Saturday, December 20, 2008

A Christmas Surprise

Due to winter storms restricting official travel the Waldorf Waldjaegers have had time to be gathered together. They are commanded by Major Holzhacker, and sometimes accompanied by Pfrank Bach, the famous natural pfilosopfer, when he is not busy with other duties or off on one of his expeditions.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

A Little Pfeffernüsse for Christmas

No, not cookies... sorry.

These are the Jägers zu Pfeffernüsse, commanded by Colonel Eric von Strüdelheim
I tried for a more mixed flocking than I usually do on regular line units, adding in some dry grass shades of static grass and some bits of ground foam in different patches.

Glad Yule, Happy Winter Solstice and Merry New Year to all!

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Opening a Pandour's Box


Introducing another Batrachian unit, the Pandours du Pinque, commanded by Colonel Clouseau. The colors in this depiction may not be quite true to life. The coats are white (well, I use very light gray, saving pure white when I want something really white) and the hats, trousers, cuffs and sashes are a violet (Vallejo's blue violet on top of a black basecoat, followed by Vallejo royal purple - so it's more purplish in real life than it appears here). These are from Foundry, where most of my troops (and civilians) are recruited from these days.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

It's Good to be the King

(with apologies to Mel Brooks!)

The King of Batrachia, King Leroy XV, out inspecting the troops. The Queen, Marie Suzette, was introduced back in http://soweiterleague.blogspot.com/2007/08/royalty-and-natural-pfilosopfy.html


The drummer for the Cardinal's Guard - for the rest of the current compliment of the guard see http://soweiterleague.blogspot.com/2008/10/thecardinals-guards.html


A grenadier playing second fiddle while the commander relaxes - part of the vignette previously published in http://soweiterleague.blogspot.com/2008/11/brief-recess.html

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Geography 101: Santa Sofia


Santa Sofia, Conte Luigi Funiculi-Funicula and Contessa Rafaella
Capital: Aroma
Principal exports: ice cream, confections, chocolate
Units: The Fuselli Fusiliers, commanded by Giuseppe “Big Joe” Fuselli

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Geography 101: Grand Thidwick


The Duchy of Grand Thidwick, Sir Argyle Fitz-Basset , Prime Minister, representing Her Grace Catherine Zeta Figg-Netwon
Capital: Mutton-on-Wrye
Principal exports: wool, woolen goods
Units: ?

Monday, November 24, 2008

Geography 101: Pfennig-Pfarthing


Pfennig-Pfarthing, Prince Peter Pfeiffer von Pfennig-Pfarthing and Princess Penelope “Tuppenz”
Capital: Zweipfennig
Principal exports: carriages
Units: ?

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Geography 101: Saxe-Waldorf


Saxe-Waldorf, Hofmeister Wolfgang von Stadtler-Waldorf
Capital: Waldorff
Principal exports: walking sticks, carved wood
Units: The Waldorf Waldjaegers, commanded by Major Holzhacker

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Geography 101: Saxe-Goldberg


The Principality of Saxe-Goldberg, Furst Rudolf von Saxe-Goldberg and Prinzessin Ruby
Capital: Goldberg
Principal exports: clocks, gadgets, contraptions, toys
Units: The Goldberg Engineers, commanded by Colonel Walbert Weinstein

Friday, November 21, 2008

Geography 101: Hesse-Pfeffernüsse


Hesse-Pfeffernüsse, Graf Hansel von Pfeffernüssen
Capital: Pfeffernüsse
Principal exports: baked goods
Units: The Jägers zu Pfeffernüsse, commanded by Colonel Eric von Strüdelheim

Thursday, November 20, 2008

A Brief Recess

Since the geography lessons are past the mid-point I thought you might enjoy a brief recess.

An officer of the King's Grenadiers enjoying a respite while on maneuvers.

