettes within the St. Maurice realm. The figures (as may be seen in photo number 2) are not as tall and certainly more "chunky" than the Staddens or Surens, but as representatives of the civilians of the realm, their character more than makes up for the difference.

The figures here are (from left to right) Stadden, Blue Moon, and Suren.

Coming Next: An old cavalry regiment in new clothes...

2010-03-01T11:23:00.000-08:00

Good lord it has been forever since I've posted anything here. Well, better late... I've done very little painting over the past several months, but one project for St. Maurice is the development of His Majesty's Regiment of Engineers or The 1st Penal Regiment. Under the command of Colonel-Captain Robespierre Mayonnaise, the battalion actually does have some moderately well educated engineers in attendance. It is, however, largely composed of current attendees of the St. Maurice Department of Corrections. His Majesty has long been a big fan of community service, believing that nothing is more likely to bring a man who has fallen out of favor whith his community back into the arms of the angels (excelt maybe a large sergeant with a club).

...and yes, that is a STOP sign for directing traffic being held by the

private in the center. And yes, as noted by His Grace the Duck (sic) of Ardoberg-Holstein, it should be written in French but it's not. There will eventually be three companies of impressment...

er, volunteers plus a wagon or two to complete the battalion. That's enough for now. Hopefully more soon. - Mike

2009-08-02T10:05:00.000-07:00

Battle of Berwyn Hill - In a feeble attempt to make of for my negligence in posting, I return to this blog with pictures and a battle report. It being late summer and there being little to do around the kingdom, His Majesty decided it was time to pay another martial visit on His Grace the Duke of Ardoberg-Holstein. First picture is the opening disposition of the armies about to come to grips:

His Majesty's forces included:

Left Wing - 1st battalion Converged Grenadiers, 1st and 2nd battalions the Irish regiment Clare, a battery of horse artillery, and the light cavalry brigade composed of the Loncheney Hussars and the Kilbasa Lancers.

Center - 1st and 2nd battalion the Grman regiment St. Germain, 1st battalion Navarre, 1st battalion Languedoc, and a battery of line artillery.

Right Wing - 1st battalion Maison du Roi, a battalion of light infantry (Arquebusiers de Bergerac), a battery of the guard artillery, and the heavy cavalry brigade composed of Le Chevaliere de Rohan-Soubise, and FitzAndrew's Horse "The Grey Cuirassiers."

The battle began in the inimitable style of the two adversaries; head-long cavalry charges that virtually destroyed the horsemen for both sides:

Here, the light brigade attempts to dislodge a perfectly healthy line infantry unit with predictable results. The light horsemen never saw turn four.

Combat in the center, however, turned out to be not only bloody, but incredibly valiant. the two battalions of the Clare regiment pressed their attack all day long against the left center of the A-H lines, continually driven off by artillery bombardments. They quit the field after almost six hours of constant fighting. To their right, St. Germain stood steadfast in the face of three battalions of British troops (in the service of A-H. Don't ask me to explain it, because I can't), and were only driven off with the eventual arrival of support artillery and a enemy cavalry threat to their rear.

Long story short, after almost eight hours of actual gaming, the "good guys" were forced to quit the field after the Ardoberger troops had forced a breach in the line to left-center and turned the right flank. Don't worry thought. It's not like this is done!

2009-04-05T17:21:00.000-07:00

Urban Development - I've taken a slight hiatus over the past couple of months to work on some structures for our battlefields. All of these are constructed at least partially using the fine block molds developed by Bruce Hirst, and can be ordered at http://www.hirstarts.com/. No more comments. I just hope you like them.

2009-02-22T11:46:00.000-08:00

His Majesty Louis-Philippe confers with one of his top military advisers (his hairdresser) regarding the escalating disagreement with Frankzonia. When presented with word that their prince believed the zombie excuse was ridiculous and a simple abrogation of the St. Maurice responsibilities in the region, His Majesty said, "But of course! What is it this petty prince would have me do? Brave the cold and march all that way? For what? I could get hurt. Worse yet, I could get cold! These zombies appear to be attracted to the heat, and there is more heat in Frankzonia certainly than in St. Maurice. ........oh, and as for the zombies? Ask the prince to send them back home when they are well."

