Merry Xmas .....

somewhere in the far north, the last of the reindeers is rounded up for sleigh duty .....

 In down-town Wittenberg, shoppers are out to do some present shopping ....

 At the palace, in the Kings appartments the usual Xmas gathering is in progress

A Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to All

Coming up-stream .....

Down the river Oudear, just off Begovian territory, a small flotilla of corsairs are moving up river ... their target the rich trading routes between Wittenberg, Hesse-Limberger and Saxe-Jarlsberg...

[Foundry Beluchi take on a role as Begovian Corsairs]

Gunnery practice .....

The Leopold now has its full complement of  crew and is out on the river Oudear for gunnery practice...

Monrovian Army Refurbishment (5)

The last three units of my own home-casts painted up for the Monrovia army...

Two more infantry regiments sporting Hesse-Kassel uniforms of IR 7 Erbprinz and IR 11 Prince Von Anhalt

 and a converged grenadier battalion

The Leopold moves to the river marines base ...

With a stock of oars delivered the initial fitting out of the river galley Leopold has been completed. Bidekker commands the ship as it takes the short voyage downstream from the one of the main wharves at Vanderhof to the river marines base...

 Once docked at the river marines base, Bidekker checks the clearance for the crane before the installation of the bow chaser cannon ....

Bidekker takes command ....

The two new river galleys for Wittenberg's river fleet near completion.. the Katerina has just been launched at the shipyard and the Leopold moved to Vanderhof ..

Captain Ernst Bidekker had just completed his breakfast when a note had arrived to inform him the Leopold was out of the shipyard and was now docked by Vanderhof lower wharf, at last a chance to see his new command up close. He donned his uniform and headed out ....

 down the street then turning left towards the wharves ...

 after cutting through an alley he reached the wharf,  getting his bearings he headed to the harbour masters office ....

 the harbour master showed him the way to where the Leopold was docked ....

 Bidekker talked to one of fitting out crew, to find out what remained to be done, meanwhile the harbour master has gone forward  to ask one of the crew to tighten up the mooring ropes...

There is much to do, basic fitting out to complete, oars for the galley are awaiting delivery. Once the basic fit out is done the Leopold will be moved to the wharf at the river marines' base for installation of ordnance - then river trials followed by a inspection by the King .....

Ships for the River Oudear ... a couple of add-ons

To increase the options for use of the ships I've made up a couple of bowsprits and some detachable oar banks so they can be setup as galleys.  The oar banks are made from cocktail sticks pushed into some thin foam, which will be attached to the side of the ship with blue-tak, then over that goes a cover

Ships for the River Oudear - build completed

Sterns added, plus some trim using cardboard strips

The ships have been painted a basic brown, with lighter brown for the decks. Some simple sails have been fitted using plain white paper. The stern has some windows; these were printed on paper, cut to  size and stuck on. Stern view with 28mm figs

 side on view with some 40mm figs

the ships will do for both 28mm and 40mm figs.

Monrovian Army Refurbishment (4)

Some other items that have been refurbished (mostly just paint jobs for the bases)....

Generals with aides (from left to right): Count Malpurgo Belladona (army commander), General Stricknein, General Zeinite and General Warfarin.

 and staff vignettes

Pontoon train (used by either side, so generically painted)...I've added an extra pontoon wagon (Reiver Miniatures)

Monrovian Army Refurbishment (3)

Two more infantry regiments completed, these use my own home-casts for the rank & file. Officers/Command are from a mix of sources. They have nominal uniforms of SYW Hesse-Kassel: IR 2 Haudring (at the front) and  IR 4 Prinx Ysenberg...

Ships for the River Oudear (WIP)

Finally got round to building some 'small' ships for the river Oudear.

I had some saved foam style packaging that was sort of shaped right, so I followed my usual scheme make up a half hull shape template, then using the template to mark out and cut the base and deck sections ...

 the foam was packaging cut to size then stuck onto the base and the deck piece stuck on top

 then added a fore and aft deck ....

 then some steps up to the decks, a basic ships wheel, some masts out of hibachi skewers and some basic hull sides out of thin card

looking somewhat like a ship, more detail to add ....

An unexpected arrival at Wittenberg Palace ....

An ambassador from Begovia, has arrived at the court and is being presented to the King ...

the ambassador said he has come to make overtures for a truce (or even a treaty) to bring an end to hostilities between Wittenberg and Begovia.

