Guess who...

In Edinburgh today we saw this-

Guess who I was reminded of?

Image of French military mules, WAS

A detail from an engraving reproducing the painting of the Battle of Assietta during the War of Austrian Succession by Hyacinthe de la Pegna. A zoomable version of the whole painting is available here; full of 'authentic' looking details such as the ersatz gaiters of canvas.

Unfortunately it seems that the only images in full color available on the web are incomplete, showing only the upper right part with the death of the French commander the Chevalier de Belle-Isle:

 The place where the original painting is exposed is unfortunately not given on Wikipedia, so the colors of the mules' harness, decorated eyelids, bells... remain so far a mystery.
As far as I know no manufacturer offers such gloriously decorated military mules (which according to a contemporary text were 'punished' by being deprived of their bells and plumes if disobedient!). Of course they would look more 'warlike' without their eating bags!

Thanks to 'Ralphus'who posted the link to the engraving on the 'Wars of Louis XIV' blog . I already knew this image from "L'histoire universelle des armées', Laffont, 1966,

Meet the new Duke of Tradgardland

Gentle readers and fellow devotees of imaginations you are invited to drop by the Tradgardstadt Palace grounds and meet the new Duke of Tradgardland- http://tradgardland.blogspot.co.uk/

Reichsarmee training question

Morning all!
I looking for information about the Reichsarmee. How often did they meet as batts/regts for training?At what level did they train -company,batt or what? Information re the different contingents and how often they came together and the officers and their background. Did the soldiers practice on firing ranges/pardadegrounds/wasteland/heaths in their local communities? The more I think about it how little I know about the day to day working of the reichsarmee at a low level...
Thanks in anticipation
Alan

London War room Spanish figures

Does anyone know if the London war room 18th Century Spanish are still available?
thanks
Alan

Free Campaign Map

The following map is FREE for any who would like to use it for an Imagi-Nation campaign:

 How I plan to use it can be found here.

-- Jeff

Fife & Drum 3rd Continental Dragoons or Your Imagination's Light Cavalry

3rd Continental Dragoons - New Fife & Drum Figures

3rd Continental Dragoons (L-R) Trooper, Officer, Std Bearer, and Trumpeter (click to enlarge)

Fife & Drum Miniatures recently added the 3rd Continental Dragoons to its range, along with the previously released 1st Continental Dragoon, the British Legion (Tarleton's) dragoons, and the British 16th and 17th Light Dragoons. 

The group of four figures are done in "charging" poses and are shown on some of the new horses that Richard Ansell made exclusively for our AWI range of figures. They can match up against our British Legion and British 17th Light Dragoons in either the Pennsylvania - New Jersey theatre of operations or with General Greene's command in the South.

Along with our other AWI dragoons, the Fife & Drum cavalry would make for colorful light cavalry in your own Imagination's army.

Officer (left) and trooper charging (right)

Standard bearer (left) and trumpeter (right)

The new product codes for the 3rd Continental Dragoons are as follows (sold as single figures including the horse):

AC-018    3rd Continental Dragoon Officer

AC-019    3rd Continental Dragoon Trumpeter

AC-020    3rd Continental Dragoon Standard Bearer

AC-021    3rd Continental Dragoon Trooper, Charging

Figures, including horse, are $6.00 

To order, just send me an e-mail at: 

fife_drum_minis(at)yahoo(dot)com

Paypal Accepted

Jacdw30's

Soon to be available via Left Bank Workshop

face book for updates on progress HERE

nice album of the civilians and courtiers HERE

Store/blog to follow soon for those who don't face book

Villanous stirrings ...

Count Boyarisov starts his move ...

Dark rumblings from the darkness of a Moscou night.

The Boyarisov clan has a young, vibrant leader seeking to be more than just another Russian Prince.

Follow developments at The Duchy of Mieczyslaw.

Father's Day

Pop over to -
http://tradgardland.blogspot.co.uk/
to see an amazing Father's Day gift...