2009-01-31T16:23:00.000-08:00

Bigger Really is Better - Here are a couple of photos of the newly formed St. Maurice Brigade II "Les Etrangier," complete with it's artillery battery and it's Brigadier (Gen. Muscatelle). I may have confused some frequenters of this site earlier when I first displayed the Clare Regiment in it's new two-brigade form. The two brigades will operate separately in all campign games, and are certainly not tactically tied on the battle field. When all is complete, there will be 4 such brigades, as well as the Household Legion. The collection, once complete, will number some 1000 infantry, 250 cavalry, and 12 guns, along with support personnel. So far, we're off to a flying start.

2009-01-29T03:08:00.000-08:00

"Ye Gods and Little Fishes!!" His Majesty lept to his feet, instantly dropping the lady Irmintraut ignobly to the floor. He has just received the formal complaint, delivered by Col Brattman, with his usual aplomb. "Do these cabbage-eaters seriously believe that a few itinerate zombies loitering about and having a little fun seriously constitutes a raid? We of St. Maurice have more serious concerns than to pick fights with lessers." He immediately handed over the colonel for a complementary proctology examination, and has dispatched General Blase, le Comte du Monte Python, along with a detatchment of the Kilbasa Lancers, to Frankszonia, to make clear His Majesty's displeasure over this while affair, and to indicate in no uncertain terms that the disruption of St. maurician commerce will not be tolerated. After all, the sale of 18th century action figures and other useless baubles is critical to the income of the realm. More as it develops.

2009-01-25T15:39:00.000-08:00

Technology comes to St. Maurice - His Majesty has decided, in the face of a general feeling of negativity throughout the country as well as threats of excommunication by the local church, to charge confidently into the 14th (!) century, and has ordered to construction of a wind powered grainateria to be located on the outskirts of the small city of Consomme. Got the bug to do this a couple of weeks ago when I saw the kit available on the Hirst Arts web site. I just didn't want a mill made with that much stone, so came up with this. Now I'm looking forward to seeing it in a game.

No small thing this. The base is 13" at it's
widest, and it stands 16.5" from the bottom
of the base to the tip of the sail frame.

2009-01-20T11:33:00.000-08:00

A Little Mayhem - Never one to let a sleeping dog lie, That dastardly prince Aardvark of Ardoberg-Holstein attempted to yet again force himself upon the happy and contented peoples of the happy and contented kingdom of St. Maurice. His Majesty de St. Maurice, Louis-Phillippe (the happy and contented), immediately mobilized his adoring troops to defend the honor of our womenfolk as well as the happiness and contentment of the realm. While a close run little affair, truth, justice and the St. Maurician way prevailed and the saurcraut-chompers were driven back to their lair, there to lick their wounds and think again on the dangers of crossing swords with the chivalry of St. Maurice. ...............................Bottom line is, I got lucky........again!

2009-01-17T07:28:00.000-08:00

Zombies - Episode 2; Just a Walk In The Park - When last we saw our intrepid adventurers, they had managed to extricate themselves from the Winery/Tavern with evidence of potential poisoning which seemed to result in the entire population of the village of Chagrin being changed into zombies. After leaving the tavern, Sgt. McLaughlin forms his men up. "We've but to make it back to the castle and our problems are solved. The colonel has moved the entire regiment to bivouac there, and awaits only our evidence to march the darlin's through this hovel like crap through a goose!" Sergeants sometimes talk that way.
The men set out for the only bridge crossing the tiny but truculent Pissoir river, and almost immediately come under attack from itinerant undead, searching for food, shelter, and a little loose change. All were dispatched posthaste although the good sergeant did manage to be bitten a couple of times before blowing his opponent's head off. As the party reached the roadways convergence with the main highway, calls for help could be heard to the east. Virgil, the blacksmith, was still hale and healthy, and fighting for his life in his smithy. Escape was to the west, but self-preservation not withstanding, the valiant Irishmen charged the zombie onslaught, killing all and rescuing the giant St. Mauricier. The good sergeant was nibbled on yet again, and this time the results were less than stellar. "I'm for it lads. Don't wait for me," he called after his troops, who were rapidly putting as much distance between themselves and him as possible. When the reports were taken, each to a man expressed concern than the NCO would himself turn into a zombie, and thus pose a threat to them and their mission. Truth be told, each owed the sergeant money and had no problem taking advantage of his little inconvenience to make life a bit easier.
The troop was attacked again in front of the church, and this is the location where Sgt. Mclaughlin met his end. Further fighting at the bridge, and yet twice more in the forest beyond, proved inconsequential, and the party arrived safely and intacked at the castle. Unfortunately, a rather extensive search established that absolutely no one was currently occupying the fortress. Acting Corporal O'Tool found a note attached to the door of the keep, which appeared to be written in their colonel's hand. It read, "Gone for Guinness. Back soon. Keep an eye on the place. Sincerely, Seamus.
"Well, what do we do now?" The newly appointed (self-appointed) corporal was perplexed.
"Not for nothin'," chimed in McGillicutty, "but I know of a barrel of the local squeezin's tucked away in the lower regions of this place. It isn't Irish, but it'll do!" They all agreed, and set off for the basement.
Stay tuned for Episide 3: O, You Take The High Road, And I'll Take...