This new Batrachian unit is the King's Grenadiers (or Grenadiers du Leroy), commanded by Colonel Jean-Luc Petard.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Geography 101: Ballyfoole


Ballyfoole, Prince Seamus O'Toole and Princess Caitlin
Capital: Ballyfoole
Principal exports: fine linens, Donnybrook ale and root beer
Units: The Ballyfoole Grenadiers, commanded by Colonel Kelly
The Ballyfoole Light Artillery, commanded by Captain McGunnigle

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Geography 101: Heisenberg-Hasenpfeffer


Heisenberg-Hasenpfeffer (oftentimes reversed as Hasenpfeffer-Heisenberg ), Herzog Werner von Heisenberg-Hasenpfeffer
Capital: Heisenberg-Hasenstadt
Principal exports: cookware
Units: The Hasenpfeffer-Heisenberg Hussars, commanded by Colonel Oddkugel

Monday, November 17, 2008

Geography 101: Saxe-Urquhart


Saxe-Urquhart, Earl Angus MacHaggis of that ilk
Capital: Gunderburgh
Principal exports: beef, haggis, bagpipes
Units: The 86th Highlanders, commanded by Colonel Stanley McLaurel

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Geography 101: Ober-Umläut


Ober-Umläut, Markgraf Otto von Ober-Umläut
Capital: Ober Umläut
Principal exports: wigs, punctuation
Units: The Ober-Umläut Untersee Horse Marines

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Geography 101: Jingleheimer-Schwartz


Jingleheimer-Schwartz, Burgermeister Johan Jakob Jingleheimer-Schwartz
Capital: Jingleheim
Principal exports: glassware
Units: The overall commander of the Jingleheimer-Schwartz forces is General Johan "der Herzog" Wagner.
Jingleheimer-Schwartz Musketeers, commanded by Colonel Schwartzenberger
Jingleheimer-Schwartz Dragoons, commanded by Colonel Jingleheimer



Friday, November 14, 2008

Geography 101: Hesse-Offenbach


Hesse-Offenbach, Graf Georg Friederich "Fritz" von Offenbach
Capital: Offenbach
Principal exports: musical instruments
Units: Offenbach Artillery

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Geography 101: Mayeux


Mayeux, Comte Louis-Carroll de Mayeux and Comtessa Virginia "Fifi" de Mayeux
Capital: Mayeux
Principal exports: tapestries, sauces
Units: The Mayeux Musketeers, commanded by Colonel Jacque D'Artagnan

Sunday, October 26, 2008

The Cardinal's Guards

The Cardinal's Guards are a small unit assigned to Cardinal Gardelieu, the primary cleric of Batrachia. They originated as a dragoon unit occasionally assigned to guard the Cardinal temporarily. That assignment has become permanent over the years. Little love is lost between the Cardinal's Guards and the Queen's Musketeers, partly due to the fact that the Guards are rarely sent into battle but mostly serve the Cardinal, guard visiting dignitaries and carry out other miscellaneous duties. The Guards often operate on foot since they work primarily in the city, although they can and do occasionally have some or all of their members on horseback when the situation calls for it.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Cavalry Arrive in the Nick of Time


A new unit finally arrives in the League. These are the Jingleheimer-Schwartz Dragoons. The Figure on the white horse near the middle is General Johann "der herzog" Wagner, overall commander of the Jingleheimer-Schwartz forces (these dragoons and the infantry shown in an earlier post).

Friday, September 5, 2008

The Mapmaker's Art

First draft of a map of the state of Offenbach.

Monday, September 1, 2008

A Banner Day

Finally got around to adding banners to the standardbearers for several units which were previously shown.

First up, the cavalry.

Batrachian infantry.

Soweiter League infantry.

(apologies for fingerprints and other smudges - I had a hard time getting these glued on without getting glue on my fingers)

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Enter, the Queen's Musketeers

Introducing another Batrachian unit, the Queen Marie Suzette's Musketeers. This unit oftens serves as a guard for the Queen on various royal occasions and excursions. But don't let that or the colorful uniforms fool you, this is a battle-hardened unit, lead by Colonel le Comte de Dormez-vous. The Col. le Comte is a political appointee and a favorite of the Queen.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Unknown Soldier

This is probably a long shot, but can anyone identify this unknown soldier found wandering in a garden? Presumed to have been there since the 60's or earlier.
I haven't seen it in person yet, but I'm told he stands around 2 inches tall, and from the depiction he could be a "flat".

Sunday, August 3, 2008

A bit of philosophy

I have been following a bit of discussion on the Old School Wargaming Yahoo Group concerning fictional countries/worlds and Napoleonic era gaming. That and other thoughts from other groups about starting new periods got me to thinking a bit about imaginations and ImagiNations (ImagiNations = imaginary countries).