Ladies Pettygree and Silhouette At The Gallop

Date: May 3, 1757 (2014)

Location: Hamelburg, Westphalia (fictional)

Situation: In The Midst of A Battle

Cast: 

Lady Belle Silhouette in a radiant adaptation of the Bercheney Hussars

Lady Diana Pettygree wearing her striking interpretation of the Royal Carabiniers

Ladies Maid Martha adorned modestly

Prince de Soubise wearing his Marshall's uniform

Lieutenant Général l'Duc de Fitzjames in the uniform of senior generals 

******************************

Prince de Soubise: "I am sorry my dears, but you must depart Hamelburg. The enemy approaches rapidly and as you see -- this village has suffered already from their long shots. Ride south along the road where you will see our cavalry and infantry approaching."

Lady Belle Silhouette: "Certainement Monsieur l' Maréchal."

Lady Diana Pettygree: "We shall. Merci."

Martha: "My hat is...."

Lady Belle Silhouette: "There in the distance - our horsemen are arrayed in line of battle."

Lady Diana Pettygree: "Oui! --- I see them too. Ride at the gallop! HA!"

l'Duc de Fitzjames: "My ladies, what are you about?"

Lady Diana Pettygree: "We've come from l'Prince de Soubise."

Lady Belle Silhouette: "He remarked the Allied Army approaches fast. Hamelburg is already under fire of their cannons. You must ride to the sound of the guns! I wish we knew more."

Lady Bell Silhouette: "What about you --- dear reader? What do you know?"

For the entire story see:
http://campaignsingermania.blogspot.com/2014/05/battle-of-hamelburg.html

Respectfully,
Bill P.
Gallia
----------

Lady Diana Pettygree Returns and More - Lots More

Lady Belle Silhouette (pink): "Diana! What are you doing?"

Lady Diana Pettygree: "You'll see my dear. Hurry or all will be lost!"

Colonel Beckermann: "Halt the column! Ladies, how may I be of service?"

Diana: "Captain, we beg your assistance or we will be lost. You see...."
-----
Please repair to the Campaigns in Germania to find out more. Lots more.

http://campaignsingermania.blogspot.com/2014/04/beginning-syw-again.html

Respectfully,
Bill P.
Gallia

Who will be a Villain ???

Much of the interaction amongst our Imagi-Nations a number of years ago was driven by the "vile Stagonians".  They were a rather nasty country always looking to do cruel things to other states.

They were my "counter" to my Principality of Saxe-Bearstein . . . and truth to tell they were a lot of fun to play.  However due to my health issues (and the fact that I can no longer access them since Bloggers takeover by Google) I can no longer act as the "bad boy".

So who will step up and become the "villain" of EvE?  They don't have to be your main established fictional state . . . remember that there is always room in our fictional world for more Imagi-Nations.  I can assure you that playing the villain can be a blast.


-- Jeff

PS,  Also there need not only be one villain; there can be several . . . are you up to the challenge?

Gears are grinding into movement...

...and shedding their rust in the Syldavian blogosphere.  I'd like to draw your attention to a long-awaited AAR, enumerating the results of an action at Olbernhau, south Saxony, in August 1813.  The post previous to that is the description of the scenario.  For whatever technical reason, updates to my blog are not being  picked up as 'new posts" by Blogger at the moment.   Things have been terribly slow chez moi regarding games but not quite as slow as Blogger suggests!  This action was part of the Campaign of Nations run by MurdocK of MurdocK's Marauders, and the first encounter of the Allies and French in the Dresden theatre.  A series of battles have since been played out around the town of Marienberg, as well as Berlin, Bautzen and Luckau.  Shortly, I'll add shortly a new AAR for a small cavalry action (Sept 2 1813) near Zwickau, in the rear supply lines of Marienberg.

And, dare I hope for a Syldavian/Bordurian encounter, 1684, or 1740-ish, over the Easter break? !