2009-01-11T05:40:00.000-08:00

...With a Little Help From My Friends - St. Maurice has finally seen fit to move into the modern age of gun powder by adding decent field transportation to it's artillery arm. Up until now, prolonging a gun in His Majesty's kingdom was just that; prolonged. Line batteries will be mobilized using the animals of the local agricultural representatives, while the horse artillery will actually outfit it's own equipment handlers. Both types are shown here. The horses, limbers and attendants are all Stadden miniatures, and in fact, the riders are the same figure I used for my hussar regiment.

2008-12-25T05:13:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!! - His Majesty, Henri-Phillippe VII, of St. Maurice cordially wishes His tow or three friends, as well as his vast array of enemies a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Blessings to you all.

2008-12-06T18:01:00.000-08:00

The Life Guard - In his marvelous book, "Charge! Or How To Play War Games," Brigadier Peter Young states that the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, "may have a life-guard of not more than ten troopers." In the kingdom of St. Maurice, this service is performed admirably by a squadron of mamelukes.
These excellent light horsemen impressed His Majesty while exiled... er, on vacation in Egypt, and he brought a detachment with him when he returned home. This nonsense that Napoleon 1st was responsible for introducing these exotic soldiers to the world seems to be yet another example of yet another credit placed upon that miserable Corsican for someone else's idea. The squadron (also referred to as The Khomene Light Horse) is always in attendance when His Majesty takes the field, and occasionally with some senior commanders. Marshall Neigh in particular seems to make good use of the bodyguard. It may be simple coincidence that he is also the general least popular with the troops.

2008-11-21T14:30:00.000-08:00

Hovels and Ruins and Shelters, oh my - My friend Gary suggested that I post some photos of the structures we've created over the past couple of years for our wargames table. I constructed the majority of the buildings using block molds created by Hirst Arts Fantasy Archetecture. No links, but the web address is:
http://www.hirstarts.com/
I highly recommend them to any wargamer wanting to punch up the look of the table top. In addition to the blocks, the buildings are almost exclusively with a craft item called Skinny Sticks and the adhesive of choice is Aleene's Tacky Glue. Both products can be purchased in Walmart, or any craft store. Ok, here are pictures of some of the stuff we use:

2008-11-04T16:00:00.000-08:00

Now THAT'S a Regiment! - In accordance with His Majesty's Summer decree, all line regiments in the army of St. Maurice will reorganize in the continental style. Each will be composed of two battalions plus one understrength company of grenadiers, permanently detached to the Battalion of Converged Grenadiers and part of the Household Legion.
As might be expected, Clare was first to expand it's numbers (it's simply never difficult to recruit Irishmen into a fight). The gentleman to the far right in the picture (at the end of the second battalion), is the sub-Colonel commanding the second battalion. A close look will also show that the second battalion marches with the royal standard and the Colonel's color for the Clare Regiment, while the first marches with the royal and the regimental colors. When I began to develop the army of St. Maurice, I wanted about 1000 infantry. As my little state is truly little, it never made much sense to create a lot of regiments, so I've opted for what you see here. There will be eight regiments, each of two battalions. Don't know how it will fight, but it sure does look good to me!

