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.

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...

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...

"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...

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