A parade and back story...

Let me tell you a tale about things that never happened in a land that never existed except in the imaginations of its creator* and chronicler.....

*Frank Chadwick

Sitting comfortably?  Then I'll begin....

The Earl sat on his horse, his face as red as the hands of the men who marched before him. Nearby, Kapitan Pfau, the quartermaster also with red face; the Earl's face was red with anger, the Kapitan's with embarrassment.

The Earl sighed inwardly to himself through his fury; how had it come to pass that he now sat and watched a parade that was a source of shame and anger? He cast his mind back.....(picture dissolves in one of those wibby wobbly ways that denotes going back in time...)

It was his uncle/brother-in-law* who had started it all - they were discussing the future and Uncle Augustus had told him "I tell you Gottleib, I've had it from Father Taufers that all the Kingdoms are mobilising! You need to expand your army or those Bravancian bastards will gobble you up like those cakes you so like!". The Earl winced at this, as a staunch member of the Bravancian faction it was one of the few areas he and uncle disagreed upon, uncle being firmly in the Hrvatskan camp.

* The Landgraf of Sinistria - his sister was the Earl's mother and they are married to twin sisters from an Hrvatskan dynasty - relations are complicated in my Solder King!

So, armed with this knowledge, he had decided to expand his tiny army to the maximum establishment. Money was tight. He wanted his men to wear the Ducal colours of red and white, but sadly there was only enough cloth for the Guards and drummers. He instructed the new quartermaster to procure red cloth, but to be wary of paying too much.....

Kapitan Pfau, flushed with embarrassment, cast his mind back - what had gone wrong? There he was, a draper, desperate to escape the clutches of the old widow at Langsammer Kamm, always wittering on about her cat......join the army he thought.....of course once they found out about his previous profession he had been promoted and told to find cloth for the whole army! And they had found him, those Traber brothers, with their offer of "genuine Hrvatskan army red cloth" - he should have known the price was too good to be true! Of course it had been rejected by the Hrvatskans as it was not colour fast.....

And so, the first parade of the new army, a sudden shower and the red uniforms began to run and fade, dying the white small clothes and leaving the men with red hands. Only the Guards had escaped to some extent, their uniforms being old stock, with facings made from the new cloth....

As the Earl sat and ruminated, he was disturbed by a sudden commotion as his daughter Countess Ursula galloped up on her white horse. "Oh father! How clever of you!" she trilled. "Clever...?" the Earl stuttered - "I'm not sure I understand my dear" "Oh father....there's no need to play games: I know you've done it for my birthday!" she replied. "But my dear, your birthday is weeks away!" he managed before in a flurry of squeals she was past him firing back "but you must let me name them! Perhaps after your favourite cakes!" And then she was gone, heading conspicuously towards a group of young cavalry officers....

The Earl sighed again; well at least he had made his daughter happy, although he dreaded what she would call his regiments.... just then an old grizzled Grenadier marched past "Never fear your highness! he said "we shall dye them red in the blood of your enemies!. For the first time that day, the Earl smiled.

Kapitan Pfau silently let out a sigh of relief, having watched the exchanges. It seemed that he may be off the hook, unless of course Countess Ursula found out he was somehow behind it...he blanched and gulped nervously fully aware of the rumours and her reputation. Perhaps being a draper was not so bad after all he thought....

Of course all this may be true or not......

Those of a certain age, armed with a German dictionary, may be able to see references to certain British comedies - any co-incidence is purely intentional....😐

And now the parade...

The Earl

Countess Ursula

The Battenburg Cuirassiers

The Frangipani Hussars

The commanders Von Esse and Von Belovar

The Dampfnudel Guards

Sachertorte and Bratapfel Regiments

Schwartzwald-Kirsch and Kugelhopf Regiments

Tollatsch Light Infantry

Artillery

The army of Dupanen arrayed

A Dupanen eagle's view

Teasers...

As Blogger wouldn't let me upload photos from the tablet, I have had to wait until the laptop was out and take photos on the phone.