Next report: Another Battle

2008-10-26T14:39:00.000-07:00

The St. Maurice Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Flintlocks has received word of and illegal spirits processing operation, developed in the small town of Chagrin, on the border with Ardoberg-Holstein. Never one to allow free enterprise to go unpunished, His Grace Edmond, Duke of Duque, has dispatched a patrol from the Clare Regiment (His Majesty's "Royal Shenanigans") to obtain a sampling of the volatile liquid and bring in a member of the current development crew to "answer a few questions." When they arrive, the patrol discovers that the substance created has turned out to be something less than a world class vermouth. The whole town has been turned into zombies, and the Irishmen realize they must return with enough evidence of the disaster here to convince His Majesty to dispatch the remainder of Clare to kill, burn, and otherwise destroy all of Chagrin and the immediate surroundings (in the interests of the survival of human-kind don't-ya'-know).
The first picture is of our intrepid band of St. Maurice's finest, led by that legendary Irish sergeant Victor McLaughlin, and includes privates O'Dool, O;Tool and McGillicuty. In the game, each trooper had 5 activity points per turn, while the zombies had 4. The objective was to search the tavern ("La Vin Noir") and find 4 items (by card draw) that could be used as evidence.
Move 1 - O'Dool shoots a zombie, killing him (again), as McLaughlin advances toward the bar (goes without saying). O'Tool and McGillicuty move to the door of the processing room.
Move 2 - O'Dool's shot was not enough as his zombie opponent rises almost immediately and attacks McLaughlin. The sergeant shoots him in the face, and this time he stays dead. O'Tool and McGillicuty enter the processing room where the latter shoots another zombie. O'Tool searches the work tables and, over the next two turns, comes up with a recipe for the swill and a fluid sample.
Move 5 - Our intrepid pair in the bar have been slugging it out with the dead from the beginning, and it's beginning to tell. O'Dool is down to 2 activity points while McLaughlin remains unscathed. In the mean time, O'Tool and McGillicuty have moved on to the kitchen, where they kill anothe zombie and manage to turn up the secret ingredient for the whole concoction.
Move 8 - O'Dool is in really rough shape and developing a craving for barBQ'd brains. McLaughlin remains uninjured, but severely disappointed that the bar seems to offer nothing but wine ("It's a sin I tell ya"! A mortal sin!"). The adventuresome pair from the kitchen have made their way back into the bar just in time to take on several more zombies that have broken in through the back and side doors.
Move 9 - O'Tool (with a final card draw) manages to locate the creator of the concoction, Henri Pissoir, hiding in a barrel. "Why did you not arrive sooner," cried the indignant Pissoir. "Can't you see that I've ruined my clothes?!"
Move 10 - Our final picture shows the Irishmen extricating themselves from the bar (Begorrah, who'd have thought we'd be fightin' our way OUT of a bar?")

This was a great little game which took Gary and I about an hour and a half to play. Fast moving a a roaring lot of fun. We're planning a follow-up with the troopers in the street trying to exit the town. Great fun. I would be remiss if I didn't give credit for the rules. They were originally developed by Bruce Hurst of Hurst Arts Fantasy Architecture. I no longer have the web address, or I'd put a link here.
Sorry, but the pictures are not coming through, Will try to add them later.

2008-10-23T16:30:00.000-07:00

La Marne - This is the infantry La Marne. When originally conceived, it was titled "La Marine" (hence the blue coats as opposed to the Quaker gray worn by all other line infantry), but became the oxymoronic given St. Maurice's land-locked status, and the fact that there isn't a navigable waterway in the whole country. La Marne brigades with Dauphin As the St. Maurice brigade III, and has been in existence for about fifteen years. In accordance with the royal decree of 1758 (right now), the regiment will add a second battalion, in the continental style, hopefully before next Summer.

Coming Next - Bad Wine - An 18th century zombie game just in time for Holloween.

2008-09-30T15:24:00.000-07:00

Dauphin Regiment - This regiment is dedicated to my son. The first of these troopers was painted the week he was born, and they are currently celebrating their 26th (or is it 27th) anniversary. I've begun to measure the age of my units, as well as it's combat experience, by the number of snapped bayonets in the rank and file. Dauphin has almost a full company without the wee sharp pointy things. Dauphin is brigaded with the Regiment la Marne (coming soon), and represent Brigade III "Les Paysans" ("The Peasants") as they do not come from the social elite of St. Maurice. Given that "social elite" and "St. Maurice" may in fact be an oxymoron when used in the same sentence, one can only imagine the origins of the rank and file parading here.
The figures are predominantly Stadden with a Suren Colonel and, Vivandiere and junior officers in the color party.