Cheers!

Jim

EDIT: It seems I have repaired the problem the resulted in the invisibility of my previous few posts!  Hooray!  

From the Library

The Duke of Tradgardland invites suggestions for gaming interactions and amusing conceits from his fellow 18th Century rulers...

Commentaire from Gallia

Random Comments About E vs E:
-----
WARGAMES
It helps to have wargame campaigns generate diplomacy, mischief, battles, before and after effects and consequences. How many wargames are played by each of us that apply to the mid-18th C. or any wargames at all? I'm guessing few. I hope I am wrong and am politely corrected. Campaigns can be made up as one goes along such as Hesse Seewald vs Gallia or highly structured. For me, my painting, diplomacy, and inspiration drop way down when there are few 18th C. games. How about you?

Also I believe this: When we stop painting for a wargame time period, we stop gaming that time period.
-----
FRANKZONIA
Arthur got very sick about four years ago; broken leg followed by something he called a flesh-eating  whatever. Aweful! He was prolific and fun. Attempts to write to him at his last known snail-mail address did not result in replies so I fear the worst. Anyhow when Gallia invaded Germania years ago, Frankfurt Am Main became my magazine. Lo and behold it was Arthur's capital of Frankzonia! From there he and I went "wild" I suppose with intrigues, plots and characterizations. I miss Arthur as do some of you who remember him I am sure.

I did a proxy battle for him 4-5 years ago too.

Arthur?
-----
TRADGARDLAND
Alan and I were messing around in the New World and someplace in northern Europe. I drifted off the reservation. Alan what happened to us? It was fun. Hesse-Seewald even sunk one of my ships in a Tradgardland port causing all sorts of writing, new characters and imagineering here.
-----
WANDERING OFF THE RESERVATION
Jean-Louis is right, I wandered off with General Pettygree, Expedition to Alexandrapour and some other things. We all do that and need to but I prefer the 18th C. over anything else bar none. BAR could be a pun!
-----
MY PARDS AND RESTARTING THE SYW
Our regional pards are creaking along getting the SYW Cycle II started. ( A second SYW!) In January 2014, the Saxons somehow got out of Saxony and in this month there were three weeknight sessions to finish a small F&I game. I wrote about none of these on the Germania blog and I suppose I should. I have some nice images to do that. On May 3, 2014, we will assemble for a first battle in Western Germany - Westphalia to get underway there. Hesse-Seewald LOOK OUT!!!!!!!!!!
-----
ALL THINGS COME TO AN END
I check in here daily and would be disappointed if we do not rise again - one more time.
-----
Respectfully,
Bill P.
Gallia and Raschstein

PS
Marshall Broglie, Lt. Gen. Chevert, Colonel Enigma, Lady Diana Pettygree and others do not want to pass into distant history just yet.

Colonel Enigma: "Was it YOU who stopped and wandered off the reservation Bill? Anyone else?"

'Light' yet enjoyable interactions between EvE members

I commented on Tradgadmastare's post about the decline of interactions between 'EvE' members (simply reflecting the steady decline of activity on 'EvE' itself: 463 posts for the 8 months of 2007, 358 in 2008, 322 in 2009... 31 in 2013) and its possible causes - including 'external' and general ones: that this 'disinterest' follows the ongoing 'Crisis' since 2008 is probably not coincidental. 

Thus it may be due for a part to the 'activity' required from the participants when 'The Real World™' imposes its own, harsh, requirements. 

Yet some forms of friendly interactions are not very time-consuming. Outside shared or proxied military campaigns or battles the exchange of ambassadors and medals, for instance, or the 'gift' of characters (with or without their miniature, as for the EvE 'Stuart new Rising'), or the Grand Tour of Eveurope by the Reich Duke of Beerstein.
The 'lightest', yes potentially gratifying for all those involved, is when a character or place created by an 'EvE' member is mentioned by another Imagi-Nation ruler, specially if part of a 'story telling' approach. The visits of Cardinal von Roskilde to Monte-Cristo (part of his own Grand Tour, entirely reported on 'Eve', and conclusion of it since the storyteller 'Herzog Ignaz' ceased to post a little later, so afaik the good Cardinal is still enjoying our hospitality).