Monrovian Army Refurbishment (2)

More infantry sorted out. This batch comprise the units I retained.

Allied troops, form the Principality of Munkasse (a long time ally), grenadiers and a line regiment (with WSS Hesse-Kassel uniforms)

Monrovian troops in SYW uniforms of Hesse-Kassell: IR 6 Grenadier Guard and IR3 Von Gilsa Fusiliers.

Monrovian Army - refurbishment

The Monrovian army has been languishing in its storage boxes for a long while. I thought it was time to get them out and give them some much needed refurbishment. The aim to bring the core of the army to be a better representation of that of Hesse-Kassel during the SYW.

All the bases are being tidied up and repainted with a green colour that matches better to my table cloth surface.  As each unit's bases are done, any repaint/repair to figures is done as well

I started with the cavalry, all units (apart from one) were in reasonable condition and were easy to finish off.  Hesse-Kassel units are the Hussars, Garde de Corps, Miltitz, Prinz Wilhelm, Leib-Regiment and the two dragoon regiments

 One cavalry unit was in a poor state, so I melted down the figures and cast up some of my generic cavalry - they were painted up as Pruschenk

 The artillery received new cannon (Reiver Miniatures), plus some scratch-built limbers ...

 The bulk of the infantry were not in a good state at all and were not a good match to Hesse-Kassel in the SYW apart from the Jagers, Guard Grenadiers and a fusilier regiment; a couple of other units were retained to represent allies of Monrovia.   The Jagers and an allied regiment

 All the other infantry has been melted down and cast as my generic march attack infantry, the officer and command figures have been retained. So I have a  five units to paint to complete the refurbishment, work is in progress on the first regiment Haudring....

it'll take a while to finish the infantry off....

Across the Mansteldt Valley ....

Monrovia has been gathering information on the Fenwick forts and military presence along the border area in the upper reaches of the River Oudear. The presence of von Stuffart their main spy in Fenwick has been detected, he has gathered vital information and Serrani's marauders have been sent into Fenwick territory to get him out - they have to cross the Mansteldt valley and get across the border - they are heading for a sideline crossing over the river by the mill at Kornhof. Fenwick troops and revenue men patrol the valley ...

---oXo---

At a farm in the valley,  a farmer tries to get his donkey to move ....

Not far away, a small group of Fenwick revenue men patrol by the river which denotes the border with Monrovia, they have just passed the mill at Kornhof ...

Serrani's marauders approach a side channel to the River Oudear, there is a ford, and  the channel is wadeable....

As one group crosses the channel, they are confronted by a detachment of Fenwick river Rangers, the sound of gunfire disturbs the quiet of the valley ...

Serrani, with von Stuffart and the rest of his men cross the channel by the ford. Another detachment of Fenwick river Rangers blocks their way...

As the Rangers and Marauders exchange fire, a patrol of Fenwick Regulars moves towards the sound of the nearest gunfire ...

The Rangers have been shot to pieces by the Marauders as the Regulars approach ...

Serrani and the other group of Marauders move against the Rangers in their way, shots are soon exchanged...

They soon outmatch them, one survivor falls back and joins the Revenue men who had come up to investigate...

The Revenue men with the surviving Ranger fall back to defend the hedge line ...

The Regulars engage the other group of Marauders ...

The Revenue men can't hold off the Marauders and fall back from the hedge ...

The Regulars hold off the other group Marauders and start to pick them off, the Marauders fall back and move to catch up with Serrani's group..

The group of Marauders with Serrani move forward, crossing the hedge line;  a Revenue man and a river Ranger run for it ... after a short exchange of fire ...

The Regulars are slowly following up the other group of Marauders who are trying to catch up with Serrani...

Meanwhile Serrani, von Stuffart and some Marauders head for the border crossing ...

The Regulars catch up and shoot down the rest of the Marauders

Serrani, von Stuffart and the surviving Marauders cross the pack horse bridge by the mill at Korndorf into the safety of Monrovian territory ....

A  bad day for the Fenwick River Rangers.. News of the trouble in the Mansfeldt valley and the escape of von Stuffart is reported back to the local authorties who in turn pass it on in their regular dispatches to the Fenwick capital for the attention of Duke Maurice - his is greatly displeased - the slowly escalating border skirmishing worries him greatly - it could easily erupt into war.