2008-09-21T09:17:00.000-07:00

We're Baaaaaaaaaaak - Well, after a much needed vacation, the entire army of St. Maurice has returned to quarters (minus the Fromage Regiment, and the less said about that little incident the better). His Majesty's forces have already locked horns with their traditional adversary, Ardoberg-Holstein. Glorious results but no camera to record for posterity, so you'll simply have to take my word for it............................. (come on guys, please!).
Ok, so no battle pictures yet, then back to the forces in detail.

Kilbasa Light Horse - Like all the light horsemen serving with the forces de St. Maurice, the lancers are not native to the country. They are in fact Polish, and led by Count Stanislau Kilbasa, an itenerate Ukranian adventurer and nerdowell. Rumor has it that the count (title has never been confirmed) secured a hefty sum to provide cavalry to His Majesty's forces. He then disappeared back to Poland (much to the shagrin of Polish authorities) and scoured every jail and mental institution until he secured what he considered to be "the best of the best" for his regiment. Voting is still out on this as, to date, they have yet to find their way back to St. Maurice.
The figures are old 30mm Mini Figs from a limited range they produced back in the 70's, and the horses, of course, are Stadden. I know the uniform style of the lancers is more in line with a Napoleonic army than anything approaching the 1750's. In fact, my dragoons (yet to be developed) may also be a closer facimility of the later period. I simply don't know yet. St. Maurice is after all an imagi-nation, that at this point may have more in common with Gilbert & Sullivan than Frederick the Great. Vive la Self-Indilgence!

2008-07-09T03:39:00.000-07:00

Serving Notice - His Majesty de St. Maurice wishes to inform all who may visit here that he, indeed the entire St. Maurician army, will be on holiday from now until the end of the Summer. All those inclined to invade our little berg are encouraged to restrain themselves until sometime after the first weekend in September. Making war on a country on vacation just isn't done don't-ya'-know.

2008-06-09T16:33:00.000-07:00

Enter the ladies - This week's entry is the Regiment St. Germain. The regiment's recruitment comes mainly from the German speaking populace of of St. Maurice near the border with Alsace-Lorraine as well as foreign expatriates from the north. One of the older line regiments, approximately 29 years of active service as of this Summer, St. Germain is paired with Claire to form the army's second brigade "Les Etranger."
As an added bonus this week, may I introduce the first of the Vivandiere, this is Hildegarde von Rottenfartz ("Tilly" to the men). I don't know; there's something about a woman in a red dress........ (sigh!).

2008-06-02T15:31:00.000-07:00

Les Chevaliere de Rohan-Soubise - Yet another cavalry regiment, Rohan-Soubise represents the newest of the heavy cavalry regiments. Formed this last Winter, it, along with FitzAndrew's Horse, form the first heavy cavalry brigade. Rohan-Soubise, along with Les Chevaliere d'Isembourg, are true line cavalry regiments, and not to be confused with dragoons (His Majesty is waiting patiently for a really nice miniature in the fatigue bonnet that will sit well on a Stadden horse). More later on Rohan-Soubise as they cover themselves with glory......, and bandages no doubt. Oh by the way, the bugler is a conversion of the Stadden cavalry trooper, and not available commercially. Coming soon; the Vivandiere!

2008-05-26T02:36:00.000-07:00

Artillerie de la Garde - This is the oldest battery in the artillery arm of the St. Maurician field forces, mustered into uniform approximately 32 years ago. Originally an independent battery, they are currently part of the Legion of Guards. This is an all-arms formation composed of the Gendarmere, Maison du Roi (Le Garde du St. Maurice), one battalion of converged grenadiers, and these artillerymen. While they were originally quite active, their service these days is nominal, with most of their duties being taken up by the line artillery. Their huge 24# guns have always been a major headache on campign, and thus they are not popular among the more aggressive of the nation's general officers (that is, assuming we ever manage to find an aggressive general officer.).

Ye Gods and Little Fishes...

2008-05-13T09:59:00.000-07:00

It's been almost a month-and-a-half since my last update. Where does the time go. In my scramble to catch up, I'm going to try to add another update sometime in the next two weeks. I know; good intentions (sigh!). Well, let's go...