 (Actually the Presipality of Monte-Cristo was created for such visits: in the earliest days of 'Emperor vs Elector' it was proposed to the rulers of the contributing Imagi-Nations to engage in a play-by-email game of secret diplomacy and spying. Having just re-watched old James Bond movies mostly set in the Bahamas I created that monstrosity, a peaceful, officially demilitarized wargaming Imagi-Nation: a kind of Monte-Carlo (with some aspects -tax haven, specially- of Switzerland or at least Liechtenstein). A small emphatically neutral countries providing major powers with a convenient 'neutral ground' for secret diplomacy -and,of course a seething nest of spies- under the pleasant climate of the Côte d'Azur. With a spa and a casino as excuses to come and pleasant services to encourage to stay; its independence and neutrality also guaranteed by the fact that in all countries of importance (and most of others) people of influence and power have secret numbered accounts in the State bank.) 

An example of fruitful interaction: Claire Baizanville

Such 'light', not time-consuming interactions (requiring only to toy with ideas and then posting them at leisure) can be fruitful to host and guest, specially if a part of RPG campaign (independent or ± parallel to a 'serious' military one); for instance by stimulating the development of the 'fluff' relative to the visited country. The visit of a Catalan representative to Monte-Cristo (& newer posts labelled 'Marquis of Vilana') led to the creation of a rich Monte-Cristan character, Claire Baizanville: she was invented by 'Soldadets' but her part in the 'RPG side' of the Defiant Principality campaign prompted me to develop her character and past -in comments on Soldadets' blog and on my own (in several posts actually)- which I greatly enjoyed.

A conceit...

When I began blogging ,many moons ago here,there used to be a great deal of interaction between the imaginations.A map of Europe was drawn up,countries exchanged diplomats even fought!We seem to have lost that focus a little over time.I wonder if there is any interest in doing so again?

(Re-Post) How to Change your "Favicon"

Gentlemen,

If you scroll down the list of our personal blogs on the right you will notice that some of us have have our Imagi-Nation flags displayed instead of the usual "Blogger B".

You too can proudly fly your Imagi-Nations colors. While I don't know how it works for other blog program, most of us are with Blogger and I can tell you how to accomplish it for that program.

Go to your Dashboard. Find the "Layout" heading under your personal blog. Click on it.

In the upper left corner of your Layout you should see "B", the word "Favicom" and Edit. Click on Edit.

A box will appear asking you to upload a square image of less that 100Kb in size . . . which it will resize for your new favicom.

When it has done that, be sure to click the "SAVE" button and Blogger should do the rest.

I look forward to seeing more of us flying our country's colors.

-- Jeff

Old B&W German movies for Frederick's fans

Der Choral von Leuthen (1933)
 YouTube
 
Der alte und der junge König (1935)
 YouTube

Fridericus - Der alte Fritz (1937)
YouTube

Der große König (1942)
YouTube


I'll not vouch for either the fairness or the historical accuracy!



 Now, in a very different style and dealing with Catherine the Great:
The Scarlet Empress (1934)
 Dailymotion
Surrealistic -the upstairs cavalry charge led by hairy popes brandishing religious banners and Malene Dietrich in white hussar uniform is simply fantastic.
    
The Rise of Catherine the Great (1934)
YouTube
  
The Adventures of Baron Münchhausen (1943)
YouTube  (yes, Catherine features as an important character!).

The Soverign's Servant

To get the subtitles in English:
Click on "cc", choose the Serbian subtitles, then choose "translate subtitles". and choose English. The translation is pretty good.