Trying New Rules

 This actually was yesterday

We tried out the latest edition of Black Powder.  In the final analysis it was a bit too complex with little reward for the effort.

 

Stutz Holds the Ridge

This Was Not Yesterday (8 October 2014)

Painting is a soothing activity for a winter evening

So I think I will get back to it.  I have a large block of primed Pendraken Austrians.  I think I will take them along with my British guns and form up a new fraction.  I am fond of a blue-grey not far from RAF Blue  so that will be the dominant uniform color, with the usual variations for Gentleman Cavalry and the like.  Should be fun, and soothing stuff to paint.

Primed Pipeline

I have been on an inventory and planning kick of late.  In that spirit, here is an inventory of my figures for this project, organized by battalions and regiments.  These figures are all base-coated and good to go.

I know I am coming back to this list,  bacause I know that I have recently primed some figures I can't find.  But this is most of them.

Style	Line	Grenadiers	LI	HC	Dragoons	Hussars	Guns	Howitzer
Brit	4	1			1		2
Prussian	1			1	3	1		1
Austrian	5		1		1	1		1
French			2	2

 In addition, there are some not-yet-organized bits and pieces.

Mounted Leaders	3
Mounted Brigadiers	9
Dismounted Brig	2
Engineers	16
Nobles	6
Carriage	1
Siege Mortars	2

This is over 300 foot and almost 100 horse; probably another 60 figures beyond that.  Counting hoses and guns at 2 points, this is the equivalent of painting about 600 foot.

Should be good fun.

Supplies for Stutz

The Bravantois siege of Sutz is in its fourth week, and supplies are short.  Drakenburg has dispatched a supply column, escorted by a line infantry regiment, grenzers, and two regiments of horse.

As they are approach the fortress, they are surprised by a Bravantois battalion, responding rapidly to the alarm.

But they receive a poor reward for their promptness; the hussars and the lead battalion put paid to them rapidly.

An auspicious beginning for Drakenburg forces.

 But the column does not go far before fresh threats are perceived on the right -- jaegers backed up by line infantry.

The cavalry moves to cover, while the column plans to divert by the road farthest from he threat.  The wagons will never manage cross country.

But as the advance moves around and prepares to climb the last hill before the fortress a Bravantois battalion that has crept to edge of the forest near the road charges out from ambush, hitting both the march column and the wagon train.

The wagoners run for their lives, while the undeployed infantry column, disordered by the attack, falls back to regroup.  But, to add insult to injury, fresh Bravanois cavalry have smashed the covering Drakenburg horse, and now pile on to the struggling infantry.

 Soon the situation for the column is quite untenable.

While the grenzers who have slipped past the enemy and raced away for help are too late; that small force is the sole aid the garrison receives.  Nevertheless, the siege continues.









******
Technical details on my root blog.

Origins

Drakenburg Palace, May 1747.

The origin of the aboriginal human inhabitants of the islands of New Jerusalem was discussed at the spring meeting of the Drakenburg Acadamy Of Sciences.  The two leading theories are original settlement by the Lost Tribes of Israel, and by survivors from Atlantis. 

Discussion rapidly became heated, and we are sorry to report that the meeting was adjourned without a final settlement of the matter under discussion.  Followers of natural philosophy will, on the other hand, doubtless be delighted to learn that Professor von Sauerwitz is expected to make a full recovery from his wounds.

Population, Pre-History, and a Lost Continent

Just playing with a few ideas:

• Total population in 1750 is far less than Europe's - say about 40 million as opposed to about 120 million for Europe.
• Our seed European population in the 1170s is a couple of thousand, of which only a couple of hundred are nobility..
• but including a wide range of trades and skills.  Clearly, their original plan included some aspect of colonization.
•  and aware of iron production and three-crop rotation.
•  There is a base population on the island; exactly the size I will have to work out
• Bronze age technology
• but superlative sanitation in their near-abandoned ancient cities.
• and major domestic animals along with the rest of the  fertile crescent crop package, especially wheat.
• The local nobility is rapidly displaced (and merged) with the European
• agricultural yields go up with improved crop rotation and iron-shod plows.
• the excellent sanitation is adopted with enthusiasm by the Europeans
• leading to a burst of population growth, although probably still with a preindustrial population curve. 

Geographically, I am thinking of a substantial landmass of varied geography  surrounded by something of an archipelago.  Many would be obvious former volcanic calderas, such as scaled up versions of this small Hawaiian island with fertile areas generated by extended erosion. This lets us have significant Naval operations; but still the area we have is large enough that some at least would be isolated from maritime interference.