FitzAndrew's Horse - This is my newest cavalry regiment, FitzAndrew's Horse, or as they are referred to by the rest of the army, "Les Cuirassiers Gris," or "The Grey Cuirassiers." They have no combat history to speak of, although a squadron of the cuirassiers did supplement the Gendarmere at the Battle of Hilton Heights this past Winter. Commanded by that notorious Scottish expatriate Charles, Edward, Thomas, Robert, William, Malcolm Stewart, to date no one in St. Maurice has any idea just what the Scotsmen are saying, assuming they are actually attempting to communicate at all. More on the highland horsemen as their adventure unfolds.

2008-03-27T17:23:00.001-07:00

Loncheney Hussars - Recruited from some of the more questionable regions of the vast Austrian empire, the Loncheney Hussars are the first light cavalry regiment of l'Armie de St. Maurice. Here, we see the boys parading in royal review, with their colonel Tepps taking the salute of His Majesty. Holding with the tradition of the cavalry, the hussars have yet to win so much as a fist fight. They do look good however, and in St. Maurice that certainly must count for something.

2008-03-06T13:25:00.000-08:00

A New Reorganization - St. Maurice is in the process of reorganizing it's troops. Here, the regiment Maison Du Roi is formed in battalion line with each of it's three companies represented by a single stand of 16 privates, and officer or NCO, and a drummer. The color party is mounted separately, with the King's color on the left (as you look at it), the regimental color on the right, and flanked by NCOs. The colonel's stand and quartermaster's stand are also separate and round out the battalion/ regiment. This new organization makes the movement of large numbers of figures much easier, but keeps the flavor of the OSW that we have come to know and love. Maison du Roi is the only guards regiment in the army of St. Maurice. Formed in the year 1726 (MY 1976), they have become the centerpiece of the Household Legion, which is also composed of the converged grenadiers, Les Gendarmere de St. Maurice, and the Guards Artillery. It probably says a great deal about the military philosophy of St. Maurice that the regiment has never distinguished itself in the passage of arms. This may also explain the otherwise enigmatic logo found on the national color; Quando Omni Funcus Moritati ("When all else fails play dead").

2008-02-24T17:06:00.000-08:00

The Battle of the Hilton Heights - St. Maurice and Ardoberg-Holstein crossed swords yet again today in the Battle of Hilton Heights. This was a full scale battle, pitting approximately 1000 infantry and 300 cavalry in combat for a thoroughly enjoyable Sunday afternoon. Gary (the Ardo in Ardoberg), and I are working out the bugs in a very strait forward set of rules based on the DBA mechanism. It will allow us to fight truly large battles over a very short time, with the focus being on those headaches a commanding general would have to deal with. Movement trays are 2"x6" for all troop types which allows both movement and storage convenience. Here's a little picture essay of the engagement:
Here's the initial disposition of the A-H forces, with heavy cavalry to the right (foreground), light cavalry to the left and his household troops in the center.

Here's a rather poor shot of the early deployment of the St. Maurician forces.

At the beginning of turn 4; some serious maneuvering going on on the St. Maurice left. The center has closed to artillery range, and the guns are in operation. On the right, the Arquibusiers are moving up the Hiltonwald, and the Gendarmere are moving in on the hussars. It's almost crunch time.

By turn 7 we see some serious combat underway on both flanks, and with the center involved in both artillery and small arms exchanges. The battle is well and truly involved.

By move 10, things were still up in the air, but seemed to be moving slowly and steadily in favor of the A-H forces. At this point Marshall Neigh formally requested to disengage. This was granted and the fighting ended after approximately five and a half hours of solid fighting. All in all, a very enjoyable little contest.

2008-02-23T11:09:00.002-08:00

Arquebusiers de Bergerac - The only light infantry in the army de St. Maurice was added to the lists last Summer as Les Arquebusiers de Bergerac. We would like to suggest that the similarity between these gentlemen and their counterparts, the Grassins, is purely coincidental. This is, however, not the case as it is common knowledge that large stores of uniforms and equipment were "liberated" from French military stores at approximately the same time as the unit was organized. There is, in fact no noble family named Bergerac in St. Maurician service, and it is thought the name was derived from the hero of Rostand's famous play. No mean feat as the play will not be published until 1897. While this theory may seem absurd, the battalion's motto ("We have a nose for trouble") may actually lend some credence to the idea.