The aforementioned discussion revolved around why so few of these ImagiNation campaigns seem to take place in the Napoleonic era and so many in the 18th century/Seven Years War era. I don't know, but I suspect there are several reasons, some of which were expounded on in that discussion. Among these are:
  • possibly a "cultural" bias in the sense that earlier practitioners and writers on wargaming chose to use the SYW era for theImagination campaigns, thereby giving the idea a certain stamp of approval. While their counterparts who wrote of Napoleonic gaming mostly confined themselves to more historic and less fictional participants. I haven't read all of the literature so I may be characterizing the differences incorrectly.
  • possibly, as some have said, the Napoleonic gamers tend to be more "serious" about the history of the period they play in.
  • possibly, as others have said, Napoleon so dominates the era that people can hardly conceive of gaming in the period without the little corporal and the French dominating the game (witness some of the recent proposals to have Nappy assasinated to remove his influence from the premise for a campaign, or moving the time period forward a bit past so Napoleon is out of the picture, imprisoned on St. Helena for example)

So, while there have been some ideas for more or less Napoleonice era campaigns they still seem to remain rooted for the most part in real countries. But there is no reason you couldn't have a couple of minor states battling it out as surrogates of the major powers or even as a completely separate conflict, neither affecting nor affected by the Napoleonic conflict. After all, the mid-18th century ImagiNations are often a world apart from the Seven Years War and Frederick and Maria Theresa and other lofty personages.

There are, of course, the rare exceptions, but by and large most of the ImagiNations do seem to find themselves in the mid-18th century. I haven't seen or heard of many WWII or American Civil War era campaigns using ImagiNations, for example. A few do break the mold to be situated in other eras (or places?), and some gamers indulge in a bit of time travel and visit their ImagiNations in more than one era (or even genres). And then there are the games and campaigns that are conducted in mythical places like Afriboria, Hyboria, and the like. Not to mention all of the fantasy and much sci-fi games and campaigns.

So my point is it's okay to use your imagination and some artistic license and discover new worlds, at the very least new geographies situated within the lighter corners of our own world.

Have fun!

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Wild Geese, Scottie, Cattle, and Cats

The full compliment of Wild Goose Chasseurs have arrived. It only remains for me to make a flag and varnish the troops. (next on the painting desk is the rest of the Queen's Musketeers)
Scottie (very simple paint job - black basecoat, very light drybrush with the darkest gray I have), another Highland cow and a couple of calves

And since a few people asked for pictures of the cat - the Lion of the West guarding the troops (including a few of my GW dwarves on the top shelf, GW wood elves on the second shelf, and mostly Celtos minis on the third shelf, with a couple of HirstArts pieces mixed in).


It's Summertime...




Monday, July 14, 2008

New troops on the way for Batrachia

First up, one of The Wild Goose Chasseurs - the rest should be arriving by the end of the week.
This is a unit of cavalry with most members originating from the Island of Ere, and commanded by Colonel Padraig "Paddy" Baron de Fois Gras.

Next, an officer of Queen Marie Suzette's Royal Musketeers. More of this unit will be mustering in the coming weeks (hopefully to be completed by the end of the month).


Friday, July 4, 2008

A Gathering of the Clans

First unit of the Saxe-Urquhart Highlanders completed (except they still need a flag - need to get ink for my printer...). A closer look at the command figures.

And the 2 pioneers - I plan to make 2 more so I have at least 1 stand of these guys (hmm, just noticed you can't see the axe heads on either axe in this photo).
The basic infantry (musketeers, bonnet men) have white cuffs and facings. The pioneers have green. I did a few variations on the plaids. I think I'll make 3 units of basic infantry and group together similar plaids (for example, one set has green and red predominating, another has green and blue tending towards lighter colors, a third has green and blue tending towards darker colors).
Maybe I'll use different light colors for the cuffs and facings for each unit (yellow for one, maybe light blue for another).
I also plan to make a unit of grenadiers (and may keep them in bonnets), with red cuffs and facings.
I haven't decided if I will do artillery men. If I do they will likely have dark cuffs and facing, maybe a dark blue or black, and maybe black feathers in their bonnets.

Not sure if there will be any cavalry or light infantry (the latter would likely be in "hunting tartans"). I could end up with a whole, albeit small, army of Highlanders...