There seemed some interest in the latest Soldier King army so this is a filler as I have not finished them yet, but nearly there,

For Jonathan really who likes my terrible sketches I use to get colour combinations.

Some "works in progress" the figures varnished awaiting flags and basing.

Then the flags - only finished this morning

And just for Jonathan and Donnie, a special bonus of my notebooks for the project, I jot down ideas, scribbled flags, uniforms, names  and set out plans for the armies - you can see it evolves and changes over time as the ideas are refined or rejected. Some things arrive fully formed - the flag design for example but others can take a while to crystallise. I have three for this project plus various A4 pads and some old notebooks that I'm using to transfer the final details to.

Should have a proper parade by next weekend.

Milestones, memories and silliness

Today was a milestone of sorts; I finished painting the army of Dupanen which is the last of the Soldier King armies.

There were times in the last 30 years where I despaired of ever reaching this point. That is not to say the project is complete or the campaign ready to start. Increasing the size of armies and finally settling on a recruitment basis, has meant some armies still need more units, notably Estavia and the Electoral forces.

I also have the rebels/ militia to finish as well as card houses and other terrain. More significantly, I have no table on which to play. So still some work to do, but it feels once Dupanen are varnished, flagged, based and labelled, I will have reached a significant point. I also occasionally contemplate whether LI and LC should only count as half a unit and so mean increasing the finished armies by a unit or two here and there.....

Anyway, painting the army of Dupanen has brought back a few memories. Inventing uniforms for 12 armies means eventually you start to run out of ideas and colour combinations. It's only natural to look for inspiration in either historic or Imagi-Nation armies. When I started there was little such inspiration. Then of course the "old school" fad emerged, just as the internet flourished. Everyone had a blog for their imaginary duchy with uniforms of lime green and purple or similar, which now litter the blogosphere like forgotten civilisations, few producing even a single toy soldier.

There were exceptions - Henry Hyde whose article in MW or WI was a spur to my own project was publishing more of his own armies; sadly I always found them a bit too derivative and lacking imagination - a bit too Grant like and IMHO a bit too over- detailed for my taste - each to their own.

A some stage I discovered the Society of Daisy - deriving from a wargamer with an C18th army whose king was followed about by his pet cow, Daisy. Dedicated to fun and a counter point to "serious" wargames, one of the leading lights was Otto Schmidt.

Otto was a larger than life individual. His view on wargames was that they should include ladles of Marks Brother slapstick type humour. For all that, he was extremely well read and a devotee of the C18th. He had many armies which he would roll out at US conventions. His main and favourite army, was that of Princess Trixie - imagine if you will the young Maria Theresa reimagined as a Californian Valley Girl of the C20th, with an army including Operatic companies, circus elephants and conventional C18th troops dressed in pink.....

I confess, I found it all a bit OTT and dare I say silly.......

https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D3ANufwUPFm8&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwix0sXhstiPAxWeQUEAHb2QDn8QFnoECAsQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0hbN2GyeFleig4VjF0Qxyp

Sadly Otto died in 2019 long before I got far with my project. However, as I planned the armies, I hit something of a brick wall with Dupanen. Eventually, it was a coming together of various strands. I had bought a set of GW decals with various heraldic devices with the idea of using them for flags. The range was limited and Dupanen ended up with a unicorn. Being next to Hrvatska suggested the availability of red dye. The the idea of the Earl being sold some which wasn't colour fast......

Unicorns and washed out red uniforms........pink! Like Otto's girl toy army! Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery - a suitable tribute to Otto. Oddly, when looking back at the family trees diced up years ago, I noted the Earl had an adult daughter. Creating some Fimo female "Grotesques" I cast about for suitable characters, dicing up personalities for the main female players. One has become the Earl's daughter, a lady of some character!

In advance of the main parade, once the army is properly finished, I wanted to show a teaser of my drawings and the painted figures, but sadly Blogger won't let me upload from the tablet - it wants me to sign in even though I already am!