2008-02-17T03:29:00.002-08:00

Artillerie de St. Maurice - As with any functioning army of the current century, St. Maurice sports it's heavy weapons detachments, albeit a bit thin by most modern standards. Pictured here is, currently, the only active line battery in the army. It is currently supplemented by the single battery of the Household Brigade, as well as the battery of the horse artillery. Current table of organization has four of these batteries in the final structure of the army, one per line brigade of infantry.

2008-02-09T17:34:00.001-08:00

Dauphin - The regiment Dauphin is one of the more recent additions to the St. Maurician army, and the senior regiment of the fourth brigade, also known as "Les Enfants Terribles." Battle honors include a credible defense of of the earthworks at Mabb's Knoll as well as a solid showing in the Battle of King's Park. Dauphin is a royal regiment, and her current colonel is some shirt-tail relative of His Majesty.

2008-01-28T17:33:00.000-08:00

Claire
The Irish regiment Claire has the dubious honor of being the first regiment in the service of the throne of St. Maurice. Dubious because the men or Erin never let the locals forget that their country owes it's independence to the rambunctious Wild Geese. Formed in 1724 (MY 1974), these sons of the old sod have taken part in all but one of His Majesty's altercations, and remain the most feared troops in the battle line. Irish to a man, the regiment has done more to expand an appreciation for Guinness on the continent, than any other single entity.

2008-01-07T14:55:00.001-08:00

Navarre - Currently composing one half of the Brigade I "Les Anciens," Navarre represents one of the oldest infantry regiments in the army. It's colorful history can be traced to approximately the end of April 1727 (MY 1977), and has the honor to be the only regiment to participate in some capacity, in every battle fought by the army of St. Maurice, including the first ever engagement fought by members of the Seven Year's War Association. The fact that the regiment is composed almost exclusively of convicted criminals, and suffers some of the greatest losses under fire, has suggested that His Majesty may have found a rather creative method of "thinning the herd" so to speak. To date, His Majesty has not found the time to deny such allegations, although he fully intends to (...just as soon as he can think of something).

Gendarmere de St. Maurice

2007-12-22T15:55:00.001-08:00

This unit has the distinction of being the oldest regiment of horse in the army, taking the field for the first time in 1726 (mundane year 1976). At that time, they sported red coats and were known as Maria Catherina's Horse Guards. It was thought that the red coats may have attracted a little too much attention from opposition artillery. It was almost two years after first taking the field that the regiment was finally able to survive bombardment long enough to actually close with the enemy. They managed to lose that engagement also.
The high command, in a noble if misguided attempt to change the fortunes of the horsemen, re-named the unit and changed the coat color to yellow. To this day, their morale continues to live up to their coat color. For all of it's lackluster history, the Gendarmere are the oldest mounted unit in St. Maurice, and currently remain the only cavalry component among the brigade of guards. Their organization has become the standard for all cavalry regiments, and consists of:
1. Colonel - currently Guy-Henri Count Muskatelle
2. 1 Trumpeter
3. 1 Regimental Standard/Guidon (in St. Maurice these two devices amount to the same thing).
4. 2 Additional officers.
5. 24 Troopers.

2007-12-21T16:56:00.000-08:00

Well, I've finally decided to toss my chapeau into the blog arena, and create a home for the citizenry of St. Maurice. Intentions being what they are, I thought I'd start off by saying that my plan is to post a couple of time a month unless something earth-shaking (or at the very least, Imagi-Nation-shaking) occurs. The early posts will be a description of the organization and composition of the Army of St. Maurice, and I'll attempt to post appropriate pictures as often as possible. And now, on with the Show!

2007-12-16T16:29:00.001-08:00

A Little History - The kingdom of St. Maurice was established in the year 1675, When Louis-Phillipe I, at that time an itenerate Count in the French court, managed to lay hands on the deed to territory amounting to approximately the lower one-third of the current Alsace region. It took the new owner only a short time to realize that he was sitting on one of the more important trade routes connecting greater France (read Paris) in the west and Vienna in the east. Within ten years, no commerce operating between the two capitols was safe from the wholesale shakedown the Latrine family instigated and Louis-Phillipe had socked away enough cash to hire most of the thugs in eastern France.
When Louis XIV ordered the unfortunate Count to court to explain himself, Louis-Phillipe claimed he never got the message. When Le Roi Soleil threatened to send troops, the resourceful Phillipe declared the territory independent, made himself king and sent emissaries to all the major Germanic states as well as Austria seeking protection. This diplomatic juggling act survives to the present day (December 16, 1757).